The blood left her face and she hugged Noah close to her, though he was already as close as he could be in his sling. She glanced down at his sleeping face, then back at Ailan. “Why?”
“You want an asset that will make you feel safe? If you earn the dragons’ respect, they will listen to you.”
Mareleau blinked at her. “Safe? You think being around a dragon will make me feel safe? You do realize Ferrah shattered the windows of my bedroom at Ridine Castle and nearly had me skewered with glass. And now you want me to take Noah into a cave full of the creatures?”
“They will not harm him.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in Ailan’s voice, only warmth. “He is their Morkara. They would no sooner hurt him than me. Besides, Ferrah didn’t mean to hurt or alarm you at Ridine. She’d been looking for you. According to Uziel, he and Ferrah acted against the archers in your defense. They saw a threat to you, not them.”
“According to Uziel,” she echoed. “As in…you can talk to him?”
“I can communicate with him. It’s almost like talking. Should you ever grow close enough to one of the dragons to bond with one, you’ll learn what I mean.”
Mareleau pulled her head back. “That…that’s an option for me? To bond with a dragon?”
“Maybe not today, but someday, perhaps. For now, I am confident you can earn enough of their respect to get them to listen to you, the same way they listen to my consort. That way, even if I am not here, you can take comfort in commanding them to protect you.”
This was madness. Mareleau should refuse to take a step further. She should run.
But she didn’t.
Instead, a strange thrill buzzed through her. Whether it was out of a need to protect her son or simply her ego wanting to be important enough to command a dragon, she knew not. All she knew was that as Ailan continued to descend farther and farther down the hill, toward the craggy base of the castle, her feet followed. Even as her heart raced. Even as sweat pooled beneath her armpits.
They reached the base of the palace where a dark maw split the stone. There really were caves beneath the palace. Dragons lurking floors beneath her bedroom. Who would have thought?
“Being formally introduced to a dragon…is it dangerous?” she asked. It had almost been deadly for Cora, after all.
“It won’t be dangerous for you, I promise.” Ailan led the way inside the cave opening. Darkness enveloped them at once, and Mareleau threw out her hands for guidance. One palm met a stony wall. She was about to call out for Ailan to wait when a spark of light blinked just ahead. Then another.
Mareleau took a few hesitant steps. Each one sparked more and more tiny pinpricks of blue-green light. After a few more steps, the walls and ceiling lit up like starlight, casting her, Noah, and Ailan in an aqua glow.
“Dragon flame reacts with the minerals in these caves and leaves these residuals. They get denser and denser the deeper we go.”
Ailan was right. As they wove deeper into the tunnels, more of the light painted the walls until she could see everything from the ground to the curving, rocky walls, to the towering ceilings dripping glowing stalactites. It was one of the most beautiful yet eerie sights she’d ever seen. If only Larylis were here. If only Noah was awake and old enough to appreciate such splendor.
If this were your home…
Longing and guilt clashed in her heart. What a traitorous thought that was, when she was already Queen of Vera.
But El’Ara is an entire world. A world likethis. A world with magic and miracles I’ve yet to see.
She shook the thoughts from her head.
“My bonding ritual with Uziel ended in danger,” Ailan said, “but that was only because of my brother. He disrespected my mother’s dragon, and Berolla meant to punish him, not me. Two of her talons raked through my chest, nearly puncturing my heart, but Uziel intervened just in time. Berolla was so distraught over what she’d been tricked into doing that she atoned by sacrificing the two very talons that had cut me.”
“What do you mean she sacrificed her talons?”
“She voluntarily severed two claws from her toes. That collar Cora had was made from those talons. It took us months to understand the magic Berolla had infused them with. No, that isn’t accurate. My mother knew, for Berolla had told her, but Satsara had hidden the talons’ true purpose from us. It wasn’t until we were close to losing the fight with my brother that Mother finally told us what we could do with the claws. That we could stop Darius from worldwalking by puncturing his flesh with them.”
“The war with Darius raged for multiplemonths?” Shame sank her stomach as soon as the naive words left her mouth. Of course they’d fought for months. War could last years. Decades, even. Some queen she was. She changed the subject. “You said Berolla infused the talons with magic. Do all dragon talons contain different kinds of magic?”
Ailan shook her head. “Talon magic is rare. Like unicorn horns, talons disappear into ash after the dragon dies. Only a talon gifted from a live dragon contains magic, and it is up to that dragon to decide how to infuse it. No Elvyn would ever ask of such a sacrifice from a dragon. We’re lucky Darius never learned of this ability, or he would have found a way to exploit this gift from them.”
Nausea turned her gut, along with another pang of guilt. She’d once ordered three princes to hunt unicorns and bring her a pelt, a pet, and a magical horn. Little had she known, the process for taking a horn was nothing short of torture. Yet another choice she regretted making.
The illumination painting the cave walls brightened, drawing Mareleau’s eyes to the view ahead. An enormous cavern spread before them, the ceiling twice as tall as it had been before. Tiny pools of flame flickered over the cavern floor in a multitude of colors—red, green, orange, purple. A hulking shape rested at the center of the floor, its silhouette rising and falling like a breathing mountain. Then, with a grumble that shook the ground beneath Mareleau’s feet, the shape moved, stretched, lengthened, until it unraveled as Uziel. His enormous dark head lifted from beside his body. His tail swished across the floor as he flicked his tongue toward Ailan.
