Evander shot out of his seat, reached across the table, grabbed Haldir’s shoulder, and wrenched his arm away from Valenna. Haldir hissed through his teeth as he stumbled to his feet and clutched two fistfuls of Evander’s shirt front. Flushing red, Haldir slammed Evander onto his back on the table and raised his fist.
“No! Stop!” Valenna shrieked, terrified Haldir would strike Evander. A punch to the head would be catastrophic for him, possibly fatal.
Evander’s mouth twisted into a scornful smile as he slipped his hand to Haldir’s elbow and pinched. The big man released him with a howl, his arm hanging limp.
Avoiding looking at her, Evander straightened, tucked in his rumpled shirt, and sat again, looking perfectly placid.
Someone laughed, and Valenna glimpsed Samara watching from a table nearby. The Cobblepine trainees leaned their heads together, snickering and casting Evander conflicted looks of admiration and ire.
Haldir dragged his limp arm into his lap, his nostrils flaring and his lips quivering with rage.
“Please, everyone, be calm!” Valenna cried.
“I think Haldir should go,” Thomasina said, throwing down her napkin.
Haldir grumbled, “Trevelyan should leave, not me.”
Valenna held up her hand. “I’m here to pick a new dragon master. Let’s proceed and pretend this didn’t happen.”
“Come now, Hal, Miss Castanaia is here to pick a dragon master,” Evander said with a tight smile as he picked up his bread and tore it in half with a touch of ferocity. “Let’s stop acting like animals so you can tell her about your qualifications.”
Haldir stared at Evander, a muscle in his cheek ticking, then he said, “And you think you have more qualifications than I do? Is that it? Well, let me tell you …”
“You’re not trying to convince me,” Evander interrupted. “You’re trying to convince her.”
Haldir huffed a laugh and tried to gather his charm again. “Very well. I hope you have time. I’ve got quite the resume.”
“Do you?” Valenna asked irritably.
“Are you angry with me?” Haldir smiled apologetically. “It was a misunderstanding. I misread you. I’m sorry if you were offended.”
A perfect non-apology. Valenna bristled, her hands clenched in her lap. She tried to lift her arm, but a sharp pain pricked her, and she let out an involuntary gasp. A small vine twined up her wrist, its tiny thorns piercing her skin. She ripped her hand free, leaving bleeding scratches from her wrist to her knuckles. Quickly, she pressed her napkin over the scrapes.
Valenna’s heart pounded in her chest. Had anyone seen? Her hand was concealed under the table, but what if someone noticed? She glanced at Evander, who was watching her, his brow furrowed, his head tilted inquisitively.
“I’m thirty-two,” Haldir continued, spreading his legs and taking up enough space for three people. “That’s seven years older than Trevelyan.”
Evander raised his eyebrows in mock veneration.“The keepers respect me.”
Valenna looked at Evander, who was chewing slowly, laughter in his eyes. He looked like a child at a Punch and Judy show.
“And what is the first thing you would do as dragon master?” Valenna asked. She still clung to a tattered hope that Haldir just made a bad first impression and she could somehow justify appointing him to the dangerous position instead of Evander.
“Well …” Haldir’s smile sagged, and he looked like he was mentally feeling around in a cluttered kitchen drawer in the dark. “I would … what really is the job of the dragon master? To bring in more money, of course. And to keep this dracorium moving forward.”
He seemed to like the phrase ‘moving forward,’ and he latched onto it. “We’ve always got to keep going, and to keep … to keep moving forward toward the … the future.”
“You’re so good with words, Hal,” Evander said, cleaning his glasses with a napkin.
Haldir continued, unheeding. “Isn’t that important for everything in life? To move in a forward direction and never … never back! No, always going upward and never backward. Momentum. We must maintain our momentum.”
Oh dear. As she’d suspected, Haldir was an idiot. A gorgeous idiot, but an idiot just the same.
“Momentum is what we must maintain,” Haldirblustered.
Evander rested his arm on the table and leaned over it. “Yes, Haldir, but in what specific way do you believe we should gather or maintain momentum?”
“Yes,” Valenna said. “What is your plan for the dracorium? In the next five years, especially considering the breeding crisis?”
