Page 54 of I Dream of Dragons

“He wasn’t supposed to leave yet. The healers were in the middle of a heated debate, trying to decide which draught would be strong enough to knock him out. So he announced he had things to do and places to be and just… up and left.” She shrugs. “He was limping like a one-legged weasel.”

I sit down beside her, fighting a grin. “Was he?”

“And asking about you. Said he had to go find you. It was quite funny.”

Warmth fills my chest. “I’ll bet.”

“Will you explain what happened?” She’s fighting a grin of her own. “The mute who has returned in Athdara’s company, not a mute anymore.”

“Yeah, about that. Sorry to disappoint,” I quip and I’m rewarded with a real laugh.

“Too late for that. Consider me disappointed.”

It startles a snort out of me.

“Now,” she says, “that mark on your hand…”

I hide it behind my back. “How did you make it here? I tried looking for survivors but couldn’t see any of you. Did you ride a drak?”

“Are you fucking with me? Not everyone is a dragon rider like you lot.”

“Then, how?”

Her smile falls. “Axwick managed to grab two darakins.”

“A darakin can’t lift a human!”

“You’re right, they can’t. But two together were strong enough to lift me to the lowest terrace of the palace.”

“And Axwick…”

She looks away. “He’s gone.”

A pang goes through me, though I barely knew the man. “You didn’t use the key from the top of the tower. How did the fae let you live?”

“No idea.” She shrugs. “Maybe the rules aren’t rules. Maybe all we have to do is survive.”

They deceived us? That sounds like a very fae-like thing to do. “And Amaryll?”

Another shrug. “I really don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”

It doesn’t matter, I tell myself. I shouldn’t care. Amaryll pushed me away and took the key, didn’t care in the end whether I’d lived or died.

Like Jai had said,“Those other humans haven’t helped you. You owe them nothing.”

And yet… I’m here for them. On their behalf.

There are only three of us left. Or maybe four. Out of twenty-four humans.

Again, it doesn’t matter. What should matter is my mission, the reason I came here in the first place. Instead, I’m torn between wanting the king to tell me he still loves me—seriously, Rae?—and Jai to touch me.

If I’m not careful, I might forget I’m not supposed to care, say to the hells with it and go looking for the two-souled general.

Why did he want to talk to the king? Was he reporting in? About what, the trial? The dragons? Me?

“What are you really doing here?” Mera asks, cutting my thoughts short. “Volunteering in the trials, then running around with Athdara and the king?”

“Why do you ask? I thought you had made up your mind about me being a traitor.” I sit straighter, ignoring the various aches. “You seemed fairly convinced.”