Chapter 13 #3
When we finally reach his office and he closes the door behind me, I feel like I’m about to throw up.
“Sit.” He points to a chair in front of his desk.
I place the bucket slowly on the floor, mentally begging Ava to be quiet, then pull the chair and do as he asked.
He leans forward, his interlaced fingers resting on the top of the desk, his forehead wrinkling deeper as he stares at me. “I’m rather busy, so I’ll be direct. I have a special skill, one that’s incredibly useful when dealing with recruits. I know when people lie.”
I blink. “That’s impressive.” My words sound wrong. “I’m not being sarcastic, I’m just—”
“Your opinion about my ability does not concern me. Now, I want the truth.” He pulls a little bell and places it near his right hand. “I’ll ring this every time you lie. Three rings, and I’ll move you to a remote outpost, away from this academy.”
I sit straighter, oddly feeling calmer. He’s not threatening to expel me.
“Is that clear?” he asks.
“Yes. I mean, no.” I point at the bell. “How will you know—”
“I just do. Speak the truth and you’ll have nothing to fear.”
“All right.”
“Who am I?”
He must be trying to get a sense of what I sound like when saying the truth, and will ask some obvious questions. “Commander Mallor,” I reply. “Responsible for the Sky Academy.”
“Your name?”
“Mayara of the Earth.”
“Daughter of…”
I hesitate for a second, then say, “My birth record states daughter of Ruynara of the Spring and Sonos of the Dawn.” That’s true, even if one of these people might not exist.
“Where are your parents?”
I wish he didn’t ask that, but he probably thinks these are easy questions, or maybe that they’ll help him understand me better.
The air in the room feels stuffy all of a sudden, as unpleasant memories threaten to surface.
I look down and take a deep breath. “My mother passed away ten years—” The bell rings, and I face the commander. “She… did.”
“You’re lying. Try again.”
Heaviness settles in my chest, and for a second I’m a little girl again. Not little. I’m my brother’s big sister. I’m a big girl.
My mother approaches me with a broad smile on her face, telling me she has great news, and that I should be happy for her. I want to be happy for her. She deserves it. She deserves to be free of me and my brother, and to enjoy her life, away from us. I want her to find joy.
Beneath it all, a persistent thought threatens to surface: my brother and I were never enough.
“What happened?” Commander Mallor’s voice is curious rather than harsh, and yet it pokes the cavity beneath my ribs.
“She…” My voice cracks, but I make an effort to continue. “Abandoned us…”
I had never said it. Not like that. Silly, stupid tears come to my eyes, perhaps because of the wine, and yet the words keep coming.
“Left. Told me she had the right to be happy. Left me with my little brother, said we should look for our father in Dracolius City. I came here. I looked. There’s nobody with that name. ”
The cloth over the bucket slides off. In an instant, Ava is out and scrambling onto my lap. Oh, no.
“I can explain it,” I plead. “I swear.”
Little Ava climbs to my chest and my entire body trembles with horror at what just happened.
“Then explain.” Mallor eyes the baby dragon, an eyebrow raised.
“Somebody’s putting her in my room.” My breath is shaky, my voice weak, and I speak fast, hoping I have time to clarify the situation before this commander explodes in rage.
“When I arrive, she’s there. Three times now.
It’s not Alayel, and I can’t understand who would do it.
Or why. Right now, I was trying to return her to her room—if she’s even in the same room. ”
Mallor gets up and crouches near me, looking at Ava. “We’ll return her. Don’t worry about her showing up in your room.”
That doesn’t make sense. “Should I just ignore it?”
“Yes. The less you see, the less you risk. The less you notice, the higher the chance you’ll remain alive.”
His words cause a chill to run through my spine, but I don’t know if ignoring what’s happening is the answer. Someone knows about me, someone is getting into the dragon’s room, into my room. Can’t he see the issue?
“Are you sure?” My voice is oddly mild, even if I’m trembling.
He nods. “I’ll deal with it. Don’t mention it to anyone. And you’re not in trouble. Yet.” He sits back behind the desk. “Let’s continue. Why were you downstairs earlier today?”
My mind is spinning, so confused about his request, but then I remember I have to answer his questions. I don’t even bother trying to pretend I was looking for Silvia. Instead, I confess, “I wanted to see the hatchlings.”
“During a ball?”
“I had… a hunch. Maybe because of the rain. Somehow, I thought they’d be scared.” Fearing he’s going to ring the bell, I add, “I know it doesn’t make sense.”
“No. It makes sense.” He glances at Ava on my chest. “Be careful, though. Get too attached, and you’ll break your heart.”
I shrug. “What’s the point of not breaking something if you can’t use it?” I realize that might have come out harsh. “No offense, I just mean…”
He shakes his head, now looking more like a weary grandfather than an almost fifty-year-old man. “The point is sparing you the pain. But perhaps there’s no escape. Now, how did you know about these two little dragons? I think I know most of the answer, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
I inhale a shaky breath and run a hand on Ava’s back, her new scales pricking my palm. “It’s a long story.”
“And I’d like to hear it.”
At this point, I’m assuming he already knows most of what happened, or at least that Alayel brought the eggs, and, either way, his bell spooks me enough not to want to risk it.
I tell him everything. The Trial, how I trained for it, learning to distinguish the smell of the ball. My failure. Prison. Alayel’s offer.
He frowns, his eyes narrowed in clear displeasure. “You decided to risk going to the enemy’s land just to get into this wretched academy?”
“And out of prison.”
His sigh is shaky, annoyed.
I continue, telling him about the smugglers and my journey to the island with Alayel. I omit small details, like spending the night in the bastard prince’s arms, but other than that, I stick to the truth. I even mention the rider and his magic.
“Wait a minute,” Mallor interrupts me. “You’re telling me that the bratty fake prince let you go alone to retrieve the eggs?”
I fidget in my chair, suddenly uncomfortable, and Ava climbs to my shoulder. “I have a better sense of smell than him,” I explain.
“And he couldn’t at least cover for you? Watch your back?”
His indignation makes some sense, and yet, at least at the time, I didn’t feel like Alayel was letting me fend for myself. “I volunteered to do it. He was calling the boat. We had to escape before the rain stopped.”
“Right. And then?”
Ava nuzzles my head with her little snout, and I close my eyes, wishing I didn’t have to tell him this next part, but I don’t see any way out of it, so I tell him about the dragon saving me.
I say that the dragon flew me to the beach, but omit the healing.
Mallor’s expression is attentive but neutral, not at all surprised.
I continue, telling him about the smugglers betraying us, and that we killed them.
Mallor raises an eyebrow. “So the prince has experience with murder.”
“He saved my life.”
“The life that was only in danger because of him, you mean?”
“I suppose.” Nothing I say will make him dislike Alayel any less, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.