“Have you?”
“No.” The word came out flat. I kept scratching the dragon while he wiggled like Farris when I rubbed his tummy. “You can’t run far enough away to escape something like that.”
Her hand stopped mid-brush, and the scrutiny of her deep blue eyes nearly impaled me. Clever. No blades, but there’d be no need to teach the aerie staff how to battle, right?
Her attention was unbearable, but I couldn’t stop the spill of words from my mouth.
“I didn’t care where I ended up,” I said. “Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would ever matter to me again, not even myself.” My voice cracked, but I forced steel into it. “But…”
“But?”
I scratched the dragon between the eyes a little harder, finding distraction in the slow sway of his head as he leaned into my touch.
Kian handed me a bottle of claw oil and a cloth, and I eased to the side and tapped the dragon’s leg. He obediently lifted it for me to apply the oil. I rubbed hard, working it in.
“The king’s special,” I said.
She paused, watching as I dropped the dragon’s leg and carried the bottle and cloth to work on another. “He’s gorgeous.”
Her response caught me off guard, and I let out a snort that startled even me. My tension didn't ebb, but the brief smile I cracked felt genuine. “He's that, too, and by the fates, doesn’t he know it.”
Her smile curled up. “I hope he’s not too arrogant.”
“He’s a nice balance.”
She nodded and moved to groom the dragon’s flank nearby. “If you want to keep him, you’ll have to break the curse,” she said, her hand freezing on the dragon’s side.
Like a slap, her words stilled everything.
I sucked in a breath. “Tell me about the curse. Everything!”
When she stared forward blankly again like everyone else had, my blood chilled. I grumbled and stomped around her to work on another hoof.
“There are layers,” she whispered, her focus drifting toward the dragon lazily exhaling plumes of smoke onto the sand. “Break the first if you can, but then you'll need to find…” Her face tightened. I froze, holding my breath. “Find them all. The final one will be the toughest. And while you’re doing it, you’ll need to watch out for…”
New information. It was trickling out so slowly, his birthday would arrive before I learned it all. How could I save him before the time ran out? My throat felt like it was full of splinters, and the ache in my chest stretched tighter.
Her behavior was new. When I’d questioned the others, they paused and then didn’t remember saying anything. Was the spellunwinding or were these moments of clarity tiny windows that opened only to slam shut before the most important details could escape?
Kian shivered again and continued grooming.
I tapped the dragon’s left shin, and he lifted it for me to work on his claws.
Silence echoed within the pen for long enough I suspected she’d revealed all she could force through the curse.
“How would you like to go flying, my pretty friend?” I crooned to the dragon, borrowing more sweetness from my friend, Tempest. “I don’t know how to bond with you, and I don’t believe I’d try even if I could recite the phrasing, but ride a dragon, I can do. And that’s what you are.”
He looked down at me with smoke coiling from his nostrils. His molten eyes swirled like embers poised to erupt into flames. If I didn’t take care, he’d kill me with one blast of fire, but this was a tame dragon. A well-tended creature too. The sand was clean underfoot and feed awaited his hunger in the trough.
A mesh strung across the opening in the back kept him penned, but I knew how to release it.
“I like you despite you being the queen,” Kian said.
“Thanks?”
“But I still won’t let you take him. However, I’ll fly you to the city and leave you. Would that be enough?”
“Thank you.” My voice came out hoarse, cracking under the weight of everything I couldn’t say.
