Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,108

connection to the other dragons, he could feel it seeping into them as well.

It took a while. The power Jessica had been drawing was enormous, and it had very nearly drained all of the dragons of their power. Had they not intervened, Jessica would have done so.

He didn’t want to damage the tower, or the power that came from it as he suspected it an ancient gift from the dragons. That would be a question for another time. As far as he knew, it was possible that the power within this tower prevented others from having a connection to the dragons.

Jason came to the edge of the tower.

Dragons circled high overhead. In the distance, he could feel as the dragons began to assert control over their energy again. He could feel that power flowing through them. There was something else out there. A different sense than what had been there before.

The females. They were guiding the dragons, giving them energy. They were doing something to them, and doing something for them. Jason had no idea what that was, only that something about them changed when the females were there.

“I can feel that,” Janeya said.

Jason nodded. “I can feel that as well.”

“It’s… freeing.”

Jason looked all around the city.

For the first time, he felt as if he were seeing it without illusion.

In addition to the tower, there were dozens of other buildings all made of the same white stone. The massive wall around it was a different stone, though he had a sense of heat from within that stone as well. People out in the streets looked up at the dragons, many of them stopping and staring.

Jason remembered what David had once told him, the way that he had warned him that people would fear the dragons. They would have to ensure otherwise. Somehow, they would have to make sure that the dragons were viewed as safe, not a danger. Not a threat.

“What now?” Janeya asked, joining him at the edge of the tower.

“Now we have to figure out what we will do next.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked him.

“I haven’t given it much thought. For a long time, I had wanted to simply end the fighting, but…” Now it seemed he had. Regardless of anything else, the fighting with the Dragon Souls, and with Lorach, could be over. “This is yours,” he said to her. “All of this. You really can be the dragon queen.”

She shook her head, turning away from the city. “That’s never been what I wanted. I wanted to know the dragons. That was what Lorren taught me.” Jason smiled, and she glared at him. “Why are you smiling? I thought you were going to want to make me stay here.”

“I’m not going to make you stay anywhere that you don’t want to be,” he said. “You don’t want to rule in Lorach, but someone needs to.”

“They do,” she said.

“And I suspect it needs to be somebody with ties to the ruling family.”

He focused on the ice dragon. He could feel him out there in the distance, high overhead, back in the north. Jason reached a hand out for Janeya, and she took it. While holding onto her, he called to the north energy and ice lightning caught him, carrying him up.

He landed on the ice dragon’s back. From there, Jason tapped on his side. It didn’t take long before they headed toward Dragon Haven. The illusion had long ago been shattered, leaving the city visible.

There was something beautiful about it, but he realized that something was not quite right. The ice dragon came to land and Jason hurried into the main building, Janeya at his side. She had been mostly quiet, and he expected her to be uncertain, though he wondered if she would agree to what he would suggest.

When he reached the main chamber, the throne room, he paused. There was a sense of energy within it. He pushed the door open and found Sarah alone within it. She looked up, her gaze darting from him to Janeya.

“It’s done?” she asked. “She’s gone?”

“It’s done,” he said.

Sarah looked over to Janeya. He couldn’t read the expression on her face, but thought it might be fear. “Is she—”

Jason shook his head. “She doesn’t want to rule in Lorach.”

“She’s one of their family.”

“She is, but you are, as well.”

“Distantly,” Sarah said, turning away.

Jason crossed the chamber and touched her arm. It no longer felt right to take her hand, though he wasn’t sure if she would even