The tournament!” she gasped.“Yes! You didn’t come home last night. We’re were all worried. I drew the short straw to come here and collect you.”“Can you keep it down?” Theo grumbled from the pallet next to Maya.“Theo, get up! It’s the day of the tournament.”“Scales,” Theo gasped, rolling over with wide eyes. “Are we late?”“Late?” Aurora asked with a stilted laugh. “We’ll be lucky if we make the trek back to the mountain before it starts. Now, get up. Let’s go.”With this new information, both girls moved at lightning speed, throwing on fresh clothes, and scrambling out of the room.Gods, how had this happened? She wasn’t particularly punctual, but she had never wanted to miss something this important. Then the night before came back to her—the fight, the winnings, Basem Nix.She winced. She’d fought Basem Nix. Scales. That wasn’t good. She had never seen Basem in person before, but she sure as hell knew his name. And the echo of it still rang in her ears. He was full-blooded Fae,
His black hair was swept back off his face. But it was the gray eyes, which caught and held her gaze, that made her shiver. There was something… wrong with him. Something terribly twisted inside.His gaze swept over her and then dismissed her just as quickly. Then, he turned and stormed down the hallway. Without a backward glance or a question of his direction, he just left.Scales.Maya jumped from her place against the wall, cursing her right leg for falling asleep underneath her. She shook it out, but that only made it worse. Pins and needles trailed down her leg. She winced with every step.“Excuse me,” she croaked, finally getting her voice back.He didn’t slow down or stop or even look back at her.She gritted her teeth against her dead leg and pushed herself into a half-hobble, half-jog. “Excuse me, Prince Fordham.”That got his attention. He pivoted with strict military precision and looked at her with those ever-changing eyes.“Hi,” she said a little breathlessly. “I’m here t
Only a few lines were visible. And she furrowed her brow in confusion as she read them once, twice, three times through.Red rivulets run down his spine.Her tears gouge canyons into her cheeks.Black eyes watch, unceasing.Unceasing.Maya shuddered at the imagery. Was this… poetry? Did the princeling write dark, vivid poetry?It felt wrong somehow to read this. She hadn’t known what he’d been doing, but she certainly hadn’t imagined him to be an artist. Could someone from the House of Shadows find art in their darkness?It made her feel a little sick.She snapped her fingers, and a small flame appeared in her hand. She cupped the remaining page. The fire burned it down to ashes. As if it had never been.“Maya,” Mistress Cressida said.She whipped around as if she had been doing something wrong. “Yes?”“Fordham passed through to the tournament. I am going to escort him. He is the last. You can return to the House of Dragons.”“Of course. Thank you.”Mistress Cressida nodded at her and
Maya looked down at her hands and jolted. She was just a ghost of herself as well. She couldn’t exactly see through her hands, but it was close. They had a hazy outline to them. She wasn’t solid any longer.“Where are we?” Maya finally managed to get out. Fear coated her words.We are on the spiritual plane. He hesitated, as if in incomprehension. You pulled us both through.“I did?” she asked. “How?”That I do not know.“Scales,” she whispered. “What do I do? How do I get us out? Is this normal?”We will assess how to get out when it is time to depart. Gelryn paused over her other questions. This has never happened before.He said it like an admission.They were silent at that realization. Maya had done something that no one else had ever done before. That Gelryn knew of at least. All because she had been too stubborn to let go? Or was there another reason?“Why did this happen?”Truly, Maya of the House of Dragons, I do not know.She was stunned. “You have never entered the spiritua
You believe this will come to pass as well?She pushed her hands into her eyes. “I hope not. I wasn’t even supposed to tell anyone about this,” she said anxiously. “Helly said that it would put my life in danger.”And she was right. I would advise you listen to Mistress Hellina of the House of Stoirm, first of her line. She is wise. I see that your threads are entangled. I would not want to see harm come to you, child. But if this is revealed, everyone you know could be in danger.“I… I’ll be careful,” she said.He bowed his head formally. You have passed testing.She almost laughed. “What does that mean?”You have my permission to continue to the tournament.“I can’t,” she said with a sigh. “No one will let me. And I don’t want to enter anyway.”Do you not want a dragon?She shook her head and touched her aching neck. With a shove, she slowly rose to her feet. “I think you all should be free to do what you please.”Then, with a sad smile, she bowed to Gelryn the Destroyer and stumble
Then, we’d better use it, huh?”saw the hesitation in Amber’s eyes. “Never mind,” Maya said at once.Amber was the youngest of seven siblings. Her parents were farmers, north of the valley. And at the end of the day, they just hadn’t been able to afford a seventh mouth to feed. Her father had packed her up, taken the donkey into the big city, and deposited her on the steps to Draco Mountain. He’d done it out of love. She’d have a much better life here than where she had come from, but that didn’t make it any easier.Amber still felt the pangs of hunger and poverty, just as Hadrian did. Maya… had never known such. She had only seen it secondhand on the streets and from her friends. Though she would have preferred to have grown up with someone like Amber’s parents. Who had left her out of love… not shame.“No, no,” Amber said with a sigh. “Wear the powder. It will look lovely with your dress.”“Are you sure?”Amber nodded. “That’s why I got it, isn’t it?”Maya took the small pot of powd
All of that is true,” he agreed. “But he hates something more than that.”She raised an eyebrow. “And that is?”He met her gaze. “Me.”“You? Because when you two were in the tournament? He won already.”And you lost. She didn’t say it, but she wanted to.Her father and Master Aurora had been in the dragon tournament together. Aurora was now in the Society, and her father was not. The end. The whole story.“Yes, he won, and we’ve had a feud ever since,” he said evenly. “I fear that he might have discovered that I am your father.”“And?”“And he would take you into his household to hurt me.”She shook her head. “Do you hear yourself? Nothing you are saying makes sense. One, wherever I go couldn’t possibly hurt you because you abandoned me. You left me at the doorstep of Witches Mountain and walked away. You have no feelings on the matter. And two, Master Aurora would never select me when he hates half-Fae. He was the person who convinced the Society to put down the rebellions five years
The House of Dragons had given her a new life.She couldn’t turn away from that even if she wanted to.“Thank you,” Maya said when Tavry finally landed back in the aerie. “I’ll always remember this last flight too.”You are always welcome with me, Maya Argon.Maya shuddered at the sound of her full name in her mind. Of course the dragons knew.Still, she dipped into a low curtsy and then retreated from the rooms. A tear trickled down her eye as she left the aerie and flying behind.“I know. I know,” Maya gasped.Aurora and Amber were looking at her as if she’d just sprouted wings. She waved her hand at them as she hustled into the back of the line.She was obviously the last of the twenty-three Dragon Blessed who were attending the ceremony today. Mistress Moran shot her a disparaging look before turning back to face the front of the line.Maya took that opportunity to rest her hands on her knees and take a deep breath.“Where have you been?” Amber asked, flustered. “You’re late. We’v