“I’ve said so at least twice this morning.”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t really hear.”
“I’m joining you on your expedition.”
Evander choked on his tea. “No, you’re not.”
“Look at you, Vander. You’re a mess. What if you collapse on the plains? I don’t trust Haldir not to leave you in a ditch. I’m honestly very worried about you.”
How was this woman, with her compulsory need to nurture, her stubborn love, her uncanny ability to tell when he was in pain, and then instinctively know how to fix it—how was she the fearsome witch that made Ashkendoric generals weep? He couldn’t reconcile it.
“Don’t be,” he said, standing and putting his glasses in his pocket. “I’m fine.”
“Well, at least Haldir can kill a vicious gawper tuber if we meet one.”
“We won’t meet one, but if we do, Haldir can’t kill it either. It’s a rule at the dracorium. If he does, he’ll lose his training stipend and can’t be dragon master.”
“Then I’m definitely coming. What if you’re set upon by some ravenous creature? Will you both sit down and let it eat you?”
Evander imagined spending three days with her, riding across the plains, eating meals, staying in the same inn. But he tamped down his excitement. They couldn’t be together. If he gave in to this longing, she would discover the truth, and the truth would destroy her. “I don’t like you being around Haldir.”
“Oh, Vander.” She smiled, casting him a cunning look. “Do you remember who I am?”
“It’s too dangerous,” he said lamely.
Valenna stepped closer to him, her arm looped behind her so her back arched. “Do you recall our conversation last night?”
“Yes, but …”
“I have survived battles you couldn’t imagine in your worst nightmares.”
Evander let out a short laugh, but before she could parse it, he said, “Alright, then. Since you’re a princess, I suppose I can’t say no.”
Chapter thirteen
Valenna
“How much further, Mr. Trevelyan?” Valenna called to Evander. Her plodding land dragon, a big brown creature with a short neck and stubby legs, kept slipping in the grass, and Valenna’s thighs ached from gripping the leather saddle. Rain pattered on her shoulders, trickles of water tickling her back.
Haldir dragged behind, grumbling and swearing to himself.
Hera had found a spittle crocus growing in the grass and wandered away from the others to investigate. All three of her heads were bobbing around the teacup-shaped blue flower, taking turns nudging it and then rearing back when it spat drops of water on her noses. Evander lounged on Hera’s broad shoulders, resting against the base of her necks, his right ankle on his updrawn left knee. He was squinting through his glasses, reading a novel.
“Mr. Trevelyan,” Valenna called again, trying to sound annoyed. She failed, and smiled at him as he sat oblivious atop the lumbering monstrosity he treated like a pet kitten.
“Trevelyan!” Haldir bellowed. “We’re lost! And it’s your bleeding fault!”
Evander’s eyes flashed as he glanced at Haldir, then back at his book. He and Valenna hadn’t spoken a word to one another the entire trip, and she couldn’t tell if it was because of Haldir’schafing presence or because Evander simply wasn’t in a chatting mood.
Haldir pulled a metal flask from his pack. He drank it dry, then hurled it at Evander. Evander batted it away with his hand, but Hera shied like a startled mule, and a less apt rider would have fallen. Evander kept his balance.
For the thousandth time, Valenna wondered why he fell that day in Largotia when he hurt his head. She’d recounted it on countless nights as she lay awake in her bed, missing him. One second, he was steady in his seat, and the next, he was slamming into the grass. He said he didn’t remember the fall, but she sensed he was lying.
“It’s over the ridge,” Evander said, sitting upright and spinning around to urge Hera onward. He didn’t tap her with his heels or use reins; she just seemed to understand, as if by instinct. He’d always been like that with dragons, and Valenna assumed it was intuition, but he reminded her of someone. She couldn’t place who. There was a deep memory, buried under a pile of pain somewhere inside her, but when she prodded it, it felt like touching an old scar.
“Watch your mouth, Haldir,” Evander snapped.
Valenna, lost in thought, hadn’t heard what Haldir said. She looked up, bewildered.
