Chapter Sixteen – Eyrl

His fires roared. His mouth tasted like ash, as it had ever since the day that Lily had been kidnapped. He had thought it was an assassination attempt to remove him, but it wasn't. Everything had been a distraction to kidnap Lily. His only comfort was that she had to be alive. They hadn't killed anybody – not the guards, not her parents. Why would they leave everybody alive, then take her to kill her somewhere else?

No. Lily was alive. And he would keep searching for her until she was back safe in his arms.

And the best place to start looking for her? Going right to the person he had been ignoring this whole time.

Efira was with his mother in the gardens. The dragoness gave him a smirk as he approached, and it was all he could do not to lunge at her at that moment. Lily had been telling him from the start that Efira was dangerous, but he had ignored her. Why had he ignored her? Dismissing her feelings had been such a mistake.

"What have you done with her?" he snarled.

Xæm blinked at him. "Are you speaking to me?"

"No, Mother. Her." His hands clenched. "You had Lily kidnapped. Give her back to me or I swear, by all the stars in the universe, I'll—"

"Eyrl!" Xæm put her hands on her hips. "You are being emotional. Calm yourself."

The prince glared at his mother, which clearly shocked her. They could talk about him being too emotional all they wanted, but they'd see true emotion soon enough. "I will not calm while that wretch has my mate squirreled away somewhere."

"I?"

Xæm ignored Efira's false shock and focused on her son. "That is a heavy accusation, Eyrl. What proof do you have? What evidence?"

Eyrl forced himself to take a step back. His mother wasn't going to listen to him any more than he listened to Lily. But if the accusation was there, it might be enough to keep her under surveillance while the ships scoured the galaxy as they searched for his mate.

"The day that Lily announced her pregnancy, Efira threatened her."

"I did no such thing. In hindsight, my words to the human might have been misconstrued, but I was only expressing concerns that she does not get overly excited, for the child's sake." Efira didn't even bother to look at him, instead stepping closer to Xæm.

Eyrl's nostrils flared and a tendril of smoke escaped. "Don't bother. I tried to dismiss it as a misunderstanding, but if that was the case, then she would have been able to comfort herself. Lily might be human, but she's not stupid. She knew what you were doing."

Efira snorted.

"What exactly did she say?" Xæm asked, ignoring her lady-in-waiting.

"I don't know exactly," Eyrl admitted reluctantly. "But Lily was terrified of her. She didn't feel safe in our home because of that dragoness."

Efira smoothed her robes and fluffed her hair. "Awfully convenient that your evidence to accuse me of kidnapping our future queen consort is based solely on the emotions of said queen consort. I wasn't aware that we were putting feelings into courts of—"

Xæm held up her hand. "Silence."

"My queen, you can't be taking him seriously."

"Did I ask you to continue speaking?"

Efira closed her mouth and bowed her head.

"I know that everybody thinks that Lily is too emotional because she shows it when she's happy and sad and doesn't deny that she has feelings." Eyrl sucked in a deep breath as his flame flickered. What would he do if he lost her forever? "But she doesn't scare easily. I know her well enough to say that with all conviction. She's a strong female."

"There are ancient studies that show that intuition and feelings may have a basis in minute details that are impossible to catalog." Xæm glanced at Efira. "I have been less than pleased with you of late. I know that you have been trying to weaken my son's position as my heir. I had hoped that you who would be mates, but your disgust with him because he is male is as bad as any human reacting on pure emotion.

Efira's eyes widened. Her hands went rigid. "My queen, if I've displeased you, I apologize—"

"If? I just said that you have, and yet you say ‘if?’ Are you trying to make me doubt my own observations as well?"

Efira's pink tongue darted over the fine scales of her lips. "My queen, forgive me for speaking my mind. Your son has always been emotional. Too emotional. He wants to tear down the fabric of our society and open it for zealots and fanatics to take over. And look, here! He's accusing me of this crime that I could not have committed because he's angry that he managed to lose his pregnant mate."

Eyrl had never considered himself overly violent. He knew that his mother could well handle Efira's statements, knew that she was just trying to inflame him. It didn't matter. The tone, the glance she gave him, the statement– it was too much. He had been running on high adrenaline ever since Lily had been captured, and now he lunged.

His hands grasped the dragoness' shoulders and he shook her hard. "I didn't lose her! You stole her! Give her back. Give her back!"

"Guard!" Xæm shouted. "Eyrl, release her at once. You've already earned yourself an arrest by attacking her. Don't you dare make this worse for yourself."

Eyrl released Efira at once. She gave him a triumphant look as the guards rushed towards them. His heart hammered as he backed away. This was what she wanted. With him arrested, it would give everything he had just said even less credibility.

He couldn't be arrested, though. If that happened, the focus would be on him and his trial. Not getting Lily back. Quom hurried towards him from behind the guards. Their eyes met. Maybe his manservant knew what he was about to do. Maybe the same thoughts were running through his head. In the end, it didn't matter.

Both of them released their beasts at the same times. The guards stopped for the briefest moment before they shifted forms as well. Eyrl lunged for the nearest one while another darted past him. That one snatched Xæm and Efira in his claws and, beating his wings, flew away quickly.

Eyrl didn't spare any thought to that. He snarled and bellowed as he curled his scaly hands into fists and pummeled the guard. A wing hit him in the face and he let out a burst of flame, punching a hole through the thin membrane. The guard roared. Another one of them jumped onto his back. Quom grabbed the guard by the throat and dragged him off the prince.

Another guard. Eyrl bit down hard on his enemy's shoulder, scratching at its legs. Scales and blood spurted into the hair. A blow to the side of his face sent him reeling backward. A snarl rose with another burst of flame that he sent at the guards. They hunkered down, using their wings to shield their eyes.

Quom leaped over the one he was grappling with and planted himself in front of Eyrl. He cast a glance over his shoulder and Eyrl understood. He crouched, then threw himself into the air as Quom held off the guards. The blue glass shattered as he punched through it, and he used the steel frame to briefly regain balance before his wings beat the air and he lifted off.

He heard the roars behind him but didn't turn back.

Knowing that he didn't have much time, Eyrl headed for the transports. He wouldn’t be able to take his research vessel; it needed to be refueled and he couldn't fly it on his own. If the captain was told to detain him, then he'd be right back in jail.

Lily was out there. And he was going to find her.

He was surprised to see Zaner there already. When he landed and shifted beside her, she started with surprise. "My prince, what are you—"

"I'm going to find Lily."

The elderly dragoness's jaw hung open, but when he darted past her into the belly of the small ship, she followed. She didn't speak as he started the engines and flew away from Bronæl. Possibly, he thought, for the last time.

Eventually, Zaner spoke. "How did you know?"

"How did I know what?"

"I'm not proud of it."

Eyrl turned to her. "What are you talking about?"

"The tracer . . . " Zaner hung her head. "I acted impulsively and on emotion. I saw the way Efira looked at Lily, and I feared for her safety. So I placed a tracer in her blood. Without her permission. I know it was wrong, but now we have a way to find her."

Relief broke over him. He laughed and hugged the dragoness. "I don't care if it was impulsive. We can find her now. And we can save her."

"Just us?" Zaner shifted and twisted her hands. "No one else?"

"No." Eyrl shook his head. "Now access your tracer. The sooner we find her, the sooner she will be safe."