More workout generated more sweat until I finally dropped down onto the sofa again and stretched out my legs.
I focused on the spell for moving objects, but no matter how many times I cast it, the wooden dragon still stood on the book. Maybe I wasn’t saying the spell right. I had a solid memory, but I could’ve misremembered.
Since I wasn’t expected back to help Brenna until it was time for her to get ready for dinner, I might as well keep busy at the aerie.
“Want to come with me, Drask?” I asked, but when I lookedhis way, I found his perch empty. He must’ve gone outside to hunt. Well, he’d find me in the stable if he needed me.
A flit took me to the aerie entrance.
“I tell you,someonehas to do it,” Will said to one of the stable hands as I walked down the hall, pushing the cart I’d soon fill with dragon poop. There was something incredibly satisfying about shoveling shit. The dragons seemed to appreciate my efforts, and I enjoyed looking around a clean stall, knowing I’d made it happen. I also did my best thinking during that time, and if there was something I needed right now, it was time lost in my thoughts.
I’d imagined the carved dragon moving, hadn’t I?
I stopped beside my new friends. “What does someone have to do?”
Will shot me an odd look. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was angry with me, though he had no reason to feel that way.
“It’s nothing,” he said shortly.
He couldn’t be upset that I showed up here every day. No one would complain about me cleaning stalls.
“Maybe she’d be willing to do it,” Airia said, teasing her fingertips across one of her tiny braids. I’d met her yesterday, though we’d only exchanged a few words and our names. She’d come from one of the villages in the center of Nullen territory and was claimed a few years ago by one of the fae living near Bledmire Court. Like Will, she said her lord was a decent person and hadn’t drained her.
“What might I be willing to do?” I asked, keeping my tone pleasant. It never paid to irritate anyone, another lesson I’dlearned over the past few months. My, how I’d grown. Back at the fortress, I hadn’t cared if I pissed anyone off. But with only three days left before I was going to kill the king, I needed all the allies I could get. You never knew who might hide you when you were on the run.
“Take care of Madrood,” Prenton said. “We usually take turns. But you don’t have to go in there. We appreciate the work you’re doing here already. You do it for free.”
“Wedon’t get paid,” Will said with a twist of his lips.
“No, but we’re assigned to work here,” Prenton said in a kinder tone than I’d use. “She isn’t.”
“It’s nice of you to come help us,” Airia said. “But Madrood? There’s no reason you need to ever go near his stall.”
Frankly, I was surprised no one had tried to toss me into Madrood’s pen from the moment I arrived. I was a volunteer, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be asked to work with the unruly dragons.
Airia studied my face. “The controller claimed you, right? What was that like?” Her attention zoned in on my collar and like all the other times when someone noted it, it twisted, reminding me of its presence, reminding me that it monitored me at all times.
“Painful like yours.”
“Yeah, the collar sucks,” she said. “But I meant, what’s it like to belong to the controller? He’s scary.”
“It also sucks.” I had no problem lying to this group, to anyone here, actually, though I wanted to defend Vexxion to the world.
“That’s not what I heard,” Will said with a snort. A slick grinrose on his face. “I heard you sleep in his suite. In his bed, actually.”
“He needs me to stay in his suite. Remember? The collar comes with access to my power.” While I was willing to lie, I wouldn’t disparage Vexxion. Maintain the ruse and his rep, sure, but I wouldn’t let them believe he raped me or anything like that.
He frowned. “Do you actually have much power to offer? You never look like he’s drained you.”
“He’s not guzzling it down. He’s not greedy.”
“I don’t see him as the cautious, caring type,” Airia pointed out.
Because she didn’t know him.
“We get along, and that’s all that matters. The suites have more than one room.” Let them think I slept on one of the sofas. I glanced toward Madrood’s stall. “What does the king’s dragon need?”
“Everything, but for now, he’s got scales in his eyes.” Will’s gaze took a sly slant. “I don’t suppose you have any tricks for handling something like that, do you? Since, as you said, you’re so good with dragons.”
