Chapter Twenty-One
Vynessa
I don’t sleep after Pax walks out. Instead I spend the whole night pacing, fighting back tears.
Pax came in, went down on me, and then basically told me it was over.
We’re over. Was that a goodbye kiss? Was that his way of leaving me on a high note?
Now I can’t help but wonder if this is how he treats all women.
Hot. Cold. Hot. Goodbye. There were certainly rumors.
I want to trust him, to think he actually has genuine feelings for me, but another scenario is blooming in my mind, and I hate it.
What if Pax was trying to use my feelings for him for social advancement?
Now he either got what he wanted or he’s given up.
It’s a ridiculous idea, but it sticks in my mind all the same.
I don’t know what to do with all my energy, and I’m pulling at my hair when there’s a tapping at my door.
Both my ladies enter without waiting for a reply.
“Are you ready for your lesson with Master Sinetar, Princess Vynessa?” Yadira asks with a bow.
I sigh. Honestly, I’m ready to wake up from this crazy dream and go back to the village, knowing that somewhere in the far north, perched on a mountain, a three-thousand-year-old lady dragon controls most of the world’s wealth.
I was happy with the idea of being a Scholar for the rest of my life.
I didn’t give much thought to the dragon queen.
And now I’m supposed to replace her.
“You’ll want something impressive, but understated,” Kimbra says, bouncing to the closet. She runs her fingers across the gowns of silk and velvet, her eyes full of longing.
“You know, if you ever want to borrow one of those, you can,” I offer. “It’s not really my style, anyway.”
Kimbra gasps at the idea, and clearly not because of my generosity. She looks so positively scandalized that I can’t help laughing. A second later, her attention returns to the dresses, and a spark of hope lights her gaze. “Really?”
“She can’t, Your Highness,” Yadira says with a roll of her eyes, making Kimbra physically deflate. “I’m not being cruel, but dragon royals don’t share treasures with their servants. And we’re half-breeds anyway. If anyone saw Kimbra in your clothing, they’d assume she’s a thief or worse.”
It’s the most I’ve ever heard from the woman, and I start to wonder if I got Yadira all wrong. She and Kimbra have been thrust in this situation as much as I have. They could be as miserable as I am, and I haven’t exactly been warm to them.
“That makes sense,” I say. “For now. The dragon court will eventually get used to my small-minded ways and know how little I care about dresses and jewels. The only things I hoard are books and historical artifacts. For now, we can have a dress-up party here when no one else is looking. You too, Yadira.”
In all honesty, I’m not sure girls actually do that. I never had a lot of girlfriends, and Sadie outgrew me long ago. It’s not like I could have gotten Pax to agree to it.
“We’ll revisit that idea later,” I say when neither of my ladies jump at the offer.
Awkwardly, I take the dress Kimbra chose.
Since they’re obviously not planning to leave, I quickly peel off my nightgown and slip into the dress, keeping my back turned.
The girls fasten the buttons up the back, then take turns torturing my scalp with a hairbrush, trying to make my hair presentable.
At last, we step from the room into the hall. I’m bracing myself for confronting Pax, but he and True are nowhere to be seen. A tall stone-faced guard I’ve never seen before is stationed outside my door. “The princess is to stay here.”
“Um.” Kimbra looks at Yadira, who stands at her full height.
“The princess has a summons from the queen.” Yadira says it as if she’s outraged that a lowly guard would prevent such a noble task, and the man immediately steps back.
“I’ll escort you,” he says, hand on the hilt of his sword. He walks along with us. We’re nearing the end of the hall when Professor Sinetar steps from his study.
“Princess Vynessa,” he says, bowing deeply. I expect to find amusement in his eyes or teasing, but he avoids eye-contact when he straightens. “Perhaps I could have a word with you. Ladies, you don’t mind, do you?”
He gives my ladies in waiting his most charming smile. Kimbra goes bright red and starts tittering behind her hand.
“She’s wanted by the queen,” the guard barks, a little too close. The man has blond hair, cut short and choppy around his face. His attention is fixed on me.
“This is part of the queen’s business,” Sinetar says with a grin, taking my elbow. Before the guard can object again, Sinetar pulls me into his room, then sticks his head out. “Get comfortable. We’ll be a couple of minutes.”
With that, Sinetar closes the door and turns to me. My heart hammers so hard I’m sure he can hear it. I don’t know what to expect. Usually it would be him tossing me on the desk and ravaging me, but there’s too much tension in his expression.
“Isn’t the queen expecting us?”
“Not now.” Sinetar throws open his closet and tosses me a set of leather trousers and a top that looks like some kind of harness. “Forget queenly manners. That’s the least of your worries.”
“What’s going on?” I ask as I try to gather the leather outfit into my hands.
“You need to be able to protect yourself. Put on your armor,” he says, as he paces behind me. He grabs the laces on the dress that my ladies so recently tied me into. His fingers move deftly, and I get the feeling I’m not the first woman he’s helped out of an elaborate dress.
“Sinetar,” I say, “Why are you acting like—”
“Today will be a training day,” he says.
“Training for what?”
“For combat,” he says. He finishes unbuttoning me, and I hear his breath catch as his knuckles graze my skin.
Goosebumps explode across my back. “Sinetar?”
“No,” he whispers in a low growl. “I’m turning my back while you dress.”
This more than anything tells me something is very wrong. Sinetar isn’t acting like himself. Pax and True were both missing from my room. Yadira’s moment of vulnerability, and the fact that I think she lied to that guard.
“Now, Vynessa,” Sinetar growls. “We don’t have time.”
Working quickly, I pull on the outfit, which fit as if it were made just for me. The leather is buttery soft and melds to my skin like…Well, a second skin. The trousers hug my legs in safety, though the top leaves little to the imagination.
Since Sinetar is my teacher, he probably had it made just for me, though I’m not sure how he knows my measurements so exactly.
He gave me the Queen’s Day dress, so he must have some intel about my sizing.
As soon as I’m dressed, Sinetar opens the back door to his study, one he’s never even acknowledged when I was there for tutoring sessions.
He herds me through a gleaming marble hallway, hurrying me so fast that I can’t even begin to memorize the twists and turns we’re taking.
Dragon-head torches burst into light when we approach, and the intricately carved eyes seem to follow us as we pass.
The marble itself isn’t a flat texture like the stone that we use back home, but full of character and swirling pattern, as if alive.
In one hallway, the top is open to the sunlight streaming down, with vines hanging in from above.
Birds sing in the leaves, swooping from one end of the hallway to another.
Beyond the vines, large, colorful bodies fill the sky, greens and blues, reds and browns.
“Are those all dragons?” I ask incredulously, staring up in shock.
They’re so far away, but there must be hundreds of them. I remember how awestruck I was to see the lone one flying over the academy, and now I wonder if it was one of my guards arriving on campus.
I point to the sky as my heart thumps hard in my chest. “Sinetar, do you see this?”
“Keep your head down.” Sinetar pulls me to the wall of the courtyard, through an archway, and stops in front of a door. Then he unlocks it and pushes it open. “Come on.”
Beyond the door is only darkness. He gestures for me to lead the way, but I don’t like anything about this situation.
I don’t like his abruptness that belies a nervousness I’ve never seen in him before.
I don’t like the fact that hundreds of dragons are heading to the palace, and I have no idea what’s going on.
Spinning on my heel, I run, but I don’t get three paces when a wall of wind slams into me. The air sweeps me straight off my feet, and I grab for the door frame, but the wind is too strong. It sweeps me into the darkness and immediately dies.
“Sinetar!” I yell, running for the door.
The wind rises again, holding me in place as I fight to get to him.
“I’m sorry, Vynessa,” he yells over the howling wind. He’s a silhouette in the doorway, and I can’t see his expression. The wind cuts off. “You’ll thank me for this later. Time to claim your claws.”
With that, he closes the door, plunging me into complete blackness.
“Sinetar!” I shout as I bang on the wood until my fist aches.
He doesn’t answer. I’m alone in this room, alone and blind.
My heart races, my mind reeling with fear.
Is he one of them—a traitor? Is he working for the Sun King?
Did he take me down a long-deserted hallway and shove me into a closet where no one will ever find me?
I reach for the wall behind me but find it smooth and featureless. Panic rips through me, and I stumble forward blindly until I bump my shin on the edge of a shelf.
I grip another shelf, wincing through the pain. Sinetar didn’t say it was time for me to die. He said get claws. Which means this must be some kind of test.
Nice of him to tell me the rules before shoving me in here.
I grope along the shelf, looking for… Anything really. A key, a torch, a set of instructions.