Sundown was staring at the orange sky. The trail had ran its course with terrible swiftness. All the while she felt terrible. She saw her brother be sentenced to execution, knowing he had been framed. And all the while the bastard watched it happen while remaining ruthlessly silent. Was it even worth it to coöperate? The cream-scaled traitor was no doubt already maneuvering to get herself on the throne… And once that was done, she had no more need of any of her half-siblings. She gla

Redgaze slammed a claw on her desk.

How could her brother have been so idiotic? So careless? She had been scrambling all day to build a case for his defence. She had hoped to get at least a day or two. But now the idiot had already gotten himself caught.

She had noticed immediately what her brother was holding when he arrived that morning. Her eyes were experienced at tracking what people were holding behind their back… The

“Can you believe it Moon?” The white dragon spoke up. Sundown and Moonrise had spent the day in a state of subdued shock so far. Their dear half brother dead… And now his elder sibling likely to be the perpetrator.

“I cannot Sun. Not at all.” Moonrise answered. “Steel’s an idiot, a brute and a drunkard. But he loved his brother too much to ever even consider doing such a thing… I’m telling you. There’s

Lady Stormruler laid alone in her quarters. The cushions, sized for two dragons her size, felt oversized for her alone. Her anger had subsided, replaced by a hollow sadness. First her husband. Now her youngest… How many more before this terrible time had ran its course.


She felt a squirming in her stomach. One of the wyverns was moving again. Stormruler wondered if she had chosen well in making the punishment for their failure swift and ruthless. It h

Tenderfoot looked around the dinner table. Things were tense. Lady Stormruler was away in her chambers. The twins were tensely keeping to themselves. Steelclaw was busying himself with martial training in the courtyard. Seemed he needed to blow off some steam. Tenderfoot wasn’t quite sure where Redgaze had wandered off to. Not anywhere in the palace she knew how to reach. A secret room perhaps? It seemed like something the councilor would have. A little corner of the palace all to herself.

Steelclaw rose from his slumber uneasily. Last night had not gone as smoothly as he remembered. Mother and siblings refusing to commit to a favoured claimant, the bastard walking around like she had any right to be here. He had given up on trying to curry favour pretty early into dinner. Instead demanding a generous stream of wines.

Dragons were quite resilient creatures, but even they had their limits. The hangover from several barrels worth of wine was one such

Redgaze was perched on her estate’s roost. She was a red dragon like her mother. Wings and chest decorated with jewelry from all over the world. A goblet of wine in her hand. She was considering the past few months. Her father, found in his chambers. The court physicians were stumped. He had been as healthy as he’d ever been. No signs of illness in the court.

She had been her father’s chancellor for long enough to recognise foul play when she s