Grady (The McCade Dragon #3)
Author: Kathi S. Barton
Prologue
The queen, his queen, sat upon her throne and cried. Warrior, the only name he'd ever been given, moved closer to her, close enough that she could touch him should she wish. He gave her warmth, something he could tell she needed in this cold room, even though the hearth was overflowing with flames. The jewels, which were as much a part of her as the crown that she wore, glistened in the evening fires. And she wore them like the queen she was.
"We're to be put out, my friend. Whatever shall I do if I have no home, nor any place to house my people? They will surely die without food and shelter." He had no answer for her. Warrior thought she knew this too. But it made him feel good to know that his queen thought of the others in her keep before her own troubles. "He took it all from me. All of it. And for what, pray tell? Because he could? Because it made him feel like a king? I made him one, and he has done this to us. He thinks to take this all from me for another woman. One that will have nothing once he tires of her as well."
Warrior looked up at her when she began to pace the large room. Not much remained now, not like the riches that had been here centuries ago. Once there had been large tapestries, and long tables with bejeweled ornaments upon them. Paintings had adorned the halls of ancestors that had lived and died to make this castle the strong fortress that it was. Blades had hung along the walls, their nicks and mars in the steel telling their own stories. Riches beyond what any man could have in one lifetime had been abundant, yet the new king, the one that had been chosen for his lady, would have more, took more. Or he would kill to get it.
Babes had been born here, and as adults they had died in the same bed that they'd taken their first breath in. This place had bred queens that fought beside their men until death. And now it was in near ruin because of greed.
Warrior wanted to help her in some way, but wasn't sure what he could do. The ring on her finger flashed, and he was saddened that someone else would wear his gift to her. The jewelry he'd forged for her was the only thing that the king had not been able to find and sell off. She had done well with that at least, making sure that it was held in the family for future generations.
"The other dragons, have you told them to scatter?" He told her that they had all gone into hiding, save him. "You should have left with them, Warrior. I love you most of all, and should you be captured, then I feel all will be lost."
"I will not leave you, my queen. Without you, there would be no us." Warrior sat up when the doors opened behind them. The little boy, Caelin, came to him and climbed up on his back. A seat was there, forever, for the queen to use when she surveyed her kingdom. But little Caelin, he knew that he'd be just as welcome. "Come, my queen. Sit upon my back and let me take you someplace safe."
"No. You must be safe. For my son." He started to tell her that without her, none of them would ever be safe. "I have a plan. A good one, but I need you to help me with it. It'll work. You'll see. Caelin and his childrens' children will be safe because of it."
She told him of her plan to gather him into the jewels to keep him safe for her son. Also how doing this would keep the jewelry for them, the only thing that was of value she had left save the little boy. By separating the jewels like this, no one person would own the dragon, her dragon.
"I do not understand how my being magically separated will help your child. I can do more harm as myself than most armies can defeat."
She held her son in her arms now. Her mind, he knew, was seeing beyond what they were looking at now. The ability of sight, even her own demise, was a gift or a curse that she held to herself. Not even her husband, the traitor, knew about it.
"Many generations from now my son's children will have the pieces. And when they do, all of them will make you whole again." They both looked at the sleeping child. "Many will be broken by the curse that I shall put upon these jewels. There will be lives taken, children unborn, until the right generation comes along and makes it work. But when the right family is gathered, when they love harder than any other, there will be riches beyond their wildest dreams. Jewels and long life. There will be dragons again, too. The queen, one beyond what I am to you now, will rule you all once more as you darken the skies again."
It took them well into the next day for the magic to work. Warrior watched over her and the small boy as he got weaker; each part of Warrior that she took to add to the jewels that he'd forged for her made him less and less. He would not have it any other way, not when she was so determined to give this for her child. When there was nothing left of him but a single spark, as she called it, he felt her tears as they fell upon his back as she sat upon it one last time.