|| Book One of the Dragonkind Duology ||
𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙛 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙩; 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣.
For years, dragonkind and humankind had been at war, alternating between short-lived truces and all out...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Noctifer let out a breath after finally sneaking past what felt like their hundredth harbinger.
"Can't you simply—" He made a snapping motion with his fingers. "Anything so we don't have to keep holding our breaths around these things?"
"I'm not that powerful," Ordephus said, amused.
He hummed. "I see. Can't say I'm not disappointed."
The legend snorted at that. "You're not the first."
"But I'm serious; I've seen you do more with less. Not even a concealment spell?"
"I suppose," Ordephus shrugged, "but one: I don't have a spellbook with me, thus, the spell might go haywire. And two: I still have just as much mana as I had in Weststar."
"Is that important? You seemed to do just fine back with the seelie."
"That wasn't mana."
Noctifer gave him a blank look. "Then are you going to tell me what it was or do I have to wait till we get back to Iver?" He paused, remembering something one of the seelie had said. "Does it have something to do with you not having fae blood? And didn't Iver say you need fae blood to use mana?"
"That would be correct, and no, do not tell Iver what I'm about to tell you." He shuddered. "He'll snap my neck."
Noctifer raised an eyebrow at that but stayed quiet to hear what the legend had to say.
"You see," he began, "my mother was a dragon and my father was a human with no fae blood whatsoever—more on that later when we're back with Iver—and I was raised primarily with humans. Now, here's the thing about any dragon-blooded children: We are absolute menaces to authority. It's just how we are. That's why in dragonkind families, you are very unlikely to see siblings within ten years of each other. Ventura tried her best with me, but, well, as you probably know, she was taken from Amare too early."
Noctifer nodded solemnly, knowing of the Warrior Queen's fate. "So you were raised by her then?"
"I was, for the first twenty years of my life, but after her assassination, the court didn't really know what to do with me. They couldn't control me, either. Not as well as Ventura. So no one really stopped me when I announced that I relinquished the crown to Utoria."
The story was interrupted as another unseelie came in sight. Not quite a minor harbinger, but close to one. Nonetheless, they once again kept to the shadows of the trees as Ordephus held his hand to his neck to nullify his magical presence. A question burned on the tip of Noctifer's tongue until the danger had passed, and they could resume talking.
"You were a crowned prince of Nimn? Why isn't that included in your tale? Not even bards sing of it."
"They did in the past, but the stories go through cycles. Right now they're fascinated with me being the son of a god." He grinned. "So when you hear me say that I've never heard a version of my story before, what I really mean is that I haven't heard it in awhile. I like to think I've heard it all, but who knows. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised."
