“And you’re very handsome. I see why Keita chose you. She does like her males handsome . . . and kind of stupid.”

“Annwyl?”

“Hmm?”

“Perhaps you could stop talking now.”

Annwyl nodded. “That’s probably a very good idea. You know, you’re surprisingly smart for a purple-haired barbarian that Keita actually cares about.”

“And unbelievably tolerant.”

“I can see that as well.”

Atop his stallion, Gaius Lucius Domitus, Iron dragon and the one-eyed Rebel King from the west, stared down into the valley outside Garbhán Isle. His twin sister, Agrippina, rode her horse to his side.

“This is definitely one of your stupider ideas, brother.”

“And I love you, too.”

Aggie glowered at him. “I’m serious. She’s unstable. Drastically so.”

“While I’m in the Southlands for the next few weeks, I’ll need to know that you’re safe if I hope to focus on anything else. Garbhán Isle is the one place I feel I can be assured of that. Besides, I don’t see what you still have against Queen Annwyl. She’s always helped us when we’ve needed it before. That human queen is blindingly loyal.”

“She’s also blindingly mad. She should be chained up in a room in some tower until she finally dies. Not leading a nation. And look—” Aggie pointed. “It seems they’re building that tower as we speak.”

“Your life’s in danger, Aggie.”

“So the never-ending rumors say. But you bring me here? To stay with those ridiculously spoiled Southland dragons and that crazed female? That truly seemed like a good idea to you?”

Gaius thought on that a moment, shrugged. “Perhaps I didn’t think it through.”

“Clearly,” she complained, pulling her fur cape tight around her shoulders.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine, Gaius. You know I’ve always found the winters in the Southlands unpleasant. That does not mean, however, I’m about to have some sort of emotional breakdown.”

“I was just asking. No need to bite my head off.”

“I’m sorry. But you know that I hate it here.”

“It’s not that bad, and I can’t honestly think of any place where you’d be safer.”

“Well, that doesn’t say much for the world we currently live in.”

“Times have changed, sister.”

“I know. But I still want to go home.”

But that wasn’t an option. Not when his sister’s life was in danger.

Gaius had almost lost Aggie once before. That’s how he’d met Annwyl. The Southland queen had needed the help of his army, and he’d needed someone to rescue his sister from the Emperor’s Palace and his bitch cousin Vateria Flo-minia. It was a rescue that had happened years ago, but it was a debt Gaius felt he could never repay, since freeing his sister had been impossible for him. Vateria and her guards had known Gaius and his men on sight and would have killed Aggie before he could have even hoped to track her down. So Annwyl and her friends had gone instead and had given Aggie back to Gaius.

So Gaius wasn’t as concerned about bringing his sister to Garbhán Isle as Aggie. Because the one thing he could say about the Mad Queen was that she was loyal to both human and dragon, which meant the queen would make it her business to keep Aggie safe.

There was only one problem with Gaius’s plan. The queen tended to forget who he was. Normally, this was something he’d find insulting—something his sister always found insulting—except that he couldn’t be too upset. Annwyl was an odd woman. Politics bored her. Royal lineage meant little to her. So he didn’t think she forgot him to be insulting or as some cold-blooded political maneuver. She forgot him, it seemed, because her poor, beleaguered brain couldn’t handle much more. And Gaius simply couldn’t hold that against her.

Yet when he looked over at his sister, all Gaius could see was her concern.

No. There’d be no taking her to Garbhán Isle and dropping her off so that he could head to the series of meetings he’d set up through Bram the Merciful. He would need to ease Aggie into this. Thankfully, he did have a little time.

“You know,” he finally suggested, “we could go to Lord Bram’s castle first.” Bram had a wonderful way of easing tensions between all involved. He was a good dragon, something that meant a lot to Gaius and his twin since for most of their existence all they’d known was the treachery of their own kin. “If he’s there, we can travel with him to Garbhán Isle in a day or two.” His sister winced a bit. “Or . . . or we can spend more time at his castle first, if you’d like.”

Aggie nodded. “If that would make you more comfortable, why not?”

They both knew it had nothing to do with Gaius’s comfort, but her pride was a bit brittle these days, so Gaius didn’t mind her blaming little things like this on him.

“Then let’s go.”

They turned their horses and met up with the small unit that he’d hand chosen to ride with them to ensure his sister’s safety. Although they could fly into this territory, there was still a lot of violent history and bad blood between the Southland and Western dragons. It was better to go as human and blend in to the general throng than it was to risk coming snout to snout with angry Southland dragons who’d lost their kin during the early wars between their kind.