Olivier stared at Phuong, who was all the way under the sheets. Nobody could even see that she was pregnant yet, although Phuong’s scent had definitely changed.
It would be months before she had the babies. They’d just have to stay close.
41
Blast
Phuong
Phuong’s eyes shot wide open. She looked down at her hand and saw that her new dragon scales were close to the surface of her skin and glowing.
What had woken her up? She closed her eyes again and concentrated. She could feel Marc. He was very close. She could feel his evil intent like a cold wind wrapping around her, trying to pull her away from the castle.
She jumped out of bed. Apparently her dragon mind and Yore blood could pierce beyond just getting faint impressions from him.
He wanted to attack her. She knew that. He wasn’t here to persuade her to leave.
She got out of bed and went straight out into the hallway. She looked in Gahariet’s and Olivier’s rooms, but they weren’t there.
She went downstairs and looked in the dining room and the kitchen, but they weren’t there either.
Finally, she found them in the library.
“What are you two doing in here?”
“Researching,” Gahariet replied. “Is everything okay?”
She looked at them. Why wouldn’t they tell her what was going on?
Right then, an enormous blast struck the castle.
“Stay here,” Gahariet told Phuong. She frowned, but she stayed still as he and his brother went out.
One minute later, she followed them out the door. She wanted to see what was going on. She slowly climbed to the top of one of the towers.
From up there, she could see the twin dragons defending their stronghold against Marc’s brood, who had encircled them. Dragons were a lot more dangerous than Lockwings. Their eyes were flames.
Phuong knelt and tried to hide while still being able to see. They wanted to come for her. All of this trouble was for her.
The castle shook as Gahariet slammed two other dragons into the walls. Her mates were absolutely marvelous. There was an enormous number of dragons set against them, but they didn’t seem to be intimidated by the odds.
They fought the intruders, dodging in and out. For such huge creatures, they were incredibly graceful.
Her dragon mind wanted to help them defend their home, but that same primal mind knew that she had to keep the children safe.
The eyes of all the dragons glowed, their fires burning hotter and hotter.
Suddenly, there was a turning point in the battle. The attack brood began to wing backward, away from her mates. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest.
“My queen.”
Phuong spun around to see that Hoa was behind her. Phuong could see that she was crying, so she pulled Hoa into a hug and pulled her down the steps of the tower.
As they got to the ground floor, she could see wisps of smoke that solidified into her mates.
“Are you okay?”
“No time for that,” Gahariet said briskly. “We have to search the lower levels to make sure that they’re really gone. The aerial attack could have been a distraction.”