One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

29.

Content warning: Timeline-series typical emotional distress, discussion of kidnapping, grief, blood, gore, and graphic violence, and discussions of political tension.

***

Darkstalker

I still remember the first time I held my youngest daughter in perfect clarity--the day after I came back home and apologized to Clearsight.

Eclipse stubbed her claw on the doorframe and started crying. I'd been trying to help her out as she took little feeble steps around the kitchen for the past fifteen minutes, and I guess this was the final straw for my one-week-old dragonet.

"Awwww, did you hurt your claw? It's okay, little one." I chuckled, picking my daughter up and nuzzling my snout to the "wound."

"There--all better now." That always worked with Shadowhunter when she got hurt as a little kid, and I was hoping it would have the same effect on Eclipse.

She sniffled, looking up at me with those big silver eyes that always made my heart melt.

"Yeah--you'll be all right. You can try again after your nap, love. You must be exhausted from all that hard work, huh?"

She whimpered, so I rocked her back and forth, until she seemed to calm down a bit, curling in close to the warmth of my scales. She was so small, and fragile. And I could tell she trusted me completely, a little smile forming on her tiny snout. I brushed the tears off her cheeks, and she giggled.

"Yeah. You're a fighter. I think you're gonna be all right," I teased. "But you know... if you're not, I've got you." I turned more serious--feeling kind of stupid for telling this all to a dragonet who had absolutely no idea what I was saying. "No matter what, your dad's always gonna be there. I'm gonna keep you safe, no matter who tries to hurt you. No matter how far away we are. I love you, little moonbeam. More than you'll ever know."

A sleepy smile spread across her snout. She reached up to bat at my snout, and I laughed, swatting her away.

It took me a moment to realize, I was very close to bursting into tears too. I cleared my throat, and set her down with a kiss to her forehead.

"There you go. Come on, sleepyhead, I think it's time for your nap," I said fondly.

And in her mind, I saw someone who needed me. Who believed in me. Whose heart was already so full of love.

I'm not gonna let you down, I promised her silently, as I tucked her into bed, and read her a story. I'm not gonna let anyone else hurt you, for as long as I live.

***

I race through the palace. Where is my wife?

Where is my son?

Heartfire follows behind me, rushing around and clearly copying everything I do. "Oh, this is so scary. What are we going to do, Darkstalker?"

I rub my forehead. "I don't know, Heartfire, search the castle?"

"Should we split up? I didn't want to freak out, and I know I don't have military authority anymore, but I'm just saying, if it were me, I would have the entire army scouring the halls."

I can't believe I left Eclipse alone with Sharp-eyes on the loose. I have to find them and get back to her, fast. I put up so many enchantments around her room--should any intruder somehow manage to step one foot inside, he will regret it.

I furrow my brows. Clearsight is small, but she's pretty heavy; I can't imagine Sharp-eyes (or whoever it was, I guess) could carry her and Nebula very far. Someone must have helped him—I guess that wouldn't be too hard, a lot of the old Farsight Coalition dragons are pretty sympathetic to his cause. We did our best to background check all the dragons we hired, but it's hard to figure out the political beliefs of your employees without resorting to straight-up reading their minds. And that's just what Vigilance and Allknowing did, so it's not exactly a good look.