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THE BLACK BANNERS rustled in the cool wind fighting against the fierce July heat. There were two of them pinned to the wall of the vestibule; the crimson dragon head triskelions rippled against the black background. They hung with pride now and not desperation.
Thea was tapping her chin in even intervals, trying to distract herself from the battering of her heart pounding in her ears. She was closer upstate, away from city chaos. For the first time in a while, Thea could hear the birds sing. A familiar clash of roars drew her attention to Rhaegon and Vissera who soared above the trees and conquered the endless stretch of blue sky.
She felt a sharp tugging on her hand and grinned down at Morgan Stark jumping for joy. The little girl pointed at the magnificent beasts snarling softly above them. Pepper smiled softly.
"Tee-a, Tee-a! Look!" Morgan squealed behind her. Her face was pressed against the glass and she wore a smile brighter than the sun as her sparkling eyes followed the dragons flying far ahead of them. Thea felt her breath get snatched away. She looked so much like Tony.
The weather was enough to encourage Thea out of her jeans and layers and into a red tee with black corduroy overall shorts. It was Pepper's day off from work so she abandoned her fashionable suits and pencil skirts for a cardigan outfit. Not a single strawberry blonde fell out of her ponytail.
Though she presented a calm demeanor, Thea's stomach was twisting and churning in a mess of dread and excitement. Even though Daaryo had offered to drive her in the interest of safety, Thea figured it would be appropriate to have Tony's wife and daughter with her to visit his—well, now her— laboratory.
No security, no imminent threats, no flying. Just Thea and the Starks.
She hadn't been back since her attempt to visit Vissera when she was chained beneath the lab. That was when she saw the illusion of Tony, puppeteered by Quentin Beck to kickstart her torment. Dread wormed into her stomach as Thea thought about how close the psychopath was to her dragon.
The best thing about the lab's location was the privacy. Encasing it were groves of verdant trees carved out to hide the landing pads for the Dragonfangs and barracks for the Valoqar. Thea caught the shimmer of the nearby pond in a clearing and she felt a fond smile grow on her face. She remembered going there with the dragons when they were babies, watching them practice diving and foraging for fish and frogs. Sometimes Tony would join her and when they didn't talk about physics and the blurring line between science and magic, they would chat about life.
"Today a pond, tomorrow the Western Hemisphere," Tony had joked when Thea found it. "It's the real-life Age of Empires, kid."
"Thea?" Pepper's voice broke her away from her thoughts. She noticed the woman's sympathetic smile and the laugh lines carved into her lightly freckled cheeks. Her fingers held something that she rubbed thoughtfully.
