“Experimentation, Em. That’s all it requires.”
“Sure, but it’s frustrating when I have to wait half a day between every new experiment.”
“Unless you can hang onto your power and use little bits at a time.”
“Maybe.” I turn my seat to face the library doors as footsteps tap across the terrace.
“Your Highness,” Clarina says as she reaches us. “My lady,” she adds, directing her words toward me before turning back to Aurora. “Phillyp is ready for your lesson.”
“Oh, wonderful.” Aurora hands her glass of half-finished lemonade to Clarina before standing.
“And your mother just sent a message to say she’d like to discuss some of the details for the ball with you.”
“Mother always has fabulously bad timing, doesn’t she,” Aurora says with a sigh. “She’ll just have to wait.”
“Of course, Your Highness. Shall I tell her the usual?”
“Yes. Tell her I’m in the middle of my archery lesson. I’ll come straight to her as soon as I’m done.”
Clarina nods once. “And shall I escort Lady Emerson back to her chambers?”
“Um … no, actually. Em can come with me this time.” Aurora gives me a wicked grin. “I trust you now to keep my secrets.”
After a quick curtsey, Clarina leaves. “Goodness,” I say. “I’m shocked to discover that the perfect princess is keeping secrets from her own mother.”
She gives my arm a playful smack. “No you’re not. Besides, it isn’t a big deal. It’s just something my mother doesn’t approve of.” Instead of going back inside, she steps off the terrace onto the grass.
“Your mother doesn’t approve of you doing archery either,” I point out as I follow her, “but she hasn’t stopped you from taking lessons.”
“Yes, well, I told her it was either archery or magical combat, and there was no way she’d ever allow her little princess to learn magical combat.”
“Which is what, exactly?” I bend as both a silver butterfly and a lizard with wings—one chasing the other—flit too close to my head.
“You know how you draw on your power, and in its most basic form, it’s just raw power held in your hands?” Aurora says.
“Yes.” That was the very lesson I received from Azzy at Chevaliar House.
“Well, all you do is throw that magic at someone. I mean, there’s more to it than that. Those who are trained in magical combat will often transform their magic into other things. Stones or blades or flocks of birds with sharp pecking beaks. Something that can more easily take down an opponent than just a mass of sparks. But your mind has to be so quick. You have to be able to mentally shape your magic just like that.” She snaps her fingers. “Over and over, while also protecting yourself.”
I look around as we move further away from the palace. This part of the garden is unfamiliar to me, and all I can see up ahead is a thicket of trees. “So the queen didn’t want you learning this skill?”
“No. It isn’t very princess-like. We have guards to fight for us if necessary. She agreed to archery instead because all it entails is shooting arrows at inanimate objects that don’t shoot back at me.”
“Far more civilized,” I comment. “But that clearly wasn’t daring enough for you, so you had to try something else.”
“Yep.”
“Something your mother most certainly wouldn’t approve of.”
“Exactly.”
“And that is?”
A grin stretches her lips as we reach the trees. “Dragon riding.”
Seven
My steps come to a halt. “Wait.” I hold a hand up. “Wait, wait, wait. You guys have dragons?”
“Yes.” Aurora turns back to look at me. “Haven’t you seen them flying around occasionally?”
“Well … I’ve seen something in the sky. I assumed they were overgrown birds, or some kind of flying creature I haven’t met yet.”
She dissolves into giggles. “Overgrown birds? Seriously?”
“I’ve only seen them from a distance,” I say defensively. “It was difficult to judge their size.”
“Well, you’re about to see them up close.”
I blink. My feet still don’t move. “Holy crap,” I whisper.
“What? You’re not afraid, are you?”
“No. I mean, maybe. Probably. I’m just having one of those moments where I wonder if I’m actually dreaming. We’re talking about dragons, Aurora. I grew up thinking they only existed in fiction, and now I’m about to see one? My brain has absolutely no clue how to react to that.”
“Come on.” She takes my arm and pulls me forward. “Your brain has another minute or two to figure things out. The dragon enclosures are just on the other side of these trees.”
“Dragons,” I murmur. “You have dragons. Actual dragons.”
“We used to have gargoyles too,” she adds. “Well, by ‘we’ I mean the previous generation of royals. Gargoyles aren’t as big as dragons, but just as scary, so I’ve heard. They used to stand guard on top of the palace, but they all disappeared a few decades ago.”
“Really?” I think of the creature Ryn was riding when he saved me from plummeting to my death off the edge of a cliff. I’m pretty sure that was a gargoyle.
“Yeah, my father had been king for a few years, and the gargoyles never seemed to like him. One day they all just flew away, and no one’s seen them since.”
“How odd,” I say slowly. I won’t be mentioning to Aurora that I was rescued by a Griffin rebel on the back of a gargoyle, but I can’t help wondering if it’s one of the gargoyles that used to live here.
We step out beyond the trees, but I don’t see any dragons yet. Or enclosures, for that matter. I look up, but there’s nothing in the sky either. “You’ll have to look down,” Aurora tells me. “Over there.”
My heart thumps faster as we approach the edge of a pit dug into the ground. Gradually, as the rim all the way around comes into view, I’m able to make out the sheer size of this hole. The other side is several sports fields away. We stop about a foot from the edge, and I look down at a lush, jungle-like environment. For a moment, I struggle to make out any kind of creature amidst the trees and colorful plants, but then something moves. A thick, scale-covered neck. A gargantuan head, rising and twisting slowly to face us until it’s almost level with the top of the pit.
“Em,” Aurora says, “meet Imperia.”
The dragon’s body shimmers blue-green and purple as she moves, and the massive spikes running along her back are reddish pink. Her tail, ending in a green arrow-head shape, whips around, easily knocking down a row of shrubs. Then she becomes still, angles her head a little to the side, and watches me with eyes glowing like fiery orange embers.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Aurora says.
My mouth is open, my tongue is dry, and my feet are rooted to the spot—despite the fact that a very insistent voice at the back of my mind is screaming for me to run for my life. “Incredible,” I whisper.
“Each pit belongs to a different dragon. Imperia’s always preferred a tropical environment, but the next pit is filled with ice. And the one furthest away—which would take us quite some time to walk to—is deep enough to contain a mountain.”
“Wow. And can they, uh, fly out of their pits whenever they want?” My legs finally remember how to work, and I take a shaky step backward as Imperia lifts her head a little higher.
“No, there’s an invisible shield layer over the top. The dragons aren’t allowed out unless they’re with a rider.”
“Okay.” I swallow. “And I notice there aren’t any walls around these pits. Would the shield layer catch someone if they fell?”
Aurora appears unconcerned as she says, “No.”
“But … then …”
“If someone’s stupid enough to fall into a dragon pit, then they deserve to be eaten. But Imperia probably wouldn’t do that. Not to anyone she knows, at least. She’s really quite friendly. So.”
She turns to face me. “Do you want to ride her?”
I’m not sure how long my mouth is open before I finally mange to reply. “I … actually … do.”
Aurora beams at me. “I like you even more now.” She bends down and runs her hand along the grass. As she straightens, a line of gold forms a perfect ring around us. Without warning, the ground shudders. The circular piece of earth we’re standing on becomes separate from the ground around it and begins descending.
“Whoa.” I raise my hands and steady myself. “So, we’re going down into the pit?”
“Yes.”
“And, uh, will I be with someone when I’m riding this dragon? A trained professional?”
“You’ll be with me.”
“But … you’re still learning, aren’t you? Clarina said something about … Phillyp being ready for your lesson?”
“That’s just what my handmaids have been trained to tell me when Phillyp informs one of them that the coast is clear for me to come here. You know, when there’s no one around who might tell my mother they saw the princess on the back of a dragon. I received lessons in the beginning, of course, but they ended a long time ago.” She looks at me. “Don’t you trust that I know what I’m doing, Em?”
“Uh … I want to trust you.” I watch the dark earth rising rapidly around us, then raise my eyes to the circular piece of sky growing smaller.
Aurora laughs. “Well, I’m not going to force you, Em. But you know you’re going to regret being stuck on the ground once you see me soaring through the air.”
Somehow, I know this is true.
The magical earthen elevator shudders silently to a halt. Within seconds, a tunnel forms ahead of us, short enough that I can see the lush vegetation on the other side. I follow Aurora through, hesitating at the mouth of the tunnel and looking around for Imperia. Through the trees, I see the shimmering aquamarine and purple scales of one of her legs.
“Hi, Phillyp,” Aurora says, walking straight out of the tunnel and to the right.
“Princess,” a male voice says. “I’m glad you could come. Imperia hasn’t flown for two days. I think she’s anxious to properly spread her wings.”
After another glance over my shoulder toward Imperia, I hurry after Aurora. She’s speaking to a slight man leaning in the doorway of a room built into the side of the pit. His head is shaved completely bare, and the shiny patch of skin on his upper arm looks as though it’s been recently burned. “Ooh, ouch,” Aurora says, bending closer to look at his arm. “Did Imperia do that?”
“Yes. Totally my fault, though, and you know I’m used to it.”
“Yes. And it’ll be gone soon, I’m sure,” Aurora says as she straightens. “Phillyp, this is Em. My new friend. She’s going to ride with me today, so please use the double saddle.”
Phillyp pauses for only a moment before inclining his head. “Of course, Your Highness.” He turns and disappears into the room.
“He doesn’t think it’s a good idea,” I murmur to Aurora.
“Nonsense. He knows I’m perfectly capable of taking someone else with me. It’s just that I brought one of my ladies-in-waiting once, and she screamed the entire time we were in the air. Imperia wasn’t impressed, and neither was Phillyp.” She snaps her fingers near the back of her skirt, and I notice a brief glow before her spark of magic disappears. “But you don’t plan to scream like a little girl, do you, Em?”
I decide not to ask Aurora exactly how she knows Imperia wasn’t impressed. “No. Obviously I don’t plan to scream like a little girl.”
A set of stairs, hovering a few inches above the ground, slides out of the room and moves past us toward Imperia. A moment later, Phillyp hurries after it with what I assume is the saddle floating just ahead of him.
“Ah, finally,” Aurora says. I turn back to face her as her skirt drops to the ground, revealing form-fitting pants the same color as her corset-like top. “What?” she asks in response to my raised eyebrows. “I can’t very well ride a dragon in a dress.”
“I guess not. Good thing I’m already wearing pants.”
With a wave of her hand, the skirt flies into the room. “You’ll want to keep your hair out of your face.” Aurora tells me as we head through the trees. She waves a hand near her hair, and her thick purple and black tresses promptly arrange themselves into a neat braid. A silver ribbon appears and ties itself at the end of her hair.
“Lazy bum,” I mutter, reaching back to braid my own hair with my hands.
“Not at all,” she replies. “You’ll soon realize that any spell that saves you time in getting ready and allows you to remain longer in the air on the back of a dragon is a spell worth memorizing.” She stops at the edge of a clearing and looks up, her hands on her hips. “I’ll teach you later.”
My hands still for several moments as I take in the size of the dragon in open-mouthed awe. The set of stairs is just high enough to reach her back, and Phillyp stands at the very top, securing the straps and buckles of the saddle with magic. Imperia lets out a loud snort, emitting smoke through her nostrils.
I swallow. With shaking fingers, I finish securing my braid. All too soon, Phillyp climbs down the steps and Aurora climbs up. She grabs the straps, climbs onto Imperia’s back, and swings her leg over the front seat of the saddle. “What are you waiting for?” she asks as she looks down at me. Instead of answering, I lick my lips. “Come on, Em, don’t freak out. This will be fun.”
“I know.” My voice sounds raspy and a little higher in pitch than normal. I clear my throat. “I’m excited. I really am. I just happen to be a tiny bit scared at the same time.” Understatement, my wildly beating heart shrieks at me. Gigantic. Freaking. Understatement.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I want to do this. So I force my legs to climb the steps. At the top, I take one last deep breath before placing a hand against Imperia’s smooth scales. Beneath my touch, the color ripples and shimmers. I take hold of two of the straps and pull myself up. Thanks to all the walls I’ve climbed in recent years, my arms are pretty strong. Once I’ve settled myself in my seat, the steps slide away from the side of Imperia’s body.
“Put that strap around your waist,” Aurora says, twisting around and pointing to a loose strap dangling from one side of the saddle. I cross it over my body and fasten it through the metal ring on the other side.
Then finally, I look down. We’re higher from the ground than I imagined, and we haven’t even taken off yet. It’s not that I’m afraid of heights, and it’s not that I’m afraid of taking risks. Val and I have performed plenty of jumps, somersaults and dives that could easily have landed us in hospital. But I was always in control of my own body then. Now, I’m one hundred percent at the mercy of another creature—and it’s terrifying.
Aurora takes hold of the reins. Imperia lifts her wings, and her body rolls one way and then the other as she moves forward a few steps. I inhale sharply and grip the ridge of the saddle that rises between Aurora’s seat and mine. Imperia’s legs bend slightly. I hold my breath. Then, with a great downward thrust of her wings, she rises into the air. I feel a sickening lurch in the region of my stomach. Dragon wings beat the air, the treetops wave wildly about, and the ground rushes away from us. I imagine plummeting toward it. I almost shout out that I want to get off, but I clamp my mouth shut, cling tighter to the saddle, and tell myself I’m not going to die.
We rise rapidly, the palace growing smaller and the surrounding Unseelie territory coming into view. Imperia’s wings slow their flapping. She banks a little to the side, then soars around the edge of the palace grounds. And in mere seconds, my terror gives way to pure exhilaration.
“That was the most amazing thing I have ever done,” I say to Aurora the moment Imperia’s feet touch the ground in her enclosure.
“Told you,” she answers with a laugh. The steps arrive a moment later, and we both climb out of our seats. I pause at the bottom and reach up to lay a hand against Imperia’s side. “Will I ever get to do th
is again?”
“Of course,” Aurora says. She removes her silver ribbon and pushes her fingers through her hair to free it from the braid. “You can come with me whenever you want. Phillyp can give you lessons, and you’ll soon be riding on your own. Then we can take our dragons out together. It’ll be perfect.”
It would be—if I was planning to stay here. I take a step back and watch wistfully as Imperia trundles away. I wrap my arms around myself and bite my lip. It’s scary to admit this to myself, but I think I could actually enjoy living here. Mornings spent lounging in swinging seats, afternoons spent gliding through the sky on the back of a dragon. And with my healthy mother at my side. All I would need to do is look past any horrific acts I happen to witness the Unseelie King committing. And somehow live with the guilt of whatever horrific acts he forces me to commit.
No, I whisper silently. I can’t live with that. “Is it only the royals who have dragons?” I ask Aurora as Phillyp sends the portable stairway back to the storeroom.
“No, but they’re awfully expensive, so only the very wealthy are ever in a position to own one.”
“Right.” So I should take every dragon-riding opportunity I can while I still live here. Once I’m gone, I’ll never be able to afford it.
“Fortunately,” Aurora continues, “you’re about to become a member of an extraordinarily wealthy family. You can have as many dragons as you want.”
“If I’d known this was all it took to woo you,” a voice says behind us, “I would have brought you here days ago, Emerson.”
“Roarke,” Aurora says as we turn to face him. “Looking for me?”
“Yes. I thought I might find you here. You, however …” He looks at me. “Well, the back of a dragon is not where I expected to find you.”
“She loved it,” Aurora says, clasping her hands together and beaming.
“I heard,” Roarke says with an amused smile. “What did you say, exactly?” he asks me. “It was the most amazing thing you’ve ever done?”
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