Most important, though I had never told anyone, least of all Hafgan, the Spires had Roland.
I loved the feathers and birds, but he was everything.
If I had to give up my whole hoard just to keep him, I’d have done it in an instant, without a single thought. Yes, I knew dragon hoards were supposed to be the most important thing wehad, haunting our every thought and action. I was supposed to think only of feathers, ever.
But in practice, that wasn’t quite right.
Roland, after all, had given me that first feather. The first thing I had ever owned in my life, which, even broken, was now central in my hoard. Roland had had it put under glass and hung it on the wall in the feather room.
Even more importantly, he’d given me my freedom. My life.
Without Roland’s intervention at the Battle of Windy Pass, I had little doubt I would be dead. Either at the hands of a soldier who was frightened by my panic, or because I would have refused to leave Athelstan when he’d still had my precious feather under his cuirass.
And after that? Well, Roland had become my life in other ways. He’d stayed with me, taught me how to embrace the human part of my existence, how to interact with other people, and even with dragons who didn’t know how to handle a creature who’d spent his whole life in a cage.
Roland had helped me make myself into a free creature, rather than just a beaten, feral animal.
So when Bowen touched down outside the Spires at the usual spot, and I saw that beloved russet head duck out of a door on one of the earthen towers, I was immediately slipping down off Bowen’s back, almost before he finished landing.
And then I was running across the courtyard, throwing myself into Roland’s arms. We both went tumbling into the snow. Me all ungainly awkward limbs that were too long for my body and him strong and controlled from years of sword training, but none of that mattered.
All that mattered was Roland was there.
I squeezed my arms around him till he let out a wheezing laugh, a grin on his beautiful lips. “Aderyn, you have to let me breathe.”
“If I must,” I whispered back, and then... Well, he was right in front of me. Perfect, beautiful, wonderful Roland.
My Roland.
I didn’t think too many people would fault me for leaning in to steal one tiny kiss.
Roland certainly didn’t mind, leaning into the touch and kissing me back.
If heat rushed to my face, I’d just blame the color on the cold. “I missed you.”
“Missed you more,” he insisted, reaching up and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Let’s have dinner. I’ll ask the cooks if they have that cake you like.”
“Cake for dinner?” a mildly disapproving Hafgan asked from behind me. “Perhaps some vegetables? Or meat?”
I shot a glare behind me, willing my brother to be quiet. Why was he never simply nice to Roland? What had Roland ever done to make him act that way?
There was a cleared throat nearby, and I looked up to find Tristram and Bet approaching. Odd, I hadn’t thought the sound was either of them. Still, I pulled myself off Roland, brushing the snow from first him, then myself, as I stood.
When I looked up, a swish and curl of crimson caught my eye. The door to a nearby tower closed behind someone. Apparently someone who hadn’t wanted to greet the Wind Clan.
Ah well. It didn’t matter. I went to hug first Tris, and then much to his mild consternation and secret delight, Bet as well.
Oh, he grumped and pretended offense at having his clothes disarranged and his personal space invaded, but when no one else was looking, I caught him smiling to himself. Bet Kyston, secret marshmallow. Another of the men who had saved my life in Windy Pass, along with Tristram.
They would always get hugs too.
Sometimes, I wished that one of them would invite me to stay forever, like Dorte’s mage at the monastery had for her. I just had to remind myself that I was only at the palace a few months a year, and there was a lot I didn’t know, didn’t understand, about the politics of ruling a land. If they had wanted me to stay, they would have asked, and they did not. There had to be reasons for that.
Ever the perfect distraction, Roland twined our fingers together, smiling. “Come on. You have to see the aviary. You’re going to love this. They’re a little annoying, but so beautiful...”
With that, he tugged me in the direction of the aviary, and as I always did with Roland, as I always wanted to, I followed.
3
