The Queen's Dance (Emerging Queens)

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “In a garage.”

  Sounded like a nine-to-five job. She should be able to fly there, pick up Carla, and fly back before he knew it, and before a mob could form for pictures. If worst came to worst, and Carla was hustling her for a picture, they could get one of her flying away. But if her sister really was telling the truth, Margery couldn’t risk that she wasn’t compatible with the BabyDragon pill. She’d bring Carla back here and see if Joe and their mother had done irrevocable damage or if Carla could rise above her upbringing and stop stealing and hustling. Then she’d contact Nessie for help. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Margery emailed the article off to her editor and walked out to the end of the dock. “Remy?” she called.

  He was already there. He popped his head out of the water. “What’s up?” he asked, not bothering to switch forms.

  “My sister just called. She claims to be pregnant by a dragon. I told her I’d come pick her up.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  Margery folded her arms and grimaced. “I told you, she’s a grifter. She’s into all sorts of confidence schemes. I don’t trust her not to be making this up for a shit ton of money.”

  “So don’t go.”

  “She’s my only sister. And I left her behind once. I don’t think I could live with myself if I did again.”

  Remy leaped up onto the dock in his human form. “Are we driving or flying?”

  “It’ll be quicker to fly, but it’s on Long Island, so we could drive. Still, I’d rather get in and out quickly to avoid her father.” And any crazies with a cell phone or a camera.

  “Leave a message with Arianna to let her know we’ll be in her territory helping out another BabyDragon victim.”

  “I don’t want to rile up Reed if this turns out to be fake.”

  “Better safe than sorry.” Remy kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back. I need to grab some things from the cabin.”

  She gaped after him for a moment. He hadn’t even tried to talk her out of it. He hated to leave his territory, and for him to blithely agree to fly in her claws while they tracked down her sister made her love him all the more. Unlike Casimiro, he didn’t want her to be something she wasn’t. He would have loved her as a human as much as he loved her as a dragon. And even if the Queens’ conclave told her she had to move, Remy would be at her side.

  “You are my world,” he had said. And she believed him.

  About twenty minutes later, they were off. Margery held Remy in one of her claws. Flying was freedom. Oh, how she’d missed it! She was so glad that her powers had come back. If she lost the sky, she would have been miserable. Though she’d spent her entire life preshift unable to soar on the wind, it had always been a part of her.

  The sun played hide-and-seek with the dark clouds moving in. They might be flying back in a rainstorm, but even getting drenched didn’t bother her. She tilted her wing into a steep dive and then cut up at the last minute to take advantage of the thermal. Second nature to conserve the energy.

  Remy whooped like a child on a roller coaster, so she darted in and out of the clouds, doing loops and barrel rolls. “Stop. I’m going to puke,” he laughed.

  “Good. Me, too,” she said, turning her face to the sun.

  And that’s when she saw the dragons out of the corner of her eye. She faded up into the clouds, for a better look.

  I’m invisible.

  But they were coming straight at her hiding spot.

  “I don’t like the look of this,” she said. There was a Chinese dragon, a Celtic dragon, and a chimera. “How are they finding me?”

  “Me,” he said. “You can fade into the clouds, but my human shape in the sky is a dead giveaway.”

  Margery sped through a cumulus cloud formation, hoping the puffiness would cloak Remy in her claws. It worked for a minute, but then the big Celtic just plowed through.

  “Shit.” Margery dived and just managed to escape the Chinese dragon. What the hell was going on here? Was this retaliation about the article? She gritted her teeth and flew higher toward the sun. She wasn’t in human form. If they wanted to take her, they were going to have to work for it.

  “Leave me alone,” she shouted to them. “I have a consort and a protector.”

  The three dragons didn’t answer. She put on the speed, but they followed. Worse, they were gaining on her.

  “Fly out over the water and drop me. Then hide in the clouds.” Remy said.

  “No, I’m going to land. They won’t dare try to take me in public.”

  “Don’t bet on that.”

  She whirled and caught her pursuers unaware. Dropping like a stone to give herself more speed, she tucked her wings and positioned herself as aerodynamically as she could. She wasn’t expecting the breath weapon from the Celtic dragon, though.

  An arc of lightning hit her in the back, and she reflexively opened her claws. As the second bolt hit her, agony raced up and down her spine. She almost didn’t feel the weighted net engulf her.

  Remy!

  She watched him fall, unable to move to protect him. Unable to swoop down and save him. They weren’t over water. He was going to crash into the pavement.

  “Remy,” she cried, and the third lightning bolt made the world go black.

  …

  Remy spread his arms and legs out to stop the speed of his descent and watched in horror as his consort was electrocuted and netted. The three studs didn’t spare him a second glance. And why should they? He was useless as tits on a bull up here.

  Or was he?

  Water called to him. He smelled it. There, in the cloud.

  Come to me.

  Rain fell, soaking down on him as he fell toward the earth. He sent the raindrops like little bullets into the chimera’s fat ass. It yelped and whirled to fight the invisible enemy that was shredding its skin like shrapnel.

  “Over here,” he snarled, sending an arrow of water into the Celtic’s flank.

  The Celtic just flew on with an unconscious Margery in his claws. The Chinese dragon spared him a glance over his shoulder and followed the Celtic. The chimera, enraged and bloodied, dived for him.

  Remy shifted, and the bulk of his tail slammed the chimera upside all three heads. “Who sent you?” he snarled.

  “Die.” The chimera came after him, all teeth and claws.

  Remy let the attack hit so he could coil his body around the other dragon, trapping the wings under his constricting bulk. Tucking his chin to save his throat from being ripped out, he squeezed tighter as the chimera ripped chunks of his flesh away. He concentrated and made the rain fall like hail on the parts of the chimera’s body that weren’t gripped in his coils.

  After a moment more of pounding and squeezing, the chimera realized they were plummeting to the earth.

  “Are you trying to kill us both?” he shouted.

  “My Queen is dead. I’m dead anyway.”

  “She’s not dead. Smythe gave specific orders. I would never accept a contract to kill a Queen.”

  The chimera didn’t realize the rain was pushing them out to Long Island Sound, slowly. Remy hoped it would be enough. But as if the ocean sensed his thoughts, a spray fountained up and coiled around them. The stream yanked them down, fast.

  All three of the chimera’s heads screamed as they headed toward the water at a breakneck speed.

  “Where’s he taking her?”

  “Smythe Industries,” the chimera babbled. “Let me go.” He struggled, but Remy only tightened around him more.

  “Why does he want her?”

  “He wants to leverage her freedom for another shipment of pills.”

  The coil of water turned into a bubble, and they hit the water with enough force to send a massive wave all over Jones Beach. But the bubble protected them from impact. The salt water stung his eyes; he preferred the crisp freshwater of lakes and rivers. The sheer power of the ocean drenched his cuts and bruises, and he roared in agony even as they healed up. T
alk about pouring salt into fresh wounds. With a final squeeze of his coils, Remy broke the chimera’s back and watched him sink and drown in a painful death.

  Remy was not a stone-cold killer. But he would not stand for an attack on his Queen.

  Kill him.

  This time his mother and he were in perfect agreement.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Margery came to with the sun on her face and the wind caressing her back. She didn’t open her eyes yet, feigning unconsciousness while she took stock of the situation. The weighted net still held her immobile on a sun-warmed platform. Whoever had kidnapped her this time knew their stuff. They wanted her alive.

  “Remy,” she called out mentally. Then she realized Remy was either dead or recovering from being smashed into the ground from thirty thousand feet in the air. Pain racked her, and she stifled a sob. Why had she listened to her sister? Why hadn’t they taken his truck? Remy would still be alive if they’d just driven to Long Island.

  “She’s awake,” a man’s voice said from a few yards away.

  I am invisible.

  “It’s a neat trick, but you can’t hide your mass under the net. So there is an invisible dragon shape where my Queen once was,” another voice said.

  Margery opened her eyes and squinted up at her captors. She recognized Smythe from the files she’d read, but she didn’t recognize the two hard-faced mercenaries standing next to him. “You don’t think you’re going to get away with this, do you?” she said with more bravado than she felt.

  “Your consort is dead. He fought well. He took out one of my men. It’s impressive for a lead balloon.”

  Oh, Remy. She wouldn’t let these bastards see her cry, but she couldn’t stop her lower lip from trembling or the hot pain in her heart that sent tears to her eyes.

  “On the other hand, your protector is overseas singing love ballads to women who will line up to have his babies. He isn’t even thinking of you right now. And your guards are over five hours away, even if they knew where you were,” Smythe said while the mercenaries just glared at her.

  “They’ll come looking for me.” Eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

  “And they won’t find you. Viktor and Cesar will be taking you back to one of their lairs until Sebastian sees fit to give up a crate of the 187-5 pills. I’ve made a point of not knowing where these two studs are from or if those are even their real names.”

  “How can you trust them, then?” She fought to keep her voice from shaking.

  “We’ll be splitting the pills three ways. I assure you, they’ll do anything for a chance to have a harem of pregnant women.”

  “But they might not be compatible. The women need to be tested first. And you don’t have to do this. Just petition the Order and they’ll test your mistresses.”

  One of the mercenaries snorted. “I’ve been waiting years.”

  “This drug will kill any woman who isn’t compatible and who doesn’t have proper medical care.” No response. She tried another tactic. “Besides, there are hundreds of Queens emerging. Wouldn’t you rather have a mate?”

  “A mate?” Smythe snorted. “I’ve waited a thousand years. Served brutal Queens I would just as soon have seen dead. I want nothing to do with Queens.”

  “What about you two?” Margery asked, trying not to flinch from the rabid dislike in their eyes.

  “They’re not too fond of Queens, either. But perhaps you could sweeten their disposition if you bear them sons.”

  “No.” Margery recoiled. She shifted back to human, and instead of trying to duck under the weighted net as it tightened to fit her new shape, she pulled out her cell phone.

  “Why the hell does she still have that?” Smythe snarled.

  “She didn’t have it when she was flying.” The two goons rushed toward her, pulling the net up and scrambling for her.

  Margery triggered her social media accounts. “Smythe has kidnapped me. Send help.”

  “Stop her. Get that away from her.”

  She curled into a fetal position, glad to be free of the net but knowing she didn’t have a lot of time to get her message out. Scurrying back brought her a few more precious seconds to publish her messages.

  “He wants to trade me for a carton of BabyDragon. I want him and his goons Viktor and Cesar stopped.”

  “You’ll be dead long before we are,” Viktor said, grabbing her by her shoulders. She kicked out at him, but he dodged and threw her against the wall. Cesar smacked her phone out of her hand and crushed it under his foot.

  Shifting, she took a running start to jump off the building, but Viktor in his full Celtic form slammed her to the ground like swatting a fly.

  Oh, shit, that hurt. Her head spun from the impact, and she thought he’d cracked one of her ribs.

  “Take her and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Cesar threw the net over her again. She screamed as the electricity short-circuited her brain. The net collapsed around her, trapping her inside. In the haze of her pain, the sunlight parted, and she saw Casimiro flying in fast with Remy, in human form, on his back. She convulsed in laughter. The shit her mind came up with. At least she got to see Remy again, if only in her hallucinations. But when she blinked to clear the image, not only were they still there, they were in striking distance.

  “What the hell are you laughing at, bitch?” Cesar said, kicking her in the ribs.

  “Your death, motherfucker.” Remy leaped, shifting midair to slam into the Celtic.

  Casimiro dived into Cesar.

  She pulled with all her strength, but she couldn’t remove the damned weighted net that was wrapped around her. The sounds of battle assaulted her ears: growls, snapping, and flesh being rent with claws and teeth. The smell of blood gagged her.

  “Watch out for Smythe,” she shouted as his dragon form blotted out the sun. But instead of joining the fray, he snagged her net in his claws and dragged her off the roof with him.

  “Remy,” she screamed as he dived for them.

  “Are you insane?” Smythe said as Remy clamped his mouth on his neck. The three of them plummeted toward the parking lot, where media vans and cars were screeching in to film the fiasco. The power of social media at work. She was on her way to starting another riot. Smythe’s wings flapped, but Remy was too heavy and they plunged for the ground.

  So he dropped her.

  Margery kicked and struggled, but she couldn’t get the net off. Remy released Smythe and snagged the net in his teeth, biting through it. Lightning arced around him as he flung it off her.

  “Your turn to save me,” he said, shifting to human.

  She caught him in her claws and winged up seconds before they smashed into the pavement.

  “I am a lover, not a fighter,” Casimiro shouted from the rooftop down at them.

  Easing them to the ground, Margery shifted and flung herself into Remy’s arms. “I love you. I thought you were dead. I wanted to die, too.”

  “A little help here. I’m outnumbered,” Casimiro called out.

  A team from the dragon embassy flew overhead.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Remy said between kisses. “Not ever. I love you, my Queen.”

  The cameras were rolling while they kissed.

  “Isn’t anyone going to notice my bravery up here?” Casimiro called down. “Hello?”

  Epilogue

  When Margery kicked in the door of her old home, she scared the shit out of her stepfather. Literally. But Carla wasn’t there, and he hadn’t seen the “quote little whore unquote” in months. After Casimiro threw him into a wall, Remy had quiet words with him that evacuated the rest of his bowels.

  It wasn’t until Reed’s strike team took down Smythe’s lair brick by brick that they found his harem. Carla was one of them. She hadn’t been lying. She was pregnant, and Smythe was the boyfriend Carla had told her about. He had dug into Margery’s past and courted her sister in case he ever needed to use her as leverage. Smythe had forced Car
la to call her so he could set up his trap.

  Remy pulled some strings, and soon Carla was on a plane to Nessie and Sebastian. They said they would make sure she survived, no matter what.

  Smythe escaped.

  But Margery made sure that he was the most hated dragon in the world. She wrote a firsthand account of her capture for all the worlds’ papers and then interviewed the women of his harem. He’d be found—it was just a matter of time and patience. The elder Queens gave Smythe a thumbs-down, which, like in Roman times, meant he was a dead man. The new Queens were being a little more proactive. Viola was trying to fine-tune her weave powers so she could track studs as well as Queens. After all, Smythe had taken off with her pension—not that she needed it, but she had slotted it for more yarn.

  Margery dragged Remy to Maui for Christmas to visit Bella and her little girl, but really it was to escape the Vermont winter. The New Year brought Frieda’s son and Lisa’s son into the world. But it wasn’t an easy birth for either mother or hatchlings, and they remained under doctors’ care until they gained strength.

  And Casimiro got great press on his new album featuring a love song about opposites finding out they’re soul mates. It went triple platinum.

  Famous Queens

  Before the events in The Queen’s Wings, there were only five female dragons left in the world. They are referred to as the elder Queens and held the following territories.

  Cassandra—Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

  Lerisse—France, Italy, India, and Africa

  Esmeralda—North and South America

  Choyo—Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Japan

  Hui Zhong—Russia and China

  After the events in The Queen’s Wings, hundreds of Queens who were suppressed from shifting into dragons at puberty were released.

  Carolyn chose consort Reed (The Queen’s Wings). Temporary territory, Connecticut, USA.

  Arianna chose consort Jack (The Queen’s Wings). Temporary territory, New York, USA.

  Viola chose consort Sergei (The Queen’s Flight). Temporary territory, Greenland, with land rights in Vermont, USA.