Yet they give away nothing of their hearts.
“You’re not fasted.” The comment to Lucretia escapes me thoughtlessly, and my cheeks prick with heat.
Lucretia’s head bobs as she lets out a cynical laugh. “No. I’ve managed to dodge that particular arrow.” She eyes me significantly. “Not without challenge, you can be sure.”
“What are you going to do when fifth month comes?”
Lucretia gives a long sigh. “I’ll have to leave before the mandatory fasting goes into effect.”
Jules is silently watching her, his expression unreadable.
“Where will you go?” I ask her.
“Noi lands,” she says, cradling her teacup. “My brother Fain is there. My sisters. Our adopted daughter, Zephyr.”
A distant recollection surfaces. “I’ve heard my Uncle Edwin mention someone named Fain. Did your brother know my uncle?”
Lucretia and Jules exchange a darkly private look.
He did, I realize in a flash. Why are they being so secretive?
“They knew each other at University,” Lucretia says, the words oddly careful.
“Did he know my parents, too?” I ask, thrown.
Lucretia’s mouth twitches. “Yes.”
I can sense that’s all I’m going to get from either of them for now, so I back away from the subject. “Are you going to leave for the east, too?” I ask Jules.
“Eventually,” he says. “I’ll stay as long as I can, though, helping others get out.”
I despair at the thought of yet more people I care about leaving. I can’t think on it for too long—how lonely the Western Realm will be with most of them gone.
“What are you planning on doing about the mandatory fasting?” Lucretia asks me.
“I don’t know yet,” I say helplessly. “But I have to stay and take care of my uncle. Someone needs to, and I can’t leave him alone in Valgard with my aunt.”
Lucretia’s gaze narrows with a silent question, and I realize the conversation has shifted without my realizing it. “Have you found out anything more about where Lukas Grey stands?” she asks.
Yes, that he’s an enigma wrapped in an enigma. “I know he doesn’t care much for Vogel’s policies,” I tell her, “but he’s pretty evasive otherwise.”
“There’s talk of allowing Gardnerians to be part of the Verpacian and Vu Trin border guard for the eastern and western passes through the Spine,” Jules says.
“If that happens, those guards would be drawn from the Fourth Division Base,” Lucretia adds, her meaning clear.
Yvan’s fiery eyes light in my mind, setting off an ache deep inside me.
No. Let him go.
Because I realize that there’s something of grave significance that I can do here—something of much greater use than just making medicines.
* * *
I visit the hawkery before dawn.
Rune-hawks with glossy onyx feathers rustle on wooden perches all around the circular tower room. Small iron rings encircle each bird’s left leg, connected to the perches with short, delicate chains.
I hand my note, written on the lightweight parchment, to the young Gardnerian fowler. His eyes widen as he reads the name of the message’s intended recipient, and his gaze flies up to meet mine, trepidation stark on his face.
Ah, Lukas, I think grimly. How far your reach extends.
I glance over the fowler’s head at the panoramic view of Verpacia that can be seen through the tower’s arching windows. The snowcapped Northern Spine is washed in blue light and watches us with cold majesty.
Yvan will be leaving soon. There’s no future where we can be together. So, I need to seal up my heart and let it go cold.
And I need to seize my influence where it lies. Rooted here, in the Western Realm.
“Are you sure, Mage?” the skinny fowler asks. He swallows nervously, holding my small missive like it’s about to burst into flames.
“I’m sure.” I’m ready to use whatever pull I have with Lukas to fight the Gardnerians.
The fowler’s eyes dart toward me uneasily as he tucks my note into a small fabric bag and ties it to the leg of one of the rune-hawks. Anticipating the journey, the hawk ruffles its feathers and makes an abbreviated hop on its perch. Deep green runes are set on to iron bands that bracelet both of the hawk’s legs, restricting it to travel between the hawker and the destination point marked with identical runes, each half of the spell set by the same Gardnerian Light Mage.
The intricate patterns of the small runes glow in the dim light, mesmerizing in their verdant beauty. The ability to perform rune magic is a rarity everywhere, but it’s rarest among Gardnerians, as it requires a strong light affinity line. There’s only one known Light Mage able to perform rune spells in the entire Magedom, and I’m fascinated to see his work up close.
The fowler winds the north-facing window open, and a gust of icy air blasts inside, ruffling my hair. Unhooking the hawk’s leg chain, the fowler releases the bird from its perch, barely restraining the excited creature on his gauntleted wrist as he carries it to the window.
I watch, darkly resolved, as the fowler makes a clicking sound with his tongue. The hawk spreads its wings and launches itself into the air, flying northwest into the chill dawn.
Past the Verpacian border and over the Spine.
Winging its way to Lukas Grey.
the iron flowerlaurie forest
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DRYADS
That evening, a luxurious black-lacquered carriage pulls up at the base of the North Tower’s hill, the silver dragon insignia of the Gardnerian Fourth Division military base on its side. Two Level Three soldiers flank the carriage on horseback, and a Level Four soldier sits on the wand-guard seat.
One of the soldiers opens the door for me, and I’m surprised to find the carriage empty.
“Where’s Lukas?” I ask warily.
“We have instructions to take you to him, Mage Gardner,” comes the succinct reply, the soldier’s handsome face rigidly devoid of emotion.
I don’t budge. “Where?”
He gives a swift glance northwest. “At the edge of the Spine, Mage.”
My unease spikes. Why there? There’s nothing but farmland and wilderness.
He stands, expressionless, waiting as I glance toward the jutting white shards of the Northern Spine, the peaks snowcapped and silvered in the moonlight.
Gauging the situation for a split second, I take a deep breath and climb into the carriage. The door clicks into place, and I have the unsettling feeling that I’ve just crossed a dangerous threshold.
We drive through bustling Verpax City and eventually out of it, the lights of the city receding and soon dampened to a halo of light in the distance. The stars glitter coldly over the farms and wilds of northwestern Verpacia, the full moon suspended just above the Northern Spine and glowing like a specter.
After over an hour’s ride, the carriage comes to an abrupt halt by a deserted field covered with glittering, ice-encrusted snow. The wilds encircle the field, the forest sloping upward over hills that lead to the base of the ghostly white Spine.
The door opens, and I step out into the cold air. I glance around, searching for Lukas, a prickling apprehension taking hold. There’s nothing but wilderness here. Lukas’s Fourth Division Base is clear on the other side of the Spine.
“Where is he...” I start to ask, but the carriage is already in motion, the soldiers riding away alongside it.
“Wait!”
I run to keep up with the carriage, but it soon outpaces me, and I’m left alone, leagues away from anything. With nothing but the barren fields surrounding me and the black wilderness beyond.
Fear seeps into me. And cold. My breath curls white on the air.
What are you playing at, Lukas?
; A sudden, piercing shriek sounds from the direction of the Northern Spine. I turn to see a winged creature descending over the Spine’s apex, silhouetted against the ivory stone and snow. The thing shrieks again, soaring closer, and my pulse races with a mixture of fascination and apprehension.
A dragon.
I step back as a fuller realization dawns.
Lukas. Astride a military dragon.
The dragon wings over the wilds, skimming the treetops. Lukas comes into view on its back as the creature swoops down toward the field before me. The dragon lands with a piercing shriek and a dull, heavy thump that reverberates under my feet.
Lukas firmly calls out a command, and the dragon collapses flat on the snow, wings spread over the ground like colossal fans.
He smiles and holds out his hand to me.
My heart thuds against my chest as I look at the monstrous dragon with its knifelike feathers, huge talons and opaque, dead eyes. Both fear and pity rise within me.
Broken. Like they tried to break Naga.
“Why are you here on a dragon?” I call out to him, stunned.
“Dragonflight is fast. And private,” Lukas calmly replies.
“You want me to ride on that? Over the Spine?”
Lukas arches a black brow. He glances over his shoulder at the Spine, then turns back to me, an amused tilt to his mouth. “Did you imagine us taking a carriage over it instead?”
“If that’s what you’ve got planned, then why didn’t you just fly right to the North Tower?”
His tone takes a sardonic turn. “Because doing so would be an unforgivable and outlawed incursion into Vu Trin sky domain. I wasn’t in the mood for getting shot down in a churning ball of rune fire.” He gives me a smoky look. “Unless that was how you wanted our evening to play out.”
His suggestive look sparks a tremor of heat in my lines. “So, the Vu Trin let you come here instead?”
“I obtained permission, yes,” Lukas says smoothly. “Which is why I am currently alive and not on fire.”
A jittery fear pulls through me as I contemplate climbing up onto the dragon’s back. “I really don’t like heights, Lukas.”
He seems surprised by this. His gaze sharpens on me, serious now. “I’ll bolster you with my earth lines and ground you to me. It will help dampen your fear, Elloren.”
I glance up at the impossibly high, jagged Spine and picture myself hurtling to my death on its knifelike edge. It rises higher than the clouds, and I imagine it would take hours to completely tumble down from its top to the base of the gargantuan landmass.
A shiver of both fear and cold ripples through me. Stubbornly ignoring both, I trudge over the crunchy snow and around the dragon’s flattened wing, then reach up and take Lukas’s proffered hand, bracing my foot on the dragon’s scaled side as he pulls me up in front of himself.
My skirt rides clear up as I throw my leg over the dragon and slide myself down against the front of Lukas’s body. Flushing, I hastily tug my skirt down as low as I can, careful to keep the white wand that’s pushed into the top of my boot concealed.
“I’m not exactly dressed in dragon-riding attire,” I note defensively, my nerves making me jumpy, “since someone made absolutely no mention of a dragon.”
Lukas gives a low laugh, and I can feel his warm breath on my ear. He pulls out his wand and gives it a casual flick. Vines fly out its tip to wrap around both us and the dragon, securing us to the beast. I beat back the claustrophobic alarm that is suddenly swelling up in me and threatening to burst into full-blown panic.
Lukas murmurs another spell and presses his wand gently to the side of my leg. Diaphanous, shimmering gold flows out of the wand and washes over both me and Lukas. Lukas sounds out another spell and the sparkling cloud fuses to our skin, replacing our emerald Gardnerian glitter with a golden sheen. My fire lines kindle, warmth surging through them in response to Lukas’s magic, and just like that, the wintry chill is gone.
Lukas’s arm slides around my waist and pulls me firmly against him. Then he taps his wand against the dragon’s side.
The dragon rises to its feet, wings folding back, and I can feel powerful muscles at work beneath me. My fear kicks up to a jagged roar, my pulse hammering in my ears, and I fidget against Lukas in silent, panicked protest.
“Shhh.” Lukas brings his lips softly to my neck, his hand splayed out over my waist, holding me to him.
I gasp as he murmurs another spell and dark branches of his earth magic curl into me, fanning out and spreading through my affinity lines in a rippling tingle, twining and spiraling tight.
I take a deep breath, my terror lessening until it’s all but disappeared. “Where do you want to go, Elloren?” Lukas asks, his voice an enticing thrum.
I swallow, getting hold of myself. “Somewhere completely private.”
“I have quite a few private rooms.” His voice is thick with suggestion, and I can feel his smirk.
“I don’t care if it’s your bedroom, Lukas,” I say tersely, desperate to speak freely to him. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”
I sense his mood shift as he nods. He grabs hold of one of the dragon’s shoulder spikes and growls out a command.
The creature lurches forward and breaks into a run, the pounding motion jarring my hips. A trill of panic races through me as the dragon lets out an ear-piercing shriek, raises its wings up and out to the limit of their extension, then brings them down with a vigorous whoosh.
We lift up, the ground falling away beneath us, a stomach-dropping vertigo overtaking me. We gain speed rapidly, the wind whipping around us, but Lukas’s shield holds the worst of the chill at bay.
Then we’re above the trees, my heart in my throat as the rhythmic, powerful beating of the dragon’s wings lifts us up and up and up. I breathe deeply and take in the dizzying view as we wing toward the great wall of the Northern Spine, glancing over my shoulder briefly at light-haloed Verpax City and the moonlight-washed Southern Spine as they fall away behind us.
I peer down at the wide expanse of forest streaming by below us, and my affinity lines give a sudden covetous lurch. My fire lines blaze hot, my branches shuddering against Lukas’s. A heady sense of power rushes through me, and the forest palpably convulses—shock waves of awareness radiating outward for leagues and leagues, the vast expanse of trees suddenly focused on one thing, and one thing only.
The power running through my blood.
Lukas tightens his hold on me, his dark branches twining further around my lines in a seductive, supple caress. “Your affinity lines have gotten stronger, haven’t they?” he whispers in my ear.
I glance back at him, flushed with heat and wildly unsettled by the flash of power. The dragon banks sharply upward, and I fall back against Lukas, my breath cinching in my lungs. The wall of the Spine rushes past beneath me, and vertigo takes over. I clutch at Lukas’s arms, my affinity branches wrapping tight around his earth lines.
And then the dragon evens out, and we’re abruptly flying straight over the Spine, the stars glittering like jewels as moonlit clouds drift below us.
I pull in a hard breath, overcome by the startling grandeur.
The jagged, snow-covered peaks of the Spine are breathtaking. And from this height I can see the entire length of the Northern Spine, small Elfhollen villages clinging to alcoves in the jagged stone, the dwellings hewn into the ivory rock.
As we crest the highest, knife-edged peak, the Fourth Division military base comes into view, and my stomach clenches into a tight fist at the sight.
It’s huge. Much bigger than it was before.
It completely fills the valley with a murky haze of torchlight, illuminating rows upon rows of tents and dragon cages. New buildings have been carved into the Spine-stone, some up high, but most at the base of the Spine. Many are only half completed, still under construction. I realize that ded
icated Level Five earth-Magery must have been utilized to reconstruct so many buildings so rapidly. And new dragons must have been brought in from somewhere.
Dread sluices through my veins.
This is only one base, I realize. Out of twelve. And this one alone is bigger than Verpax City.
We fly over the base and loop back around. The dragon lets out a sonorous shriek and begins a steep dive, aiming for a shadowed, cavernous hole halfway up the towering Spine. We hurtle straight toward it, my breath cinching tight in my throat as the dragon’s wings pivot abruptly up, my body thrust back hard against Lukas’s as our speed rapidly slows and we soar through the opening, slamming down onto the stone floor of a cave with concussive force.
The dragon collapses to the ground, wings fanned out as the creature goes still as the stone. A wall torch gutters light over Lukas and me, the dragon and the chalky cave.
I sit there, nearly hyperventilating.
Lukas unsheathes his wand and expeditiously draws the belt-like vines off us with a spell, the black straps dissolving to dark mist. Then he draws the golden shield back into his wand.
Frigid cold blasts through me, whipping into the cave, every breath like splinters of ice. My eyelashes stick together, quickly freezing.
Lukas slides off the dragon and holds his hands out for me. I hurriedly slide down the dragon’s side and into his arms, shivering uncontrollably as he guides me toward a metal-studded wooden door and into the room beyond it.
The moment Lukas shuts the door, we’re enveloped in a cocoon of warmth. I blink my eyes and clear the ice crystals from my lashes, struggling to find my bearings.
“Did you enjoy the flight?” Lukas asks, his dark gaze looking me over unapologetically.
I shoot him a hard look. “It was completely terrifying, and...” I pause, realizing a part of me is lit up in a heady, new way from soaring over the Spine like a raptor. “It was also...incredible.”
“Mmm.” Lukas smiles, scrutinizing me closely, as if reading something new in me that he approves of. He holds out his hand, as if he’s offering up the forbidden.
My heartbeat quickens as I take it, his fingers closing in around mine.
The Iron Flower Page 15