Page 147

T he journey across the old Lapis’ lands and into the Jades’ more northern territory was filled with wet snow that clung to Vahly’s eyelashes and Kyril’s feathers.

Nix had shifted into her full dragon form for the first time in ages so she could carry Arc.

Zuzan and Cygnus rode Aitor and Euskal and had looped back twice during the trip to report on an approaching storm.

The weather arrived just as Vahly and the rest landed outside Matriarch Eux’s new cave system, not far from her original one.

The first, she’d said so long ago, held too many memories for comfort, and the entirety of the Jade clan had moved to this spot, a network of natural tunnels like honeycomb in the greenish rock that was common in the area.

Slicking snow from her face, Vahly raised a fist in greeting to the Jade guard at the door.

He was in human form and had gray hair that was braided tightly against his head.

The rising sun, peering just under the approaching bank of steely storm clouds, pierced the falling snow and illuminated the fine scales of his cheeks and forehead.

His pupils dilated sharply, and he gave a shallow bow, the rings that pierced his ears and the side of his face glittering.

He wore only trousers that were embroidered with the Jade symbol of dragon skull and teeth.

They were torn at the knee and worn through in places.

Odd, considering he was here as Eux’s representative.

“Queen Vahly. King Arcturus,” he said in a raspy voice. It sounded like he hadn’t spoken aloud in a long time.

A blast of fiery light flashed behind them, and Vahly turned to see Nix once more in her human form.

As she stood beside Kyril, she took her clothes from her bag and dressed.

The gryphon shook to dry himself, shunting wet snow on everyone.

Zuzan swore. Cygnus laughed and bent double, his black hair falling over his face.

Aitor and Euskal remained in their dragon form, shaking the snow from where it gathered between their spikes.

“Please come with me,” the Jade guard said stiffly.

Rough torches lit the tunnels, and the scent of raw meat, of blood, stained the cold air.

“Did you find another earthblood vent to access here?” Arc asked the guard.

The guard turned and nodded. “A plentiful flow. We would be happy here if it weren’t for our matriarch’s suffering.”

Vahly raised her eyebrows at Nix, who walked by her side. Jades didn’t usually mention their weaknesses or troubles, nor did they usually speak in such a graceful manner. Eux had chosen her guard well.

“It must be serious if he’s bringing that up so freely,” Nix whispered.

“Why else would they have sent a messenger during Frostlight?” Zuzan brushed past Nix to walk behind the guard.

Arc grabbed the knot of Zuzan’s fire-red hair less than gently and pulled him backward a step. “You’ll speak respectfully to your Sourceparent, or there will be consequences.” He released Zuzan, his eyebrows drawn tightly together.

Zuzan’s lip curled, but he dipped his head and lowered his gaze as they continued walking. “Apologies, Father.”

If Arc hadn’t been fully capable of throwing Zuzan on his rear, Vahly knew her son would be rebelling further.

Luckily, where filial respect didn’t work in this case, Arc’s incredible power did.

Vahly reached behind them and thwapped Zuzan on the back of the head.

“Save the attitude for your flight home. Euskal wouldn’t mind taking the long way and hunting bear or boar along the way.

Ask and see.” That might take some of the heat out of him.

“Fine.”

Arc gave him a glare.

“I mean, all right, Mother and Queen. As you wish.” Zuzan drifted back, and Vahly heard him mutter something to Cygnus.

“If you’d stop being such a prick all the time, your life would be a lot easier, Brother,” Cygnus said.

Zuzan laughed low and dark. “I suppose I should act exactly as you do, kissing every dragon’s tail?”

Cygnus exhaled. “This isn’t even about dragons, you idiot.”

Nix snorted. “If you lads don’t stop clucking, the Jades are going to think we brought a cart of chickens and you’ll be supper before they stop to realize who they’re eating.”

Vahly rolled her eyes and tried to walk more quickly. “Why did we bring them again?” she asked Arc.

“They need to learn how to behave in a stranger’s court.”

“Eux is hardly a stranger.”

“She is to them. She hasn’t seen them since they were younglings.”

“Huh. You’re right.” Vahly shook her head, unbelieving. “The time has slipped by so quickly. But this is the only place in which they’ll be strangers.”

“Not necessarily.” Arc glanced at Nix’s most recent addition to her jewelry collection—a wide gold band that held a sparkling opal unlike anything any dragon had possessed in history. Zuzan had brought it back from one of his adventures off the continent and lost it to Nix in a game of Trap.

“Just because he saw what might have been tracks, doesn’t mean there are any highbeasts elsewhere in the world.”

“We have no measure of the sea and the lands that may rest beyond our horizons. It isn’t madness to assume there are more like us out there.”

Nix turned her wrist this way and that, admiring her opal bracelet under the light of the torches. “As long as these mysterious kynd have more jewels like this, I will welcome their existence.”

The Jade guard led them into a large room crowded with dragons in their full form in various states of rest. They circled a pit that gurgled and belched steam—an earthblood vent. Vahly shed her furred cloak and handed it to a smaller Jade who held out her talons for their garments and bags.

The guard approached the far side of his clan’s circle and bowed. “Matriarch, they have arrived.”

The dragons shifted into standing positions, their wings tucked in submission.

Eux rose up on her hind legs. Her scaled flesh hung on her bones like rags, dotted with tears and discolored spots of gray.

Vahly shuddered. Amona’s scales had been blue of course, not green, but besides that, she had looked much the same before death.

It wasn’t something new, dying of old age, but when it happened to the strongest female dragons she knew, the whole experience took on the air of a great tragedy.

Eux growled quietly, then raised her head and blew a thin stream of dragonfire above their heads.