Free Realm Of Blood And Fire (Book 3) by Dionne Lister

of stairs, Jazmonilly quietly sung a lullaby.
     
    A little egg hatched and gave to me
    A precious dragon hatchling
    New scales shining so bright
    In the gentle firelight
    A precious little hatchling
    Your untried claws are yet to hunt
    And your gossamer wings barely dry
    Precious little hatchling
    But one day you will fly far from me.
    And when you soar the skies,
    My precious little hatchling
    Remember that every flame I breathe
    Is for you
     
    As she finished, she reached a blue door—the color signified freedom in the sky and the hope of a better future for the dragons of tomorrow. Jazmonilly nodded at the two hulking dragons guarding the door. They saluted and stepped aside.  On entering, Jazmonilly immediately felt at peace.
    Twelve stone blocks, knee-high to a dragon, the insides carved out to fit dragon eggs, sat against one of three blue walls. A mosaic of young dragons playing in the thermals above Vellonia decorated the fourth wall. Standing a dragon’s head shorter than Jazmonilly, and watching the eggs, was a gray-scaled dragon, her tummy a shade of pastel yellow.
    “Oh, Queen Jazmonilly. How lovely to see you.” The dragon nursemaid bowed her head in respect. “You’re just in time for today’s firing of the eggs. Would you like to do it?”
    The queen smiled and clasped her hands together. “I would love to, cousin. Thank you, Emerance.” Jazmonilly approached the line of eggs. Hello, future Vellonians. We can’t wait to meet you. Here is some fire to warm your tiny bodies and make you strong. She breathed in through her sizable nostrils, and then opened her mouth. A controlled stream of orange fire streamed out, flowing over the first egg and stone holder. The flame embraced the egg for a few seconds before Jaz moved to the next one, the stone holding the heat that would warm the egg for twenty hours. Walking down the line, she heated the eggs one by one.
    “There we are, Emerance. They’ll stay warm until tomorrow. I can’t wait until Arcese’s egg arrives. You’ll be seeing a lot more of me then.”
    Emeranc e smiled. “I look forward to it too, my queen. Ah, to have a royal baby in the nursery will be an honor. It’s been such a long time. I remember when Zimapholous, Arcese and Pandellen were in here. So long ago, but it feels like yesterday.”
    “They were such a handful—especially Zim, but he is such a good young dragon now, and who would have thought he would become part of The Circle. And I remember your little ones—Symbothial was always so lively.” Jaz smiled, her silver cheeks shining with pride until she saw the look on Emerance’s face. She put her clawed hand to her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Emerance. We all miss your darling boy. Please forgive my slip up.”
    Emerance’s sorrowful expression flicked to anger before she schooled it to neutral so quickly that Jaz shrugged it off as her imagination fooling her. “I’ll see you soon. And thank you for doing such a wonderful job with our young ones.”
    “I live to serve the dragons, my queen.” Emerance inclined her head.
    Stepping out of the nursery, Jaz heard the guards talking and then noticed a black shape out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head to look down the hallway, it had gone. She turned to the guards. “Shouldn’t you be paying attention ? Not talking?”
    “Sorry, my queen . It just gets a bit, well, boring.”
    Jazmonilly flared her nostrils. “Complacency won’t be tolerated. If anything happens to those eggs, you will both be banished. Do I make myself clear?”
    “Yes, Your Highness,” both dragons answered in unison, bowing.
    “Now, did you see anything unusual while I was in there?”
    “No,” the larger dragon answered, being the more senior of the two.
    “Carry on, then, and don’t let me catch you slacking on the job again.” Jazmonilly lifted her chin and walked as regally as she could down the hall. But something bothered her. She had never caught guards talking