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“River,” Anelise said. “It’s still early.”
“I asked them to wake him up,” he replied. His sister had a serious, thoughtful expression. He then added, “Come. I’ll also need you.”
Naia was also puzzled. Wasn’t it going to be harder to speak to his father if he was grumpy and sleepy? But then, River exuded confidence, so he had to know what he was doing. Anelise didn’t look so sure, but she followed them.
They descended large wooden stairs, which should have been decorated with vines, except that they were dry now.
Downstairs, they came to huge bronze doors, and then entered a large chamber. This was where Naia had first spoken to King Spring, and the memory gave her chills. At that time, she had been expecting him to be somewhat of a benevolent king who would be interested in negotiating with her. At that time, she hadn’t known what River had been doing, hadn’t known he was a prince, and had no idea why the city had been under a spell.
So much had changed in so little time. Still, she didn’t like being here again. To be honest, if she were to choose, she would rather not speak to the Ancient King. As she had predicted, his sister was friendly, and they could perhaps have tried to make a deal directly with her. But then again, River knew much more about the Ancients than she did, so she had to trust his judgment. She wouldn’t want him to tell her how to deal with her father. Her father. That was something she didn’t want to think about.
There were fae archers in nooks on the wall, and more and more fae guards were entering the room. As much as Naia wanted to trust River, there were too many ways that this could go wrong. And still, she could sense none of his previous fear. She wished he had told her what he’d been planning, that way perhaps she would have at least some of his confidence. As it was, she had none.
When King Spring entered the chamber glaring at River, she felt certain there was no way they would walk out of this place unscathed, no way even that they would make any deal. The king’s eyes had nothing but hatred—all of it directed at his own son.
Naia looked at River, worried about how he was taking it, but he didn’t seem upset, anxious, or afraid. Instead, his face was hard, focused on the king, his eyes matching or perhaps even surpassing his father’s hatred. Naia stepped away from him, startled to see him like that.
Something bad was about to happen, she had no doubt of that. The issue was what—and to whom.
* * *
The gentle touchof warm water on Leah’s body was pleasant. This amazing bathtub in the Dragon Eye’s house would be extremely relaxing in other circumstances. Right now, Leah still recalled that strange voice echoing in her mind, looking for the iron dragon.
Now she knew thatiron dragonwas a well-known, old expression, which made her wonder if there was any connection between the voice she had heard and the dragons, or even these Boundless. Fel and Siniari had told her quickly about Cynon, this old, not-living and not-dead dragon, who was an enemy. It sounded eerily similar to the Breaker, the creature that the strange fae had mentioned, but Leah hadn’t had time to discuss it. She hadn’t told much to Fel, fearing her words could be overheard, fearing what could happen if she mentioned voices in her head and the mysterious fae in the hollow.
Another reason the bath wasn’t as comfortable as it should be was that she wasn’t alone, but with Relia, who was the Dragon’s Eye, which was some kind of leader in that community, and her daughter Jacine. The girl was about seventeen, with lovely long brown hair and bright yellow eyes. Leah was used to being undressed in front of her mother and attendants, and didn’t mind being seen by other women. Still, it was weird to get to know someone without any clothes on. She felt… naked. Yes, that was the word. Quite appropriate.
Jacine had been asking questions and questions about life in Aluria, fascinated by the different kingdoms and their magic.
“Daughter, dear,” Relia interrupted. “We know they have royal families. They are humans with magic.” There was some derision in the woman’s words.
“I know,” the girl said. “It’s just… they’re so similar to the humans here. It’s odd.”
Her accent was a lot smoother than her mother’s, and Leah decided to ask about that. “Does everyone here speak two languages? Because I heard some Fernian.” She didn’t understand that language, but knew what it sounded like, and was sure it was what she heard the most among the dragons.
“No, no. We mostly speak one language.” Jacine laughed. “And it’s not Fernian. It’s New Elvish. Not Elvish, really, it’s the dragon language, but people call it Elvish. Your language comes from the fae. Some of us study it because there are books in that language. The noxious fae left a lot of things behind…”
“Not that much,” her mother said, as if correcting her.
Noxious… Leah thought she knew what they meant, but wasn’t sure. “You mean the white fae?”
“Yes,” Jacine said. “They were exiled to your continent.”
Relia leaned over and got her hair wet. “My daughter likes to talk too much. Interested in magic.”
“I’m going to become a dragon mage.” Jacine smiled. “I wish Isofel had been raised here, then I’m sure he would become a mage as well. Maybe he can still try it.”
Would Fel want to stay here? Would he forget Aluria? Leah didn’t think so, but she couldn’t be sure. Since they were mentioning him, she decided to ask something that was bothering her. “If thisiron dragonis so important, is it wise to let everyone know it could be Isofel? Won’t he become a target of the Boundless?”
Jacine bit her lip and was thoughtful.
Relia waved a hand. “Oh, no. You need to be a buffoon to believe the words of a loony who spent his days speaking nonsense. There’s no iron dragon, and no iron dragon is going to save us. What we need is power, knowledge, strength. That said, words do have power.When the world falls into darkness, the iron dragon will be the only flame left to fight it. We’ve repeated it so much. It’s obviously about hope. If we give in, we are defeated before the battle. If we stand with our neck held high, fly with confidence in our wings, then we stand a chance. The iron dragon is a symbol—a much needed symbol when we’ve lost so much.”
The woman’s words made sense, but still. “Wouldn’t the boundless believe those words, though? Wouldn’t they want to kill, hurt, or kidnap Isofel?”
Leah could not forget what she had seen that afternoon, when Fel had been surrounded by enemies on all sides. For a second, she thought they were about to cross the threshold of death together. It wasn’t their time, though, thanks to Fel’s astounding magic—metal magic, which made him known as theiron dragon. There would be no hiding after this. She hoped that whatever danger was targeting Fel was too far away to notice anything. But what were the chances of that?
“For sure they’ll try to kill him.” Relia’s words had the tranquility of someone who didn’t see anything alarming in them. “That said, there isn’t a day the Boundless aren’t trying to kill us—all of us. Or turn us to their side. It’s not as if Isofel would be any safer if we were to hide his iron magic. I’ll tell you what, girl: he’ll be much, much safer now that he’ll hold a special position among us. There’s something else I need to warn you. I can see you have feelings for him, but if I were you, I would try my luck elsewhere. He’s beautiful, he’s powerful, and he’ll have many more choices.”
