A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

“Does she have the euphoria?” Vemar asked. “Is that what we’re talking about?”

“What’s the euphoria?” Hadriel asked.

Tamara stared hard at me, silently asking me if I wanted to share.

I shook my head minutely. Not until I was sure. Not until I had my bearings. We had demons chasing us, and our people were preparing to attack. It wasn’t the time for…huge life events.

“Come on.” I turned and continued down the deck. “We need to get ready to go.”

“You heard the king, your highness,” Tamara said, keeping close. “You aren’t going.”

“I am going. I’ll just stay at a distance. Which is fine. I can’t blow fire anyway.” I paused. “Can I shift if I’m…”

“Yes,” Tamara answered. “Dragons are actually incredibly hardy with their young. You can shift all the way up until about eight months, and then no because there is about a five percent chance of triggering preterm labor. Male dragons tend to get very dramatic if their offspring is in danger. Especially alpha dragons.” She paused for a moment. “Especially an alpha of the king’s caliber.”

“I get it, I get it,” I said.

“What’s the euphoria?” Hadriel asked again, practically jogging to keep up with my fast walk. “Is this a sure thing? Goddess spank me, I suddenly got so fucking excited. Oh shit, I better practice not swearing. Can’t swear around babies. Well, maybe around babies. They can’t understand anything. How many years do I have to practice not swearing? I’m going to push it to the very last minute. Do you know for sure if you are, love?”

“Focus, Hadriel,” I barked, noticing my dragon was very quiet within me. Very still.

“You just blew your invitation to the next girl talk, I’ll tell you that much,” Vemar told him.

What’s going on? I asked my dragon, reaching the stern of the boat and checking on the activity there.

The dragons that would be in the first wave of the attack, all heavy fire breathers and experienced fliers, waited back here.

I’m processing, she answered.

That made one of us.

The ships behind us would have the same sort of setup. The plan was that Calia would go first, needing to take down any magical defenses, with the dragons right behind her. They would clear away the top deck of enemies so that the wolves could head below decks to clean up the remainder of the enemy there.

Nyfain was on the second ship now, explaining how this would go. Micah had flown to the third.

“We ready?” I asked the dragons here, touching shoulders and forearms, meeting eyes. I received excited nods and grins in return.

“We’re going with the first wave, right, highness?” Jade asked me when I reached her. Her gaze dipped to my stomach so quickly that I nearly missed it.

I took a deep breath and kept a stern face. “You and most of the guard are going with the first wave, yes. I will fly behind you this time. The overly cautious alpha has demanded it. I am choosing my battles. Literally. I’d love to fight the demons, but I’d rather not fight him. He’s damn hard to keep pinned down.”

Lucille pushed into Jade with a laugh. “Especially now that he might have successfully bred his mate. Oh gracious, he’s going to be a handful, highness. I definitely recommend picking your battles. Don’t worry, we got this.”

“Did you reach the euphoria?” Jade asked, her eyes flashing with excitement.

Suddenly all the chatter around the back deck died down. Eyes turned my way.

“Everyone knows about that, huh?” I murmured. Butterflies filled my stomach. “You could’ve filled me in, you know.”

Before they could press me for a proper answer, I saw a distinct azure dragon rise from the second ship and fly our way.

“Damn it,” I said through my teeth. “He sicced his mother on me.”

A moment later, Delaney followed.

“Oh great, and the enforcer, too,” I grumbled.

“And it begins,” Tamara said with a huge smile.

“How long?” Jade whispered to Tamara, and I guessed she was asking how long I’d been in the euphoria stage.

“So euphoria means it is a done deal?” Hadriel said.

“Yes,” Vemar answered. “What a blessing on their rulership. This is good luck, so soon after taking the throne. The goddess shines on us all.”

“Focus, people,” I barked, my will whipping the command through them. “Remember, you need to stay behind Calia. Wait until she gives you the all-clear and then unleash hell. Those of you who need to return to pick up the wolves can peel away as soon as the first deck is cleared. The rest of you, remember to wait until the wolves have gone below before you drop in and start destroying things. Nyfain and…”

I paused as I watched Arleth and Delaney circle once, looking for a landing place close to me. Oh yeah, she was coming to make sure I didn’t put myself in harm’s way. Thankfully, there were too many dragons just here. They’d need to go to the front of the ship to find enough space to land.