Chapter 45

“And how exactly do you presume we get to Elsiande? Isn’t it a few days’ travel by horse?”

She bit her lip and grinned up at him.

“Oh no,” he muttered. “That look usually precedes us being tortured.”

“I have an idea.”

“If someone catches us, we’ll probably be kicked out of the mountain,” Fordham reminded her as they crept through the dragon quarters.

“Where’s your sense of adventure, princeling?”

“Securely on the ground,” he muttered.

She turned around in surprise. “Are you afraid of heights?”

“Heights? No,” he said at once. “Falling from extreme heights—like off the back of a dragon, for instance…”

She laughed. “Dragons are perfectly safe, and riding one is the most exhilarating experience of my entire life. You’re going to love it. Or… at least, you’ll get used to it since you’re trying to get a dragon in a few weeks’ time.”

“Fine,” he muttered.

Maya grinned at him and then continued through the cavernous rooms where she had spent so much of her time, growing up. She could name prac