“He’s telling me to be safe.” Laughter bubbled through her words. “And he said to tell you not to fly through any storms.”
Fletcher turned his gaze to me.
Adele’s eyebrows lifted as she relayed Fletcher’s thoughts. “You’re to take good care of me. If anything happens to your… Aw, Fletch. I’m your girl? That’s so sweet. Anyway, he says he’ll find a way to make your life miserable if you don’t. He says he has an extremely loud bark, and he’s not afraid to use it in the middle of the night. Let alone fart on command.”
“It was horrible,” I said.
Her head tilted. “He actually farted near you?”
“On purpose,” I growled.
“Fletcher!” She shook her head.
“As for taking care of “his girl,” I won’t allow anyone or anything to hurt her.”
Fletcher nodded and scratched at the door. Adele opened it, and he trotted out without a backward glance, his tail wagging.
“He really does hate flying,” Adele said, closing the door.
“Can you blame him? He’s built low to the ground. Heights probably feel unnatural.”
She laughed, the sound filling the room with warmth. “That’s very diplomatic of you.”
We ate quickly.
“I’ve been plotting the most efficient route,” she said, speaking around a bite of egg. “If we fly to Brightmore first, we can investigate, then continue east to Silvervale territory. Goldwing is in the general direction as Silvervale and less than a day’s travel. I had to guess a bit, extrapolating how long it took for you to fly from my grandmother’s estate to this mountain range, using time and wind variables…” Her smile rose. “Anyway, accounting for the mountainous wind currents and potential storms, we should be able to take care of things and be back here within a few days.”
She’d marked a hand-drawn map with small notations, distances and landmarks, her handwriting neat.
“I wasn’t sure about wind patterns at higher altitudes,” she said, tracing a route with her finger. “I assume dragon flight operates differently depending on atmospheric currents, but I thought?—”
“Adele.”
She looked up, blinking.
“It’s brilliant,” I said. “All of it.”
Pink colored her cheeks, and a light breeze swirled through the room, carrying the scent of rain. “It’s just logistics.”
“It’s smart logistics.” I caught her hand, threading my fingers through hers. “Thank you.”
“For making a map?”
“For caring enough to make a map.” For caring about my people and this mission. For being exactly who she was without a bit of pretense.
The breeze picked up, and snowflakes started drifting down from above us.
“We should go,” I said, releasing her hand before I forgot all my carefully constructed reasons for maintaining professional distance. “Before you create a blizzard in here.”
She waved away the snow with a laugh and grabbed her bag.
The launching platform was at the highest point of the palace, accessible through a series of spiraling stairs that opened onto a wide courtyard made of smooth stone. The space had been designed for dragon takeoffs and landings and was large enough to accommodate even the biggest of our kind, with a spectacular view of the mountain range stretching in every direction.
We took the stairs and finally reached the top.
The air was thin and cold up here, crisp enough to make Adele’s breath visible in small puffs.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in.
