Free Last Dragon Standing by G.A. Aiken Page B

unleashed, Ragnar glanced down at his claw and back up to the princess’s traveling companion.
    “Oh,” the foreigner replied, sounding almost lazy with boredom.
    “Was I supposed to fall back, arms flailing, from that? Sorry. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
    The princess giggled at that until Ragnar silenced her with one glare.
    It wasn’t being laughed at that bothered him; it was the power he didn’t sense coming off this dragon. A power Ragnar now knew the foreigner must have because he managed to hide it from him. Did the princess have any idea? And, for that matter, why would a mage this strong waste his time with someone so insipid? So useless? So pretty? Wait. He meant so stupid. Not pretty. Where did pretty come from?
    The foreigner walked around him, helping the still-outraged princess to her claws.
    “Are you all right?”
    “I am not all right,” she complained. “That barbarian assaulted me, and in the process, I scraped my ass on some rocks.” She tried to see the damage but only managed to turn herself in a circle.
    “Your aunt’s gone, Keita. Has been for some time, I’d wager.”
    “That’s impossible.” She stopped trying to see her ass and opted for rubbing it instead. “Esyld never leaves her house except to go into town.”
    “That you know of. It’s not like you see her every day.” A moment of regret passed, her shoulders slumping a little, but then those brown eyes locked on Ragnar. “What do you want with my aunt, warlord?”
    “That’s a question for your mother. She’s the one who sent me here.” For a painful moment, Ragnar felt as if he’d hit the princess, she appeared so stricken. He would have said nothing if he’d known his words would cause such a reaction.
    “My mother? My mother sent you here? To kill my aunt?” 57

    “I’m not an assassin, lady. I was merely to pick up your aunt and return her and your brother to Queen Rhiannon. What your mother does from there, I have no idea.”
    “And you agreed?”
    “It was either me or your father’s kin. I assumed she’d be safer with me.”
    The Eastlander glanced at her. “He does have a point, Keita.” Keita headed down to her aunt’s home, shifting to her human form while walking, and pushed open the door to the house. She searched for some sign of either her aunt or where she might have gone. She did a quick sweep of the room and then went through the back door to the garden.
    “I told you she’s not here, luv.”
    “Then where is she, Ren?”
    “I don’t know, but she’s been gone for a bit.”
    “How do you know?”
    “There’s a fine layer of dust over everything—and her overall presence has begun to fade from this place.” Keeping her back to Ren and pressing her hand to her stomach, Keita asked, “Is she dead?”
    “I don’t know. But if she is, she didn’t die here.” Ren’s instincts were never wrong, and he never lied to Keita. If someone had killed her aunt, he’d know and tell her.
    “Was she taken?”
    “I don’t sense that. It’s clean here. Like she just left.” Keita faced him. “And went where?”
    “I don’t know, but nothing says anything is wrong either.”
    “Except my mother knowing Esyld’s here.”
    “Your mother knows lots of things. I doubt she acts on a fifth of them.”
    “But this is Esyld the Traitor.”
    “Whom the queen sent a Lightning to retrieve.”
    “Perhaps she was hoping Esyld wouldn’t survive the trip.”
    “Then she would have sent your father’s kin, whose loyalty is unquestionable—but whose honor is a little shaky.”
    “You think I’m worrying over nothing, don’t you?”
    “You rarely worry, my friend. So when you do worry, it’s never over nothing. But I’m not sure what we can do at this point.”
    “Track her down?”
    “So your mother will definitely know where she is?” 58

    He was right. As always.
    “What do you suggest I do?”
    “Go home.” When she sneered, he added, “You’ll never find out