Lyra followed the two dragons as they flew with Süren to an awaiting transport pod.


    As soon as the doors sealed shut, they had taken off for the warship Draken w.


    Draken w was a sparsely outfitted ship with much of the gunmetal grey structures exposed and uncovered. It was truly a working warship designated for the non ranking troops and not one of those fancy motherships that the high level officers like her brothers or Süren traveled on.


    The dark grey floor covering was thin and worn through in many ces and the few covered wall areas were there for practical purposes such as to housemand panels, or emergency levers and units.


    The sparse utilitarian furniture that were scattered throughout the ship were all standard pieces that theputer provided. There was nothing fancy, nothing colorful, nothing extraneous.


    Lyra, dressed in a deep sapphire tunic dress, was the only color spot in the entire ship that was filled with dragons dressed in ck and grey.


    She ran alongside two dragons who were half-carrying, half dragging the bulky muscr form of a barely conscious man between them.


    "Medic bay. Get ready to admit one patient." One of the dragons called out.


    Theputer system responded with an affirmative chime.


    Five minutester, they had arrived at the warship''s medic bay. It was just as sparse as the rest of the ship, with rows and rows of single cots that lined each wall, along with another row running down the center.


    They ced Süren on the nearest cot and a group of physicians immediately surrounded him.


    Number Two and Number Three pulled her away.


    "Princess. The physicians will be taking good care of him. Please follow us to your quarters."


    Lyra looked back at Süren. She couldn''t even see him any more, he had beenpletely surrounded by doctors of all sorts.


    There was nothing more she could do for him at this time.


    With some reluctance, she nodded and followed the dragons to another part of the ship.


    "Lyra!" Her mother called out as soon as she entered the doorway that Number Two and Number Three indicated.


    "Mother!" She ran to her mother and threw her arms around the tall stately woman with the same long ebony hair and dazzling blue eyes that she and te shared.


    "I''m so d the dragon men were able to rescue you from that horrible king!"


    Gwendolyn nodded and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her daughter unhurt and in one piece. She had been fraught with worry the moment that Lyra had made her escape.


    Gwendolyn had not expected Lyra to jump out of the window in the middle of a raging blizzard, but at the heightened moment of danger, there really was nowhere else Lyra could flee but away from Süren''s pce.


    The truth was, without Süren to protect Lyra, danger lurked everywhere. They were the only two bats in an entire gxy filled with dragonkind. Although the Dragons were not enemies of Erenveil, they were not exactly bosom buddies.


    The only other person Gwendolyn was willing to trust was the guard who had sheltered her from the fiery maelstrom that had rained down on them the day their pce had gotten attack.


    In using his wings to shelter her, he had gotten the brunt of the fire, but he continued to carry her to safety even though he could barely fly with his wings so severely damaged.


    Somehow, the guard had known that she had been captured and locked into her bed chambers. He had fought through a dozen guards to take her away from her prison chamber and had carried her away to this warship.


    "Be at ease. We located your daughter and she will be joining you soon aboard our ship." He had reassured her.


    True to his word, within half an hour, Lyra hade running through the door, none the worse for wear.


    "Did you meet up with Süren?" Gwendolyn pulled Lyra over to the bed and sat down with her.


    "Yes!" Her eyes widened with rm. "Mother, he was captured by his own father, drugged, and tied to the bed!"


    "What???"


    Lyra harrumphed. "I rescued him Mother. That horrible fiancée of his was going to force him to have sex with her!"


    Gwendolyn frowned with consternation.


    Having lived in and around the courts, she had heard of these types of forced arranged marriages before, where forced intimacy was part of the controlling tools used to subdue the unwilling bride or groom.


    But it had always happened to some other consort''s child, some other queen''s daughter or son. It had never happen to a young man who she thought might one day be her own son-inw.


    This near-tragedy had hit very close to home.


    "How is he?"


    Lyra shook her head. "Other than drugged out of his mind, he doesn''t seem to have been touched by her or hurt anywhere else."


    Gwendolyn breathed a sigh of relief.


    "What did you do to her?"


    "I kicked the shit out of her." Lyra snarled.


    "Language, youngdy. I did not raise you to be a tramp."


    "I''m sorry Mother." Lyra mumbled. "But he was so helpless, tied up and drugged, and she was going to mount him and force herself on him. My rage just exploded."


    Lyra''s bright blue eyes were turning red again.


    Gwendolyn narrowed her eyes as she saw the glints of red in Lyra''s eyes. This was a possible concerning situation, but she was not going to borrow trouble.


    "We need to contact your brother and let him know what just happened. This warship is heading back towards the neutral zone. te should be able to pick us up at that time."


    Lyra bared her fangs. "I''m going make that king regret hurting my fiancé. He''s going to pay for what he''s done."


    "That king is your fiancé''s father." Gwendolyn reminded her.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t do anything to him that he hasn''t done to my man."


    Gwendolyn pursed her lips. "You call him ''your man'' as if the two of you have such a close rtionship. Might I remind you that the two of you have barely just met and may not be all thatpatible."


    Lyra grinned. "He gave me a dragon opal Mother, and he rescued me from that attack."


    "And you rescued him in return, from the machinations of his family. You owe him nothing at this point."


    "Well, I still owe him some kind of gift in return for the dragon opal, but I left so quickly, I don''t have anything on me." Lyra grimaced.


    Gwendolyn reached up and unpinned a stone from her cor.


    "Give him this, but only if you are serious about him."


    Lyra''s eyes widened as she held therge diamond pin in her hand.


    "Mother! That is the Analei Diamond you were given by Father as a wedding gift!"


    Gwendolyn shrugged. "It''s meant to be passed down to the next generation. Do you remember what happened to Anastasia''s Taralei Diamond?"


    Lyra nodded. "Yes. The Empress gave it to Brother Dante and he gave it to Sister Candace. But shouldn''t Brother te be the one to give the Analei Diamond to his woman?"


    Gwendolyn shook her head. "If I hand it over to him, he will also give it to Candace."


    She sighed. "Normally, I would not question the person he cares about, but Candace is the Prime Avgo Female and is married to the three Crown Princes of Erenveil. She is not destined to be with te."


    She shook her head with regret. Her poor son was the youngest Prince of Erenveil. To him woulde nothing. Even the Prime Warrior position, Gwendolyn had to fight and w the Emperor to obtain for te.


    Perhaps her daughter would fare better. Being married to a Crown Prince of the Dragon race was certainly not a bad oue, especially since Süren was so very besotted with Lyra.


    It was better than being sent off to some unknown prince from some far off kingdom whom Lyra had never met before.


    "Mother," Lyra was rambling on about something as she pinned the Analei Diamond to her dress cor. "What do you think about that dragon man?"


    "Who?" Gwendolyn turned startled blue eyes at her daughter.


    "Erden, the man who burned his wings rescuing you."