Chapter 697: The Queen Said Aim Higher

The most powerful words are never the complicated ones.

At the current moment, a war room was absorbing "yet." Something every person in that room knew, but still needed to hear. Their future Luna Queen understood that and believed every problem had a solution.

The elders, the officers, the Master Mage, every face was aimed at the woman whose single syllable had just rearranged the trajectory of the conversation from problem to opportunity.

"Shadowclaw is the largest pack in Skardos," Serena continued. Her voice was level, carrying zero sales pitch and maximum conviction. "We now have one hundred dragons on our field. I was able to secure an allied army this time, but we will not be able to rely on the Draken Forces or on Aevamorra Vyracarum every time we are attacked. This kingdom needs its own dragon force."

She let that land.

"The dragons remain in Shadowclaw. As of this morning, I have already arranged temporary shelter for them using the eastern training grounds and the old cavalry stables. The stables have not been unused since Shadowclaw transitioned to a full infantry force decades ago. The space is adequate for short-term housing for the smaller ones. The mid-sized dragons are being housed in the Old Coliseum in our forest, a structure that has been abandoned for the past few centuries. The larger fire and ice dragons are roaming the open fields, as they would in Drakenfell. We have set up enchantments to keep pack members out until we are able to build a fence or a wall of some kind. Storm dragons stay in the skies and are included in those fields. The water dragons are in our three largest lakes. All of the lakes have enchantments around them. They prefer to stay underwater and eat fish, which we have plenty of."

She paused for one breath.

"Within the week, I will begin coordinating with the Draken Forces for long-term roost construction, training protocols, and dragon feed supply chains. The initial investment will be substantial. The long-term return will make Shadowclaw the second dragon-capable kingdom on the continent. This is a strategic advantage that fell into our hands because the enemy made a mistake. We would be fools to hand it back."

She had blueprinted an entire military branch in real time and understood they would need a minute to digest it.

Silence settled and she let it. She was beginning to learn the tells in this room, the way each elder and officer telegraphed what was coming before they opened their mouth. Elder Voss folded his hands on the table, which meant the next thing out of his mouth was going to be a question and an important one.

"That is a sound proposal, Luna. But the matter of riders remains. One hundred dragons require one hundred riders. Shadowclaw has precisely one person in this castle capable of riding a dragon, and she is currently sitting in a chair giving us orders."

Voss cracked his joke with dry, devil-dealing, diplomat-grade precision that Serena could appreciate. The table chuckled, low and warm, because the respect was mutual and came with permission to laugh in her presence rather than around her.

She gave a soft smile. "Yet."

The word of the day that she would repeat as many times as it took to sink in.

Elder Voss leaned back in his chair and his mouth curved.

"Yet," he echoed.

"Yes, Elder Voss. Any warrior in Shadowclaw who respects dragon law and wishes to serve as a rider will be accepted, regardless of rank or bloodline. The Draken Forces in Drakenfell have been integrating wolves and dragons for years. Many of our own warriors have already been observing their training firsthand during combined exercises with Alpha Shadowclaw. The foundation is already laid. The skill is learnable. The willingness is the only qualification I require."

She looked at every face at the table.

"You have my word. Shadowclaw will have a dragon force within three months."

Promises made in war rooms either become milestones or tombstones. The best and most dangerous rulers are the ones who put an aggressive timeline onto a goal like that without flinching. Tiberon Drakenfell did not do abstract and three month timelines were something Serena had heard him deploy frequently across military and political objectives. Serena had absolutely taken that strategy from him.

The room held the sentence the way a vault holds currency. With care. With awareness of the value. With the understanding that the woman depositing it had demonstrated that her word was the most reliable instrument in the building.

A knock hit the war room door. Three raps.

"Enter," Beta Sharpe called.

A captain stepped through. He had left the room twelve minutes ago to coordinate perimeter reports. He was back with a face that said the perimeter reports had produced information the war room needed immediately.

"Pardon the interruption, Luna Queen and Elders. The invasion count has risen."

The room stiffened. Not visibly. The stiffening lived in spines and jaw muscles and the collective recalibration of thirty people whose morning had already contained a siege and whose morning was apparently still loading.

The morning kept producing new information and each piece was heavier than the last.

"How many kingdoms?" Serena asked.

"Seven confirmed as of this hour." The captain consulted a parchment he was holding with the grip of a man whose grip was the only thing keeping the information from detonating prematurely. "Bloodmoon. Darkhowler. Drakenfell. Nightspire. Valegrave. Moonrend. Blackvein."

Seven kingdoms. Seven simultaneous attacks. Each name hit the room like a separate headline. By the fourth name, nobody was breathing through their nose anymore. This had changed from a targeted strike against two kingdoms to a continental offensive.

Each kingdom name brushfired across her mental map, red spreading from the points of contact until the continent looked like a wound. Bloodmoon, Drakenfell, and Darkhowler were Shadowclaw allies. Nightspire meant Maelor’s kingdom and Uncle Riven. She considered them allies as well.

All had people she cared about.