“Bola got us down,” Petal answered. “I think Dral is gone. He left us there not long after you had gone.” She paused. “Where do you think he went?”
They sat, considering this for a few long moments before Wix tipped his head back, staring fixedly at the ceiling. “When will you be back?” he asked.
Toli bumped him with her shoulder. “When molting season begins—with the dragons.”
“That’s months away.”
Toli grinned. “Guess I’ll have a lot to tell you.”
Petal leaned her head against Toli. “When are you leaving?”
“In a few weeks.”
“Are you sure you can’t come home first? Not even to say goodbye?”
“You heard what Bola said. I have a lot to do here to prepare. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to ride on Bola’s back without falling to my death.”
Wix nudged her with his elbow. “If I know you, you’ll be riding on the back of the Dragon-Mother herself.”
Toli’s mother rolled her eyes. “Regardless. I must agree that whichever dragon you ride with, you had best avoid falling to your death.” She ran her palm along Toli’s braid.
Wix met Toli’s eyes. “And what about Ruby? Will she be all right?”
Toli fiddled with her fingers. “I don’t know. The Dragon-Mother took her to the heart of the Mountain. She said it was the only thing that could heal her.”
Petal stared toward the tunnel that led down into the heart. “What it’s like down there?”
“Hot,” Toli and the Queen said together, then laughed.
Wix rolled his eyes.
Petal wrapped her hair up into a tight bun like the queen’s. “Maybe if she’s well enough when it’s time to fly, they’ll let her ride with you.”
Toli cracked a smile. “If Ruby is as much of a pest to the Dragon-Mother as she is to us, they’ll probably beg me to take her.” She turned to her sister. “I know you’ll be busy—and in high demand. You won’t even have time to miss me.”
Petal gave her a sideways smile. “I’ll have time to miss you—but yes, I will be busy. I’ve got to help Rasca organize the stores, and I’m hoping to help judge the carving work this year.”
“Any favorites?”
Petal blinked. “I’ve always loved Yassa Rall’s work. I’ll be interested to see what she carves.”
Toli scuffed her toe against the cavern floor. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to teach you how to use your knife—or the bow.”
“Actually, I thought maybe I’d ask Wix to teach me to hunt. We’ll be shorthanded until you get back, after all.” She paused, uncertainty filling her eyes as she met Toli’s gaze. “Do you think I can learn?”
Toli laughed. “I think you can do anything.” She pressed the tip of one finger to her lips and gave Wix a sideways look. “In fact,” she said, “if he teaches you to hunt bison—successfully, mind you—maybe we can set up a little competition when I get back.”
Petal snorted. “That ought to do it.” She broke into a laugh. “That’s going to make Pendar and Rasca crazy.”
Toli bit her lip. “Hug the old bat for me—but don’t tell her I called her that. Pendar too.”
The queen chuckled. “This is a great honor, Anatolia. Remember that, and remember to remain cautious. Guard yourself well, and you’ll learn more about them, even as they learn more about us. It’s a big step forward.” She paused. “I’m very proud of you.”
Toli’s eyes prickled. She looked up. Above them, crystal stalactites sparkled and gleamed, but in that moment, all Toli could think about was how she wasn’t going to see her family for months—and that was if everything went well.
Light from the jewels bounced off Petal’s dark hair as dragons slipped past, ignoring them. Petal cleared her throat. “What do you think they’re like—the people down there? Do you think they know about us?”
Toli hesitated. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”
Her sister nodded and gave a delicate snort. “Promise to tell me everything?”
Toli noticed how young Petal looked, and she gave her a soft smile. Her sister would be fine. “I promise,” she said.
Wix nudged her. “Here,” he said. “For luck.”
She met his hazel eyes as he handed her a cunningly carved dragon.
“It’s from your sled,” he explained. “I … I thought you might want something to remember it by.”
Toli wrapped her arms around him, squeezing until he burst into a laugh. “Okay, okay. I’m glad you like it.”
They sat watching the dragons, talking until they ran out of things to say. Toli racked her brain for more—more questions to ask or things she’d left out—anything to make the time with them last a little longer.
Hot breath at their backs nearly startled Wix into the seethe pit with the young dragons. Toli looked up, and Bola chuckled.
“Yes?” Toli’s mother asked, standing. Bola stepped back.
“Our Dragon-Mother sends me to take you and the others home. She’s tired of your yammering. She says enough is enough—you’re too loud.”
Petal swallowed. “She … she can hear us … all the way up here?”
“Come on, love,” her mother whispered, pulling Petal to her feet. Toli and Wix stood too.
Toli wondered where Spar was now and what she was doing. Did her former mentor regret what she’d done—and did she think of Toli at all? “Do you think they’ll kill Spar?” she asked her mother at last.
The queen’s face fell. “It’s possible. I don’t know,” she said. “But the Dragon-Mother has claimed her, for better or worse, and I don’t envy Spar right now. That’s certain.”
Petal cast her eyes down. “She would have gotten us all killed.”
“I wish I’d seen what was happening to her sooner,” Toli whispered.
Queen Una put one arm around each of her daughters. “Never be ashamed of trusting another person.” Her mother pressed her lips together. “And don’t worry. Instinct is a muscle. It will get stronger the more you use it.” She turned Toli to face her. “We’ll see you in a season’s time, Anatolia, under Nya’s promised light.”
Toli’s throat tightened. “Tell everyone I’m okay, and that … and that I’ll be back.”
Wix and Petal hugged her tightly.
When they pulled away, Wix’s expression was fierce. “Don’t die,” he said, then spun away, hurrying toward Bola. A lump rose in Toli’s throat as he walked away. She bumped Petal with her elbow. “Thank you, Petal.”
Petal’s eyebrows rose. “For what?”
“For stowing away in my sled. For … following me onto the deep ice even though you knew it was likely to kill us both. For saving me.” She paused. “For being my sister.”
Petal turned a shade of red that Toli had never seen on her before. She opened her mouth, and for a moment Toli thought her sister’s throat might have closed. She was about to whack Petal on the back, when she choked out, “You’re welcome.”
They hugged each other once more, and then it was her mother’s turn. “I’m proud of you, Toli,” she said.
An ache filled her chest, but she nodded against her mother’s soft shoulder, then turned to Bola. “Now what?”
“Now we get on with it.” The dragon unfurled her taloned fingers, and Petal stepped up into her palm, holding out a hand for their mother to climb on.
Wix jumped in with a laugh, and Toli watched as Bola’s wings beat the air, carrying her family into the aurora-streaked sky.
EPILOGUE
Eight weeks had passed since they left Toli behind in the caverns of Dragon Mountain. It wasn’t that everything had changed, Petal thought as she moved her dragon piece five squares east. It was just that, with Toli gone, nothing was the same. Given how often her sister had been out hunting or training even when she was here, Petal was a little surprised by how much she missed her.
Wix frowned, studying her move on the board. He toyed with his own carved dragon piece. As long as he didn�
��t remember that she’d moved more ice in from the west, her plan would work and she would trounce him again.
The fires in the Great Hall burned bright and merry. Petal brushed fritter crumbs off her soft blue dress. It was her favorite because it was pretty and practical. She could wear it whether she was working with Rasca in the storerooms or practicing knife work with Wix.
Wix looked up and brushed an unruly curl out of his eyes. “Tell me again about Pendar’s face.”
Petal lifted an eyebrow. “You’re not trying to distract me, are you? You know that won’t work.”
His chin dropped into his hand. “’Course not. Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m winning again. Anyway, you were there.”
He placed a settlement wall. “Yes, Petal. I know I was there. I just like the way you tell the story.”
Her dragon soared seven squares north, toppling two more of his hard-won settlement markers. “Oh, all right,” she sighed, grinning at the dismay on his face. “But it’s the last time. For real this time.”
Wix shifted, stretching toward the rafters. “If you say so.”
Rasca dropped a bowl of eggs next to the game board. She nudged him with her knuckles. “Gotta keep your eye on the dragon, boyo, or she’ll knock you back every time.”
“Thanks,” Wix muttered as the old woman shuffled away chuckling.
Petal’s voice was warm and quiet. “When Bola landed with us in her talons, everyone came running.”
“Tell about Luca.”
Petal rolled her eyes. “Luca crouched so low to the ice, I thought she had fallen through.”
Wix let out a bark of laughter.
“Pendar came forward and asked Mother where Toli was.”
Wix’s grin widened.
“She told him that Toli was to be an emissary to the dragons. She said her firstborn daughter would travel to the South to aid them if she could, and to learn more about the people of the Dragon Sea. Then Pendar said, ‘Who?’ And Mother explained there was a whole other Queendom in the South.”
“And…” Wix giggled.
“And then Pendar opened his mouth.”
“Like a—”
“Like a fish gasping.”
“And—”
Petal sighed. “And he kind of choked a bit.”
“And—”
“And then he passed out.”
Wix let out a howl of laughter. “Tell the next part! Tell the next part!”
“And then Rasca nudged him with her foot—more of a kick, really—and asked Bola if she liked deerberry sauce.”
Wix was just winding himself up for another round of howls when Pendar burst through the doors, his cheeks red, breathing hard. “They’re coming,” he said.
Petal and Wix hurried out to join the rest of the Queendom. People had clustered around the Southern Gate, some even spilling outside. Many more filled the narrow streets stretching in both directions. They stood shoulder to shoulder as they waited, gazing up. Everyone was out, even the children, gathered in the streets, necks strained to watch the sky.
Petal’s heart skipped a beat when she thought of her sister passing by on a dragon’s back—so high up and vulnerable. She wondered if Toli was happy with the choice she’d made, or if she was scared about leaving to go so far away with no one but dragons for company.
Wix glanced at Petal and cleared his throat, his voice a soft rasp. “Remember last week when the Dragon-Mother sent that red dragon … What was his name?”
“Rannu.”
“Rannu, right. Remember what he told your mother?”
Petal nodded. “I guess so.”
Wix tapped her foot with his. “He said they would be passing by today, and that Toli was well. He said Ruby would be riding with her. And he said they would all do their best to keep them both safe. And, yes, to answer your question, it does.”
Petal scowled at him. “What question? Does what?”
Wix smirked. “Yes, it does make me feel better to hear it too—a little.”
Petal rolled her eyes, but some of the tightness in her chest loosened. “Do you really think they’ll fly right over the Queendom this year? They’ve never done that before.”
Wix pressed his lips together. “Well, it’s way out of their way, so it’s either they’re doing it as a gesture—for Toli, or for their Queen, or your sister made them mad and they’re planning to eat us all.”
Petal couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. Wix grinned and gave a stiff nod as they both lifted their faces back toward the broad expanse of sky. Soon Nya’s rise would drive away the Father’s thick green light for the rest of the year. They would say goodbye to the wending streaks of color in the sky until next year too. But this time, the lights weren’t the only thing they’d miss.
Petal looked up at the queen, atop the Southern Wall, standing next to her own statue as she scanned the distance. “Do you think we’ll be able to see Toli—or Ruby?” she whispered, shifting her weight for the eighth or ninth time in as many seconds.
Wix frowned. “I hope so. Didn’t your mother say they would pass over from the north, after they checked the forest bluff for prey?”
Petal nodded.
“I mean, I don’t really get that, to be honest. There’s no prey up there. Not at this time of year.”
Petal rubbed her nose. “It’s like you said. They’re going way out of their way. I—I think they just said that about looking for prey because they needed a reason, you know? I mean, they needed a better reason than doing something nice for us—and for Toli.” She paused, shooting him a teasing look. “Or maybe we are the prey.”
Wix snorted, and off to his left, someone’s breath caught.
“There they are,” Rasca called from just behind them. Pendar’s belly laugh echoed from somewhere in the crowd.
Skimming the ridge, the dragons soared over the Queendom. They had never been so close. Before this, they’d always flown high, circling the mountain before they left. They could almost have been brightly colored birds in the distance.
Not this time.
“Look,” Petal breathed as a huge turquoise dragon passed.
More came, and more again. People spoke in hushed voices all around Petal and Wix. They had never seen so many—hadn’t realized their full might. The dragons passed low over the ice, moving off into the distant sky like a tribute to the aurora itself.
“Told you they’d fly close.” Wix laughed under his breath.
Petal grinned back at him. “Don’t be smug. Maybe that’s why the Dragon-Mother brought them all this way. Not to be nice, but so we wouldn’t forget our place. Look! Is that—”
“There she is,” the queen cried.
The Dragon-Mother soared over them, the pale glow of her scales so low that the rush of her wings blew Petal’s hair forward across her face. Iridescent feathers brushed the tops of the statues on the Southern Wall as she passed, but few people noticed. Most of them were staring up at the small figure that lay prone against the ice-white dragon’s back. Some even glimpsed the flash of Ruby’s red scales where she curled across Toli’s neck. As they watched, Princess Anatolia turned her head to look back at them—and lifted her hand to wave goodbye.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When a book enters the world, it gets there because of the many wonderful and talented people who loved it and worked to make it better. These folks didn’t just believe in this story, they believed in me. This is EVERYTHING. This sentiment is all the more true with a debut, so I have many people to thank. While the journey required patience, practice, and persistence from me, I also want to acknowledge my luck and my privilege. They are real. I was bolstered by many other authors, aspiring authors, professionals, and “regular” people. I could not have done this without their support, seen or unseen.
I want to thank my parents, George Kirouac and Sally W. Kirouac. I don’t have the words to thank them for the way they always encouraged me, regardless of what strange paths I picked
or how often I changed my mind. I want to thank my mother in particular. She showed me what it means to be a loving force in the world, for which I am forever grateful.
Thank you to my husband and best friend, Daeg, who never doubted, and almost always said yes to making dinner. I am so proud to walk through this life with you.
Thank you to my agent, Catherine Drayton, for believing in my work and for her persistence. My characters and I are lucky to have you as our champion. Thanks also to the fabulous Claire Friedman—you do so much.
An endless murmuration of thank-yous to Nicole Otto and Rhoda Belleza, who loved and understood Toli from the get-go, and wanted her to be in the world. I am so very lucky to travel this path with you.
Thank you to Erin Stein, Raymond Ernesto Colón, Dawn Ryan, John Morgan, Natalie Sousa, Jessica Chung, Madison Furr, Katie Halata, and the rest of the amazing staff at Macmillan Children’s! You all make me wish I lived in the city so I could soak up all your fun vibes and brilliance in person. Thanks to Ellen Duda and Kelley McMorris for my absolutely stunning cover!
I want to thank Lynne Schmidt. She was my very first critique partner, and I learned a lot from her. I hope you’ll see more of her soon. I also want to thank Hilary Harwell, Laura Bartha, Gita Trelease, Julie Artz, and Kristi Wientge. It wouldn’t be the same book without you ladies. Thank you to the inestimable Matt Bird. Long may you edit. Thank you to the excellent writers of the Fellowship of the Winged Pen but especially to Jessica Vitalis, Jennifer Park, and Mark Holtzen for your support and feedback. Thank you also to Carissa Taylor and Megan Reyes.
Thank you to Brenda Drake, and to all the #PitchWars mentors for their love and support, and to Steph Funk for her excellent editorial advice back when I was her mentee. Extra special thanks to the PitchWars PNW mentors (Rebecca Skye, Rebecca Schaffer, Joy McCullough, Heather Ezell, Rachel Griffin, Shari Green, Julia Nobel, Cass Newbould, Rachel Solomon, Julie Artz). Your friendship and support matter so much to me. Grazie molto to Joy for being there when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Thanks also to the Novel 19s group for their love and support and to Heidi Heilig and the KidLit Alliance. It’s a privilege to listen and learn with you all. Special thanks to Karen Foxlee and to Martha Brockenbrough for their support. Thank you to Melissa Marr for her kind DM all those years ago. It came at a much needed time. Also, big thanks to Lia Keys. When I was first peeking through the crack in the door into the world of writing, I had questions. You gave me patient, compassionate answers. It mattered. Thank you, readers. Thank you, universe. Keep going. I love you.
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