I couldn't see Young from where we sat on either side of my father, but I didn't need to see him to know the serene look that practically lived on his stone-like face. It reminded me of my father. Part of me envied Young's self-control. He certainly garnered the respect of the council members, where I was always disregarded as a hot-blooded and unreliable mess. At times like this, I wondered if he cared for Charlotte at all. If so, how did he manage to stay so calm at these meetings? I wasn't sure what I wanted, maybe for him to scream and cry for her so I knew I wasn't letting her go for nothing.
We needed to save her, and every day without her was a terrible loss. However calm Young seemed, I was counting on his influence to finally convince Vires to consent to war.
Later that evening, I sat with Junho at our favorite tavern, a bottle of makkoli between us.
Junho raised a cup of the milky liquid and bumped it with mine. He sighed, “So, that’s it then. You’re going to let him be with her?”
I swallowed a mouthful. “She’s his wife.”
Junho poured us both another cup of rice wine. “Is it because he kicked your ass?”
“I got in a few shots,” I said.
“I’ll pretend I believe you.”
I sat back in my chair. “The guy has done nothing but workout for the last five years.”
“And you’ve done nothing but drink.” He raised his glass. “Geonbae.”
I grinned, toasting with him. “What about you? How’s Gabriel?”
“Good.”
I put my elbows on the table. “That’s it?”
He pressed his lips together. “I’m giving him time to settle in.”
“You mean you’re too scared to make a move.”
“We’ll see who’s scared to make a move once you guys rescue Charlotte. I can’t wait to watch this play out.”
“Pick a team,” I spat.
“Yours, obviously. I’m just saying… It’s complicated.”
7
Charlotte
I got into the routine of waking up early, before sunrise. For the first few days, Galahad begrudgingly followed, keeping watch on my new and inconspicuous routine for grooming Garix. As expected, after a few days, he stopped supervising. The courtyard where we trained was walled in by steep mountain faces on two sides and the man-made fortresses that made up the castle on the others. Of course, it could be easily escaped by Garix, but there was little anyone could do to convince a dragon to stay if he wanted to leave, except me. I wasn't sure why no one brought up the possibility of dragon riding. Perhaps because Garix was such an anomaly already. But since the thought burrowed into my brain, I couldn't think of anything else. Morgana needed me to come home.
I knew I wouldn't get many chances at this. If someone spotted me on Garix, they'd know what I was planning. I couldn't reasonably make a break for it without testing it.
I didn't know if I'd be able to hold on or how far Garix could carry me without tiring. Vires was a long way. A journey that took weeks to complete, with a brutal bit of it at sea. I didn’t have any idea how long that might take by air.
But, before sunrise, Garix and I had the skies to ourselves. Merlin slept late and it was too dark for anyone in the castle to spot me, the perfect time for some short practice sessions. They might have been able to spot the dark shadow of Garix in the sky but not the silhouette of a rider on his back. Not even if they were looking for me.
I ran my fingers along the scales on Garix's pointed snout, the hot rush of his breath steadily pushing through his curved nostrils. "Ready to try this, Gar?"
A wet snout nuzzled into my palm. It was now or never. I scanned the darkened courtyard, but as expected, we were alone. I put my palms on the top of Garix, ready to pull myself up when the reality and danger of what I was about to attempt finally set in. I could feel his warm and steady pulse beneath my fingers. I felt the raw power of his muscles flex. He was immense. No longer the wild hatchling I must’ve still considered him internally.
A flush of emotion from Garix cut through my fear—an emotion that felt a lot like the color orange. I steadied myself with a memory, one of Morgana learning to walk. How she’d stumbled and fell countless times and fearlessly rose to try again. How I envied the bravery of children. With all my strength, I leapt up and pulled myself clumsily onto Garix’s back. I scrambled to find a spot where it felt natural to sit, but sitting on a dragon was anything but natural. I shimmied up to a relatively flat area, where his neck met his shoulders, and wrapped my arms around him. With every breath and twitch, I felt I’d be tossed from my place. No grip felt tight enough to keep me saddled to the smooth creature.
The sensation reminded me of my first few horseback lessons. The way my body naturally fought each movement. How fragile I felt atop the giant.
Walk slowly, I thought to Garix. I held my breath as he stepped forward. His right shoulder jutted up, tossing me toward the left, my body tossing back to the right with his next step. I tightened my grip, my arms already sore.
I gritted my teeth and thought, Fly. The moment Garix’s wings spread, I regretted my decision. Between each flap of his wings, my stomach dropped. Just a few yards off the ground, I felt the prickle of tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was from fear, exhilaration, or just wind. One jerked movement from being tossed off, I decided to tell Garix to land.
When we were safely on the ground, I slid off, my legs like noodles beneath me. I collapsed onto the ground and looked up to the sky. My heart raced. “It’s a start.” I needed a better way to hold on, that was for sure.
Several hours passed as I lay weakly in the grass, considering the options. Rope maybe, or if I can get some long fabric and sew the ends together I could put it around Garix’s neck without hurting him, and encircle myself with the other end, making an eight of sorts.
“There you are,” Merlin said, blocking the sun as she leaned over me. “What happened?” she asked, tossing her mint green braids out of her face. “Did you wake up early only to sleep out here?”
I smiled and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My body still felt the effects from my early morning adventure, but I’d recovered a little. As I scanned the courtyard to get my bearings, I was reminded that I wasn’t in my garden on the edge of Wellwood like I had dreamed but in King Arthur’s courtyard. I sighed. Even the walled-in courtyard felt like a prison. “Merlin, what’s the deal with Arthur?” I asked.
She sat beside me. “What do you mean?”
“Why does he need so much land? I mean, what’s his ultimate goal?”
She sighed. “It’s always about ego with men like him.”
I looked at her face, her dark ember skin a sudden reminder of my father. “Why do you serve him? You could...” I lowered my voice and eyed the empty courtyard suspiciously. “You could take the throne easily.”
She smiled so brightly that my heart warmed. “Only fools want the throne,” she said. I couldn’t help but laugh. She was right. How long had I loathed my royal upbringing only to be proven right? During my reign as queen, I’d lost more important people than at any other time. I knew I liked Merlin, I trusted her judgment. She’d learned that valuable lesson without ruling a kingdom of her own. Perhaps her magical abilities taught her the same about the burden of power.
Her gaze softened as if she could read my thoughts. She tilted her head like an older sister about to impart advice. “Actually, Arthur was one of the first people to show me kindness. He has his flaws, but who I am, and how I see myself, was much different before I met him. He’s more than a king, he’s a—” Her gaze drifted beyond me, so I turned to follow it.
Sir Lancelot stepped into the sun, his armor gleaming in the light. His hair had grown a bit since I’d last seen him, dark brown and almost to his shoulders. His normally hazel eyes were bright green beside the green stretch of the courtyard.
Merlin turned away, the certainty and power of her movements dulled as if the sun that beamed from within her had been shrouded in
storm clouds and torrential rain. It always happened when he was close by, or even when she thought of him. It didn’t take long to spot the tells. Part of me liked seeing her this way, so human, but I couldn’t help but feel the sting of spite for the man who stole the light from her.
8
Young
She’s just a girl, I mulled. A harmless little girl. But every time I saw her, I felt overcome with dread. Morgana was beautiful, and her little curls made my stomach ache with memories of Charlotte, yet my heart warmed when I saw just how alike we looked. She’d gotten so many of my traits: eyes, cheeks, lips. There was no mistaking she was my child. But we were strangers, different in every other way. What could I possibly talk about with a five-year-old?
“You ready?” Minseo said, sensing my hesitation.
“Of course,” I lied. Minseo had convinced me to meet up with Gabriel and Morgana by the river, but I was doubting my choice. Who was Gabriel? How had he come to be Morgana’s caregiver? These were questions I had the night they all arrived in Vires but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. For five years I longed to know the truth of how everyone fared and, now that I could, I didn’t have the nerve. If Minseo, chatty as he was, didn’t feel compelled to tell me, chances were I didn’t want to know, but my mind filled in the gaps with horrors that it conjured.
As Minseo and I walked through the forest, I wondered why he hadn’t chosen a closer river. But I realized when we arrived that our destination was more of a stream. It was slow moving and shallow and I concluded it was specifically chosen for its child-safe calm. The sides of it were rocky with scattered ferns and long fronds scattered between. A few yards back from the river on each side was an overgrowth of grass and a line of trees that made me think the river had once been much bigger.
It was late afternoon. My heart sank as we neared the bank of the river and Morgana spotted us. Waist deep in water, her smile beamed as she scrambled toward the shore, her gaze locked on MInseo. “Minnnowwwwww!” she screeched.
It was a beautiful reunion, the kind that would make a bystander smile. Except I was the bystander, and watching that beautiful little girl brim with joy over my brother reminded me a lot of how Charlotte looked at him when they’d first met.
I wondered if Charlotte’s heart still belonged to me, but as I watched Minseo’s bond with Morgana, the less likely it seemed.
Morgana reached the edge of the river, her dark hair slicked to her head. She leapt into Minseo’s arms, splashing water all over us and drenching Minseo in one squirming hug. Minseo lifted her and put her on his hip, turning to me.
“Hi, Appa,” Morgana said to me, her dark eyelashes sprinkled with water droplets. I knew the word was for me, but it seemed more appropriate for the man whose arms she was in. “Hello,” I said.
What do I say? What do kids even talk about? Maybe her favorite color? A sudden gust of wind made her teeth chatter, her lips already tinted with a touch of purple. My gaze drifted to the river where Gabriel stood. He had no shirt, despite the water coming just past his knees. His skin was dark and his body wide and muscular. He waved a gesture that felt inexplicably foreign.
“Good afternoon,” he called.
Minseo replied, “Beautiful weather.”
Gabriel replied by throwing his arms out and falling back into the water. Minseo turned back to Morgana. “Go jump in before you get too cold.”
“Are you coming too?” she asked.
Minseo eyed me. Even as a kid, I never wanted in while Minseo would jump into any bit of water he could find. A preview of today flashed in front of my eyes—Minseo playing with Morgana while I sat on the sidelines. But I knew I’d underestimated my brother, and his intentions, when he spoke again. “We’ll watch you from here.”
We took a seat on the river’s rocky edge.
Morgana pouted.
“Can you go underwater?” Minseo asked.
Morgana’s eyes lit and she instantly forgot her sadness. She pinched her nose and puffed her cheeks before plunging below the surface.
A second later she emerged, a prideful grin plastered to her face.
“Wow, that was great!” Minseo said.
“Watch this,” Morgana said, floating on her back.
Gabriel took a seat beside us, and I could feel the cold of the river radiating from his skin.
He scanned the ground until he spotted a flat stone. He picked it up, turned it over in his palm, wound up, and skipped it downriver. It skipped several times. As if it were beyond our control, Minseo and I searched for flat rocks of our own.
I found one first and stood, facing downriver. I wound up and threw it, noting that it skipped farther than Gabriel’s.
Minseo’s shortly followed, but it didn’t catch right on the water and sunk after the first bounce. The three of us erupted into laughter as we scrambled for more stones.
“Seven!” Gabriel yelled as I wound up for my fourth throw.
Minseo said, “My last one was at least eight.”
The side of the riverbank grew barren of flat rocks and our competition started to lose steam. “Wow,” I said, chucking my last rock. “She’s lucky, isn’t she?” I said, my gaze drifting to Morgana who searched the river shore for a rock.
Gabriel sat. “She certainly is.”
A flaming stone shot by, spewing steam from it as it skipped along the river, several yards past where our farthest throws sunk. My gaze snapped to its origin, to Morgana. My eyes widened.
“Are you okay?” Minseo said, already ankle deep in water.
“What was that?” I yelled.
Morgana stared at her hand before her eyes flitted up to Minseo. “It was an accident,” she said.
He dunked her hand in the water before looking at it closely. “It’s okay, princess,” he said. “As long as you’re not hurt.”
Minseo’s gaze moved to Gabriel and Gabriel nodded slightly. Ah. They knew exactly what that was.
Unsure if this was something I could ask about in front of Morgana, I walked over to Gabriel, keeping my voice low. “What was that?”
He eyed Minseo and Morgana to make sure they were out of earshot. “She has some kind of fire ability,” he whispered. “We’ve had a few incidents.”
“What do you mean ‘fire ability’?”
“She can…” his brow furrowed as he searched for the right words, “make fire.”
“Out of what?” I said, looking around. “Nothing?”
He nodded. My skin prickled at the insinuation. My mind raced with the improbability of it. It was undoubtedly impossible, but I’d just witnessed it. His words were more of a confirmation of the conclusion I had already formed. My eyes drifted to Morgana, her gaze searching me for signs of concern. I stuck out my tongue to ease her and felt a flutter of delight when she returned it across the way.
“So,” I whispered to Gabriel, “it’s magic?”
9
Charlotte
I was a prisoner. Captive, ripped away from Minseo and Morgana. I played these truths in my head again and again but couldn’t stop the guilt from clawing at my stomach. It had been almost a month since my first flight on the back of Garix. He was getting stronger and my makeshift saddle felt adequate enough. I’d become accustomed to the feeling of flying, even longed for the sweet weightlessness and freedom that waited for me in the damp clouds. We had flown as far as I dared before returning, just before the silver glow of dawn broke the horizon. We’d made it to the edge of Bullhorn, a far cry from Vires, but there was only so much training we could do before the risk of getting caught grew too great. If I was going to escape, it was now or never.
Only I couldn’t. Merlin was an unexpected obstacle. After all we’d been through, after the bond we’d forged and how voraciously she’d protected me, how could I leave her without an explanation?
I ached when I imagined the hurt she’d feel as she’d unknowingly walk to the courtyard to find me and Garix gone to the wind. My eyes pricked as my mind’s eye watched her standin
g alone wondering why I hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her.
But, worse than that, if I left she surely would be punished for it. There was the possibility that, due to our close bond, Arthur might suspect she helped me—an act of treason that could result in her death.
That thought compelled my body forward. I sat up, blinking through the darkness of the early morning. I had no choice but to tell her. I strode through my bedroom and pushed open the door that joined our rooms.
My heart raced in my chest. If this went badly, my whole plan would be destroyed and my family would once again fall out of reach.
But Merlin loved me, and I loved and trusted her. If she wouldn’t come with me, she’d surely let me go.
I stepped up to her bedside and sat on the edge. She looked so serene. She didn’t stir or twitch, not even when I sat down beside her. I would have thought her dead if not for the slow and silent rise and fall of her chest. My memory flashed to my first night in Arthur’s castle, when I’d tried attacking her with my dagger. How different my intentions were now. I took her hand and, without waking, her long fingers embraced mine.
“Merlin,” I whispered. She blinked awake, the intensity of her features springing to life with her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she said, her body still strewn across her bed.
“Let’s run away,” I said. “You and me.”
She smiled. “Here we go.”
“I’m serious,” I urged, but my voice cracked.
“I know you want to see your family, but Arthur is a fair king. If you prove your worth to him, I’m certain he’ll allow you to see your family again.”
I bit down on my bottom lip, holding back my disappointment. I was also afraid to reveal any more than I already had. Still, I had to try again, for Merlin.
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