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I n the time before dragons recorded history, the Lapis carved a palace into the eastern mountains. The hard facade rose in stark contrast to the Red Meadow’s delicate grasses and the diminutive red hat flowers that grew on the banks of the Silver River.

Above the entrance to the palace proper, numerous windows carved in the shape of flickering flames, and landings scored with claw marks from centuries of use dotted the cliff face.

Some windows were small, only wide enough to grab a portion of the western light that coursed over the distant western ranges and through the meadow, or a bit of the eastern sunrises that glowed beyond the coastal mountains where Vahly had collected the vivanias plants.

Other windows widened to allow for a dragon’s take off over the land in full battle form, or for a group of the creatures to gather for a game of dice or a meal and cider.

During a game on the nearest window’s perch, Vahly had won a fine bear pelt. Sure, she didn’t have magic, but she was no slouch with numbers or statistics. Sometimes, she thought she might have a touch of luck. That wasn't nothing.

Great steps of limestone, worn by weather and countless feet, reached wide enough to admit five full-sized dragons.

An archway stood at the top of the stairs, its curve towering over Vahly’s head.

The sign of the Lapis marked the arch’s peak—dragon wings over a slitted eye—and the lapis lazuli stone that naturally formed in these mountains glittered with stripes of golden pyrite and boasted the same blue as Amona’s scales.

Inside, dragons had dug out massive tunnels and countless rooms. Sconces, as tall as Vahly and made of white crystal, hung at regular intervals down the main passageway. Dragons walked and talked, filling the corridor with smoky breath and the flutter of wings.

Amona kept Vahly close, expanding one wing—blue as the bottom of a flame—so there was only room for the two of them as they made their way toward the feast. Amona tried to be casual about her protectiveness, but for Vahly, such tricks didn’t pass her notice anymore.

What was going on with Amona? What had happened outside, when she had stopped so suddenly? Vahly swallowed, her nerves on fire.

“Amona, you don’t need to coddle me.” Vahly gave her mother a questioning smile.

“I’m doing no such thing.”

“Right.” Vahly shook her head. “This isn’t about new information on a human power ritual, is it?” Vahly whispered, not wanting the whole clan to hear the desperation in her voice.

Amona’s eyes grew sad. “There is no ritual, Vahly. I have told you as much. We must simply be patient. Your power will rise, and we will fight the Sea Queen, and we will live.”

So whatever Amona had learned about Vahly, it wasn't about a possible ceremony? Then what was it? Maybe she had discovered another way to wake Vahly's earth magic.

Vahly fidgeted with her sword hilt, clicking the end of it with a knuckle. Her mind threw ideas at her like a drunken juggler.

“There has to be a ceremony of some sort,” Vahly argued. “Dragons have them. Elves, too, if the stories are true.”

“Who has been talking about elves?” Amona sneered.

The venom in her tone surprised Vahly. Sure, she knew the Lapis were no friend to the forgotten kynd. They had warred in the past. But Amona sounded absolutely close-minded about the elven race.

“They were an arrogant kynd,” Amona said, “and did nothing but hide their knowledge from us, age after age. Thankfully, I believe them to be extinct. Don’t mention elves in my presence again.

And, my daughter, if there had been a human power ritual, I would have heard of it long ago.

I’ve told you this. We lived closely for a while.

I would have seen the ceremony, heard the secrets. ”

Nix was the one who had talked about elves, but Vahly wasn’t about to rat her out.

Last night, during a heated round of Trap—a nine-player dice game in which Vahly collected a lovely sum of coins—Nix had claimed elves had rituals for everything from gaining powers at maturity to taking out the rubbish bin.

Vahly’s friend had also told her about a hidden chamber in the library where the dragons kept records concerning elves.

The entrance was supposedly near a shelf of unlabeled scrolls.

Vahly had originally waved off Nix’s suggestion that Vahly find her way into that restricted area.

She was sure Amona would have told her about it if the room did in fact exist. Or at least, Amona would have searched the scrolls there herself for anything that could be related to Vahly gaining her earth magic.

But now, with this strong, adverse reaction to Vahly bringing up elves, she wondered if Nix had been right to suggest sneaking into that hidden room.

If Vahly were caught violating the library’s rules, she would be whipped.

It was one thing to galavant around with Nix and the others and be a less than perfect daughter to Amona, but to directly disobey a written rule concerning official scrolls, here in the palace?

The punishment would be steep. Dragons loved their scrolls almost as much as they loved their gold.

“If the humans held the ceremony in secret,” Vahly said, “and performed under cover, then perhaps not?”

Dragons clogged the passageway, and Vahly, feeling hemmed in, unlaced her leather vest to let it hang freely over her shirt.

Dragons never seemed to mind a crowd as long as it was made up of clan.

Vahly, on the other hand, felt her differences keenly in such situations.

Boots scraped the ground and wings shuffled.

One male offered another a silver filigreed flask of firecider to a taller male whose laugh made Vahly’s ears ring.

Amona let out a quiet, wry laugh. “And that is why I love you. You are not afraid to push me.”

“Oh, I’m plenty afraid. Don’t think that I’m not.” Vahly held up her own hands, then gestured toward Amona’s claws. “I’m no fool.”

A smile graced Amona’s lips as she ushered Vahly into a room off the corridor. Some dragon had stacked extra chairs along the back wall beside a row of wooden kegs. The rest of the clan streamed by the doorway, not noticing their Matriarch and her adopted daughter.

“No, you are not a fool,” Amona said. “You are brave.” And I’m proud you’re a Lapis.

Vahly froze, mouth open.

Amona had used telepathy, known to dragons as the Call. Only when the matriarch of a dragon clan bonded with another dragon could the Call function.

A lump formed in Vahly's throat and tears blurred her vision. She had waited forever for this, thinking it would never happen. Vahly had all but given up on enjoying the closeness that this part of living with dragons allowed. She grabbed Amona’s shoulders, not caring that dragons didn’t like to show tender emotion.

Amona smiled genuinely and Vahly’s heart soared. “You are now bonded with the Lapis, in every way, Vahly.”

Amona collected a shocked Vahly into a rare hug. She smelled familiar, like the sandalwood she burned in her quarters and the sage-like aroma of a powerful dragon’s blood. Vahly let herself be held until she could halt her tears. Amona was the only mother she had ever known.

“You are truly my daughter.”

“Thank you, Matriarch. Mother. But how? What finally secured the bond?”

It was the highest honor for a creature not born into the clan. Vahly could think of only one other that had bonded with the Lapis—a Jade whose personality did not fit the Jade culture. She pulled back a little from Amona.

“You don’t have to do this. I’m not your blood and I don’t need your pity.”

Amona straightened. A stab of fear shot through Vahly's chest.

“I am fully aware I don’t have to do this, or anything.” Amona's eyes blazed. “I do this because I want to.”

Vahly couldn’t believe it. She was bonded with the Lapis. A real bond she never thought she could have. She had long endured sly insults and the lancing pain of not belonging. Now, that would all change. Wouldn't it?

“When did you feel it? When did the bond hit you?” Vahly asked, a sour note wheedling into her voice.

Something was off.

When Vahly dreamed of being bonded, of hearing the Call, she’d thought her heart would fill. A glowing happiness did light her, but still, that same hollowness echoed inside her heart. That loneliness Vahly had always carried.

Surely, it was just shock. Once the truth of this set in, she’d feel satisfied.

Amona was practically glowing with pride. “Just now. After you warned me of the sea and what you saw. You must have been thinking of the clan, of your family,” she stressed the last word, “and suddenly, the bond pinched me.”

“Pinched?” Vahly had to laugh, even as she struggled with warring emotions, both good and bad.

Amona laughed too. “Yes. The bond feels like a pinch. Right here.” She touched her chest. “It’s not a dissimilar sensation to the one when we make a heart promise.

But unlike a promise, a bond will not burn through your heart if you break it.

Not that I have to tell you this.” Vahly knew Amona was thinking of Nix and her Call Breakers.

“If you feel the urge to leave us, I will fight it, but not more than I think is fair. I will respect your wishes and aid you in any way I’m able. ”

“I have no desire to leave the clan.” Vahly wasn’t lying. She didn’t. But she hoped the news of her bonding would bring her a true belonging and get rid of at least a few of the insults she had to endure every day. “If I did, I think the Jades would eat me for lunch.”

The Jades were warlike and loud and did not pretend to be content with the way Vahly had turned out thus far.

Amona’s laugh rocked the floor under Vahly’s feet as they headed for the smell of roasted meat.