“Well, she had a plan for that too. She does control my father, but even he baulked at the idea of killing a baby dragon. That’s the limit of her power. She cannot force anyone to do something completely antithetical to their nature and the House of Nithe has built their power base on the dragon’s back. So an unwanted queen dragon was sent out into the world and I prayed no one would bond with her, because otherwise my mother would try to force me to kill my wife. I’ve been trying to protect you, you bloody idiot, both of you.”

