“Excellent. I look forward to that.”
A low snort caught Valenna’s attention, and she glanced over her shoulder. Evander’s three-headed hydra lumbered down the path, her right head trying to snatch a branch as her middle head led them. Her left head was asleep, its long neck curled, and its jaw resting on her shoulders.
“Is that Hera?” Valenna asked.
The hydra reached them, her middle head sniffing Evander all over like a dog whose master has just returned from work. The right head tore out a mouthful of hickory leaves and chewed contentedly, its eyelids drooping.
Hera was twice the size of a draft horse. Evander’s head reached her shoulder, and her three long necks stretched into the tree branches, doubling her height. Her center head was larger than the other two, with a square, craggy brow, and a wide mouth lined with jutting razor fangs designed for holding writhing prey in place while the smaller, smoother heads tore flesh from bone with their sharp, conical teeth.
She had webbed feet and a thick, trailing tail, at the end of which glistened a spike as long as Evander’s forearm and sharp as a cut diamond. Her gray-blue scales resembled those of a snake; small and tightly fitted like glistening skin.
As she stood with her yellow eyes half closed and her jaws shifting sideways as she munched, Hera looked more like a big scaly cow than the legendary symbol of Ashkendor.
Evander petted the hulking monstrosity, his face soft with love and pride. “Isn’t she gorgeous?”
“That’s not the word that came to mind, but she’s certainly impressive,” Valenna replied.
Hera curled her head around Evander’s shoulders, nuzzling his cheek and knocking his glasses crooked on his nose. He caught Valennasmothering a smile.
“She’s grown so gentle,” he said.
“Last I saw her, she was no bigger than a pony.”
The right head stretched lazily toward Valenna, saliva dripping off her chin. Unimpressed, Hera thrust her nose between Evander’s shoulders, hoping for a treat.
Valenna crossed her arms and gave him a heart-melting look of disapproval. Evander felt weak in the knees. “That thing is going to eat you someday,” she said.
“Hera?” Evander asked, stumbling as Hera bumped him. “Never. If she does, I deserve it. Hydra don’t attack humans unless they feel threatened.”
“Does she fly?”
Evander quirked an eyebrow at her. “Of course not. She’s aquatic.”
“She has wings.”
“For swimming.”
Hera curled her neck around his body, scratching her head on his chest.
“Ach, you’ll get me dirty. To bed now. Go!”
Hera regarded him with puppy dog love.
“Go on!”
Irritated, she huffed and swept the legs out from under a table with her tail, nearly impaling a waiter on her spike.
Evander shook his head, smiling faintly. “I’d best take her back to the barn. I’ll join in a moment.”
Valenna shrugged and strolled away. He watched her, following the graceful lines of her body until she disappeared into the crowd. Evander swore at himself.
Chapter nine
Valenna
There were two trainers at Silvanlight Dracorium: Evander Trevelyan and Haldir Bournemuth. Valenna had already worked out a thousand excuses to appoint Hadir dragon master instead of Evander. If he was older than Evander, she’d reference his experience. Younger? The promise of a longer career. She was prepared to view Haldir, whatever he was like, as the most skilled trainer ever born.
It wasn’t ethical, but she didn’t care. Ethics had never been her specialty.
