Page 8 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)

Against my will, my mind played a lovely little mental image of a tinier, younger Mykah being thrown a thousand feet to the ground, all alone and with no experienced rider to save her life.

“When did they last have you measured for new leathers and tack?”

“Oh. A year or two ago. Klyera—she’s the Wyvern-Master in Everael, by the way—she said a messenger wyvern wasn’t as important as the dragons of the House, so I’d have to wait.

” She worried her lower lip between her teeth for a moment.

“I asked a few months ago, because the saddle is feeling a little loose, but they wanted to put the funds towards Cyran’s mate bonding ceremony. ”

My guilt over my mate killing Cyran was rapidly fading. I knew damn well that Undying Light was rolling in gold, and yet they’d kept Mykah and her wyvern like forgotten pets. To all Nine Hells with them, and may Sunya judge Pyrae harshly for her greedy, neglectful ways.

“I suppose they don’t need to worry about that now.

” I smiled thinly, and pointed out the window.

“Do you see the crevasse in the mountainside? That’s the entrance to the wyvern stables.

I’ll meet you down there. I don’t know how Klyera runs her stables, but if Alriss tells you to do something, she means it, okay? ”

Mykah nodded, and nudged Solace with her heels, the two of them vanishing in a flash.

I waited only a few seconds before ducking into the hall, striding towards the long spiral staircase.

I’m getting far too invested in this, aren’t I? My rage wanted to spill over, bubbling in my veins like venom.

And then it cooled a little, the worst of the anger siphoning off as Rhylan pulled it from me. Who wouldn’t? The way they treat her is despicable.

But Rhylan…she’s ours now. We’re responsible for her, for her entire life . The full horror of that responsibility was just now settling into me. My gods, we’re essentially about to become parents.

My body walked without my input, descending the stairs steadily, while my mind examined what Rhylan was doing through his eyes: he’d chosen a room near Kirana’s, one with wide open windows overlooking the mountain peaks.

He was running a cloth over the dusty surfaces as Nilsa tugged fresh sheets onto the bed.

Well, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself a bit, but I’d kind of hoped to become a parent with you one day, anyway. We can get her out of that shithole and call it a practice run.

I passed the training rooms, smiling. An independent teenage wyvern-rider…that’s a hell of a practice run.

It’ll make the toddler dragons seem a lot easier, right?

A snort escaped me, but I sobered as I neared the wyvern stables.

Is it the right thing to do, Rhylan? We’re already drowning as it is.

Kirana won’t see us, and we need to prove what my sister is to all the Houses.

They’re absolutely going to try to claim we stole her from them, and they’ll drag her into the middle of it all. Are we really doing right by her?

I felt him put down the dust rag, and saw the view out the window through his eyes. In him, I felt the deep, satisfied sense of being home when he looked over those jagged peaks.

I think we are. We’re all in the thick of it anyway. They’re never going to help her find her House, and at least this way she gets some new gear and a few hot meals that weren’t scraped out of a wyvern’s trough . His anger simmered, no less than mine, but more contained.

I circled to the landing of the wyvern stables, staring at the door for a long moment. The last time I’d come through these doors, I’d been covered in blood, in shock, and carting Kirana’s body out.

It took me a moment to push the doors open, and there was a brief flash in my mind, as though Erebos was still screaming and writhing before me, the floor covered in blood.

But there was nothing but the lofted wyvern nests, motes of dust floating through clear sunlight, and Mykah and Alriss.

The Wyvern-Master had attached Solace’s reins to a post, and she was going over the wyvern inch by inch as Mykah watched, her chin jutting once more.

“See this?” Alriss was kneeling by one of Solace’s hind legs, holding a scaly foot and pointing to the claws. “The flaking and peeling? Nutritional deficiency. She’s going to need a little more—”

“She hunts ,” Mykah said, arms crossed tightly. “I don’t keep her locked up or starve her.”

I reached out and touched Mykah’s shoulder. She jerked a little, relaxing when she saw it was me.

“She’s not accusing you, Mykah. I think the problem lies with your old ward family’s handling of the wyvern stables.”

Her chin tilted down a fraction. “Klyera handles the wyvern feed. I do try to let Solace eat while we’re out, she likes fresh rabbit—”

“ Klyera ,” Alriss repeated in a throaty hiss.

We both stared at her. “Shit, I should’ve known this was an Undying Light wyvern the moment I saw her.

That woman treats her beasts like dirt beneath her heel.

Their House should be ashamed to call her their Wyvern-Master.

My apologies, Mykah. I wasn’t blaming you, but this makes more sense. ”

Mykah’s chin tilt had finally dropped to a reasonable level. She scuffed her foot in the sand. “S’alright.”

“But that’s why Solace’s scales are brittle, and her claws are peeling—Klyera stuffs their feed with grain.” Alriss snorted with disdain. “Do tell me, have you ever seen a wyvern threshing wheat with their teeth? Does that sound like a natural diet to you?”

We shook our heads in unison.

“So.” Alriss crossed her arms, staring at Solace. “We’ll start with lamb and offal, give her a good feeding of young meat, work some oil into her scales, and paint resin on her claws until they’ve grown out. Grain . Honestly, I despair sometimes.”

“Can I help?” Mykah asked in a small voice I’d never heard from her before, and my breath caught. I hoped Alriss would say—

“Of course you can.” The Wyvern-Master was already strolling to one of the closets, rummaging among the neatly labeled jars inside.

I exhaled with relief. “We’ll have her fed while we work on her claws, they’re finicky about their feet, sometimes.

Come grab a brush, and I’ll shout for one of the stableboys to bring up the lamb. ”

Mykah glanced at me, and I nodded. “Go ahead. You’ll probably learn more from her than from Klyera. When you’re ready to eat and change, come on up and we’ll settle you in your room.”

She grinned at me and dashed off to Alriss, and for the first time since she’d arrived, some of my stress melted away. Alriss would be a good mentor for her, if she did choose to keep Solace and stay away from dragons.

See? It’ll all work out . Rhylan’s voice wasn’t intrusive or sudden; I knew he’d been seeing through my eyes, and his voice entering my head seemed as natural as breathing.

Sure . I began the climb back up the staircase with a sigh. And now we need to add strenuous research into finding her House to our plate.

You sound so grumpy, but I know you’re satisfied with this , he teased.

If I couldn’t admit it to the dragon in my head, who else could I confess to?

Yes, but…I don’t want to disappoint her.

I promised to find her House. Obviously, ruining Yura and Tidas comes first, but then, it’s a monumental task in itself.

I’m afraid I’ll make her a promise that keeps getting pushed back, over and over, until I’m just another Pyrae to her.

We both know that won’t happen. Neither of us will let it get that far . He met me around a corner, looking down at me with those blue heart-flame eyes that made my lungs feel hollow and my stomach flutter.

“So many worries,” he murmured, holding out his arms. “Come on now. Step by step.”

I rested my forehead on his chest. “All right. I just get this feeling that things are piling up faster than we can handle.”

Rhylan didn’t have any words for that, and I felt the undercurrent in him, the same fear I felt. But he didn’t let go, holding me tight, and that was some consolation.

Mykah eventually returned from the stables, her leathers freshly torn, straw stuck in her curls, but looking happier than I’d ever seen her.

She met us in the hall, a spring in her step, and I beckoned her to the room Rhylan had been filling with cozy decorations for the last two hours.

“Alriss taught me how to make blood-meal,” she informed me. “Ground-up bone and lamb’s blood, and some liver, too.”

“Sounds…tasty.” Urgh. I hated liver.

“For a wyvern, it is.” She grinned up at me. “She’s looking better, now that she’s getting the right care.”

“The same is about to go for you. A tailor will take your measurements this week so you’ll have a proper wardrobe and new leathers, and this is where you’ll live for now.” I gestured her through the door, shooing her inside.

Mykah took one step inside, and stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes were wide, almost frightened. “Oh,” she said, in the smallest squeak of a voice.

“You can change it however you want,” Rhylan assured her.

He was throwing plump cushions on an overstuffed couch under the window.

The walls had been lined with shelves, which Nilsa was steadily arranging books on.

The canopy bed was draped with bright blue silk, and a fresh vase of snowdrops had been left on the dresser.

“I…” Mykah licked her lips nervously. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but why…? This room is for a draga. A real one.”

“You are a real draga,” he said reasonably.

“I mean a draga from an actual House.” To my surprise, I saw she was almost quivering. “You don’t give rooms like this to draga like me.”

Rhylan faced her, crossing his arms in imitation of her. “Mykah, did you forget the oath you gave me a few hours ago?”

She shook her head.

“My flames are your hearth now? Remember? I can’t take you in as my ward and ask you to work on my behalf if I don’t hold to my end of the deal.

That means your own living space, your own clothes, your own possessions, your own wyvern’s necessities.

This is the home you claimed as sanctuary. That means you live here.”

“Doric didn’t give me a room this nice. Because I’m not meant to live with the royals.” She all but whispered the words.

“Because Doric wasn’t your ward family, and he knew Pyrae would drag you right back if she knew you were living a good life.

Look at yourself, Mykah. You’ve got scion-marks.

There’s ancient lineage somewhere in your blood, but even if you weren’t a scion, you’ve still made yourself my ward, and I don’t make my wards live in empty prison cells. ”

“You don’t have any other wards!” she said indignantly, and Rhylan’s serious facade almost cracked.

“No, but those are the rules. Wards live in whatever accommodations I give them. No complaints.”

She gave him a mistrustful look, eyes narrowed, and finally took another few steps inside, muttering under her breath about ‘making up his own rules whenever he felt like it’.

Rhylan met my eyes over her head. That went well.

I leaned on the doorframe, biting back a smile.

Mykah was almost cat-like in her explorations, slinking about as though she expected to raise her hackles at any moment. When she crept into the bathroom, I heard a strangled caterwaul.

It’s got a really nice tub , Rhylan said with a smug grin. But, being serious here, I’m not going to take in a child and make her live with the Bloodless. I saw in your head that you’re already thinking about the Training Grounds.

That’s where she belongs. A draga with scion-marks that strong? She should be off that wyvern and getting ready to take her pick of the dragons.

When we win, Rhylan said, stressing the ‘when’, we’ll enroll her ourselves.

Mykah emerged from the bathroom, some of the trepidation leaking from her expression and replaced with wonder. She jumped on the bed, sitting cross-legged, and clutched a fat pillow in her lap.

“Are you sure?” she said in that tiny voice. “Are you really sure? Because I won’t be mad if you want me to live with the stableboys, that’s fine, I’m used to it.”

Instead of giving her a serious answer, or even a ridiculous retort, Rhylan grabbed a cushion from the couch and threw it at her. Mykah gasped in outrage.

Within minutes they had devolved into a mock war, feathers spilling across the room as pillows exploded.

Let her be a child for a few hours , he thought to me, and I agreed.

She’d come to me, but I thought Rhylan was better at finding what she needed. He’d made more progress with putting her at ease than I had, showing the silly side he rarely showed to anyone else.

Maybe because he had more family. I was used to being alone, like Mykah, but he had younger sisters.

And when I settled in his head, I saw the glimpse of memory, a girl like this but with bright blue eyes and black hair, teeth flashing in a wide smile, illuminated by the light spilling in through the windows.

This was Loralei’s old room.