As well you should be, and of course I’m not hurt,the dragon answers. Then her mental voice perks up, as Lucien blinks.Oh! I heard you! Have you been practicing your mind-speaking?
Lucien turns away from the wards. “I wouldn’t know how. The bond must be stronger since we got so close today.”
Bond?The dragon scoffs.I am not bonded to you, shiny human. The dragons keeping me away, they’re all bonded and stupid. I’m never going to become a tame, bonded pet like them.
“Can’t you feel it?” Lucien sits down on the edge of the bed. Far more comfortable than his last. “I’ve never been able to talk to another dragon like this.”
Is that why humans never answer when I yell at them? I thought they were just cowed into submission. The nest-parents must have explained this… but they drone on and on, it’s difficult to remember the boring bits.
“The bond is more of a partnership,” Lucien says. “A dragon could hardly be tamed. Humans and dragons both get something—”
Ugh, you sound like the nest-mothers.
Lucien laughs, then recalls the guards on the other side of the door. He continues more quietly. “Sorry. What’s your name?”
Tezurit. What is yours? Not that I care.
“It’s definitely not as pretty as yours. I’m Lucien.”
Ha! I knew my name was better.
Her glee is infectious. Lucien doesn’t feel so lonely in his cell with her voice in his head. “If you don’t want a bond, Tezurit, you shouldn’t keep talking to me.”
Indignation sweeps between them.What the fuck? Do you not want to talk to me?
“I really want to talk to you,” Lucien admits. “It’s fucking lonely in here.”
Good. I’m a wonderful conversationalist.
“I can tell.” Lucien casts about for something to talk about. She likes traveling, he remembers, and sliding down mountains. “Do you have a favorite mountain?”
I have three!Tezurit exclaims.
Lucien lies down on the bed and listens.
***
Six days later, Lucien again stands in Kazia’s parlor. The darker, cozier one with dragon statues and rats. The rat cage is a magnificent structure, spanning an entire wall. White and purple shapes flow from one level to the next, or huddle in piles. At least a dozen of them. Maybe two dozen. They’re far more comfortable in their cage than Lucien is in his.
Which is good. Lucien can’t allow himself to get comfortable, even as more comforts are piled upon him. The past few days have been so easy, it makes Lucien nervous. His bruises have faded, and he hasn’t acquired any new ones. He’s been allowed to bathe and shave under Drasgard Salarin’s dour supervision. Awkward working around the collar, but he managed.
Tezurit hasn’t been around today. She’s been dropping in every once in a while, when she’s not playing tag with the garrison dragons or hunting in the Friendly Forest. The conversation gets clearer every time. Lucien warns her about the bond, but she keeps coming back.
He’s desperately grateful for it.
After returning an armful of rats to their cage, Kazia looks Lucien up and down. Mostly up, given the difference in height. “I suppose you won’t embarrass me now.”
“I clean up nice for a peasant,” Lucien agrees, because he can’t push it too far, but flirtation always throws Kazia subtly off balance. Lucien would feel bad about taking advantage of the young man, were it not for, well, everything else. “What’s on today’s agenda, Your Highness?”
Kazia’s hair is pinned up in a braided knot. He fidgets with his sleeve instead. “We’re visiting a few libraries. I need a step-ladder to reach the higher shelves.”
At least Lucien’s knees have recovered from scrubbing the floors. “Just asking me to grab them for you isn’t enough fun, is it?”
Kazia’s delicate eyebrows lift. “Oh, can you read the titles?”
Lucien’s laugh surprises them both. “Maybe not, if they’re in fucking Draskoran.”
“I can get you lessons,” Kazia says, venomously sweet—but it feels like he’s jokingwithLucien. Not at him. “You can sit in with the toddlers and learn…”
