Imperial

Chapter 65

Gradually, the sun sunk beneath the horizon, marking the end of a long, tiresome day. A day so different from the day I had thought it would be, that I wasn't sure whether I was glad or not that it was different.

After all, the Dragon King was dead. No longer was he a threat to us.

But Caelum and Adoria were dead too. As well as seven other dragons - all of which whom had given their life fighting for me; for my freedom. Guilt stirred in my stomach. If I'd accepted the black and green dragoness's offer, they'd still be alive. So would the Dragon King.

"Look," Thorak murmured, gesturing to Erakor.

Hundreds of dragons climbed into the air. My breath caught, amazed by the sheer amount that escaped the city's depths, scattering across the sky.

The human queen had kept her word. She'd returned to the city, and released all of the dragons within it. I could only hope that she did the same with the rest of the cities.

Nonetheless, my eyes remained glued on the dragons. My heart warmed as they cried out in excitement and triumphant, finally free. Glittering all over the sky, I watched as they gradually glided away, some solitary, whilst others quickly found the dragons they'd been around before leaving alongside them.

Somehow, we had done exactly what we had come here to do. We might have been fighting the Dragon King and his wing instead, but... we'd accomplished just what we'd wanted to - we'd saved the dragons. Saved them, without destroying the breathtaking beauty that was the human city. And we killed the Dragon King.

But something still did not feel right.

Lord Raffael had been with Queen Azist. But why? He'd told us that we could destroy the city. So why had he gone there, in a city he knew we were likely to attack and destroy?

Unless he'd known.

Stiffening, I dug my talons in the ground. Had he known? Had he intentionally been trying to lure us here, declaring that we'd be more than able to destroy Erakor? But why? Why lie to us? It made no sense! Surely he hadn't known!

Except I could not ignore the sinking feeling in my chest.

Wing beats reverberated through the air, cutting off my thoughts. Wearily, I twisted my head around, peering at the four approaching imperials. I'd forgotten that they'd wanted to talk to us after the humans had left. 

Whatever they'd wanted to say remained a mystery to me.

Amaroth landed first, and beside me, Rutilus stiffened, a low growl rumbling in his throat. But the big blue and white drake payed no heed; he almost seemed to ignore it. Had I not known better, I would have wondered if he was even aware of the red drake's cold fury.

The black and green dragoness landed beside him, her yellow eyes giving away no emotion as she stared at us. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but dig my talons into the ground, uncomfortable by her presence. It was impossible to forget that she was the dragon we'd been fighting only hours beforehand - and she was also the one who had offered me to join the imperial wing.

The other two dragons remained behind them, both standing as still as a statue as they glared down at us. They were almost identical; with similar maroon and grey scales.

"Amaroth," Kronx grunted, his silver eyes shadowed. "What do you want?"

"To offer my gratitude - and apologies," he added with a quick glance towards both Kronx and Rutilus.