“Dramatic. I like it.”
Naî considered me for a long glittering moment, her opal eyes shifting as though they were made of liquid. “You know what it will mean if I do this? The last time I allied myself with Tallu, he became Dragon Chosen Emperor. Are you ready to find out what I can do a second time?”
I frowned down at her, even as Saxu ordered more explosive charges to be set in the river. It was dangerous doing it now. They would go off too close to our own boats, and even if we survived in one of the middle ships, Saxu’s men in the last one were in danger. We were traveling too slow to leave the detonation behind. There was too much a chance that they would be caught in it.
Naî nodded. Then, she leapt off the boat, flinging herself into the air. Her wings beat and, in the sunlight, they glistened like fresh ice. She opened her mouth in a roar, drawing every eye from the boat as her body grew in size until she was nearly the same length as the ship we were on. The soldiers and sailors shouted, their voices drawing even more attention.
I was so used to her, so used to her whining and begging for food, her fits of temper, her form as a small child, that I forgotwhat she really was. Now, even a fraction of the size she had been when she had first appeared at the Heron Lake estate, she was a creature from legend, something mystical that had been killed long before we had been born. She roared again, flying over the ships.
She left a trail of snow in her wake, the small frozen flakes floating down and melting immediately on the faces and hands of the sailors.
I walked to the very edge of the boat, away from the crowd. Then I closed my eyes and let myself feel the magic she was wielding. It called to me, the friend I couldn’t quite trust. Her deepest desire was safety, her true call was for our safety. Not everyone’s, but hers and mine. I could feel blinks of light in her desire, other people she wanted safe. Iradîo. Nohe. Homisu, who occasionally snuck her the tastiest part of the dessert.
With that, she blew ice down onto the water, chunks of it encircling Kacha’s boats, and I lent my strength, my own desire. I didn’t want safety as much as she did. Instead, I wanted something more selfish. I wanted to reach Spider. I wanted to reach Spider and convince her that she needed to let Tallu and Hallu go.
Naî roared, the sound shaking the enormous pine trees that bordered the river, and I could see her between our last ship and General Kacha’s. I could see the ice dragging in the water behind her like a net, carefully cradling the explosive charges, bringing them with her as she swept toward Kacha’s men. Then, she began blowing ice in the water, as though creating a wall just porous enough to let water through while maintaining its shape. As I watched her, I had a better idea.
During the last war, my mother had ordered her people to drill metal spikes at the base of the ice walls that guarded the Silver City bay. It cost five men and women their lives, but it had been done. If a boat should come too close while the walls were closed, the metal spikes would pierce the hull and the ship would sink into the freezing waters.
As Naî built a net of ice, I focused on the spikes. The rivershere were too warm to kill a man, but between crashing into Naî’s trap and the spikes piercing their hulls, these ships would be lucky to limp to shore. They wouldn’t be following us.
Across the boats, I heard men calling in joy, yelling out about the dragon that had chosen Emperor Tallu, praising both of them. I was so focused on the spikes, on making sure they were invisible and would last long enough to pierce the hulls of Kacha’s boats, that I didn’t notice when the Kennelmaster leaned against the railing next to me.
I lost focus immediately, my eyes going wide. Ice had formed under my palms, my lack of focus spreading it out in a visible line. Frost edged my hair, ice glistening on my cheek.
Ahead, Naî roared. She had felt my absence and didn’t appreciate it.
“So, our little dragon has decided to declare her loyalty again,” the Kennelmaster observed. He raised his hand, brushing it over my shoulder. Chunks of ice fell to the deck, melting nearly instantly in the sunlight. “Our emperor is once again rewarded for having such powerful allies.”
It was impossible for either of us to pretend that he didn’t know I had gained Naî’s power over ice. But when he watched me, it was with some satisfaction.
I couldn’t help but wonder what plan he had put in play. Or was he truly happy that I had gained this ability?
“Have you told Sagam?” I asked.
Because the Kennelmaster had not come here on a whim; he had to have known before this moment what my abilities were, just as he had known how lethal my skills were when I married Tallu.
“No,” the Kennelmaster said. “I leave that to you.”
“How kind,” I said.
Naî’s irritation growled in the back of my mind, and the dragon herself spun in a low circle, continuing to breathe ice and cold down on the water.
I couldn’t hear what Kacha’s men said, but their panic wasobvious. They ran across the decks of their boats, small and insignificant pawns being dragged across the gameboard. There was no hope for them, but they didn’t know it yet.
“The dragon grows restless,” the Kennelmaster said. “Almost as if she’s waiting for something.”
I turned away from the water, resting my elbows on the railing, closing my eyes briefly to focus my desire. I pushed my support toward Naî, ice cutting under the waterline, melding with hers. She roared again in approval.
“I have told you of Sagam’s upbringing,” the Kennelmaster said. “His mother was from Tavornai, elven blood in her veins. He alone escaped looking like a half-blood. His sisters were not so lucky. They say the elves in Tavornai can grow a forest overnight. They can turn men—entire armies—into wood.”
“Can they?” I asked. I continued helping Naî but it was harder when I was focusing on two things at once. The conversation with the Kennelmaster also took my attention.
“That is what theysay. Tavornai was conquered long ago. I’m not even sure the elves know what their magic used to be, before we burned their elder trees.” The Kennelmaster grabbed hold of the railing, leaning heavily on it. “Emperor Millu demanded to know every traitor in his empire. If his own council was corrupt, surely the rest of the Imperium would be as well. And with the traitors, we killed off anyone who could practice foreign magic. We murdered them all. I have often wondered, had she not died so mysteriously, what sort of magic Sagam’s mother could have taught him.”
I narrowed my eyes at the Kennelmaster. “He practices electro magic.”
The Kennelmaster coughed, the sound rattling in his chest. He spit over the railing. “He does. But what proof do we have that half-breeds can only practice one form of magic? Perhaps that is the greatest question now that the throne has become moreflexiblein its understanding of what a traitor is.”
