CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Maren

Both Alora and Braith were full-grown dragons and could easily carry three humans each. Kaia, Tasia, and I rode on Alora. Efren and Jase rode together on Braith, though it took them time to become used to each other, and even then Jase sat stiffly, his shoulders hunched up near his ears. After some deliberation, we had packed the Talons’ oils into a wooden chest, which Braith carried in her claws. Though I wasn’t sure what I would do with them, I didn’t want to risk them falling into the wrong hands in Ruzi.

What would Naava think when she saw the other freed dragons arriving in Ilvera? So many of my actions since parting from her had been tied to considerations other than her nebulous entreaty for me to prove myself. We’d freed dragons so that they wouldn’t attack us. I’d agreed to go to Ruzi because I needed support going to Gedarin. I worried that I’d muddied everything up—that Naava might look at everything I had done and say that I had done it out of selfishness. That I had proven nothing and therefore deserved nothing.

The fear ate at me as we flew, as did Kaia’s silence. She’d withdrawn from me again, spending our remaining time in Ruzi with the Aurati. Her message was clear. She was waiting for me to apologize—and commit to a decision.

The choice was not so clear. Both Kaia and Sev held parts of my heart.

The distance that had grown between Kaia and me was stark. I loved her—would always love her—but from the moment I’d kissed her for the first time, I had never been alone. I’d adopted her dreams as mine. What little I wanted for myself had been easily subsumed by her certainty. Now I had a new purpose that was solely my own, but what would happen after it was over? Could I change myself to fit her needs when the dust had settled?

At the same time, I could not truthfully say that Sev was my future. Our connection was deepening, but our relationship had been forged under duress. Would there be anything left once our shared goals were achieved? What did he even want, beyond the death of the emperor? And what did I want?

When will we see Sev? Tasia asked.

I tucked my chin over her head, holding her steady. Alora had asked whether Tasia wanted to ride in her claws, and she’d immediately scampered backward. Despite our partnership, Tasia was still skittish after our first encounter with the newly freed dragon.

Soon, I hope. I hoped Sev would be able to stay out of trouble until we got to the capital.

Kaia yawned behind me, her head nodding on my shoulder. The Talons who had managed to escape us had headed straight for Gedarin, which meant the emperor had to know what we had done in Ruzi. In order to avoid detection, we were flying by night. The lights of small towns spread out below us, and the air smelled like autumn leaves crackling in fires.

“How much farther?” I asked. After consulting a map, Efren had suggested landing near a small forest a few hours’ walk south of Irrad. The forest would provide cover, and we would be able to get into the city by foot to get a feel for the atmosphere.

Soon, Braith replied. She was quieter than Alora, but furious in her own way.

I had been concerned with crossing paths with Talons on patrol, but Alora assured me that this was unlikely. The emperor was accustomed to being in complete control of the skies. Even now that he was not, it seemed unlikely that he had formulated a plan so quickly for how to combat other dragons in the air.

Braith was right—soon enough the lights of Irrad spread out below us. For the middle of the night, it was very bright. The dragons adjusted their path to give the city—and the Talons patrolling above it—a wide berth.

“Is that normal?” Kaia whispered.

Alora inhaled, her nostrils flaring. The city is burning.

A moment later the discomforting scent hit me as well. Irrad was the emperor’s seat of power. What could it possibly mean that the city was burning? I watched Irrad pass in the distance as we flew. Soon after that the dragons began a slow descent, bringing us down gently on the outskirts of the forest. After we unpacked our supplies, the dragons took Tasia into the trees to hunt, leaving the humans behind to make camp.

“What’s your plan for Irrad?” Efren asked as we brushed a circle on the ground clear in preparation for a fire. She gathered a handful of twigs and dry leaves together, then lit a match and dropped it onto the pile, blowing carefully to grow the flame.

“I want to know what the full fleet of Talons looks like. And I want to see the palace. Any ideas for how to accomplish that?”

Jase frowned. “How many Talons do you think have gotten a good look at you? Would the emperor be able to identify you?”

I paused, considering. I’d been seen by Talons, certainly. And both Kaia and I had spoken to any number of people in that village we’d saved from Glivven. But my appearance wasn’t remarkable—I could easily pass for someone with Old Zefedi heritage. It was only when traveling with Kaia and the dragon that I was notable.

I looked at Kaia, knowing I was about to anger her. “I don’t know if you should come with us tomorrow. You look Verran—you might draw attention.”

The look she gave me was murderous. “You need all the help you can get. And I can make contact with the Aurati.”

The Aurati, again?

Efren piped up. “The Aurati in Irrad aren’t like the Ruzians. Most of them are hand chosen by the emperor. They are extremely loyal. You won’t be able to infiltrate them so easily.” She eyed me thoughtfully. “Braid your hair before we leave and don’t look too many people in the eye, and you should be fine. But we do need someone to stay with the dragons.”

Jase volunteered—after his initial caution around the dragons, his curiosity had burgeoned. Alora and Braith tolerated his attention well enough, even though they could not speak directly with him.

Kaia looked at me pointedly. “Maren, a word?” I sighed. This was becoming uncomfortably familiar.

We put some distance between us and the camp before Kaia spoke. “Why don’t you want me to come with you into the city?” she said.

“I told you—the guards might be on the lookout for you. The Aurati certainly will.”

She leaned back against a tree trunk. “So this is just because you’re afraid of us being recognized if we’re together.”

I tried to bury the frustration that flared within me. “What else would it be about? Besides, I can’t leave Tasia alone with strangers. She doesn’t know them! I need you to look after her,” I said.

It was difficult to make out her expression in the darkness. “I don’t know, Maren. We’ve traveled so far together. Why is this city different? Is it perhaps that you think you’ll run into Sev, and you want to make sure I’m not there?” she said pointedly.

“Of course not!”

“Then I don’t understand what you’re thinking, Maren. The last time you went out on your own, you almost got yourself killed. I won’t be your assistant any longer. I need to be your partner. I made a difference in Ruzi, and yet this is just another decision that you’ve made without consulting me first.”

My frustration boiled into anger. Of all the things to complain about, it wasn’t that she was hungry, or tired, or frightened. It was that I wasn’t including her on a dangerous mission that might get all of us killed if we took one wrong step.

“I would have been fine without you in Ruzi, and we’re going to be fine without you tomorrow,” I snapped. Kaia opened her mouth, and I barreled forward. “You heard Efren. The Aurati in Irrad are different from the Ruzians. The risk that you’ll be recognized is far greater than the likelihood that you’ll be able to make friends with one of the emperor’s hand-picked Aurati.”

“And why are you the one who gets to make those decisions?”

“Because I’m the dragon mistress!” I shouted.

Kaia sneered at me scornfully. “You’re just a girl, Maren! Playing with dragons doesn’t give you the right—”

“It does!” I spat back. Why was she being so impossible? Couldn’t she see I had to keep her safe? “And I don’t care what you think about it! Believe what you want, but you are not coming to Irrad with us tomorrow. I cannot take that chance. I can’t—”

“Fine!” Kaia yelled, before I could finish. She turned and ran away, and for the first time, I didn’t want to follow her.

---

“Maren, wake up. We have a problem.” I opened my eyes groggily to see Jase standing over me. The fire had long since burned out. Tasia was at my side, but the two other dragons were awake and looming over… a group of humans that had not been there when I went to sleep.

I shook myself awake. “Who are they?” There were five of them seated together on the ground, wearing traveling clothes. They had four horses, which were tolerating the dragons’ presence admirably.

“They say they’re travelers heading to Eronne,” Jase said.

It wasn’t an entirely implausible story. We weren’t that far off the most trafficked route between Irrad and Deletev, the capital of Eronne. But we had chosen this forest specifically because it was out of the way. Travelers shouldn’t come this way unless they too were trying to avoid the emperor’s notice.

Efren intercepted me as I approached the group, grabbing me by the arm before I made it too close. “Stay back,” she cautioned. “We don’t want them seeing your face.”

“Who are they?” I said.

She scowled. “One of them says they’re the king of Eronne.”

Oh, Ciara’s blood. A small king. The only higher authority in Zefed was the emperor himself. I pressed my forefingers to either side of my nose, trying to control my breathing. How were we going to get out of this?

“How do we know they’re telling the truth?” I said.

“I saw King Idai once in a parade,” Jase offered. “They look about the same.”

That was hardly conclusive. And why would a small king be traveling with so few companions?

I looked to Efren. “What do you think we should do?”

“We can’t trust them, so we can’t let them go,” she said.

Hold a king captive? How long would it be before someone came looking for them?

“We have to make a decision,” Jase said. “If you don’t leave soon, we’ll have to wait another day to get into Irrad.”

“Then talk to them,” Kaia said.

I looked at her. “But—”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to be recognized? Put a scarf over your face. Easy.”

I resisted the urge to glower at her, as despite her sourness it was a reasonable suggestion. I took a scarf and draped it over my face, then stepped forward as Jase held up a torch.

“So one of you claims to be the king of Eronne,” I said, trying to sound menacing.

One of them, a person with a lanky frame and wavy brown hair, raised their chin. “I am King Idai,” they said.

A small king without uninterrupted Old Zefedi lineage? It seemed impossible—but Jase had seen them once. I crossed my arms. “If you’re a king, what are you doing traveling by side roads with only four escorts?”

Their eyes flicked up to the dragons and back at me. “I suspect for a reason similar to yours. Something illegal and seditious.”

I snorted. The king of Eronne, fomenting a revolution? Tasia was at my side, her nostrils flaring. As I cast around for something to say, she took a step forward.

Wait! I said, calling her back.

Smells like Sev, she replied, but halted, one claw in the air.

What? I knelt at her side, wondering if I had misunderstood her. Who smells like Sev?

She pointed her nose in the king’s direction. Sev’s friend.

King Idai was Sev’s friend? Was it possible they were telling the truth after all?

I cleared my throat and stood up. “Very well. King Idai, you are coming from Irrad, are you not?”

They nodded.

“Then you must know Prince Severin.”

If they were surprised, their face gave nothing away. “It appears we have that acquaintance in common—assuming I am in the presence of the dragon mistress? He has spoken of you.”

Could they be lying? What if Sev had betrayed me to this person? The thought flashed through my mind before I banished it. That was ridiculous. Sev would never. And to what end, exactly? No one could have known that we would be here, so this encounter couldn’t have been planned.

I had to end this conversation—I couldn’t allow my thoughts to keep spiraling. I leaned over the king, pitching my voice low. “I don’t have the time to waste on the niceties I’m sure you’re accustomed to. If you’re a friend of Sev’s, if you claim to be working against the emperor, then tell me what you’re doing on this road. Otherwise we have no choice but to hold you here.”

“If you’re a friend of Sev’s, then you’ll let me go. He’s the one who asked me to leave Irrad.”

“But you’re not going to tell me why.”

“Are you going to tell me where you’re going, that you don’t have time to speak to a king?” Idai countered. “I have no reason to trust you.”

This was going terribly, and we were running out of time. I turned around and walked back to the group. “Keep them here. The dragons can guard them until we return.”

I ignored the disapproving look that Kaia gave me. Instead I knelt down in front of Tasia. Wait here, all right? I’ll be back soon, I promise.

She sniffed but settled into a watchful stance that mimicked Braith’s, her eyes narrowed as she regarded the humans.

“We’ll be back before nightfall,” Efren said.

“Fine,” Kaia said.

“Really? That’s all you’re going to say?” I said.

Her lips pinched as she looked away. “I don’t think there’s anything else to say. You’re leaving. I’m staying here. We’ll see each other when you’re done saving the world.”

Whatever words were the right ones, they weren’t coming. I couldn’t wait any longer—I had to walk away.