“It’s a reminder that the dead forever remain with us in our hearts and souls,” Sofia told Fox.
She showed him how to wipe the mud across his chest before doing her own. Chalia even let Sofia place a bit of mud across her scales, somewhere beneath where Sofia imagined her neck was. Sofia could have sworn her silvery white scales glowed around where the dirt was placed.
The flightback to the nesting grounds was quiet. The moment they touched down, Chalia’s father was there, checking his daughter over as if he’d been afraid the entire time she’d been gone. He’d chosen to stay up with the dragons to watch the eggs and the grounds. They’d blocked off every tunnel inside the mountain and stationed at least seven dragons to watch the eggs, but everyone was on edge. Sofia couldn’t blame them. There was no way to tell when Harlow would decide to attack again. More Dereyan soldiers had died than their people, but their numbers were overwhelming, and Harlow knew it now. He’d seen just how few resistance fighters there were, even with the dragons on their side.
“Come with me,”Chalia’s father said, eyes turning first to Fox, and then back to Sofia.“Pale Scales, too.”
Fox and Sofia exchanged a look. Fox’s hand was hot as it encircled her own and she gave a nod, the two of them following after Chalia’s father.
Sofia reached out to Chalia, but the smaller dragon didn’t know what her father wanted either. It took only a few minutes of walking to realize they were headed toward Aurelia and a few other dragons.
“Sofia, Fox,”Aurelia said, her voice warm and deep in her mind. Her next words were slow and careful.“I wanted to thank you and apologize again for my doubt in you and your allies. You saved our eggs—our nestlings.”
Sofia nodded, trying to accept the gratitude.
“We owe you a life debt. Each of you.”
Sofia felt her cheeks going red, but Fox beside her looked pale. “So, what’s the plan now?” she asked, wanting to change the subject. Fox looked absolutely sick at the compliment from the dragons, and she didn’t think his puking on them would be taken kindly. He never seemed to know how to handle softness or kindness. She hated his father and Harlow just as much for teaching him he didn’t deserve such things.
“We attack,”the dragon said, letting out an icy blast that had Sofia stumbling back a step. Aurelia noticed and looked a bit bashful.“We must reclaim our eggs and our family.”
Sofia felt the pain and anger behind the words. She knew them deep in her soul. “We need to understand how the dragons are being controlled,” she said. “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”
“No,”she said, her voice biting.
“We may be able to help,” Fox said, and Sofia turned, not knowing where he was going with his statement. “I know someone in the chief commander’s camp. Ian may know how he’s doing it. If we’re able to sneak in and talk to him.”
The dragons didn’t speak for a long while, and Sofia saw the way their feathers rippled and wings twitched. They were speaking to each other. At last, Aurelia turned back to them.
“We will give you three days to try it your way. If you cannot discover the secrets, we will raze the camp to the ground.”
“Fair enough,” Fox said. His face was neutral, but she knew what he was thinking because she was thinking it, too.
Their plan had to work.
Their parents were in the camp, and they couldn’t be there if the dragons attacked.
“We’ll leave tonight,” Fox said, glancing at Sofia for confirmation.
She was exhausted to her bones, but she couldn’t argue. She nodded.
“And you,”Aurelia said, examining Sofia carefully. “I do notunderstand the connection you have to my daughter, not yet, but I trust you to keep her safe.”
“Always,”she said. “As if she were a part of me.”
Aurelia watched her for a moment, something unreadable in the dragon’s gaze. At last, she gave a snort of approval before turning away to speak to the rest of the dragons. Sofia and Fox were dismissed. They looked at each other as they turned to walk back up the slope, and Sofia wondered how they would accomplish what they had just promised.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
FOX
They waited until nightfall to leave, the dark peaks below them and the stars above them as they flew. Fox remembered a time he’d thought the world was ugly beyond the wall. He’d thought the stone streets and carved eaves of Suvi were the most beautiful things in all of Wueco. But the snowy peaks, dust trees, and gushing waterfalls with their frozen edges rivaled anything he’d seen before. He had to remind himself how deadly this icy landscape could be.
Sofia sat in front of him, nestled between his thighs, the warmth of her body permeating the thick fabric of his pants. She had furs wrapped over her shoulders to stop the wind from breaking through her clothes, though he could still feel her occasional shivers.
“It’s magnificent here,” he said, pulling her back into his chest so he could speak into her ear. The night was filled with the sound of the wind.
“It is,” she said, letting her head rest on his chest. “I could do without the wind and snow.”
