Page 52 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury (House of Embers #1)

Of course this is about Kieran. “Ben rat me out then? Asshole.”

Gareth snorted, peeled off his boots, and walked to the edge of the water, letting the waves wet his feet. “I wanted you to get the full story. Wes is a good guy, overall, but he’s not without his biases.”

I arched a brow. “And Kieran is a ray of sunshine?”

Gareth winced. “I know he’s not. He’s, well, Kieran, and he’s frequently an ass.”

It’s like Kieran lives to confuse me. Like when he ignored me for no real reason after we finally found common ground.

Yes, we made up, but it was still weird.

He seemed to go back and forth between kindness and distance.

I wanted to trust that we’d move past it, that we were friends, but it was hard to trust when he’d proven himself to drop me at a moment’s notice. “You don’t have to tell me.”

Gareth sighed. “Kieran’s not the type of person to stab you in the back. Normally, I’d stay out of this, but you need to know. Wes is Kieran’s older brother, and he’s bitter because he was supposed to be Hesperos’ rider, but—”

“Kieran saved his life and got claimed instead of Wes,” I finished, my eyes widening.

Holy Family. The older brother Kieran mentioned, the one who felt betrayed, that was Wes.

Suddenly, Wes’s warning made a hell of a lot of sense.

Now that I thought about it, I could see the resemblance.

They had the same thick eyebrows, the same hard lines to their jaws.

“Kieran told me about his brother. I didn’t know they were the same person. ”

Gareth blinked. “Oh. That makes things easier. I, uh, I didn’t want you to think—”

“Yeah. I know.” If I took Wes at his word, it’d cause tension.

For whatever reason, I trusted Kieran. It was like…

like my soul was confident even though my mind had its doubts.

“I’m not a gullible idiot, okay? And there’re some valid reasons not to trust Kieran.

He uses people. He’s a completely different person to you than he is to me.

It’s hard to know which side of Kieran is the real one.

” I wanted to work with him, and be friends, but this was something only time could tell .

Gareth picked at his gloves. “We all play a role. Until I met Kieran, I could only wear a mask. Being a legacy traitor isn’t easy.

No one wanted to be around me because of it.

Kieran… when he first came to the castle a few days before claiming his dragon, he didn’t care about the mark and befriended me.

Even when I told him he should avoid me.

” Gareth smiled. “So after he claimed Hesperos, I returned the favor. I know you two didn’t get off on the right foot and he can be, well, mean, but he cares.

A lot. I don’t—I don’t want things to backslide. ”

My skin tingled. That night when he played for me, when I sang for him, when he held my hair for me as I puked my guts out. When he made my favorite dish because I was homesick. Has he done that for the others? “What are you trying to say?”

Gareth smiled. “That we’re dragon riders, and we’re always something to someone else. It’s rare we can let our guard down. That’s why Ben and I have our arrangement. Because it’s hard to meet someone that’s not a rider. It usually doesn’t last.”

I sputtered. “What—what made you think we’re dating? We’re not—why do you…”

He snorted. “I wasn’t implying that. I’m just saying that we’re constantly wearing masks. It’s easier when we stick together. King Luther doesn’t care about our lives. He doesn’t look out for us. But the dragonsguard does. On the field, we protect each other.”

I shook my head. “I know that. You don’t have to worry on that front.” I pulled off my boots and slipped into the water. “Just so you know, you can’t take me here and not have us go swimming.”

Gareth grinned. “Of course we have to swim first.”

Aurelia stood in the center of the dragon caves, waiting for us with a scowl fixed on her face. “You could have told us you planned on going for a swim. I’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“I left a note.” Gareth flashed a polite smile, but I caught the mischievous glint in his eyes when Aurelia huffed and looked away. “Today’s our day off, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

Aurelia grabbed my arm and led me to Nimue’s room, where Nimue lounged on her bed. “What’s going on?” I muttered to Nimue.

“We finalized the date, and the dragonsguard festival is in three months.” Aurelia folded her arms. “And you’re so not ready for it. Follow me. We have to play catch up, so you don’t embarrass Luther or the rest of us.”

I rolled my eyes when she led us down the hall and into one of her dressing rooms. “I think the gryphons are a more pressing problem.” The dragon eggs too, not that I could say that since I wasn’t supposed to know of their existence.

But the sooner we got them, the better. Then Andova would stop attacking, and I didn’t have to worry about a war terrorizing Clara’s home.

“Not to Aurelia.” Nimue snorted. “Fate of the kingdom pales in comparison to making sure the color of your dress matches your eyes.”

“Would you two shut up?” Aurelia went through the various dresses tucked on a rail in the corner of the room and then handed one to me.

It wasn’t quite a gown, but it looked like one.

The outfit had three parts to it. The first was an under-dress.

The straps on the underdress were considered quite scandalous with only thin straps to hold up the dress which clung to my torso and flared out at my waist. Then the outer layer was a modified surcoat vest. The third part was pants.

All in all, it was similar to the uniforms that the others wore when they were out in the field for more formal missions.

But it was strange to see on myself. The outfit hugged my torso, and the high collar protected my neck from the cold.

The shoulders flared out in little points and the sleeves went down to my wrists.

The front cut off at my waist, but the sides and back remained long.

Put together with the boots, I made an intimidating figure.

“What’s with the formal wear?” I asked as I studied myself in the mirror.

I had to resist the urge to tug the clothes off.

I’d gotten used to the surcoat leathers that we sometimes wore, with how they were cut at the sides and allowed for us to ride our dragons.

But this… there was no mistaking who I was when I wore it.

I looked like one of them. The pointed ears and tattoo along my neck only enforced that.

Aurelia let out a noise of disgust. “The festival is the biggest event of the year. All five Noble Houses will be there. As per our treaty, our neighboring countries are also invited to see our strength as well as the peasants. You might be a little street rat thief, but you need to look like one of us. At least for the day.”

“Listen here, bitch—”

Nimue stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Aurelia’s a bitch, but she’s right. Not that you’re a street rat, though objectively that is your background. But you need to look like us. Andova’s assassins are still out there. The festival will show them you’re strong, and it should make them back off.”

My stomach churned. “Fine.” Gareth talked about roles and masks all the time. If I did this, if I put on this mask, I could change my story, just like he did. And if I please Luther, he’ll let my sister live with me sooner. “So what happens at the festival?”

Aurelia rolled her eyes. “Gareth’s been slacking. We start the festival with a dragon dance to show off our control. Then we each have a performance and mingle for the rest of the day. The Mother help me. You’re hopeless. I bet you don’t know how to ballroom dance, right? Of course you don’t.”

“Kill me,” I deadpanned.

Aurelia sighed. “I wish.”