Page 190 of I Dream of Dragons

The other fae stand still at first, while the king bows to me at the center of the terrace and I curtsy. But as we move through the first steps of the dance, they take it as a signal to resume festivities. They return to talking and drinking and dancing. Couples swirl around us as the king pulls me close and spins me around.

Much like Jai had done, and yet so different.

“One last trial,” the king says as he wraps his arm around my back. “One more game.”

“I know.” I frown. “I’ll?—”

“After you win the third trial and return with Jai,” the king says, “we will marry, and you will come with me.”

“Marry.” I don’t follow this change in topic, but dread hits my stomach like a rock. “Come where?”

“Across the gate. Into another world. My world.”

I swallow. My throat is dry like a bone. “I see. Did you tell Jai about your idea?”

“It was Phaethon’s suggestion.”

I gasp, the words a punch to my stomach.

“How will you open the gate?” I ask to buy time, thinking furiously. “I thought Phaethon wasn’t ready yet.”

“But maybe you are.”

“Me?”

“What is your true form? In the sea, what form do you take?”

A chill that has nothing to do with the temperature of the air hits me. “Nothing special.”

“You rode a drak after the second trial. You speak with a darakin. You’re a dragon, aren’t you?”

He knows. Now my gown makes sense. He truly knows what I am.

I break away from him—or try to, his hands slipping down my arms to my wrists, tightening like manacles. “I’m not.”

“Don’t lie to me. The mark lets me know when you’re panicking.”

“I’m panicking because I don’t want to be here with you!”

“You are a sea dragon. I wonder how that happened. In my home world, you needed to find a dragonskin and a dragon egg to become a dragon. It’s so confusing, how differently magic works in this world.”

“It doesn’t matter what I am.”

“But it does. The dragonlords are gone. The Great Dara won’t obey. But a dragon could make them. Perhaps you could do it. Then I wouldn’t have to wait for Phaethon to regain his powers and call the Great Dara to open the gates. You can do it for me.”

“But I?—”

“So don’t bother with saving Jai. I have no need of him anymore. You will control the big dragons, tell them to fly anti-clockwise around the Pillar, slowing its rotations and opening a gate to the other worlds.”

Just like Lynn had told me. But this is stupid. I can’t control the dragons.

And he means to get rid of Jai. I can’t allow it.

“Being a dragon shifter doesn’t make me a dragon summoner!” I protest. “A dragon cannot command other dragons. Only speak to them. Eosphors are the dragon lords. Only Phaethon can do what you want.”

He gazes down at me, his eyes searching, probing. “Are you speaking the truth? Has Phaethon spoken to you? Is he ready to begin?”

I hate the machinations he’s working on, the twists of his mind. He’s hammering us to see who produces the best tune.