Chapter 59
Chapter fifty-nine
It wasn’t the death of their dragon that slayed Longbourn house, but winning the Royal derby and their public disqualification.
The press had written scathing articles on the incident.
There were a few somewhat positive viewpoints found in The Dragoneer’s Journal, but they were vastly outnumbered by the negative.
Even Uncle Haupter hadn’t stayed away from running vile denouncements.
The court of public opinion had spoken. Longbourn house was not to be touched, associated with, or trusted.
Particularly Miss Valeraine Longbourn. There was some dispute of whether she had truly ridden the winning dragon or not.
Many supposed it must have been Mr. Sidton, and she was merely causing trouble by claiming otherwise.
Others took it as an additional mark against her that she had ridden in the derby.
The story of Valeraine and Kesley fighting at the beginning of the race was coming to light as well. It was fuel for the speculation and controversy, and kept the whole story circulating even longer.
The only article Valeraine could bear to think about was Scaleheart’s — Pemberley’s. She kept it in her pocket, and read it when she was in particularly low spirits, which was several times that day. “She deserves better, proven by her adept dragoneering. I salute our finest rider.”
The bolstering effect of the article soon lost its power, as she imagined Pemberley with his new egg, tucking it into the nursery.
It seemed her assumptions about Pemberley were correct: he wrote powerfully on behalf of the weak, but when it came to his actions, he took the selfish route.
Valeraine fed the article to the fire.
It had been two days since the Royal derby, and Mr. Nethenabbi had yet to call on Alyce. No news, in this case, could not be good news. It seemed the engagement would be discarded. Longbourn house, after all, was a social pariah of the worst order.
Alyce hadn’t spoken to Valeraine since the derby. She had spent much of her time crying, sequestered in her room.
Mamma had declared she would never speak to Valeraine again. She then proceeded to lecture Valeraine and yell at her every time she saw her. Valeraine had quickly begun avoiding Mamma.
Papa had invited her into his office. He had sat in silence as she told the whole tale. She had been unable to hold back tears when talking about Kesley’s betrayal. Papa had said, “Hmmm,” and, “I must think on this.”
Valeraine woke early on the third day. Or, perhaps, she had never slept at all.
When the delicate fingers of dawn light caressed her window, she dressed and went to the nest.
Lelantos was sleeping, peacefully resting.
She put her hand on his side, and felt his dreams seep into her.
It was a feeling of excitement, of contentment, of flight.
He knew nothing of the scandal swirling around him.
He was thinking of the derby, and how they had done so well. He thrilled in their win.
Valeraine leaned her body against his flank, taking comfort in that simple feeling. She might have ruined herself and Longbourn, but they had done it. They had out-raced every dragon in Kinella. Her Lelantos was the fastest, and everyone knew it.
It didn’t matter if everyone knew it. They knew too many things about Longbourn now.
It mattered that she knew it, her personal pride in their accomplishment. The feeling she cradled in her heart and shared with Lelantos was that they were unbeatable.
Lelantos stirred. He moved his nose to nuzzle Valeraine’s side, wrapping her body in his embrace.
She felt a questioning prodding come from the dragon: fly? She felt the air catching her wings, caught at an image of the world from above, being lit as the sun rose.
Valeraine patted his neck. “Yes, let’s go flying.”
A minute later they were in the air. They circled slowly, enjoying the crisp spring morning, the world slowly waking up as the sun graced it.
She felt the soreness in Lelantos’ wings, overworked these past few days.
There was joy in stretching those wings, in taking this leisurely glide around the Longbourn lands.
There was no-one left to impress, no house reputation to save. Everything was gone.
They were free.
There was no world in which she would be considered a marriageable girl from a respectable dragon house. She was done chasing that.
There was no world in which someone would want to make a breeding deal with Longbourn. No world in which their house would get another egg to fuel their glory for centuries to come.
It was just going to be this: peaceful morning flights. Lelantos helping their farmers. Valeraine thought she could probably find joy in that, in not caring what her neighbors thought.
Valeraine was trying not to mourn the lost future with Kesley.
It wasn’t like it had ever been real, anyway.
He had been stringing her along, waiting until he could use her for his own ends.
Three years of friendship, a few months of something more, and he had burned it all in a day.
Kesley had been avoiding her since the derby.
From now on, she would cultivate her own happiness. It didn’t matter what society thought, she was already the finest dragoneer in Kinella.
She just hoped she could salvage Alyce’s happiness along the way.