Page 10 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)
“He was…terribly injured,” Kirana said, her voice rasping.
“No dragon with injuries that awful should’ve been able to fly.
I saw that much before they brought us down.
There was a camp out in the wilds, full of dragons I’d never seen before.
A lot of my memories of the next parts are foggy…
there was so much pain. I heard Garnet screaming.
I think I was screaming, even when I couldn’t. ”
Myst’s paw, resting delicately around her neck, squeezed lightly.
Kirana breathed quietly for a moment. “Yura was talking to me the whole time, but I don’t remember what she said.
All I know is that she was taking pleasure in my suffering.
And then…I smelled my own skin cooking over the fire.
And while I was laying there, praying I’d die and be free of it all…
I heard her eating. She sat next to me, and she ate my skin while I tried to will myself to stop breathing. So yes, I can believe it easily.”
I closed my eyes, my gorge rising, but a slight tension hummed through Rhylan. “Kir…you might be the proof. You’re the witness.”
“And nobody would refute me,” she said sadly. “I’ve spent years building trust and goodwill with all the Houses. But Rhylan, I’m your sister. It’s not a good look, even if I was willing to go out there and show everyone what I am now, what I had to become in order to live…and I’m not willing.”
His disappointment was a bitter surge through the bond, tempered with his own guilt and regret. “No, of course we won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, Kir.”
“But I will help you,” she added. “From here in Jhazra. She murdered my wyvern, tortured Garnet before she killed her…” A low snarl, more savage than any sound I’d heard from a draga’s throat, emerged from her. “I won’t rest until she’s dead.”
“First things, then.” I pushed my forgotten tea aside. “You’re not wrong that you being Rhylan’s sister makes the proof weaker. We need to search for more.”
“No, you need to repair the relationship between our Houses and the Jade Leaves, and you need to do it now,” Kirana said sharply.
“Kir—”
“Don’t ‘Kir’ me,” she said, entirely impatient.
“As it stands, no one has our backs. The Lunar Tides are not enough for what we’re up against. We need eyes in the south, and we need their strength.
Our deception is out in full and Tyria is going to be furious about it.
Let me stay here and work with my contacts, and you will go mend that bridge immediately. ”
“She’s right.” I touched Rhylan’s hand. Not only do we need them, but…Cai could help.
Kirana will have nothing to do with him.
Please. While she was lying on her deathbed, all she wanted was for me to tell Cai she still loved him if she didn’t survive.
If anyone can get Kirana to open up and try to make something of her new life, it’s him.
She can’t sequester herself in the eyrie like a hermit forever, or she’ll eventually fade.
That’s a miserable way to live. And… I considered my next inkling for a moment, the callousness of this thought, something my mother would’ve instilled in me, but it was also true.
If they were to mate bond, that’s a tangible link between our Houses that can’t be ignored. The Jade Leaves wouldn’t be able to back down on any promises they might make. A new bond between them as good as settles their place in our Court.
Rhylan glanced at me, and I felt his rueful acknowledgement. He saw everything I was thinking, from the shame of my own heartlessness, to the hope that Cai would make headway where we could not.
“Fine. We’ll go,” he told Kirana.
“I know you want to stay and find this mythical, ironclad proof, but the best thing you can do now is to minimize the damage.” Her tone gentled as she spoke to her brother.
“Let me ask around. If you go shouting from the eyrie-tops, asking for someone to come forth and accuse a dragonblood of apostasy in front of everyone, they’re less likely to talk.
Sometimes a gentle, private word is best.”
She reached out and touched Rhylan’s hand, then mine, her skin snagging at the cloth draping her fingertips. Was it my imagination, or did I feel actual claws prick my flesh through it?
No , Rhylan said slowly. You didn’t imagine it. We need Cai.
We stood up, Kirana’s robes and veils rippling as she moved. “Oh, and don’t think we won’t be celebrating your new bond properly when you return.” She stepped close enough to kiss my cheek through the veil. “New sister of mine.”
I smiled at her, hiding my sadness at her subdued nature.
I did want to take the time, selfishly, for a real celebration, to say the words before the altar, even if the bond itself was already in place.
I’d dreamed of a beautiful ceremony when I was young, still believing I’d be Rhylan’s princess, in a temple full of black orchids with my proud mother to send me off to a new House.
Don’t be ludicrous. Of course we’re going to have the ceremony, black orchids and all.
It’s the way it should’ve been, if…things had been different .
Rhylan slipped his arm around my waist as Kirana slipped from the room, seeming to duck around corners, drowning in the dark fabric.
Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what things would be like if I’d just told my parents that I wanted you as my mate and rider. How much pain could’ve been avoided.
I wonder the same…but I don’t think we could’ve avoided it all.
Some of this feels like it’s been building for a long, long time.
I frowned, still staring after Kirana, and looked up into his blue eyes.
What matters is that we’re together for it now.
What do we need? We should leave as soon as possible.
I left Myst sleeping on the chair, and went to pack my bags, pulling on fresh black leathers, embroidered with the colors of Obsidian Flame and Silvered Embers, and braided my hair.
“What are you doing?”
To my credit, I only jumped a little. Mykah was right about her spying abilities; she walked on silent cat feet when she wanted.
I turned and found her curled on the sofa, clutching a pillow, where I was sure there had been no small dragas only a few minutes ago. “Rhylan and I are heading to Sylvaene Eyrie to speak to Tyria. We’ll be back in a few days.”
She looked up at me with eyes that were suddenly huge and liquid. “And you’re going without me?”
I considered it for a few seconds, and nodded. “Yes. You’re going to stay here, have new leathers and tack fitted, and you’re going to let Solace recover for a few days. If you need something to work on, there’s training rooms available, or maybe Kirana will have something for you to do.”
I took the tone my mother used to use on me, leaving her zero room for arguments. Mykah sighed, punching the pillow before tossing it across the sofa.
“Fine.” She grumbled as she uncurled herself. “But don’t think I’ll just stay here forever, all holed up in safety, while you two go do all the fun things.”
I held back the sigh that wanted to escape.
Somehow, I didn’t think dealing with a teenage draga was similar practice for toddler dragons.
“It’s not fun, Mykah. Kirana was flayed alive.
She was this close to dying—” I held out my fingers, held apart just thin enough to slide a sheet of paper between them.
“And only drastic measures saved her life. If I deliberately put you in harm’s way and that happened to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself. You would never be able to forgive me.”
“Everyone else let me go.” Her chin started to tilt up.
“Don’t raise your chin at me. Maybe everyone else was fine with it, but I have a vested interest in keeping you alive and well. First of all, I can’t keep promises to a corpse. And second, you will be very useful when the time comes. It’s just not quite your time yet.”
She lowered her chin, but the sullenness hadn’t left her face. “Fine.”
I didn’t want to leave Mykah on a sour note; there was every chance we wouldn’t make it back. She just needed a way to occupy her time until we could enroll her in real training. “Look. You think you’re an excellent spy? Why don’t we add thievery to your skill set.”
Curiosity broke through her pout. “What do you mean?”
“My Ascendant, Myst, is living here in the eyrie for now. She has a diadem in her possession—a tiara that looks like it’s been wrought of silver flames. And she is very, very possessive of her trove.”
Now Mykah’s eyes were positively shining.
“If you can find her trove, and fetch that diadem from it—without her knowledge, or being caught—I’ll give you a mission of your own as soon as we’re back.”
She leaped off the sofa and darted through the door before I could even wish her farewell.
Nice , Rhylan whispered in my head with a chuckle.
“One teenage draga, handled,” I muttered to myself, and touched my chest to make sure my small bottle of jasmine scent was still on my necklace. I uncorked it, taking a deep breath of Varyamar, and tucked it under my leathers.
My sword, Aela, hung on my hip, and my bags were packed.
Time to see if we could stoke a single flame from the cold ashes of our alliance.