CHAPTER NINETEEN Maren 
I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but where I come from, kidnapping people isn’t usually part of the process of asking for help,” I said to the woman.
“Well, here it’s necessary when you can’t be sure that the person you need isn’t a spy for the emperor,” she replied.
I let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Why would you think that we are Zefedi spies? It makes much more sense for you to be the spies, not us.”
“We’ve heard the stories of the dragon mistress. But from where I stand, only Talons have control over dragons. It’s a reasonable conclusion to draw that the dragon mistress might be a Talon in disguise.”
“And yet you still took the trouble of hunting us down because you needed our help.” I sighed. “We can go around and around like this, or you can tell us who you really are and what you need. Think about it this way—if it turns out we’re Zefedi spies, we’re already tied up. Very easy to kill.”
A grin flashed across the woman’s face. “You’re not wrong about that.” She thought for a moment. “Look, some people on my council won’t like that I’m about to tell you this, but we don’t have time. We’re Ruzian. Our kingdom has been under siege by Talons.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Ruzi is a part of the empire. Why would the tyrant make war on his own kingdom?”
“Because of the protests,” the woman responded. “The new ruling family that the emperor installed cares nothing at all about governing the kingdom. And the emperor brought his fist down hard with taxes and army recruiting. We’ve been protesting for better treatment for a long time, but instead of negotiating in good faith, the emperor cut us off from the rest of Zefed. There are Talons stationed along the border—no supplies in or out. They’re trying to starve us into surrender. We have some stores, but they’ll run out soon enough. The rest of the empire is hurting—we wouldn’t expect much help there. But Ruzi has a trade agreement with Old Zefed. If we could just get the dragons off the mountains for long enough to resupply, we would stand a chance.”
She looked again at me. “We heard reports about someone sabotaging Talons. We hoped that you could do the same in Ruzi.”
Kaia nodded. “That makes sense. Lumina lost contact with the Ruzian Aurati branch not long ago.”
Freeing more dragons—and having the opportunity to scuttle the tyrant’s goals—was a worthy endeavor. But Ruzi was southwest of where we were, in the opposite direction from Oskiath. If we went with the Ruzians, we might give up our only chance of meeting up with the Dragons in time to get to Sev.
On the other hand… relying on the Dragons had always been a flawed plan. Their about-face after Sev had abandoned them was suspicious. Despite Rowena’s assurances to the contrary, I doubted she had any intention of deviating from her original agenda to take over the empire without reforming anything. Allying with them would have meant confronting that reality sooner or later.
But the Ruzians…
“Did you ever meet the shadow prince?” I asked.
A flicker of pain passed over her face. “Most everyone who lived in the capital crossed paths with the royal family at some point.”
“Were they fair rulers? I only ever heard that they were executed for treason.”
The woman sat back on her heels, studying the floor. “They were aware of the emperor’s cruelty. They tried to do right, for what good it did them.”
She spoke like someone in mourning.
“If you were to see Prince Severin again, what would you want from him?” I asked.
The woman let out a sigh, considering. “The prince didn’t deserve what happened to him. If he were to gain power… I don’t know, but something better than living and dying under the emperor’s thumb. We all deserve that.”
I nodded, relieved. If she had resented Sev—for a variety of reasons, I recognized that one might—it would have made my idea completely unworkable. I only had one more question for her.
“And the oils you threatened to use on my dragon. Where did you get them? How did you know to use them?”
“Some of the Talons have been careless with their secrets, and we got lucky stealing a shipment. Before we heard of you, we were planning on using the oils to try to sabotage them.”
All right. “Then we’ll help you—if you agree to two conditions. First, Sev has been captured by the emperor and is being held in Irrad. Before we go to Ruzi, you must send a small force to accompany us to Irrad and help rescue him.”
The woman let out a snort of laughter. “No. He may be the shadow prince, but he is one person. The people of Ruzi need help now. I cannot leave them for a mission with such a high likelihood of failure and such a small reward.”
I wanted to snap back that saving Sev was no small reward. Instead I took a deep breath. I was not in control of this situation. And much as I hated to admit it, she had a point.
“Afterward, then. If we succeed in forcing the Talons out of Ruzi, you will come with us to Irrad.”
“That’s a more reasonable request. What’s the second?”
“You will give all of your dragon oils to me.”
The woman looked wary at the idea, so I pressed on. “Part of my mission is to free the dragons from their captivity. I can’t allow humans to stockpile oils that have the ability to keep them in bondage.”
After a moment of consideration, the woman nodded. “I’ll take your proposal to my companions. Excuse me.”
She exited the shelter, leaving a heavy silence behind her.
“That’s why I’m angry at you.” Kaia’s voice was flat as she switched back to Verran.
Surprised, I turned to look at her. “What are you talking about?”
She pulled on the rope tying her to the post and shifted her position. “You just negotiated with that woman on both of our behalves without even asking me first about any of it.”
“What else was I supposed to do? I thought you wanted me to help more people. This is helping people. And if they agree, we’ll have what we need to make our way to Irrad as well.” I didn’t understand how she could be complaining about this.
“But you didn’t even ask me! What if I wanted to do something different? What if I told you that I was done—done being abducted and running for our lives? That I didn’t want to go with you anymore?”
“Is that what you—”
She cut me off. “Whether I want that or not isn’t the point—the point is that you didn’t ask me. You’re so set on what you want, you’re not thinking about me anymore. When is the last time you truly thought about what I wanted at all?”
Now my temper flared. “That’s a bit rich coming from you, don’t you think?” I said. “Back in Ilvera, all you ever thought about was leaving the mountain. You never concerned yourself with what I wanted then.”
“But I thought that was what you wanted!”
“I only said that because I was in love with you, and I knew you would leave without me. Because I wanted you more than I wanted anything else. I couldn’t stand leaving the mountain, but I couldn’t stand losing you more. And while we’re on the subject, it would be easier to know what you wanted or how you were feeling if you would actually talk to me. I know you went through horrible things in Lumina. Why can’t you just talk to me about it?”
Kaia put her head back against the wall and let out a cry that sounded half-exhausted, half-outraged. “Because I don’t want to talk about it, any of it. Don’t you understand? I hate myself for what happened, and I hate you for seeing it.”
My heart broke. “Kaia—”
“I always knew that I would accomplish something extraordinary,” she said bitterly. “But instead I ended up a prisoner, and you’re the one who became extraordinary. You’re the dragon mistress, but it should have been me. You’re right—I’m the one who wanted adventure. I had to practically drag you into agreeing to go downmountain with me, and this is what I’m stuck with now?”
I reeled back. Stuck with me? That’s what she thought?
Her lip was trembling. “Your abilities strike fear into the emperor’s heart. You can talk to dragons, ride dragons, you even have your own dragon companion, and what do I have? Nothing. It’s a joke, Maren. You wanted to live in one village your whole life, and instead you have everything I ever wanted.”
“I would give it to you if I could,” I said miserably.
She sniffed, shook her head. “Don’t lie, Maren. Not about this, and not about what you feel for Sev.”
“This has nothing to do with Sev!” I said.
Kaia took a deep breath and held it before letting it out slowly. “You’re right,” she said quietly. “Maybe that was unfair of me. The problems between us are ours. But I’ve watched your face when you speak of him. You do have feelings for him, and I won’t let you pretend any longer that you don’t.”
Sev’s face flashed through my mind. “I told you, nothing ever happened between us,” I said, though even as I spoke, I was aware of how flimsy that sounded.
“That’s not the point, and you know it. I know we’re in danger now. But you’re going to have to decide what you want once we’re on the other side of all this.” She shifted, stretched out her legs. “I’m tired now. We’ll go to Ruzi, like you said. But next time, do me the courtesy of asking for my opinion.”
I, too, felt exhausted. Kaia and I had spent days being careful with each other. I’d tried so hard to turn us back into the Kaia and Maren of Ilvera, but now that the truth of our feelings was out in the open, I felt wounded and raw. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, and I turned away, hoping Kaia wouldn’t notice me crying. After a while I felt myself begin to drift off to sleep, and I just hoped not to have another dragon dream—if I saw Sev right now, I knew I would fall apart.
After a while we were woken up and taken out individually to relieve ourselves before being put back exactly as we’d been. The dragon kit was handling captivity well, but I knew that her good behavior was contingent on me acting as though everything was all right.
I didn’t know how much longer I could wait. We’d been left alone for so long that I was certain the Ruzians had decided not to accept our bargain. Which meant that we needed to escape, but I was at a loss for ideas, and Kaia still wasn’t talking to me.
It had been easy to let things go when we were running for our lives. Now that everything had finally spilled out, I feared we stood on opposite sides of a chasm across which there was no bridge. I was not willing to give up who I had become since leaving Ilvera. Kaia’s envy ate at me. When she had been the celebrated one, I had lifted her up. Why couldn’t she do the same for me?
At last the woman who had spoken with us returned. She was smiling—I took that as a good sign. “We’ve agreed to accept your proposal,” she said. She cut our restraints, and I got to my feet, rubbing my wrists. “Apologies for the kidnapping. I hope you understand why we felt it was necessary. I’m Efren.”
“I’m Maren, and this is Kaia,” I said. Kaia nodded but did not speak. I felt bruised just looking at her.
“And the dragon?” Efren asked. She was clearly curious about the kit but remained wary. She waited for me to remove her leash, rather than doing it herself.
“She hasn’t told us her name yet,” I said.
“I see,” Efren replied. “Come and eat. Everyone is very interested in meeting you, officially.”
Now that she mentioned it, I was hungry. I wasn’t sure how long we had been kept tied up, but the bowl of porridge we’d eaten in the morning seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Yes, let’s,” I said. We followed her out of the shelter and toward the smell of food cooking.