Chapter 10
My head was spinning.
The blood of a Blue Amethyst.
Of course the only thing that could break this curse was the blood of a dying dragon.
And some witch had put a rune on me without my knowledge. It could have been recent. Or it could have been when I was a child. But what the hell did it mean? Did it have anything to do with my lack of fae power? Was that why I couldn’t perform magic? Was it the reason behind the explosive destruction I had caused the last time I set foot on the witch lands?
My thoughts spiraled as I trekked back up the hill to where Mal was waiting. It wasn’t until Fenn grasped my shoulder, halting me in my tracks, that I realized he was calling my name. He spun me to face him, his expression uncharacteristically somber.
“Aurelia,” he said. “What’s going on? What is a Blue Amethyst?”
I sighed. My instinct was to take this secret to my grave. It was my duty to protect my dragons, after all.
But if stardust was indeed the key to healing Azure, then the only way to get it would be to ask for Fenn’s help.
“It’s a rare species of dragon,” I said. “There is a hatchling in our nesting grounds, but she is dying. Without the strength of her mother, she cannot survive.”
Fenn was quiet for a long moment, his gaze turning wary. “Where is her mother?”
“I don’t know. Captured or killed, most likely.”
Fenn’s expression turned stony, his brows drawing together .
I continued, “My only hope of saving her is locating her mother… or accessing stardust.”
Fenn’s head reared back, his eyes suddenly guarded. “Stardust? Why?”
“The Blue Amethyst comes from the Star Court.” I couldn’t look at him as I spoke, so I kept my gaze fixed on my hands as I wrung them together. “The magic of your land can heal her. Samiria told me that stardust is the only substance that can cure her, besides the blood of her mother.”
Fenn was silent for so long that I finally chanced a glance up at him. His brow furrowed, and he frowned, his expression unreadable. “You need stardust,” he repeated.
“Yes.”
He shook his head and huffed a dry laugh. “You need something from me.”
My eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
The smirk that filled his face made my blood boil. “How convenient. ” With that, he strode past me toward Mal. The dragon lifted his head, his golden eyes fixed questioningly on me. His back was rigid, no doubt from the tension between me and Fenn.
The prince moved toward Mal as if to climb atop him, but Mal growled, the sound a low rumble in his throat, stopping Fenn in his tracks.
“Fenn, wait,” I said, hurrying after him. Fenn was eyeing Mal with apprehension, but the steel in his eyes told me he’d probably try something stupid, like climbing on an angry dragon.
I tugged on his shoulder, whirling him to face me. His eyes were hard and unyielding.
He wouldn’t help me.
But I had to try.
“Please,” I whispered. “ Please. This is my kingdom. My home. I need your help.”
“You are asking me to give up our most precious resource when you have done nothing but fling accusations at me since you found out who I was.”
“I know,” I said quickly. “And I apologized for being unkind to you. It has been… a stressful day, as you can imagine. ”
He grunted at that.
“You swore you would help me!” I argued. “Was that not in earnest? Now that it requires a sacrifice on your part, you’re going back on your word?”
His nostrils flared, and he leaned closer to me, his green eyes blazing. “I swore to help you here. To try to find out the problem and a possible solution. I came with you to the witch lands. But to travel to my kingdom? To convince our treasurer to give up our already dwindling supply of stardust, for our enemy kingdom? They will laugh in my face. My mother would have me imprisoned for such audacity.” He leaned back, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I can’t help you.”
So now we were back to formalities. There was something very final about that. He was dismissing me.
“You need something from me,” I blurted.
He stilled, eyeing me with apprehension.
“That’s why you’re in the Summer Court, right?” I went on.
Slowly, he nodded.
I stepped closer until we were almost nose to nose. Or rather, nose to collarbone.
“If you need something from me, and I need something from you, then can’t we strike a bargain?” My voice was low, like we were sharing a dangerous secret.
In a way, we were. Making a fae bargain with my enemy was more dangerous than riding the wildest of dragons.
His eyes flared wide. After a moment, one corner of his mouth lifted. “My, my, Aurelia. You surprise me. You would bargain with the likes of me?”
I swallowed, my throat dry. “If it saves my kingdom, then yes. I would. Wouldn’t you do the same?”
His smirk vanished, and his jaw went rigid with determination. “Of course I would.”
“Then, you’ll do it?” I held my breath, not daring to hope that he would agree.
He released a long, slow breath, then rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes flicked from me to the encampment down the hill. After a long moment, he said, “Yes. But not here. This air is thick with witch magic, and I don’t want it interfering. ”
My heart lurched, and I exhaled a short laugh of disbelief. He’d agreed. He’d actually agreed.
His eyes burned with amusement. “Don’t rejoice yet, little ember. We still need to accept the terms of the bargain. And I’ll wager it will be very difficult for us to find common ground.”
He was right about that.
My brows furrowed. “Little ember?” I repeated. How very patronizing.
He smirked again. “Yes. Because of your fiery temper and diminutive stature.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved past him to climb atop Mal. The dragon had relaxed now that Fenn and I had reached an agreement.
“I am not diminutive,” I said as Fenn climbed up behind me, his arms circling my waist. “I’m nearly as tall as you are.”
“‘Nearly’ being a generous term.”
I jerked my elbow into his gut, and he grunted, then laughed. With a nudge of my feet, Mal took off, racing back toward the nesting grounds.