“Hmm.”
Reeve set down his glass, a grin spreading across his face. “You think she’s pretty.”
“I’m just going to go and be diplomatic. Do you want to come?”
“Ah, no. I don’t think that would be… No. No, I’ll just go and watch Faron’s demonstration.”
Reeve left before Elara could apologize for the misstep. She considered going after him, but he would have hated that. She could apologize later.
The girl turned as Elara approached, revealing a face as beautiful up close as it had been from across the room, all high cheekbones and glossy skin. Elara expected to see her eyes widen or her lips part in surprise at being sought out by an Iryan, but no emotion flickered across that perfect face.
“Welcome to San Irie,” Elara said in greeting. “I’m Elara Vincent, the sister of the Childe Empyrean.”
“Signey Soto,” the girl said in flawless, if formal, patois. “To what do I owe the honor?”
Elara made her smile as bright as her voice. “I’m just doing a circle of the room. Getting to know people.”
“Your circle looked more like a straight line to me.” Signey tilted her head, and a hint of a smile crossed her face. It was a nice smile, but not a kind one. “You’re not a very good liar, are you, Elara Vincent?”
Elara had no defense against that. Especially not when Signey Soto was looking at her as if she were an annoyance.
“I understand why she’s here,” she drawled, tilting her head in the direction of Faron and the lights that made up her demonstration. “I even understand why he’s here, as much as I wish he weren’t.” Signey’s head shifted a different way, in the direction that Reeve had gone. Expertly sculpted eyebrows inched toward Signey’s widow’s peak. “But why areyouhere? I doubt the Empyrean needs company in the royal palace.”
“I’m just here for decoration,” Elara said.
Signey laughed, and she looked as surprised about it as Elara did.
“That’syour humor?” said Elara, delighted. People so rarely laughed at her bad jokes. “Your standards must be low.”
“I’m laughing at howbadthat statement was.”
“You think I’m funny!”
“You’re something, all right.”
The smile that Signey’s laughter had left behind softened her face. Before, she had looked distant, perhaps even a little feral. Now she looked open. Attainable. Elara shook that last word out of her mind before it could take root, swiftly moving on to the reason she had come over in the first place.
“So, you’re a Rider, right? Where are the others?”
Signey seemed to weigh the potential consequences of releasing that information and then shrugged. “They decided to remain in San Mala, that little strip of land your queen has repurposed into a place for our dragons to roost. I’m taking diplomacy classes at Hearthstone, though, so getting to attend this Summit is the entire reason I came.”
“I know what San Mala is. They do teach us about our own country here,” said Elara. “What Ididn’tknow was that Hearthstone Academy had diplomacy classes. I thought Riders were in it for the flying part.”And the destruction of other cultures part, she didn’t add.
“I do love flying, but being a Rider comes with certain responsibilities and expectations. Some people are in it to be soldiers, but those of us who have a choice…” Signey sighed. “There are many ways to help people.”
“I can understand that better than you think. I actually just enlisted in San Irie’s Sky Battalion because I thought it was the best way to help people, but now I wonder if… if maybe I did it for the wrong reasons.”
Signey’s smile was tinged with bitterness. “If you have to wonder, the answer is obvious.”
The words cut through Elara’s very soul. The reasons to becomea soldier always seemed good enough at the time. Her aunts had taught her that. But she’d been enlisted for only a day and she couldn’t stop doubting herself. On the other hand, Riders like Signey were chosen by their beasts before they were ever forced into the Dragon Legion. Elara knew that much from Reeve. But Signey stood before her now, claiming that, when given a choice, she was pursuing diplomacy. Elara had lost her passion for the Sky Battalion the moment that Valor hadn’t chosen her, but shedidstill want to help people, even if she didn’t know how.
She just knew now that she had chosen the wrong way.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I…” Elara realized that Signey’s eyes now caught on something over her shoulder. She turned to see that they were getting looks, not just from dignitaries but from a handful of the Iryan servants carrying trays around the room.
Elara imagined what they saw: the sister of the Childe Empyrean, laughing with a Langlish dragon Rider. Even though it was meant to be a peace summit, not many people wanted peace—unless peace meant being left alone.
Her own smile faded. “Well… I just wanted to say hi. Welcome you to the Summit. Um.”
