Twiceborn Endgame (The Proving Book 3) by Marina Finlayson Page B

until now. When all she’d done was try to manipulate her way to my throne, it hadn’t been personal. Now that I’d seen her so close to my precious son, killing her seemed like a damned good idea. If it wasn’t for her and her scheming, Lachie would still be safe with me. I could hold him until his headache went away and distract him with silly stories, like I used to do when he was little. He wouldn’t have to sit in a room full of strangers and worry about what was going to happen to him.
    And so we were back at the whole kill or be killed thing, like the proving but with the heat turned up a notch. Fantastic. For such a supposedly superior race, dragons sure had a primitive grasp on diplomacy.
    “So can I go, then?” Blue asked. “You can find them without my help. I’ll just take my gold and head back to my cave, and leave you people to get on with your little war.”
    “What, afraid Chief Trimboli will find you if you stay above ground too long?” Ben said, a jeering note in his voice that sounded completely unlike him. “That could still be arranged unless you co-operate, you know.”
    “I am co-operating! What more do you people want?”
    “What I want is my son back. What I want is to defeat all these damn enemies that keep popping out of the woodwork.” I held the goblin’s gaze, and kept a firm grip on my temper at the same time, though the delay chafed at me. I wanted to run to Lachie now. Intellectually I knew that would achieve nothing, but my heart didn’t want to listen.
    Focus, Kate. I clung to that like a mantra, armouring myself against the tide of frustration that threatened to sweep me away . You can’t help Lachie if you fall apart now. Time to be a dragon, not a mother .
    Behind his glasses the goblin’s eyes were huge. His vision must be shocking. “What I want is for you to help me achieve all this. As you said yourself, I’m a rich woman now. I can make it worth your while.”
    “Well, what I want is to stay alive, since we’re chatting so frankly. And getting involved in a dragon war isn’t the best way of achieving that. Doesn’t matter how much gold you pay me if I’m too dead to enjoy it, does it?”
    Luce fixed him with a hard stare. “I have Chief Trimboli on speed dial. Just say the word and I’ll press the button.”
    He looked at me, then Ben, then Garth, and back to Luce. Every face was stony. His bravado collapsed and he slumped down on the edge of the fountain again.
    “Fine.” He sounded as sulky as a three-year-old. “Whatever. What else do you want me to do?”
    “I’ll let you know. In the meantime you can stay here.”
    “So I’m a prisoner?” His cheerful mood had evaporated.
    “More of a houseguest.” One that would have to be closely watched. Letting a hostile goblin mage roam free in your house wasn’t a winning plan.
    From the corner of my eye I saw Steve coming down the steps from the terrace, but the goblin held most of my attention.
    “I’ll need some things from my cave,” he said. “You can’t make magic from nothing, you know.”
    “Make a list and we’ll send someone out to get them.”
    Steve offered a shallow bow, more for the goblin’s benefit than mine. I didn’t like to stand on ceremony. Having people bowing to me felt wrong.
    “Mistress, a herald.”
    “Where’s the message?”
    His hands were empty.
    “The herald comes from the Japanese queen.”
    Speak of the devil. My anger surged again. This woman stood between me and my child. I had to breathe deeply until I had mastered myself again.
    Messages from royalty required the herald to hand the message directly to the person addressed. I glanced at Ben, who shrugged.
    “I’ll go and check it out.”
    Ben knew all the local heralds, having been one until recently. I waited while he and Steve went inside. In a moment they returned, escorting another man between them. He was average height, with sandy brown hair and a growth of stubble that hadn’t made up its mind