My sister was always amiable. It was what she was praised her for, along with her beauty. I saw little of that now. It was as if a mask had been pulled away, revealing someone very sore and very tired. My hand clutched at hers, then I glanced at Dahlia, pulling a funny face because that usually got her smiling. Instead, she buried her face in Rose’s chest.
“I know you’ve always had your head in the clouds with yourbooks.” She looked over at Auren. “Now you’ll be able to stay there, riding a dragon. But the rest of us? We’re forced to deal with the reality. Marriage is a business contract, done to benefit the estate.” We both stared at the facade of the manor. “Her family and his, but actual love? That’s not needed to fulfil the agreement.”
“Come with me.” Rose’s eyes went wide at my sudden outburst, and why not? I was running away from my fate, one my sister had already been forced to submit to. “I’m sure Auren won’t mind.” My dragon was edging closer and closer to the suitors and their fathers, the men looking like they were just about to faint dead away. “You can come with us to the keep. We’re going to claim some land of our own, build a home near a lake. You?—”
“Have to stay here.” She clasped Dahlia to her chest as she swayed back and forth. Her baby was starting to fuss. “That’s how they lock us down. Get a child or two on us, and then you realise you’re not going anywhere.” She stared down at Dahlia’s face, stroking her little cheeks with her thumb. “Bryce could take my daughter from me.”
“No.”
“The law says a child belongs to the father, not the mother.” She said that in the gentle cooing tone mothers used to soothe their babies. “If she wants to remain with her children…”
She has to stay.
I stared at my mother as she bustled over, seeing her in a completely different light. A long time ago, a travelling show had rolled into the nearby town and they brought with them this miraculous beast. Exported from the mainland, they claimed, it was the biggest cat I’d ever seen. But all wonder was driven out of me as I watched it pace back and forth, back and forth in an endless loop, within the confines of its tiny cage. As soon as anyone got close, it snarled and lashed at the bars, trying to work its paws through them to strike out. Right now, that was my mother.
But she couldn’t reach me from her cage.
“Fern, you…” Her officious tone faltered as I brushed past her. “You’re not going to leave on that dragon!”
I walked inside to find I had an audience. Half the manor staff were clustered in the foyer, scattering the minute we appeared. I took the steps two at a time, forcing Mother to trot fast to keep up with me, but when she tried to take my arm, I paused.
“You can’t stop me.” To reinforce my point, I jerked it free. “You know you can’t.”
“Your behaviour is scandalous!” she snapped. “The whole district will hear of it.”
I stepped up to her, smiling when she was forced to move backwards.
“They’ll know that I left my father’s home a queen dragon rider,” I said. “People will tell the story over and over, trying to piece together how I did it, to see if they can replicate the results. Other young women…”
That’s when I stopped, smiled, and then nodded. All women were born into the same cage Mother lived in, but not all remained there, and that’s what really threatened her. If I left, what did that say about her, that she stayed? I knew it meant she was making the best choice she could, but Mother… Seeing me walk out of here had the bars of her cage rattling and she didn’t know what to do with that.
“It won’t matter what people say,” I said. “News will die down, because someone else will do something scandalous. I won’t be back.” As soon as I said the words, I knew them to be true. “Not to remind you of how my choices are different from yours. Not ever.”
At that, I spun on my heel and walked into my old bedroom.
On the trip over, I’d thought about what I’d take. My watercolours, my good sable brushes, my favourite book series. In the end, I just packed what clothes I thought would be suitable for ridingon dragon back. Leaving behind my meagre library hurt, but… with a nod, I realised I was off to have my own adventures, rather than always reading about other people’s.
“You’ll regret this,” Mother hissed as I walked past her. “You’ll come crawling back here once that… dragon discovers what you really are.”
“No.” I stopped for just a second, staring down at her. She was so small, so frail. I’d never noticed the grey strands in her hair, the fine lines around her eyes. Mother looked… old. “No matter what happens, no matter what Auren or I decide, I will never, ever subject myself to your petty rule again. Live well, Mother.” I bit that last word off. “Because I intend to.”
Are you ready?Auren asked as I reemerged from the house. She sized up the bag.I thought you had more treasures than that.
I figured we’d find more out in the world, I replied.Together.
Together.
She stretched her neck out, making it easier for me to clamber up on her back. That was the last straw for my suitors. They thought Auren was finally going to swallow them down, so they went bolting off down the road.
“Fly well,” Father said with a wave. “And Dragon? Look after my daughter, you hear?”
Better than he has thus far, she told me drily.
“If you need me,” I called out to Rose. “Send word via the royal keep. I’ll come.”
“Not as a bride, but a rider.” Rose nodded with a smile. “Keep your head in the clouds, little sister.”
With that, Auren’s wings flapped out. Several fast steps and then we were up in the sky, the manor getting smaller and smaller with each sweep of her wings.
