Page 5 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)

Chapter

Three

W hen dawn broke, filtering in through the narrow mouth of the cave, we set to work erasing as much of our presence as possible.

Dirt was piled over the still-warm ashes of our fire; I combed the ground looking for any stray scale, a single silver hair that might betray who had slept here for the night.

It was a futile and somewhat pointless hope.

I knew if Yura happened to find this cave, her sensitive predator’s nose would pick up our scents in this shelter that was protected from the elements—and there was nothing left for her to work with, regardless.

Our plans had been made via mind-speech, leaving no incriminating evidence.

I just didn’t like the idea of Yura putting her nose in our scents, breathing us deep. Any dragon would do such a thing, reading the signs of what had gone on here before, but for a flesh-eater to breathe us in felt more like she’d be… tasting us, anticipating the later banquet of our flesh.

It felt invasive.

Rhylan agreed, somewhere in the back of my mind. When the cave was as clean as it would ever be, we slipped out into the trees, where he climbed under the saddle and shifted. I buckled him quickly, jumping onto his back as a strange nervousness fizzled over my skin.

Maybe it was because I’d just been thinking of Yura, but I felt watched, the tiny hairs at the nape of my neck prickling. We had both moved stealthily throughout the morning, moving as quietly as possible, in unspoken accord about the need for silence.

Rhylan stretched, muscles flexing as I settled myself, and loped out towards clear sky, taking off and wheeling north.

You feel it, too? I asked, shifting sideways as he banked, enjoying the heat of the sun of his wings.

I don’t think we were seen, but someone’s near.

His scent is muddled, though. Rhylan sent me a mental ‘painting’ of the smell, his impressions, the musky whiff of a male dragon with sun-warmed scales, the feeling of an unrecalled word on the tip of his tongue.

Someone he was vaguely acquainted with, but not familiar enough to identify.

As we flew north, the sensation of a watcher faded, and we relaxed almost in unison. Rhylan slowed his pace to a less energy-intensive glide, riding the currents, and my shoulders slackened after being held up near my ears all morning.

But neither of us really spoke until we saw the lights of Jhazra in the sharp peaks of the Krysien Mountains. Both of us had been keeping a wary eye on the world below and above, sharing a constant feedback of information, wary of anything slightly out of place.

And just like that, as Rhylan alighted through the dragon door, everything was normal and safe again. We were home…as we should’ve come home the first time, as a mate bonded pair.

I leaped off his back before his clawed feet touched the stones of the dragon terrace, and sighed with relief at the solidity of Jhazra beneath my feet.

A throat cleared behind me and I spun around, but there was nothing to fear. It was only Viros at his desk, standing over his logbook with a quill in hand…well, perhaps there was a small reason to fear.

He looked as though he were about to say something waspish, but his eyes were on the saddle that I hadn’t been strapped onto, and a small, swirling tornado of dark smoke exploded in the air. Erebos’s head, many times smaller than usual, poked through.

“Has it finally happened?” my mate’s Ascendant trumpeted over Viros’s head, eyes glittering like flames.

Despite the night we’d had, and the near-death experience, I grinned at him. Gods, it felt amazing to be back here. “It’s happened. I’ve made an honest dragon of him, Erebos.”

The quill fell out of Viros’s hand as Erebos vanished with a joyful howl. “You’ve…you’ve mate bonded? Truly?”

I nodded, and he sank into his chair, dropping his head in his hands. “Oh, thank the gods. Finally. Perhaps we can make it through the rest of the Interregnum with none the wiser—”

My smile became a pained wince. “Ah. Well, actually…they are all aware of the deception, but that’s no longer the primary concern.”

Viros made a noise that might have been a strangled curse. “The Law is clear. Deception of the mate bond is punishable by death. In what way is that no longer a primary concern when they’re all aware of it?” He stared at me through his fingers with bloodshot eyes.

I took a deep breath, calming myself. Viros didn’t need any more stress on his shoulders.

“I came this close to having my head cut off, Viros.” I held out my fingers, held only a hair apart.

“That’s when the bond settled. Rhylan saved my life, and I told them…

things that were more important. Because we’re truly bonded, execution has been stayed, but now we have a new mission. ”

“Becoming the rightful Drakkon and Dragonesse is the most important thing,” he protested, and I shook my head.

“I suppose it is, in a manner of speaking, but even if we don’t gain Koressis…

we need to stop Yura from taking it. My sister is a flesh-eater, an apostate.

But I’m not going over this more than once when we have so much to do.

We need to gather the Ascendants, Kirana, Alriss, you, anyone who had a guiding hand in this scheme, and we need them now. ”

Viros mouthed the words “flesh-eater”, face blanching a sickly color, and I knew in that second that he’d come to the same conclusion I had about what had been done to Kirana.

“It’s bad, Viros,” I said bleakly. “I should’ve shared my suspicions—my proof—sooner, but…I didn’t want to sound mad. I didn’t think I’d be believed, but Rhylan does believe me. I’m going to tell you all what I know, and…and we’ll go from there.”

He nodded as he rose from his chair, quill forgotten. “We’ll meet in the library, then. Although you know my lady will be missing from the meeting. Myst won’t allow us to enter, and as far as we all know, she’s still healing.”

I wondered if I imagined the accusatory glint in his eye as he gave me a final long look, but I didn’t think it was my imagination. He had told me himself that he believed I’d cursed her with a terrible existence.

But was it truly a curse to still be alive? To have one more chance?

I didn’t think so. If Kirana was whole and well when Myst allowed us to see her…then I would feel justified in what I’d done.

She should be awake by now . I glanced at Rhylan, shifting into his male form. Dragon blood works quickly, and she drank a good deal of it.

But she wouldn’t be the same, which Myst knew perfectly well—well enough to keep everyone away from her. When we opened that door, it wouldn’t be the Kirana we’d known who would be on the other side.

I had read the book in the library; I was prepared for what we would see. I hoped Rhylan would still see his sister in what she had become.

Of course I will , he said fiercely, rolling his shoulders as he straightened from his crouch.

I smiled at him, a little sadly, knowing he had felt every last emotion swirling through me, and that he had plucked the terrible image of the Naga in the book out of my head.

“Even so,” he said, sliding a hand around my waist as we strode into the eyrie. “It’ll still be her, Sera.”

“For a realist, I’m strangely optimistic.” I bit my lip, and released it before Rhylan could nudge at me to stop. “Even Myst said that it should be done. We needed to take the risk, because we need all of us.”

But despite that, we walked slowly to Kirana’s room, hand in hand, each step almost deliberately designed to slow ourselves down.

It seemed an age before we finally reached her door. Rhylan took a deep breath, reached out, and tried to open it.

It was locked. There was a small noise on the other side of the door, so tiny I almost didn’t register the sound.

Rhylan tried again, the knob rattling, and finally Kirana shouted on the other side. “Go away . Stop trying to open the door, Rhylan!”

Her voice sounded strong and clear, no longer the mushy, rasping gasp she’d possessed when she tried to give me her last words.

She sounded…exactly like herself. If I hadn’t seen her mortal injuries with my own eyes, I never would’ve believed she could have been that terribly hurt within the last three days.

“You’re awake, and you sound well,” I called through the door, stepping up to Rhylan’s shoulder. “Let us in, Kirana. Your brother needs to know you’re okay.”

“No.” Her tone brooked no argument. “Leave me be.”

I heard the low murmur of Myst’s voice, and a hiss from Kirana.

“Kir!” Rhylan pounded his fist on the door. “Gods damn it, just let us see you!”

“No!” she screamed back. “Go away! Don’t look at me!”

Pale smoke slipped under the door, spilling into the hall to become a pearly cloud. Myst took form, twining about our legs.

“Let that beautiful little creature be,” she said, glancing fondly at the door. “Come along now. She’s not ready for you.”

As she led us back up to our own hall, I noticed she was wearing a new silver and malachite bangle. “Did you steal that from Kirana?”

“This?” Myst glanced at her foreleg. “Ohhh, no. No no no. I’m just…keeping it safe for her. She’s doing well, in case you were wondering. Completely healed of all physical damage. Though the mental damage will take longer for her to overcome.”

I glossed over the fact that she’d blatantly changed the subject. “Being skinned alive will do that to a person.”

“Not only that, but her changes ,” Myst stressed delicately.

“She is struggling with her new body, and well aware that she is now an outsider, the only one of her kind. She will be looked upon with fear and revulsion. That young dragon she’s so enamored with will reject her, choosing another, less monstrous draga as his mate.

She will lose her ability to practice medicine—who would want such a creature tending to their ills? ”

“My gods, Myst.” I stopped in my tracks, staring at my Ascendant, appalled.