“It’s a shame you’re so eager to go,” Signey said as they joined the throng. Eyes ran over her appreciatively, but Signey didn’t seem to notice the attention. Or maybe she didn’t care. “I haven’t seen Zephyra this happy in her whole life.”
“How old were you when she hatched?”
“Four or five. My mother and sister were already paired. Jesper’s egg had hatched a few days before, but it would be a while before he found Torrey.” They made it to the tables. Signey grabbed two small plates and began to fill them with food, dinner rolls with sweet cream butter and cucumber sandwiches, rose-petal drop scones and almond shortbread cookies. “All dragons from theBeacon Dragon Preserve are born colorless. She was snow-white, with the gentlest eyes. I wanted her to choose me so badly I was sick with yearning.”
Elara swallowed, reminded of her attempt to join the Sky Battalion. “I know that feeling. And,” she added softly, “I’m not eager to go. Sure, I don’t want to be a Rider and I don’t want to live here. But I wouldn’t say that I’m eager to say goodbye to y—to all this. Everything’s not as straightforward as I thought.”
“Did you ever figure it out?” Signey asked, handing her a plate. “If you enlisted for the wrong reasons?”
“I did. I definitely did.” Elara nibbled at a dinner roll, swallowing before she continued. “I’m the Childe Empyrean’s sister. I joined the Sky Battalion because I wanted to do more. To be more. But that’s not a good reason. That’s not therightreason.”
Signey was watching her with an unreadable expression. “I think you’re more than just the Childe Empyrean’s sister. Much more.”
Elara ducked her head, even though her skin was too dark to show her blush. It should have meant nothing, but it meant everything. The first time they’d met, Signey had questioned Elara’s right to be in the room. Now her Firstrider looked at her as though Elara were the only person in this one.
“Miss Vincent. Miss Soto.”
Professor Smithers approached in a steel-gray suit with a forest-green pocket square. Behind him, Mr. Lewis wore a forest-green suit and a steel-gray pocket square. Elara smiled at how, even here, the two men moved in sync.
“We just wanted to give you our thanks,” the professor continued, “for your help the other day. Who knows what might have happened if… Well. I suppose the two of you know well enough.”
“You don’t have to thank us,” said Signey. “I don’t think any of us wanted an… incident.”
Mr. Lewis slid his hand into his husband’s. Though he was not a Hearthstone professor, he lived in the castle with Professor Smithers during the school year. Elara had heard rumors that he was a historian, which essentially meant he could work from wherever he pleased, and it clearly pleased him to be at his husband’s side. “We’ve gone a year without suffering from the Fury, and we were hardly prepared for it now. These old bones don’t have the resistance that they used to.”
Elara laughed. Both men were in their late fifties, hardly what she would call old. “Are you feeling all right? Has Nizsa recovered well?”
“Yes, thank you.” Professor Smithers grinned, his mustache crinkling. “You are a remarkable young woman, Miss Vincent. A remarkable Iryan, as well as a remarkable person in your own right.”
Elara swallowed back a sudden wave of emotion, wondering if she would ever grow out of her need for adult approval. She nodded, afraid that if she spoke her voice would crack.
When they were gone, Signey snorted. “I can’t believe you’ve been here less than two months and you’re already a professor’s favorite. Disgusting.”
“Jealousy looks so ugly on you, Firstrider.”
“Nothing looks ugly on me.”
Elara couldn’t argue with that. Especially when it gave her an excuse to give Signey a slow once-over. “I didn’t say this earlier, but you look… Well, youalwayslook… But tonight, you really, really look—”
“The director and the commander are leaving the party,” Zephyra reported, saving Elara from herself.“I think they are heading to the waterfront so I cannot hear what they discuss.”
Elara and Signey abandoned their plates on the table and crossed the room leisurely. Though they were looking at the ballroom around them, Zephyra sent her view of the darkened grounds and the Warwicks disappearing down the path toward the boathouse. Jesper caught sight of them from near the dais, then tapped Torrey’s shoulder and pointed them out, but Elara shook her head before they could cut through the crowd. Signey didn’t want her brother involved, and she respected that.
By the time they made it to the patio, the Warwicks were gone, the woods hiding any trace of the couple. Signey led the way, as silent as she’d been that night in Luxton’s office, while Elara watched their backs. None of the dragons milling about took notice of them as they passed, none except Zephyra, and it was only their bond that told Elara she was the sole focus of the tranquil dragon’s attention. Zephyra would let them know if anyone came looking.
The boathouse seemed deserted when Signey activated her dragon relic and lifted them off their feet. They touched down on the same sundeck where they had first called a truce, the golden wood turned silver in the moonlight, the curtains behind the slightly open doors swaying like ghosts in the dark. Signey shoved her against the wall beside the entrance, pressing in close, and Elara froze, light-headed from shock and excitement.
“Shit,” Signey sent, oblivious as ever to the effect her actions had on Elara.“They’re right there. I thought they’d be downstairs.”
“Do they look like they’re coming outside?”
If she noticed the long pause before Elara asked the question,Signey ignored that, too. She pressed closer, trying to squint through the inlaid glass without being seen. She smelled delicate yet spicy, like honeysuckle and cloves.“No. No, I think we’ll be fine as long as we’re quiet.”
Elara tipped her head back until it hit the wall and closed her eyes, pretending to concentrate.
“… fourth time this year,” the commander said, his voice soft but clear from this close. “It’s getting worse. We need to accelerate the plan.”
Director Mireya Warwick sounded exhausted. “At this point, things will fall where they may or fall apart entirely. We’ve done all we can.”
