Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
“ G ood,” Talan says. “Stretch your neck, Tarasque. You’re healing nicely.”
I let out a long, slow breath.
Slowly, I open the door into the hall. Blue and white light streams over Tarasque. Talan has moved her into the main hall, and for a moment, I can’t tear my gaze away. I’m frozen in awe and fear.
When her head rests on the mosaic floor, I grow calmer. Talan runs his hands over her scales. Her eyes are shut, and she’s making a gentle noise, almost like a purr.
“Nia.” He doesn’t turn to look at me as I step into the hall, but he knows it’s me all the same.
Tarasque’s nostrils flare, and her eyes snap open. She turns her head toward me, a low rumble issuing from her throat, and I take a step back toward the door. She’s definitely not purring anymore.
“Shh…” Talan runs his hand over her scales again. “She’s my wife, Tarasque. She’s not a threat.”
I swallow hard, my pulse beating in my ears. Does he still believe that?
Talan’s gaze meets mine, and I feel the warmth of his attention like sunlight on my skin. “How’s your arm?”
“Better. And what have you been doing this past week?”
He drags a hand through his dark hair. “Not sleeping.”
I can read the exhaustion in his beautiful features, a new thing since I’ve known him. “Why? Are you still worried about the attack on the palace? Did you find any of the rebels?”
“Not yet, but they’re running out of time. Have you heard anything about them?”
I shrug. “Just soldiers’ gossip. Nonsense, really. Someone thought that Lumos…never mind, it’s ridiculous.”
Tension hangs heavy between us, dark and sharp-edged.
Talan steps so close that I can feel the heat radiating off him. For a heartbeat, something raw flickers in his eyes—pain, sorrow—until he masters control of his expression again. “I haven’t forgotten the first time I met you, when you broke into my castle. You were cold and desperate, and it was Lumos you were looking for.”
“I was curious. It can’t possibly be him, right? I mean, I was there when all those flaming arrows came flying at the palace. It was quite a spectacle. He would never…” I let the sentence stretch into nothing.
“I thoroughly investigated the rumors. He’s been at Arwenna’s father’s castle, Val Sans Retour.”
“With Arwenna?”
He shakes his head. “No, I don’t know where she is, and I suspect she’s hiding from me. She knows I’d throw her in prison after she sent Maertisa for you.”
If she’s missing or in hiding, that’s not why. “So, the rumors were false about Lumos?”
“He has no plans to usurp the throne. Just idle gossip.”
I clear my throat. “And that human land…Scotland?”
“We’re winning, but I have to leave Brocéliande again for a few days.” He studies me for a long moment. “Before I go, do you want to join me for a ride?”
My heart sinks at the phrase we’re winning . “Okay. I’ll get Clover. I think she’s in the stable now, right?”
A corner of his mouth lifts. “Yes, but I didn’t mean a ride on a horse.”
I press my hand to my chest. “Oh. Is this really how the legendary seducer proposes sex?”
His slow, sly smile sends heat prickling down my spine. “I do love that that’s where your mind went, but I meant on Tarasque. Do you want to ride with me on a dragon?”
“On the dragon ?” Is he out of his mind? “But only dragon riders are allowed to ride. Also, I’d fall off.”
“I’m the best dragon rider who’s ever lived, and I will keep you on. I know how you like to cling to me, anyway. You won’t slip.”
My heart pounds with the allure of doing something dangerous, something that I absolutely should not be doing. And yet…when will I ever get the chance to ride a dragon again? Probably never. “Let’s do it.”
His eyebrow rises in what I’ve learned is admiration. “Good. Meet me on the other side of the Lost Palace. I can only get her out that way.”
My pulse races as I step outside into the biting air and wind my way down the path around the old palace. Icicles drip from gargoyles and stone carvings of human heads with tusks and owls with their wings spread out. Snowy yew branches arch over me.
As I walk, I hear the creak and groan of doors opening. I follow the path around the palace and see Tarasque lumbering through the doors and into the garden. Talan is in front of her, completely at ease with his beast. He radiates quiet confidence and power that makes my breath catch. “Let’s go, Tarasque.”
The enormous dragon slithers forward, and I can feel the ground vibrating through my bones as she moves into the open. As soon as she’s outside, she stretches, her head rising high above us. Awe blazes through me. Her size is breathtaking.
She crouches at Talan’s command, glaring at me with eyes of liquid silver. I’m starting to wonder if I’ve made a terrible mistake.
Taking my hand, he leads me closer to the dragon and points at her throat. “Over here. You need to get up there and straddle her. Act confident. Dragons get impatient with weak riders.”
And even if my legs are shaking, why not feign absolute confidence? I’m faking everything else.
Talan can apparently sense my pounding heart, because he steps closer, staring down at me with a faint, crooked smile. He reaches beneath my chin and gently lifts it. “Of course, the soil is littered with the bones of fallen dragon riders, but I’ve been doing this for centuries without getting injured once. And do you really think I’d let my wife fall to her death? It would be a tiresome inconvenience to find a new one.”
I raise my eyebrow. “So, you’re even better than Auberon?”
Amusement dances in his eyes. “I’m afraid the old king plays it safe.”
I turn from him, mastering the confidence to mount the dragon. With a racing pulse, I cross to her side, lift my cloak, and straddle her neck. I take a deep breath to calm myself. To my surprise, the top layer of Tarasque’s scales is almost soft, but a second layer below those scales feels cold and hard. Spikes rise from her neck, giving me something to grip. I squeeze my thighs around her, wondering how I’ll stay on. I force my breathing to remain steady. Unfortunately, I can’t do much for my heartbeat, which is pattering like a hummingbird’s.
Tarasque lets out a huff, her nostrils releasing steam into the air, and Talan slips on right behind me. His warmth and muscular solidity anchor and steady me, and I lean back against his strong chest. One of his arms slides around my waist in a viselike grip that makes me feel secure.
Talan murmurs in my ear, “I’ll keep you safe, Princess,” then sits straight and commands, “Tarasque, rise!”
Tarasque raises her neck, forcing me to lean back into Talan. The world tilts perilously away, and my instincts kick in. I lean down, gripping the ridge of her spikes, my knuckles going white, my thighs clenching around her neck. Her enormous wings beat once, twice, and the wind rushes over me as we lift into the air.
My heart is left hundreds of yards behind as we soar into the sky. For a while, I forget to breathe. As the wind tears at my hair, I grip the dragon’s spikes.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Talan’s body feels solid as marble behind me, and I lean into his strength. “Open your eyes.”
I didn’t even realize they were shut. I open them, squinting against the rush of the wind, and the world unfurls beneath me, gleaming with enchanted beauty in the winter sun. The ground is far below us, a patchwork blanket of white fields and wintry forests. My chest leaps as we swoop over cozy villages of golden windows and smoking chimneys, and I feel as though I’ve stepped into a dream. I relax and ease my grip a little on Tarasque’s spikes. Exhilarated, I let out a laugh.
Tarasque flies over riders on horseback, as tiny as ants, and we leave them far behind within seconds.
“Look at the palace.” Talan’s mouth is close to my cheek, his breath warming the shell of my ear.
Deep beneath his detached exterior, I realize, the prince loves his home.
I look where he’s pointing. The palace looks gorgeous from up here, its towers high above the parapets.
“See that gap in the cloud up there?” Talan asks.
I look up. “Yeah, I think so…”
“Do you think we can fly through it?”
My stomach swoops.
Tarasque tilts upward, following an invisible command by Talan. My stomach plummets, and I’m sure I’m about to topple off, pulled by gravity and buffeted by the wind, but Talan’s strong arms tighten around me. Somehow, he keeps a firm grip on the dragon, as if he’s a part of her. We shoot through the gap he indicated, and Tarasque steadies herself, her wings beating lazily. Now, instead of the earthy patchwork blanket, only white clouds are below us.
“How are you telling her what to do?” I ask when I get my breath under control.
“I lean the right way and touch her neck in certain locations. Mostly, it’s a personal form of communication. No two dragons are alike.” He takes my hand and presses it to Tarasque’s scales. “Feel that?”
“That sort of bulge beneath her scales?”
“Yes. Press it lightly and lean to your right.”
I obey, muscles tensing as I shift. Tarasque follows my command, veering right with powerful grace, her wings slicing through the air. A laugh escapes me. I’ve never felt anything like this freedom and untamed sense of power.
Tarasque dives again, cutting through the clouds. We sweep lower over the city of Corbinelle, the wind tearing at my hair as we soar above the clustered homes that nestle along cobbled roads and follow the winding river.
We head back to the Lost Palace, and I know the rush of the ride is coming to an end. As much as I want to stay up here forever, in the dark recesses of my mind, I know it can’t last.
And the moment we touch down, I need to find my allies before Talan does.