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In the tanner’s district, I ask around about a couple from Joryan until a blacksmith’s apprentice points me toward a man and woman who are selling what looks like the last of their tanned leathers to a shoemaker.
I wait until they’ve concluded their business, then approach and explain that I met their son at the castle and that I’m looking for my family from Amriste.
The woman peers closely at me, then at my bodyguards, and then grabs her husband’s sleeve in horror. “My-my lady. I apologize, for we didn’t recognize you.” In a loud whisper, she tells the man standing next to her, “This is the king’s betrothed. The one that the dragon protected so fiercely yesterday.”
They both sink into curtseys, the flustered husband copying his wife until he realizes his mistake and changes it to a wobbly bow.
A dozen pairs of eyes are drawn in this direction, and I feel myself flush. “Please don’t. Before the invasion, I was a Veiled Virgin, and before that, I lived in Amriste. I’m not anyone special.”
The woman looks uncertain, but as she straightens up, she says, “I know of Amriste, but I’m sorry, my lady, we fled this way and never went through those parts. I will keep my ears open for news on our journey home, if it pleases you?”
I try to conceal my disappointment that I’ve turned down yet another dead end. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Have a good journey home.”
“I daresay the king’s dragon could fly you to Amriste in a mere moment,” the husband calls after me as we turn and head for the castle.
Yes, Scourge could, couldn’t he? And a wyvern is supposed to be even faster than a dragon.
I turn to my bodyguards as we walk. “Can your wyverns carry a second passenger?”
Fiala straightens up proudly. “Of course. Wyverns are strong fliers, my lady. They can carry two people and a generous load of supplies.”
“Can you fly me to my village?”
Dusan laughs. “Take the Flame King’s mate hundreds of miles from the castle without his permission? I don’t fancy being ripped to pieces by Scourge, my lady.”
Fiala gives me an apologetic look. “We will accompany you wherever you wish to go, but for a journey like that, we will need the Flame King’s permission.”
I expected that’s what they would say. “Then you had better take me to wherever the Flame King is right now, please. I have a question for him.”
Fiala and Dusan exchange haunted looks as we head for the castle, and I wonder if they’re afraid Zabriel is going to think they put the idea to fly to Amriste in my head. “Don’t worry. Zabriel knows I’m capable of having crazy ideas all on my own.”
This makes Dusan laugh, but it sounds hollow.
We find Zabriel in a large room a short distance from the Great Hall, brooding over an enormous map of Maledin that’s covering a table. From where he sits, he has an expansive view of the dragongrounds and the northern mountain from a large terrace with a balcony.
He’s so sunk in thought that he doesn’t seem to hear me approach. His nostrils flare, then he looks up from the map in surprise to see me standing at his elbow.
I give him my sweetest smile. “It’s your lucky day, Zabriel. I have a favor to ask you, and when you grant it, I’m going to be eternally grateful to you.”
14
Zabriel
Isavelle is smiling at me. I’m instantly suspicious. My suspicions grow when I notice how Fiala and Dusan are staring at their feet.
I fold my arms, gazing down at my mate severely. “You’ll bestow your eternal gratitude on me? And how may I accomplish this miracle?”
“By allowing me to fly to Amriste with Fiala and Dusan on their wyverns.”
The world cracks at the edges and turns red. Isavelle leaving the safety of the city, which is dangerous enough to be getting on with. Isavelle returning to her village and wandering around in the open where she could be attacked by a hundred Brethren. Isavelle making herself vulnerable to being snatched away by the High Priest, thrown onto another funeral pyre, or presented to another king.
Absolutely fucking not.
I glance behind her at her two guards who appear to be trying to sink through solid stone, and growl, “I suppose she got this idea from the two of you.”
Isavelle moves until she’s blocking my sight of them. “It was my idea. I have hunted all over this castle and the city for news of anyone from my region and have come up with nothing. This isn’t just about my family anymore. This is about all your people in western Maledin. Aren’t you worried about them?”
The people of western Maledin? I turn around to the map and study it.
