“A trial! They’re saying we're going to have a trial!” Shouted an air witch from below.
I moved carefully across the bridge connecting our treehouses, the wood slick from the rain. Witches and drakens alike ran across the platforms frantically, moving looms and children and foodstuff from the huts that sat in the low-lying areas.
Everything was damp. I felt as though I’d been wet for days.
“Benedict!” I called out loudly. “Help me to the clearing!”
Everyone was already gathering down below towelcome Ronan and the others back, and to cast judgement on the new draken.
Benedict landed on the platform ahead of me, shaking droplets of rain from his hair. “You are not going out there in this rain,” he said. “I will?—”
“Make them all gather here then, I demand it,” I said, using my queen voice.
His eyes flashed with heat, one eyebrow raised as Kieran landed next to him, smirking.
“This is important. It will not take long, then we will bundle her up next to a fire with hot soup,” Kieran promised.
Benedict huffed.
“Fine.”
They both helped me down the long steps to the clearing, where the entire island was gathering in a large crowd. The rain slowed to a mist, the sun daring to peek its face out and send a few tentative rays out to the sodden ground. Water dripped everywhere, playing with my nerves.
Kaida gave me an encouraging smile, her gold wings catching the sunlight. “Your first trial as Queen, and on Lyoness since the ruin. How exciting!”
Her words were meant to be a comfort, but a cold pit of dread settled in my stomach instead.
Trial.Queen.
Oh, no.
What if I made the wrong mistake? What if I just made everyone mad at me? What if?—
Ronan broke suddenly through the top of the tree canopy with Perri in his arms. Nasi and a strange draken who I assumed was the rogue were supporting Canavar, who had one wing bandages against his shoulder. The other wing flopped awkwardly, trying to assist.
I stared at the new draken. The clearing erupted withcheers as everyone raced out on the walkways and the ground, uncaring of the wet and the mud.
Perri screamed with joy the moment she spotted her parents. “MAMAAA! PAPA!”
Her mother screamed—an agonized, joyful sound—as she threw herself forward. They collided in a heap of arms and wings and sobs, claws skittering on the wooden walkway as Ronan dropped their witchling down to them, Perri babbling so fast she was nearly unintelligible.
“And then—and then—I made FIRE and Veskor helped keep me warm and—he caught me when I slipped—and he let me ride on his back—and he said I was brave—and he taught me how to hide from snow tigers, and not to eat snow but ESPECIALLY not yellow snow—AND HE SAVED US BUNCHES AND BUNCHES OF TIMES!”
The crowd went dead silent. Veskor hunched between Canavar and Nasi, held in place. I studied him, noting how Benedict twitched at my side, every muscle tense. This draken, Veskor, was gaunt and filthy, with haunted eyes that flicked around the crowd like a cornered animal. He looked half-dead, shaking and trembling.
Yet another draken that had somehow survived the tragedy of Lyoness.
His scent had a lingering rot and edge to it that I recognized from the other unstable, unmated males.
Every draken stiffened, instincts rising like hackles as Canavar dragged Veskor forward. Half the clearing hissed while the other half murmured. A pseudo-trail was already forming, the muttering clear.
“He took a child.”
“But he saved her.”
“But he breached our wards.”
“But he protected her.”
