Page 33 of Lady Dragon

Kirek refocused on the Queen Mother, perhaps hoping to draw attention from Samansa’s ire.

I don’t know if the twin of the Songstone here in High Nest is still intact in Andrath.

When I bonded with Samansa, I lost control.

It may have been destroyed. The Heartstone…

it is broken, too. The loss of both stones at once would be terrible. But not so grave if we could make more.

Even if the Songstones had been used by the dragons to spy on and even conspire against humans, they were still a line of communication between realms. Now that humans knew about a way for dragons to speak with each other from within Andrath, as Samansa had claimed they already did, they could be used to help uphold the Treaty.

The Queen Mother’s startled question interrupted Samansa’s hopeful line of thinking. The Heartstone is gone? You can no longer shift into human form?

Before Kirek could answer with the truth—or perhaps a lie—Pavak’s oily voice floated over them.

Perhaps its loss is a good thing, preventing another dragon from ever becoming so degraded again.

And if Kirek’s pair-bond broke so many symbols of the truce between our species, perhaps we should question whether or not we should honor it.

The bond or the truce? Kirek snapped.

Pavak looked as pleased as a cat with a bowl of cream. Perhaps both.

“But the pair-bond is a new symbol, is it not?” Samansa insisted. “And if we can create more such stones”—she looked at Kirek desperately—“then let us use them to strengthen the ties between our peoples, not erode them! We can find this place of magic together and see what power it holds.”

This could be how they fix the Heartstone, or even replace it. How they could break the curse, or whatever this was that had befallen them with their transformations, and maintain peace between realms—and their tie to each other . The pair-bond didn’t have to be a curse.

It didn’t have to tear them apart.

I may already know where this cave is , Pavak said, and it is not a place to be sullied by humans. It is Raka’s final resting place.

Raka? Samansa thought, the name ringing through her like a struck gong.

The Queen Mother’s nostrils flared, but only at her sister. Why didn’t you tell me of this?

Because you’ve never revered Raka, as I have , Pavak said with unmistakable self-righteousness, which is how I came to find what remains of her .

Long have you been obsessed with her, sister, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us should be. The Queen Mother’s tone was dangerous. Unless her memory can lead us to greater magic—magic you apparently wanted to keep for yourself ?

“ Raka? ” Samansa blurted, finally unable to contain herself. She’d heard the name before, from Kirek, but now it seemed to mean something else—something more. She just didn’t know what.

The cave she’d dreamed of was Raka’s resting place, apparently. And in her dream, the red dragon had been looming over her, telling her a name she couldn’t quite recall when she awoke. Could the red dragon be…?

Old Queen Nakor’s pair-bonded mate , Kirek reminded Samansa unnecessarily, mistaking her exclamation, who perished shortly after the bond was severed by Nakor’s death .

Death at the hands of your King Wyleth , the Queen Mother added. Which was honorable, whereas Raka’s grief killed her. Her own weakness. She should not be revered.

Samansa thought the story had been rather romantic in a tragic way, but felt it best not to comment on that. “Wyleth is not our king anymore, and unless you wish to see another one, then uphold the Treaty.” She added with tentative hope, “In Raka’s memory, if anything?”

Don’t dare profane Raka’s name by speaking it , Pavak spat.

As for any perceived weakness, there are those who believe that it wasn’t Nakor’s loss that killed Raka, but something else.

Something only those who are found worthy are permitted to know.

Her orange eyes flicked in the Queen Mother’s direction before landing back on Samansa like a blow.

Why should we rely on you to give us knowledge we can find on our own—what is already ours, on our land?

“Because we don’t want another War of Fire!” Samansa burst out, nearly stomping her foot. “Is that what you want?”

She looked around desperately as the question weighed heavy in the air. Only many huge, multihued pairs of eyes stared back at her, lit with the glow of flames.

Pavak was the first to respond. Of course.

I want dragons to be free of men and women both.

Now speak no more of Raka’s resting place.

She sounded more than angry; afraid, almost. But Samansa, for the life of her—hopefully not literally—couldn’t guess why.

Never mind that the princess herself feared the red dragon, if indeed that was Raka, for reasons she couldn’t understand.

Access to her remains is not yours to offer, nor is the cave a forge any longer.

And even if it was, many of us don’t believe more Heartstones and Songstones are what we need.

“So more blood is the answer?” Samansa demanded, hoping beyond hope that blood wasn’t the only solution here. That dragons could be reasoned with.

I would accept yours, Pavak said with chilling calm, but that would require an official challenge to your life. You are bound to Kirek, and even if you are no dragon, your bond protects you, abominable though it may be, from her kin. She turned to Kirek. But it doesn’t protect you .

Samansa froze. A threat on her own life was bad enough, but against Kirek?

Pavak , the Queen Mother warned. Neither the Daughter Heir of Andrath’s nor Kirek’s blood is yours to accept in atonement.

That choice is mine. Do not think it has escaped me that you culled your own eggs and you’ve named your only daughter Valraka in the hopes that this memory of Raka lives in her and lends her strength to one day best Kirek.

Do not try to steal your daughter’s chance at triumph before it has hatched.

Samansa swallowed. So Pavak, like the Queen Mother, had squashed all eggs but one—a terrible act only dragon queens usually performed. Probably to avoid this exact sort of sisterly bonding.

She supposed her relationship with Branon wasn’t much better, but she had a hard time imagining her own mother killing him in the cradle to avoid their situation.

Rather, more like taking a tonic to empty her womb.

Eggs weren’t babies, she reminded herself—hatchlings were.

Women in her realm could make such a choice, but it was still a heavy one, and not done simply to avoid your children competing with one another.

Kirek boldly met the eyes of a smaller, youthful-looking dragon crouched behind Pavak. Where the Queen Mother was near black with a hint of Kirek’s purplish gray, this dragon was black as pitch, her eyes as red as the blood they must have wanted to spill.

Valraka. Pavak’s daughter and Kirek’s cousin. Kirek’s competition .

This family is for certain more bloodthirsty than mine, maybe even Branon included. Samansa’s shrill thought was bordering on hysteria. She nearly wanted to laugh again.

The Queen Mother continued, She—and you—will have to wait until Kirek is queen in my place—after Kirek has challenged me, and bested me, if she can.

As for whatever honor Kirek may have lost now in pair-bonding a human girl, we don’t yet understand what has occurred—what fault may be placed upon her for something that has never happened before.

As for any consideration she may have for the daughter heir beyond the pair-bond, there is no proof—

She’s weak! Pavak’s silent shout was so loud Samansa nearly covered her ears.

She was supposed to strengthen our realm by killing the daughter heir.

By your own order, was it not, Queen Mother?

And now she has brought the festering ruins of your plan to lay at your feet in the shape of this girl.

Is this a shame you will now bear? Pavak’s burning stare landed back on Samansa.

Maybe the princess should have taken being likened to a rat as a compliment, as opposed to a shameful, festering ruin.

Indeed , the Queen Mother said. This is a stain on all dragonkind.

So kill her , Pavak said. The daughter heir. Now.

Samansa found a hot well of fury buried under her cold fear, like molten earth beneath a crust. Her fists tightened at her sides as she glared at Pavak with all the royal indignance she could muster—which was considerable, in light of her predicament.

“You dare try to command your queen? Even I can see how that lowers you.” She spun on the Queen Mother.

“I can also offer you free hunting over the forests of Solomir, in the south. The lands are exceptionally verdant, teaming with wild game. They used to be the dragons’ favorite…

hundreds of years ago… before the war. Right?

” She blinked at her own sudden uncertainty.

Rather, at the fact that she had been so certain, when she had no idea how she knew that.

Is that also something you learned in your studies? Pavak asked snidely. That is not something we remember, and we have long memories.

It is my turn to carry a memory that you do not, which proves you do not know all, sister , the Queen Mother said, and then considered Samansa for a long moment.

What you say of these lands is true. They are invaluable.

I agree to your terms, Daughter Heir of Andrath, provided your mother agrees.

You will return to get her sworn word to revise the Treaty.

Giddy relief bloomed inside of Samansa, until the queen’s next command fell like an executioner’s ax.

And you will agree to never return here.

My daughter’s stay in your realm is over.

If we ever craft another Heartstone, she will not be using it.

Never lay eyes upon her again, or the Treaty is finished.

What? Kirek cried, at the same time Samansa said, breathless, “Excuse me?”

But Pavak seemed to think such an earth-shattering pronouncement was nothing.

You gain only some hunting grounds that we could take by force and a sacred place that is already ours and should not be defiled?

She snorted in disgust. Perhaps some things should remain hidden.

From humans, even from you. Such concessions are not enough to redeem Kirek.

Permanent separation from the one she is bound to is punishment enough , the Queen Mother declared—not entirely oblivious, at least, to the staggering pain tearing through Samansa, the gaping wound left at the thought of not seeing Kirek again.

She and Kirek were both staring at each other wildly, as if caught in the eye of a storm.

Their last foothold of peace, before they would be ripped away from each other by forces far bigger than them.

If your revered Raka supposedly survived such a thing, Kirek will, too, to prove her strength.

But if you believe Raka’s bond was broken by Nakor’s death , Pavak said, then this is a mere stay on the true punishment.

The daughter heir will not be killed , the Queen Mother snarled. No one will harm Kirek until she is ready to challenge me—I will not allow it.

Pavak hissed in disdain. You only wish to keep her safe—to keep your line safe, by thwarting me and keeping peace with the human realm. You coddle your heir, who should be hardened by fire .

She drew herself up to her considerable height and spread her pale wings, and Samansa staggered back despite herself.

So be it. I chose you , then, my queen. For that is allowed.

Rightful law permits our Queen Mother, who makes the choices for other dragons, to be questioned.

Pavak bared her fangs in something disturbingly like a crazed grin.

Therefore, sister, I challenge you to a fight to the death for the title of Queen Mother.