Page 147 of Ashborne Phoenix

I shrugged. “The brooding arrogance would certainly fit.”

Hanson’s gaze flattened, but Grace slapped my leg. “Stop taunting. He clearly knows what’s going on. Maybe he can help!”

“Don’t be so quick to trust,” I told her, though I hadn’t missed that in close proximity to the man, my senses didn’t alarm. Was that because he was safe? Or because the loss of my dark power had taken the edge off my blade, as well? “This man kept herds of mindless dragons for his own personal use—a practice I recently learned my mother was also involved in.”

“Involved?” he scoffed. “She ordered every man who ran the network.”

I blinked, but tried not to show him that he’d startled me. Did he know how? Could he finally unveil the means by which those fuckers had stolen the minds of dragons and kept them for such petty use?

Hanson frowned, looking between Grace and me with something akin to frustration on his features.

“One of you has to be the first to trust,” Grace said simply. “Lord Hanson, I couldn’t recommend my husband more highly. He has worked against the Cruors from the beginning, and as you’ve apparently heard, took victory over them last night.”

I turned on her, ready to remind her that the blow they suffered came at her hands, but Hanson replied.

“The dragons I held were not hindered by me. I was unaware, until my dealings with Bren, that their… mindset was unusual. They’re the only dragons I’ve ever come in direct contact with, and they were young, so I couldn’t know—”

“Bullshit. The wild herds around here are enormous. You’ve seen dragons fly and perch every day for your entire life!” I spat.

He fixed me with a dark gaze. “I’ve had no contact with those dragons. No way to measure their behavior. Until I met Ruin, I’d never been in the same meadow as a dragon, let alone touched one.”

“And that’s another point! If the former Furyknight Ruin is your measure of an ally, then we have no common enemy—you are my enemy!”

“If you killed Breckon, and your mother, and her allies, then we very definitely have the same enemy!” the man snapped.

Both of us went quiet. Grace sighed. I wanted to reassure her, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the man. I knew too little of him. Just because he was apparently unharmed by that rebounding spell last night, didn’t mean he was a good man. It just made it likely he’d never had a spell cast upon him by my mother. Which was a vote in his favor, I supposed.

Grace’s hand appeared in mine, and I looked down. Her eyes were big and pleading. I sighed. Then turned back to the Lord with a firm expression.

“If you heard rumors that my mother, and her circle, were killed or… wounded early this morning, you heard true,” I said reluctantly. After all, it would be public knowledge soon enough. No doubt some of the minor lords and ladies had already fled after seeing bodies in the corridors. It wasn’t like they were a secret.

“The dragons fighting in the sky, and people screaming?” he asked quietly.

“There was some… disruption in the process of overcoming my mother’s power,” I said through my teeth. “Grace is very weak. Many of the Cruors died. Others were hurt.”

“At your hand?”

“At our hands,” Grace interjected. Hanson looked at her. “My husband is a good man, raised by an awful woman.”

“They’re calling him Dominus,” Hanson said quietly with a glance at me.

“They believe, because I defeated her, that I am,” I informed him reluctantly. “I plan to use that advantage to disband those who are left, and get Grace out of here safely.”

“Disband… you’ll just free them?”

“What would you have me do—slaughter any person who knew my mother?” I snapped. “I am the first to be aware of how easy it was to be sucked into her web. I have reason to believe the most powerful among them were destroyed, leaving only those who were… less thoroughly stuck.”

He nodded tightly. “That would align with what I’ve heard. What I know,” he corrected himself.

“Then please, sir, share with us,” I prodded. “If you’re truly an enemy of the Cruors, anything you can offer to help me disarm those who are left would be helpful. And quickly, they’re already waiting for me to address them. Which I must do before we leave.”

“Leave? You’re returning to Vosgaarde?”

“I’m not keeping Grace here!” I said defensively. “I never wanted power among these people. I only came to retrieve her. Unfortunately, we discovered that my mother’s talons reached far deeper in this mess with the dragons than we anticipated. So, if you truly didn’t harm the dragons, and if you have information about the network, I am all ears.”

Hanson rolled his jaw, but a light sparked in his gaze and his tone tensed. “Who will you leave to replace her in your absence?”

“No one. I’ll attempt to disband them as I said. Failing that, I’ll take what I know to people who have the power to address this at a political level. Fyrehold is about to enter a season of uncertain succession,” I said carefully, aware that we still didn’t know where the queen was.