by Rachel Aaron
Marci’s blood ran cold before Amelia cut in. “This one’s not for eating.”
Svena looked disappointed. “Well, how soon can you get me one that is? I’m eating for six, you know.”
“Wait,” Marci said. “You guys are actually going to eat a human?”
“Not me,” Amelia said. “I don’t touch the stuff. But Svena’s old-fashioned, and humans are the traditional food for the beginning of dragon pregnancies. Kind of like cake at a baby shower.”
“Only so much more delicious,” Svena said, licking her lips. “I haven’t eaten a proper human since before the Industrial Revolution. They all taste like car exhaust these days.” She turned back to Amelia excitedly. “I know your mother has a secret stash. Can she get me a clean one? Free-range organic?”
“We’ll discuss this later,” Amelia said, glancing at Marci, who was starting to back away. “This is the other human I was telling you about. The mage.”
Svena’s eyes widened in recognition. “This one?” she said, sitting straight up. “Really? This is the human you chose?” When Amelia nodded, the white dragon scoffed. “You can’t be serious. She looks like she’s eight.”
“I’m twenty-five!” Marci cried.
“She doesn’t even belong to you,” Svena said over her. “How can you even consider doing this with a mortal you don’t own?”
“Because that’s the point,” Amelia said. “Marci belongs to herself, and that’s why this is going to work.”
Svena’s lip curled in disgust. “I see your family’s youngest idiot has been hard at work,” she said bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Between you and Katya, I’ll never hear a word of sense spoken about humans again.”
“Nonsense,” Amelia said. “Eating humans is a horrible waste, and you know it. You’re just being selfish.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Svena grumbled, glancing at Marci. “But for all your usual skill at managing mortals, you seem to have dropped the ball on this one. She looks absolutely baffled. Have you even told her what you’re planning to do?”
“I was just getting to that,” Amelia said defensively before turning to Marci. “I have a favor to ask you.”
“Okaaaaaay,” Marci said nervously, glancing from dragon to dragon. “What kind of favor?”
“Nothing huge,” Amelia assured her. “I just need you to take care of something of mine for a while. You know, keep it safe while I’m out.”
That didn’t sound so bad. “What am I keeping safe?”
“Me,” Amelia said, laying a hand on her chest.
Marci arched an eyebrow. “Come again?”
“I’ve been living the Planeswalking party-girl life for a while now,” Amelia explained. “And honestly, it’s getting a bit old. Now that things are heating up on this plane again and Mother’s no longer actively trying to assassinate me, I’ve been thinking it’s time to settle down. Get a real job, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, when you’re as hot a commodity as I am, staying in one place for too long can get a little dicey, which is where you come in.”
“Me?” Marci said, still confused. “How could I protect you? You’re a giant, crazy-powerful dragon.”
“And you are very perceptive,” Amelia said, preening. “But that’s exactly why I need you. In the short time I’ve known you, you’ve proven yourself to be a responsible mortal who can stand up to pressure and handle enormous amounts of magic without going insane or burning yourself out. That is very rare, and it’s why I would like to ask you if you’d be willing to hold some of my magic for a bit. Not on a permanent basis or anything. I’d only need you to keep it safe for me until I get a good grip on the situation in this plane.”
Now Marci was really intrigued. “Hold your magic? How would that work? Do you want me to drain you like I did Chelsie?”
“Not quite,” Amelia said. “As I’m sure you already picked up from Svena’s TMI pregnancy talk, dragons aren’t like humans. We can’t just suck in magic from the air like you can. All our power is generated internally by our fire.”
The way she said that made Marci start. “Wait, you mean literal fire? As in the stuff you breathe out of your mouth?” Because until this point, she’d always thought the whole fire thing was just a metaphor for the dragon brand of magic.
“Breathing fire is part of it,” Amelia said, nodding. “But a dragon’s relationship with fire is more than just heat. You see…” She held up her hand, and a bright-orange flame sparked to life above her palm.
“All dragons have a fire burning inside them. This flame is more than just the source of the fire we breathe. It’s also what generates all of our internal magic, which, for the record, is why dragons were able to keep functioning during the magical drought that completely knocked out the spirits. We had our own power supply.”
Marci nodded. She’d known that much for a while, but Amelia’s explanation reminded her of a question she’d been meaning to ask. “If that’s true, then why were there no dragons flying around during the thousand years when magic was gone?”
“Because being in our true forms is very difficult when there’s no other magic helping to hold us up,” Svena explained. “It’s like being a fish with no water. We could still transform, but doing so caused us to instantly start suffocating, magically speaking. To avoid this, really powerful dragons like my mothers were forced into hibernation, but most of us were able to make do simply by remaining in human form. A shape that, being so small and crude, was far more sustainable.”
“And safer,” Amelia agreed. “No one shoots a ballista at a pretty lady.”
“You only say that because you’ve never experienced the true joy of raiding,” Svena said with a nostalgic smile. “Nothing makes you feel your own power better than seeing mortals fleeing in terror before you.”
“Spoken like a true monster,” Amelia said. “But back to the subject at hand.” She pointed at the fire that was still burning merrily on her palm. “A dragon’s fire is the source of everything. Kindling it the first time takes an enormous amount of power, which is why laying eggs is so brutal, but once you’ve got a spark, you’re set. So long as the dragon eats, avoids over-extending their magic, and otherwise takes care of themselves, their fire will get bigger and brighter every year forever. We might not be immortal immortal like spirits, who’ll just rise again over and over no matter how many times you punch them down, but we’re pretty close. As you saw with Estella last night, if our fire ever does go out entirely, we turn to ash and die. But so long as even one ember remains, we can live through just about anything, and that’s where you come in.”
“How does that work?” Marci asked, because so far, all this fire stuff sounded like dragon internal medicine. Definitely not the sort of thing she could help with.
“It’s simple,” Svena said, tilting her head toward Amelia. “She wants you to hold some of her life’s fire for her.”
Marci’s eyes shot wide. “Can I do that?”
“You should be able to,” Amelia said. “Given humanity’s unique ability to move and hold vast amounts of magic, I theorize—”
Svena scoffed. “You theorize?”
“Fine,” Amelia said with a long-suffering sigh. “Svena has theorized that, despite originating in a completely different plane of existence, when it comes to human manipulation, our fire is no different from any other type of magic. Something you’ve actually proved repeatedly by tapping dragons to fuel your spells.”
Marci nodded. She’d pulled magic out of both Julius and Chelsie, and while doing so had always felt like plugging straight into the sun, it was still just magic at the end of the day.
“We’ve known this for a while,” Svena picked up. “But I’ve taken it one step further. Human magic is all about moving power around, but dragon magic is entirely based on self-control. It’s all about how well we manipulate and use the power produced by our own fire, or even how we control the flames itself. Any dragon can breathe fire, but a truly
skilled dragon mage can divide her life’s fire into multiple tongues. Perhaps even move those flames around without letting any of them go out.”
Marci bit her lip. “That sounds kind of risky.”
“Of course it’s risky,” Amelia said. “It’s dragon magic! We’re always playing with fire. But the bigger the danger, the greater the payout, and when it comes to dividing life fire, the potential reward is huge. Usually, if your fire goes out, it’s game over. But if you’ve divided that fire into two flames, and one goes kaput, there’s a good chance you could reignite yourself from the other.”
“You mean bring yourself back from the dead?” Marci asked.
“That’s not entirely accurate,” Svena cut in. “For all the allegories, dragon fire isn’t actually fire. If I divide my flame in two, I don’t suddenly have two of me. It’s still only half a fire, which means only half the magic, and with no body to act as fuel, there’s no guarantee the split fire wouldn’t just sputter out and die.”
“Unless you’ve put it somewhere safe,” Amelia said, beaming at Marci. “With someone responsible who’s going to take care of it. That way, even if you did tragically die, you’d still have a backup. Part of you would still be alive, and like I said, so long as one ember survives, a tenacious dragon will always find a way to cling to life.”
Svena still didn’t look convinced, but Marci was finally starting to understand. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to hold half of your life’s fire so you can reignite yourself if you die?”
“Pretty much,” Amelia said, turning to grin at Svena. “I told you she was a smart cookie!”
“Too bad the same can’t be said for you,” Svena growled, rising from her chair. “This is madness, Amelia. Everything I’ve told you about this is still just theory. We don’t yet know for certain if a life’s fire even can be safely split, because no one’s been willing to take the risk to actually test it. Even if it did work, and the mortal could use your fire to bring you back to life, you’d still be left with only half a fire as translated through a human.”
“Better than losing it all,” Amelia pointed out. “We’re talking about potentially bringing me back from the dead, here. I’m willing to take a hit for that.”
“Whoa, wait a second,” Marci said, putting up her hands. “Are you planning on dying?”
“Of course I’m not planning on dying,” Amelia said. “But only an idiot doesn’t have a worst-case contingency lined up.”
That made sense to Marci, but there was one thing she still didn’t understand. “Why me?” she asked, looking at Amelia. “I get what you’re trying to do here, but I’m hardly an expert in dragon magic. I’m not even your human.”
“Actually, given what you’ve been through over the last few weeks, I’d say you have more experience with dragon magic than most human mages could ever hope to acquire,” Amelia said. “But that’s just bonus. I picked you for this job for the same reason I tried to recruit you on the beach: I like you. Other dragons look down on humans because you’re short lived and have no power of your own. They see your ability to pull and move magic around as mooching at best, parasitic at worst, but what they don’t get is how strong that makes you. Dragons might look scary, but our power is limited by age and upbringing and even how much magic our mothers deigned to invest in us at birth. But your magic, human magic, is limited only by how much power you can handle. For some mages, that’s not much, but you?” She smirked. “I’ve fed you magic, Marci. I know how big a pot you can handle, and that’s what I want for my fire. I also like that you’ve already demonstrated your ability to keep Ghost healthy and in line. If you can hold a spirit like him, keeping my fire should be a cake-walk. That’s my bet, anyway, but I’ve gambled on you before and won. I have no problem putting my magic where my mouth is again.”
“I do,” Svena said, glowering. “This isn’t funny anymore, Amelia. You’re seriously talking about trusting part of your immortal life to a mortal. The plan is doomed by definition.”
“I was never trying to be funny,” Amelia argued. “It’s not like she’s going to die tomorrow! And I already said this was a temporary thing. The moment I’m certain I don’t need the insurance anymore, I’ll take it back.”
“How long is temporary?” Marci asked. “And what would happen to me during all of this? You just compared me keeping your fire to my bond with Ghost. That’s a pretty big commitment.”
“It is,” Amelia admitted. “But you’ll actually be getting the sweet end of this deal. You see, even after I put part of my life’s fire in you, it’s still going to be generating magic, which means you’ll basically be walking around with a magical generator inside your chest. It’ll be like have your very own mini-dragon on tap whenever you need.”
That was enough to make even Ghost wake up, but Marci was still having a hard time wrapping her head around what Amelia was saying. Mostly because it was way too good to be true. “What’s the catch?”
The dragoness shook her head. “There is no catch. I’m asking you to do me a favor, remember? And while obviously I can’t let you use all my magic and suck my life fire down to nothing, anything it generates up to that point is yours to use as you see fit. Think of it as me paying rent for taking up space in your body. The only drawback is that you’ll probably smell a bit like a dragon, but we smell pretty awesome, so that’s actually a plus when you think about it.”
Marci bit her lip. It still sounded too good to be true, but the prospect of having her own private, reliable source of high-quality dragon magic that didn’t require vamping off Julius was worth taking a pretty big risk for. “Would it make me a target of your enemies?”
“Now that I’m no longer Bethesda’s heir, my biggest enemy is sitting right here,” Amelia said, nodding at Svena. “So I suppose you’d have to ask her. Really, though, we both know she’s not going to do—or say—anything about it.”
“What makes you so confident?” Svena asked coldly.
“Because you’re too busy cooking eggs right now to challenge me,” Amelia said confidently. “And since there’s no way you’d tell anyone else what’s going on lest they exploit my weakness before you get the chance, I’d say my secret’s safe.”
The White Witch didn’t dignify that with a response, and Amelia turned back to Marci. “See? No problem. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?”
“You seem pretty eager to do this,” Marci said nervously. “Is there something else I should know? Are we about to be attacked or something?”
“So suspicious!” Amelia said with a laugh. “That’s healthy, though, and it’s exactly the sort of behavior I want in someone who’s going to be keeping my flame. But since this is a matter of trust, I’m going to level with you.”
She leaned forward on her chair, her face going serious as she lowered herself down until she was eye to eye with the much shorter mortal.
“I need to get this settled,” she said quietly. “Now that I don’t have to worry about Bethesda trying to off me in my sleep, a lot of power plays I’ve kept on the back burner for centuries are finally coming into position, and I have you and Julius to thank for that. But confident as I am in my schemes, I’m not stupid or cocky enough to try anything this big without taking out a little insurance, and you’re the best I’ve got. If you say no, my only other option is to stash part of my life fire inside some other kind of holding vessel, and we all know how things end for dragons who keep their souls inside gems.” She shuddered at the thought. “I’d much rather trust it to a friend.”
Against her better judgment, that made Marci smile. She knew better than to trust Amelia blindly, but other than Julius, she was the only dragon Marci felt she could truly call her friend. She was also showing Marci a great deal of faith by even explaining this, which was not to be taken lightly. If there was anything she’d learned over the last few days, it was that trust was the rarest and greatest currency among dragons. If Amelia was trusting her to take care of her f
ire, Marci wanted to honor that.
And get free magic, Ghost added.
Marci rolled her eyes. Trust a cat to wake up for food.
Actually, I woke up a while ago, the spirit whispered in her mind. I’m not letting you face two dragons alone. But this is a good deal. The magic at this mountain is thin and unreliable. If a dragon attacked us, I’m not sure you could pull in enough to defend yourself, and I can barely stay awake. If we had Amelia’s fire, though, we could take on anything.
And he would have a guaranteed food supply.
Who wouldn’t want to eat? The magic here is barely worth the name.
He had a point there. “Okay,” she said, biting her lip so she wouldn’t look too eager. “I’m in.”
“Just like that?” Amelia asked, clearly surprised. “Not that I’m complaining, but I’m asking for a pretty huge favor here. I thought your whole philosophy was that when you’ve got someone over a barrel, you shake?”
“It is,” Marci said. “But I’m already coming out of this pretty sweet, and I try not to rip off my friends too badly.”
Amelia laughed out loud at that, banishing the fire from her hand before holding it out to Marci. “Ready to make history, then?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Marci said nervously as they shook on it. “How’s this going to work, exactly?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Amelia said, looking over her shoulder. “Svena’s the one who will actually be splitting my flame. She’s the detailed, technical expert. I just do the flashy stuff.”
“At least you admit it,” Svena sniffed, turning up her nose. Marci, however, was starting to feel decidedly less good about this whole idea.
“Are you sure she’s the best choice?” she whispered, looking sideways at the white dragon. “She’s not exactly…you know…”
“Trustworthy?” Amelia finished with a laugh. “Absolutely not. But this whole idea stemmed off of her theory, and there’s no way she’ll pass up a chance to actually try it out without risking her own fire. Besides, I don’t really have a choice. Now that the Three Sisters have bitten the dust, Svena and I are the only dragons left who can handle magic this complicated, and it’s not like I can perform surgery on myself.”