Addolgar didn’t understand. Ghleanna was a great soldier, but when she lost her temper . . . well, he just knew his sister, and Ailean knew his daughter. So he didn’t understand why his father would stop him from protecting Braith—until he saw Braith protecting herself.
It wasn’t Braith’s skills that stopped him in his tracks but her strength, her power.
Ghleanna, a true battle-hardened soldier, didn’t bother to play by the dragon rules of fighting etiquette. Instead, she just swung her fist—and Braith caught it. Easily. Shocking even Ghleanna, who couldn’t pull her hand away. After a moment of silence and intense glaring, Braith yanked Ghleanna forward at the same time she swung her free fist. Her knuckles slammed into Ghleanna’s face, blood splattered, and after Braith released Ghleanna’s hand, Addolgar’s sister crashed to the ground. She was out cold, her nose broken from the looks of it.
Unfortunately, the other Cadwaladrs that were lurking nearby, most likely using the courtyard to sleep off last night’s drink, were now awake and moving forward. As one, as they’d been trained to move since hatching, they surrounded Braith. One of their own had been harmed. No matter the situation, Cadwaladrs always protected their own, whether it was from humans or other dragons or bloody centaurs. They prided themselves on their loyalty to blood and kin.
And Braith was neither.
Braith slowly looked over those surrounding her, then cracked her neck. It must have been the sound of those bones grinding that panicked one of his younger cousins. She moved first, coming at Braith quick and hard, but she barely got within three feet of her before Braith’s forearm hit her with such force, she sent the young She-dragon flying back and through the wall of one of the courtyard buildings. That’s when the others moved, Addolgar’s kin descending on Braith like the battle dogs the royals called them.
But, wearing only his shirt and with no weapons, Braith stood her ground as he’d never seen anyone stand their ground before. She wasn’t graceful. She wasn’t a proper soldier. No. Braith of the Darkness was simply brutal . . . vicious . . . like a powerful pit dog. There wasn’t one part of her body she wasn’t willing to risk in order to harm her opponent. Yet her innate strength seemed to protect her, and she used that strength without pity, without regret.
“Gods,” Addolgar breathed.
“I know.” Ailean glanced behind him before softly admitting, “Just like her mum, that one. I knew her mum long ago. Before she met Emyr.”
“Is there anyone you hadn’t f**ked before you mated with Mum?”
“One or two,” his father teased. “Of course, those were girls that,” he felt the need to add, “really didn’t like males in the first place.”
Addolgar rolled his eyes, unwilling to discuss his father’s past conquests further, which was when he noticed that Braith still stood—while the rest of his family did not.
He glanced at his father. “It was like watching one big dog massacre a gang of smaller, weaker dogs.”
“Like I said, she’s truly her mum’s offspring. That female had massive arms and a thick neck. But a lovely long tail,” he added with a sigh.
“I don’t know how Mum tolerates you.”
“She knows that my heart and soul belong only to her. But me past is me own.”
Braith looked back at Addolgar, sneering at him, one side of her top lip rising a bit to illustrate her true disgust. Then she stepped over his kin and headed off.
But as Braith walked, she didn’t bother to acknowledge the extremely old She-dragon walking toward her in human form, a long, hooded robe covering her from head to booted feet. She moved slowly, leaning heavily on a long walking stick.
Braith had just passed her when the She-dragon’s free hand came up and her fingers curled into a fist.
Braith stopped, her own hands reaching for her throat, and began to gasp. Her fingers pawed at what was not there, her body struggling against what no one could see.
The old She-dragon kept walking forward, her hand still in a fist, and as she moved, Braith was dragged along with her. She still struggled, still tried to free herself from the invisible grip, but it was useless.
Addolgar tried to go to help her, but his father’s grip tightened, and now with no humor in his usually mirth-filled face, Ailean the Wicked gave a quick shake of his head. “Not this time, boy. This you don’t do. This you don’t ever do.”
Ailean looked over his shoulder and called out, “Shalin. We need you. Now.”
By the time Addolgar’s mother reached Ailean, the old She-dragon stood in front of the castle stairs and Braith’s human face was beginning to turn blue.
“The shame,” a voice said from deep inside that hooded robe. “The shame of seein’ me own kin getting bounced around like toys by this bit of a lizard.”
Brigida the Foul, a more than nine-hundred-year-old Cadwaladr Elder, glared up the stairs at Ailean. Her hood finally fell back, revealing a human face that had been through much over the years and long, white hair. Not the white hair of age—Brigida had been blessed by the gods with that mane of hair since hatching. She was one of the rare White Dragonwitches and feared—for good reason—throughout the Southlands and beyond.
Everyone, even the Cadwaladrs, kept waiting for her to die . . . but she simply wouldn’t. She wouldn’t!
“Hello, Great-Aunt Brigida,” Shalin cheerfully greeted. “What a surprise to see you here. It’s been much too long.”
“Always so cheery, now that you’ve got the idiot here plowing ya on the regular.”
Addolgar’s mother smiled in the face of that appalling insult and said, “Would you like me to show you an available room? I think your favorite is—”
“Quiet, girl! With all that chattering! It annoys me.” Brigida glanced at the still-struggling Braith.
“Who is this?”
Ailean opened his mouth, but Brigida cut him off with a curt, “I’m talking to the boy.”
Addolgar realized she was talking to him. “Uh . . .” Addolgar cleared his throat. “This is Braith of the Darkness.”
“Who is her kin, boy? I care not for her name.”
“She’s a Daughter of the House of Penarddun.”
His great-great-aunt made a sound that some generous soul might call a laugh. “Well then . . . that explains so much.”
“She’s here under my protection, Great-Aunt.”
“Is she?” Brigida sneered. “Well, you’re doing a bang-up job since she just beat up your kin and almost walked out of here to wherever she was headed.”
“It’s all a misunderstanding. I just need time to speak to her. So could you please . . . unhinge?”
“You’ll need some chains,” she replied.
“Chains?”
Brigida lifted her fist, and Braith’s body rose from the ground at the same time. Then Brigida dropped her fist hard and Braith slammed into the ground, knocked out completely from the impact.
Poor thing. If she wasn’t being thrown into trees or attacked by his kin, she was being mystically flung to the ground by his old, terrifying great-great-aunt.
It was really going to be impossible to talk to Braith in a rational, calm manner after all this.Addolgar looked at his father. “Uncle Arranz leave those chains of his around?”
“Check our room, dear,” Shalin suggested. A suggestion that had Addolgar and Brigida staring at her while his father grinned and gazed off across the courtyard. Shalin’s pale, freckled face flushed a deep, extremely bright, red.
His poor mother lifted her skirt so it didn’t drag on the ground and quickly said to Brigida, “Why don’t I get your room ready, Great-Aunt?” She spun and practically ran off.
Brigida shook her head at Ailean, her white hair whipping around her brutally scarred face. “Another poor female you’ve turned into a whore, Ailean the Slag.”
Ailean didn’t have the decency to be a little humble. Instead, his grin stretched into an outright leer and the old witch sucked her tongue against her teeth before slowly walking up the stairs, refusing Addolgar’s offer of assistance.
“Get your bit of lizard, Addolgar the Cheerful. Let’s get her secured before she wakes up and tears the walls of this ridiculous place down around us.”
And based on what Addolgar had already seen . . . Braith was the one dragon who could do just that with very little effort.
Oh, and as for his battling kin? They were already starting to wake up, which meant the complaining would come soon enough because none of them liked to lose. Especially when they lost to a bloody royal.

Latest Chapter
Chapter 32
“I did, too,” Éibhear continued to complain. “But apparently my father had other ideas.”“It was either that,” Addolgar shot back at the boy, “or let Bercelak cut off your head like he planned!”Éibhear, human and dressed in chain mail and the surcoat of some long-dead army, put his hands on his hips. “Why? Because I didn’t agree with the old bastard?”“You’re a soldier!” Addolgar yelled. “You don’t agree. You don’t disagree. You follow orders!”The boy raised his hands in th
Chapter 31
Unsure what to do, Braith did what she always did. She sort of folded in on herself. It was how she’d always handled her father when . . . well, whenever he was around. Pretending nothing bothered her was something Braith had always been good at, and she put those years of practice to excellent use now. But as she looked around the table of amiably chatting dragons, she noticed that Addolgar’s mother was staring at her.When she saw that Braith was looking her way, the She-dragon raised her brows. Braith frowned, confused. Shalin raised her brows again and then gestured to Addolgar with a tilt of her head. Still unclear what she was trying to tell her, Braith gave a small shake of her head.That’s when Shalin the Innocent, Tamer of Ailean the Slag, slammed her hands down on the table and b
Chapter 30
“Well,” Crystin said, “we’ll be staying here at least the night so I hope you’ll have time for dinner and a little chat about old . . .”Crystin’s words faded away as three male dragons in human form walked out of the Main Hall doors. Addolgar didn’t recognize them, but Caron ran up the stairs and threw herself into one of the dragons’ arms.“Daddy!”Crystin crossed her arms over her chest and gawked up the stairs at her mate. “What the hells are you lot doing here?”“Oh,” Shalin said, smiling, “when I heard from Addolgar that all of you were safe and coming back to the Southlands together, I sent out messengers to retrieve your mates since I knew they were part of the troops camped not too far from here. Isn’t that fortuitous?”“Aye,” Crystin muttered. “So very fortuitous.”The three males glowered down the sta
Chapter 29
“You don’t think we’re coming with you?” Crystin snapped, suddenly appearing quite annoyed. “Do you really think we’d let you meet that Red bitch on your own?”“Auntie Crystin—”“Shut up. You ramble like your mother sometimes.”Braith looked up at him. “I ramble?”“Not compared to my people,” Addolgar admitted.Crystin faced her sisters. “We need to get these three idiots back to Devenallt Mountain without breaking our backs in the process. Any suggestions?”“Aye,” Owena said. “I’ve got one.” She held out her claw to Addolgar. “Give us your ax, yeah?”Addolgar took a step back. “Owena . . . no.”“Just give us your ax. We’ll take care of the rest.”Disgusted, but not seeing much option, he looked at Braith. “And are you all right with that?&
Chapter 28
“I was so worried,” she told him, “when Heledd told us we hadn’t gotten all of them. I realized they must have come in through another way.”“Lightnings like the sneak attack. Too bad for them, I love killing Lightnings, so it all worked in my favor.”“Good job, Mountain,” Crystin praised. “Your father would be proud of you, too, I think.”“And I thought you knew my father.”Braith leaned her head back and looked up at Addolgar. “Wait, why do I need your hammer?”“It’s your hammer now. At least until we have one made for you. And you’ll need it for when we go after your bastard father.”Braith broke out in another smile that warmed Addolgar’s heart. She was whole now, wasn’t she? Truly whole.Crystin stepped up to them, placed her claw on Braith’s shoulder. “We’ll clean up this gods-damn mess,
Chapter 27
“Oh, no you don’t,” a male said. He didn’t seem to care what she’d done to his comrade.Braith tried to grab something she could hold on to, but her talons tore through nothing but dirt and stone.She was yanked back to the Lightning and, desperate, she kicked out, hitting him in the chest. With an “oof!” he flew back several feet, and Braith tried again to get to her claws.“Get that one!” someone yelled, and Braith knew they were talking about her.Addolgar slid down the wall and landed on his ass. He could already hear his father telling him this was his fault because he wasn’t paying attention! And knowing the old bastard was right, yet again, did nothing but piss Addolgar off.
You may also like
The Overpowered Grass Magician
Shame_less00742.5K viewsThe Matriarch
Remnis Luz12.6K viewsThe Amazing Sidekick
krushandkill13.7K viewsThe Omnipotent Hero System War I [UNEDITED]
Hazeus11.8K viewsCruel Angel's Thesis
Jason Kz1.2K viewsThe Anchor
Faith Osanife1.3K viewsRISE OF THE DRAGON HEIR: from amnesia to ascension
Lord Comfort 2.1K viewsThe Blade of Darkness
The Supreme writer 1.0K views
