Azric sits down next to me and mimics my position. His eyes immediately go to Inni, who stands unmoving at the other end of the roost. Sidon’s massive body dwarfs her as he stands beside her. The shining black of Vyran is on the other side of her, and Kasan stands slightly to the side. Calyr, the gold-scaled dragon, is the only one missing tonight, and I wonder where he is.
“Inni wants to know what you would be doing if you were back in Stormhaven,” Azric says quietly.
My eyes fix on the red dragon as I think. “Probably reading a novel or studying sword techniques. I’d been planning to change from daggers to a longsword before Ainslee and Rhion convinced me to join the trials. I was still learning the fundamentals, andRhaskar thought it would be good if I went without a teacher initially so I would have to come to my own conclusions.”
Azric completely ignores most of my answer. “What kind of novels?”
I turn to him, a grin on my face. “That’s the part that catches your attention? Not me changing weapons? Not the explanation for why?”
He shrugs. “I feel like all I do is think about fighting and politics. The prospect of having a conversation about something as trivial as your favorite novels sounded far more entertaining.”
“Fine. I’m going to disappoint you, though. Romance novels aren’t really my thing, if that’s what you were expecting. Love wasn’t supposed to be in the stars for me. I was supposed to become a Priest, and they don’t get married or have children. It’s against the rules for any Priest to hold anything above the Order, and who wants to marry someone that will always hold them second in importance?”
He turns to me, a thin smile on his lips. “You still haven’t told me what you like to read.”
I take a deep breath. “The last book I read and enjoyed was about a fisherwoman. It wasn’t exciting. There weren’t any battles or grand schemes. It was just a story about an older woman who was struggling to make ends meet as the fishing holes she’d always gone to were drying up.”
Azric nods with a smile. “Simple problems for simple people, yet for that woman, I’m sure it was tearing her up. Fiona, that’s what life’s supposed to be about. Finding food. Building shelter.Creating art and growing as a person. Not fighting for entire worlds. Our lives shouldn’t be thisexciting. We should tell stories around the hearth fire and stop mid-walk to notice that the winds of autumn have arrived. Noticing the first sprigs of green in spring should bring smiles to our lips. Instead…” He stops and hangs his head.
“Instead, we ignore the world and people around us unless they can help us win the next life or death fight.”
All he does is give me a slight nod, and we sit in that silence. It’s not uncomfortable, though. Neither of us have spent our lives trying to fill the silence with words. Instead, I look up at the stars twinkling above us. One of the dragons rustles, and I feel the roost shake as it lies down.
But the dragons have become just as commonplace as anything else in this exciting life of mine. They’ve watched silently every night we’ve trained together, and while they’re majestic, I’m no longer so awestruck by their very presence and breath.
Yet, the stars hold my attention, though they’ve been there since the world was born. They’re greater than even dragons, and I don’t know why. Azric’s eyes follow mine and stare as they twinkle in our shared silence.
The wind blows steadily, and I barely notice it. In the darkness, they’re always there. Sometimes, they’re hiding behind clouds or dim, but they’re always there. Even when all of us return to the Void or wherever humans go when they die, those stars will still be shining.
“Will the Hunters destroy the stars if they win?” I ask, suddenly afraid. I can accept my death, but the thought of those tiny flickering lights going out is far too terrible to imagine.
Azric shrugs. “I don’t know. Probably not. They’re not magic, at least not from what I’ve heard. Why?”
I don’t know why I care. If I’m dead, what does it matter if they’re gone? Then again, I doubt Darian would stop caring about what happened to Nyth just because he’s in the Void. I want the stars to survive whatever happens.
“I was just wondering.” The statement falls flat because I know it’s not true.
He takes a deep breath and slowly gets to his feet. He glances down at me and gives me a broken smile. “Come on. Inni says you need something good tonight, and I think she’s probably right.”
I frown as he puts his hand out to help me up. I take it, and when he hauls me to my feet, his smile brightens as he looks at the dragon walking toward us.
“Fiona Thorne,” she says in that soft, almost motherly tone, “I think it is time you rode a dragon that wasn’t trying to kill you.”
Chapter 50
“We cannot let her find out about Fiona.”
“You’ve already given her a good explanation for your interest.”
“Yes, but she’s not stupid. She will know thatyouwould not be talking to Fiona if she were merely a tool.”
“This is a dangerous road we walk, but it’s one we can’t stray from. She’s staying far from Nyth. For now, I think she is safe.
“And when she isn’t?”
“Hopefully, she will be a champion and become untouchable. Otherwise… I do not know.”
~Conversations between Inni the Destroyer and the Prince of Bones
