The Dragon Queen

Chapter 23

High Queen Jaymie Andry of Zoshan

Heart of the Realm

The young woman stares up at Jaymie with wide blue eyes, unsure of answering Jaymie's question. "We have never met before, but you know of me. I am Makena."

Something clicks in Jaymie's mind, and she gives a relieved sigh. "Makena, goodness. Your family has been sick with worry. You have been missing for over a year. Everyone has been looking for you."

Jaymie doesn't miss the side glance that she gives Wesley and Matylda. "I know," Makena replies with a walled-up tone. "It wasn't ideal, but it was necessary. I had...business to attend to. It was personal."

"And this attack you saw...on your friends? What happened?" Jaymie questions and notices another glance which only adds to Jaymie's suspicions.

A flicker of pain flashed across her pale eyes, and Jaymie empathized with her. "I have been staying with them since I left Rivergarde, and they have been very nice and caring. They kept me safe, and they were my friends. When I got back to Rivergarde, I was informed of an attack at their camp, and I left immediately. There was nothing left, and a lot of people are dead." Jaymie feels a deep ache, though she doesn't know why she feels this way for someone she is only just now meeting. Somehow she feels like she has known Makena all the girl's life, even if she was adopted by her aunt Serena and had never met her. Still, there is something else, something more profound, that she can't explain. "I don't know who survived or where they are."

"Do you think it could be related? The attack on your friends, and this attack now?" Jaymie questions and watches Makena shrug her shoulders very so slightly. "We shall figure that out in due time, but right now...." Jaymie is about to ask if there is something else she isn't being told, but a deep yell resounds through the castle and makes Jaymie's skin crawl.

"Danger, Little One." Jaymie tilts her head a little, allowing the little creature to nearly slither from her hair, down her neck, and run into her hand. He tilts his head while looking up at her. Jaymie tosses the creature in the air slightly, and he is the size of a large dog upon landing. He shakes a little as though adjusting to a new size. Glancing at the others in the room, Jaymie realizes the only ones present who knew about Pyro were Ezra and Jemma. The others stare at him in surprise. Jaymie kneels down to the creature and runs a finger down his head, from his small horns to the tip of his nose, getting his attention. As her finger moves, the fire-colored scales shimmer along the trail. "Protect." The word falls off Jaymie's tongue, and as it does, the creatures' eyes meet hers, and there is a flash in them. It sends a jolt through her body as though a surge of heat charges every fiber in her body. Jaymie feels the tingles and hears Jemma suck in a breath, knowing she can feel them as well. What Jaymie doesn't expect is the sharp intake of breath that comes from a third person, earning Jaymie's curious gaze shifting not to her birth mother but to the young woman.

Makena stands with her hands in front of her and fingers trembling until she notices Jaymie watching her. She quickly closes her fists and drops them as though she knows something Jaymie doesn't, but the glance Makena sends to Jemma deepens Jaymie's questions.

"Jaymie!" She stands when she hears her name shouted through the corridor outside the hall, and Karic runs into the room. It pulls her attention from the questions clouding her mind about Makena. "I just received word that Liam Digory escaped his cell sometime last night. He was recaught, but Rowan was seen in the area and fled." Jaymie blinks once in surprise, having long suspected Liam would never see daylight again, and not many knew he was there. "Also, Queen Caitrin has been attacked. No one knows how it happened, but it happened recently." Jaymie doesn't have to ask about her condition because it is clearly stated by the look in Karic's eyes. He has seen it.