“My ex-boyfriend’s father.”
“So what makes him so contemptible?”
Grinding my teeth together, I thought about the whole litany of evils he’d done. “He threatened my boyfriend with destroying my family. Forced him to break up with me and publicly shun me.”
Worm nodded. “Sounds like excellent inspiration for fire-breathing. What else?”
“He’s responsible for sending my mother here, for taking her away from my family. He’s also the one who insisted the council kick off my father and take half our wealth. He broke my father’s heart by taking away his life’s work and his wife. He tore apart my family. My father and brothers haven’t been the same since then.” I felt a warmth in the pit of my stomach. My hands were clenched. Oh yeah, I was getting angry.
“Come on. Give me more.”
“He ruins everyone he touches. Look at Ryan—his father claims to love him, but he punishes him a hundred different ways. Makes him feel less. Makes him feel unworthy. Makes him feel small and alone.” I looked at Worm. “Who makes you feel that way?”
He shook his head. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
“But if you could—”
“Burn the tree, Sky,” he said. “Think of your boyfriend’s father. Think of what he’s done to you and your family. Think of how that makeshimlesser and unworthy, andburn him.”
Turning to the tree, I pictured Ryan’s father. His suit. His shiny shoes. His superiority. His complete assurance that everything he did was right and true and for the good of his family, while he ruined lives. And I opened my mouth.
A flame shot out. A single flame, but it shot straight and true and burrowed into the bark of the tree. It bored through and then flared out the other side.
“Nice,” Worm said, and he meant it this time. “Do it again.”
And I did. Again and again, until my mouth felt so dry I couldn’t speak and my head felt so dizzy that all I could do was smile.
I practiced nonstop. By the morning of the Reckoning, I was feeling pretty good about my chances…at least until I saw Maximus casually breathe a rush of flames into the fireplace.Stop it,I told myself.You’ll do fine.I’d practiced the most that I could. I didn’t think I was the worst wyvern in the valley. That’s really all I had to do: not be the worst.
A little part of me, though, wanted to be the best.
All right, a very large part of me. I’d seen all the Home-born dragons flying in complex spirals and figures through the air and wanted to show them that an exile could be just as good. I wanted to prove I was just as much wyvern as they were, worthy of their city with its golden servants and diamond-filled waterfall. I’d had only three days to practice, though. If I were to have longer…But I’m not going to stay,I thought,so it doesn’t matter.
“Ready?” Mom asked me.
“Are you?”
She squeezed my hand. She was hugging me so much more now than she ever had, as if she was afraid if she didn’t touch me once a day, I’d vanish. It was nice. “Don’t worry about me. Concentrate on your flying and your fire.”
Looking around, I saw all the wyverns in the hall looked nervous. They were showing it in different ways: pacing, picking at their fingernails, talking incessantly, not talking at all, stuffing their faces, not eating, smiling too much, not smiling at all. Maximus met my eyes. Sauntering over, he said, “Good luck, Sky.”
“I can’t tell if you mean that or not.”
“Go with yes, and then you can think better of me.”
I studied him. “You’re pretty sure of yourself. You think you’re going to do well.”
“I feel like I’ve waited for this my whole life.”
“Then you don’t want to go home?”
“I am home. And so are you. Better get used to it.” He swept on, and I watched him go. It didn’t matter whether he did well or not at the Reckoning. All that mattered was how I did. Just concentrate on me, I told myself.
From outside, horns sounded. Low, booming horns that shook the hall. The jewels in the walls rattled together, and the fire in the hearth trembled.
“It’s time,” Mom said. She took my hand, and we walked with all the other exiles out onto the cliff overlooking the valley. I felt the press of wyverns around me, and I stood on my tiptoes to try to see what everyone was looking at.
Seven dragons flew in V formation across the mountaintops. They soared up and then looped in a full circle around the valley.
