I stepped forward so fast that Fairfax nearly choked on his next sip. “I’ll do it.”
He raised a hand to calm me like I was an agitated mare. “Now, now. I don’t want an answer right now. You should think on it for a few hours before you make any rash conclusions. Say, by tomorrow at nine?” He lowered his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Shaking his hand, I said, “Yes. We have a deal.”
“Lovely. Now come; it is customary for the great houses to congratulate the champion.”
CHAPTER 4
Ididn’t want to congratulate my employer, who already owned half of Cavaria, but Fairfax had lifted his arm and was waiting for me to take it. With a quick inhale, I placed my hand on his arm. I walked beside the lord, still a little shaken by what he’d said, what he’d proposed. One year at Cardan Lott.
Try to bond with a dragon, he’d said.
My whole life, I’d believed bottomsiders couldn’t bond. We all believed it.
We snaked back through the tunnels honeycombed through the walls of the arena until we filed into a massive round chamber open to the sky above. A single dragon stood in the center of the cavernous space, the golden-scaled victor. Beside the dragon stood a short man wearing riding leathers and holding a massive bouquet of flowers as he accepted the praise of several men in fine suits and ladies in wide hats.
My pulse quickened as we approached Thuron and his rider. The dragon’s sides were still heaving, but he held his head high. Liveried attendants stood at a respectful distance, hands resting at their sides.
Duke Covington stood near his dragon, arms lifting at his sides like a dragon spreading his wings. I’d never met him face-to-face, as I’d been hired by his lairmaster, and I doubted he’d ever noticed me the few times I’d seen him parade by while I was working. Beside him, a younger man who resembled the duke but with darker hair also shook hands and smiled, accepting the praise of the small crowd of well-wishers. Reginald, the duke’s heir. I had seen him on multiple occasions, talking to the lairmaster or climbing into his dragon’s saddle. But slightly behind the duke, another figure stood like a shadow, hanging back. The duke’s younger son, Rushland, who, only hours ago, had been covered in blood. His eyes widened as he spotted me.
My breath hissed as it sucked through my parted lips. I yanked my attention away from the boy, fixing my eyes instead on the duke. He bowed at his next admirer, but it looked like a halfhearted motion. His smile, however, appeared genuine, infused with something deeper than the pleasure of winning—something almost like vindication—as he kissed the nearest lady’s hand. I stole another glance at the younger Covington, tall and blond and built like his father—lanky limbs and broad shoulders. But unlike the duke and Reginald, his scowl looked cut from marble. He barely looked at the people assembled before him, eyes forward and unmoving, until he felt me watching him and glanced in my direction. His jaw flexed.
“Congratulations,” said Lord Fairfax as he stepped forward in the long line of nobles coming to kiss the feet of the wealthiest of them all. His voice showed no signs of excitement or emotion at all, unlike his jovial tone from earlier.
The duke tilted his head. “Thank you, Merlon. All the credit goes to my magnificent beast.”
“Indeed,” said Fairfax, eyes traveling toward Thuron and his rider. I didn’t know Fairfax, but the word sounded a little sharpto me, a fact that seemed lost on the duke. Or he didn’t care. The rider got no credit, not even a nod from the duke.
I stared at my feet, hoping not to have to speak, but I quickly felt the duke’s gaze on me and stiffened as I glanced up. His blond hair was fading to white, but his eyes were still sharp and iridescent blue. His lip twitched as he took me in. “You,” he said. “You enjoyed today’s race, yes?”
Did he recognize me?Your son and your dragon were wounded and bleeding this morning, I wanted to say. Instead, I managed a small nod, all my words drying up in this man’s presence.
“Excellent.” For some reason, the word bit like a knife in my side. “Your friend—uncle?—betrothed?—here hopefully placed his bet well.” He nodded with dripping disdain at Fairfax. I didn’t miss Fairfax’s stiffening posture as the duke spoke. He was past his middle years, and the thought of being betrothed to him brought up a gag reflex I tried to cover with a small cough.
Lord Fairfax replied with a small amount of his former cheer, “My niece, yes. She was my guest today.” He turned a smile on me that was touched with tension, as if worried I might call him out on his lie.
“Indeed.” The duke flashed me a smile that felt like a predator warning his prey.
The duke’s younger son let out a small sound that I could have sworn was a quiet chuckle. My blood boiled in my veins. If the duke didn’t know I was an imposter, he would as soon as his son revealed it.
My shoulders sagged as the duke turned and left the large room, his sons following behind. Rumors abounded when it came to the country’s wealthiest dragon owner.
He kept slaves in his basement to spit polish his trophies.
He gambled with lives instead of money.
He drank dragon blood instead of wine.
In this moment, I believed every one of them.
Hours later,I stared at the eviction notice nailed to our apartment door. I ripped the notice from the door, crumpling the paper in my hand as I strode into our apartment. Stuffy air and shadows greeted me, the only light a single candle on the table and the dim orange hues pouring in from the streetlamps outside. Mother glanced up from her seat at the table in the center of the room, where a half-completed scarf lay. Partially obscured by the table legs, my sister sat on the floor by the window, a book open in her lap. At my entrance, she hopped up, the book forgotten on the floor.
“Ari!” she said with a smile, pushing a strand of long golden hair over her shoulder. Then her eyes slid to our mother, and her smile faded.
My heart flipped as I looked at Evie, eager to relay today’s events to her, but my mother’s sigh silenced me.
“Where were you?” Her voice was even, flat, the worst kind of mad. Evie, wisely, sank back down and pretended not to hear us, her finger tracing across a sentence in her book that she was most certainly not reading. I took a halting step forward, placing on the table the crumpled warning that had been nailed to our door.
