Making a Deal
The thing the Revinir wanted most was to have the people and dragons of Grimere obey her without being under any sort of mind control. And if she became the true dragon ruler, in harmony with the black-eyed humans, all of that would fall into place. She just wanted to be an adored leader. Like Marcus had been. Even Justine, early in her reign. Marcus hadn’t had to force his people to love him. They still loved him long after he was gone. And he’d done some pretty rotten things before he turned it all around.
Back when she’d been Queen Eagala of Warbler, the Revinir had few adoring fans, if any. She’d forced everyone there to obey her by keeping them silent with the golden thorn necklaces. And she’d put her orange-eye brand on them so they’d be easily identifiable in case any of them escaped, because they definitely wanted to. The dragon-woman realized that nothing much had changed since then except the methods the Revinir was using to keep her people, and now her dragons, in line. It was all force and had been since day one. It was enough to make a dragon-woman weary.
So much of the joy of being the ruler had slipped away from her over the years. And ruling over these zombies was getting tiresome. It almost felt like… cheating. Not that the Revinir was against cheating. She admired a good cheat, which was why she had almost liked Dev before she threw him out the window to his death. She felt a twinge of regret over that, truth be told.
But ruling over people she’d forced into obedience just wasn’t bringing much joy anymore. She’d come to that stark realization in a striking way last evening. Having Thisbe here for the past few days, not under any kind of spell, had been… lovely. It had been the nicest time the Revinir had ever experienced since she’d been a child.
She remembered her previous best day when she was young. She’d been regularly spying on Marcus and Justine and Eva Fathom and Gondoleery Rattrapp, all of them trying to do magic in their own ways. One summer day they’d relented and let her join them. The sun was shining on the rocks and stream where they often met up. Gondoleery had managed to make a tiny pool of water freeze, despite the heat. There had been a minnow trapped in that cupped area of the stone, and when Gondoleery had frozen the water without a thought for the minnow’s well-being, it had given young Emma a chill of horror and wonder. It had opened up her eyes to all the possibilities in the world that went beyond her usual way of thinking. She’d realized that people had more opportunities to do so many things—good or evil—than they actually took. That she had choices she’d never considered because they were outside the realm of what her normal day-to-day activities had consisted of. It was a breathtaking realization, and Emma would recall that revelation again, many times.
Remembering it now made the Revinir think hard about what she was doing. The two best memories of her life were spent with people who weren’t being coerced or controlled. Thisbe had wanted to be there with her last evening, and they’d laughed multiple times together. She’d enjoyed it so much that she’d taken a risk and had given Rohan to Thisbe, sort of as a gift—a thank-you, in a way—for liking her for who she was.
The Revinir had regretted it almost immediately, but she’d realized there was nothing Thisbe could do now that Rohan was under the mind-control spell. She’d had all the remaining ancestor broth destroyed after Dev had spilled that important information in the tower. And she had plenty of dragon-bone broth stashed around the castle to feed him just in case.
But the truth was that the Revinir didn’t think she’d need the dragon-bone broth for much longer, because she was just about ready to agree to Thisbe’s demands. She’d thought about it—leaving the seven islands alone. And she’d realized that all she really had to do to get what she wanted was to tell Thisbe she wasn’t going to touch her precious islands—even though Warbler was already technically hers. And they could do the agreement thing and become the true leaders and release all the mind-controlled dragons and people and let the pesky ghost dragons die, and then the Revinir would be adored by all because she’d restored the land after forty years under the control of that dumb king and his usurpers.
And after that, she could go take over the seven islands anyway.
As she and Thisbe sat down to breakfast, the Revinir peered at the young woman. “How did you sleep?” she asked, because she supposed that was something friends might ask each other.
“Great,” said Thisbe. “You?”
“Fine.” The Revinir thought Thisbe seemed slightly preoccupied. Was she having second thoughts about their partnership? “I wanted to see you this morning because I wished to talk more about our agreement,” the dragon-woman said.
“Oh,” said Thisbe, perking up. “Good. I’d like that as well. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, actually. And like I’ve told you, I’m ready to join you in going forward with it.”
“On your condition, of course,” the Revinir said dryly.
“Well,” said Thisbe, “yes, obviously. But I wonder if you’ve really taken in how very large the land of the dragons is. There’s so much to explore and expand here. There’s that other village down the mountain. The forest, which is huge. The cavelands, which will be empty once the ghost dragons are gone. And the whole palace and village where Ashguard’s property is that could be restored and repopulated. Plus the crater lake and the entire city of Grimere, of course. That’s a lot of land to rule over. And…” She hesitated, looking into the Revinir’s eyes. “It seems like it might be just the right size for a dragon and a black-eyed ruler to enjoy together without having to always keep an eye on things that are so far away. The traveling is so tedious, isn’t it?”
The Revinir almost smiled. Thisbe was growing very sneaky, and she liked that about her. This girl was someone who could keep up with her. And this partnership was actually going to work—the Revinir could feel in her dragon scales that things were moving in the right direction. It didn’t take much for her to see that all she had to do was agree to the terms and renegotiate them later, once things here were running smoothly. She made it appear like she was thinking very hard about this and wrestling with it.
“All right,” the Revinir said finally. “You’ve worn me down on this, and I can see you aren’t wavering. I want to enter into this agreement with you, and I’ll give you what you want. I’ll leave the seven islands alone.” For now.
Surprisingly, Thisbe’s expression didn’t change. But that was one more thing the Revinir liked about her—that she didn’t show her emotions easily. She was a shrewd negotiator.
“Very well,” said Thisbe. “Shall we designate a time and place to make our announcement to the people of Grimere? Perhaps outside the castle on the drawbridge? I’ve always pictured us standing together with the castle behind us and having the people gather all around.” She made it sound dreamy.
“Dragonsmarche seems more appropriate, doesn’t it?” said the Revinir with a gleam in her eye. “It’s where we first met.”
This time a flicker crossed Thisbe’s expression. The Revinir knew it was horrible, but she had to have something to retain the upper hand after giving up all the seven islands.
“You forgot our meeting when I was two years old—I killed your pirate-captain friend,” she said coolly. “But Dragonsmarche is also the spot where I set all of the black-eyed children free from the catacombs. Sounds perfect. Tomorrow? Next week?”
The Revinir gave a delighted snort. “Well played. It shall be so. But let’s not wait. Let’s go today.” She didn’t wait for Thisbe to object. “Guards! Sound the trumpets and call everyone to the Dragonsmarche Square. We have a major announcement to make to all the people and dragons.”
With the servants scrambling to make things happen, the Revinir turned to Thisbe. “When this is through, I’m afraid I might have to ask you to make some more ancestor broth to wake everyone up. I hope you don’t mind.”
This time Thisbe snorted, and not just because she knew this probably wouldn’t work—she was banking on that happening once the Revinir was dead. But she played along. “Bring the proper bones to the kitchen, and I’ll teach the staff what to do with them.”
The Revinir smiled. “I will indeed.” This was the most spirited, fun conversation she might have ever had. She was more excited for the future than she’d ever been before. And for the first time, it was only partially because of the power that went with it.