Shadowborn Queen - G. Bailey Page 0,19

his head and then moves back.

Zander grins as he stalks up to me. "You take care of yourself out there, alright? Vina worries about you."

"And I worry about her, so you better protect her." I accept his hug, but I also bring my lips close to his ear. "Or I will hurt you."

He chuckles and pulls back, his lips tilting into a crooked smile. "See you on the battlefield, Izy."

"Try not to die," I joke, more to lighten the severity of his words than anything.

The next time I see Zander Sabhain, I'll be fighting alongside him in battle. Who knows if either of us will survive. All we can do is hope the gods are looking over us.

Once we finish saying our goodbyes, Gold shifts into his dragon and takes to the clouds. I hold on to him as we soar through the Dragon Kingdom back to my guys. We arrive a short journey later. The guys have set up camp where we left them, and the smoke from their fire rises into the clear-blue sky. Scott sits with his legs dangling over the edge. He stands upon seeing us and the others join him as we land effortlessly on the ground. I grab the provisions given to us by the king and fly down to their side.

"We come bearing gifts," I shout as I grab the heavy rucksacks given to us by the king. "Fresh provisions and essentials."

I fly down beside them, and the instant my feet touch the ground, the four of them drag me into their arms. You'd think they hadn't seen me in weeks by the way they each embrace me lovingly.

Scott brushes the hair from my face as he studies me. "Did you find the key?"

"No, but we know where it is," Gold says, transformed back into his male form. "And the king has agreed to consider fighting with us in the war."

"Consider?" Luke frowns, dumping his rucksack by his feet. "What do you mean by consider?"

"The fact that the old dragon is considering joining us is a blessing," Gold replies, picking up one of the rucksacks and slinging it over his shoulder. "He'd been against it until we arrived."

Axel scoffs and begins stomping out the fire, kicking dirt over it. "Not surprised. He's a fucking snake."

Gold moves so quickly toward Axel that it's just a blur. "Don't you ever fucking insult my king like that!"

"Your king?" Axel huffs and crosses his arms. "You've changed your tune. Some king, too, if he left you to rot in prison all these years."

"Enough goddamn bickering," Scott growls, stepping between them. "So, how about the key? Did you find it?" he asks Gold.

For a long while, Gold just stares Axel down. "No, because it wasn't in Draconia."

"It's in the Deadlands," I add quietly, hoping my tone will defuse their tempers. The fact that tensions are running high isn't really surprising; the guys did just spend a whole day with each other out in the wild, without me there to calm things down "The Undead Lord stole it from King Cyrus."

"The Land-Draugar?" Luke’s eyebrows lift. "Fuck."

Axel runs a hand through his short hair and groans. "Yeah, fuck. Draugars are a fucking nightmare, especially land ones. If they've got the key, it'll be in one of their treasure caves."

"And those motherfuckers stink," Luke grumbles. "But they also sleep like the dead, so if we hit the caves during the day, we should get in easily enough."

I've only ever read about Land and Sea-Draugars. All I know is that they sleep in nests and once fought in battle with the Draconians. However, that was before they started stealing gold from the dragons. If there's one thing Draugars are powerless to resist, it's treasure.

"They're harmless for the most part," Gold says, his temper cooling down as he faces me.

Axel crosses his arms and shakes his head. "Not when you try to steal their treasure. Things can get ugly real quick." He lifts his hands into the air. "Hey, I'm not saying we're fucked. It's just not going to be easy getting outta those damn caves."

"Didn't Shades originate from the Deadlands?" I ask, looking around for Ozy.

Gold nods and follows my gaze. "They know the Deadlands better than anyone."

As if on queue, Ozy jumps out from the trees and trots over to me. I can't help but smile when I see him. He's so dang cute. And it amazes me that the Draugars were the ones that created them.

"He might be able to