CHAPTER 14
Tianna plagued my mind. How was I supposed to let her go?
“Time will pass. This wound will heal.” Her support was constant, but this time, her comfort was not enough.
“What about you?” I asked, eager for distraction. “Any handsome dragons in your past?”
A great sorrow filled me. Its immensity poured through me, overflowing from my every pore. It drooped her wings as it drowned my heart.
“In my past, present, and future, there is only Death.”
—Recounting from the private diary of Jerris, Dragonbound
SERAE
Late Summer, Maymon 1036
My eyes opened to a fire roaring in a nearby hearth, spreading its warmth over a spacious room.
I was currently tucked into a large, plush bed, still in my overdress.
It was a bedchamber. Tapestries of the Great Dragon covered the stone walls.
Through the open door lay a sitting room with a table, a bulky wardrobe, and, unless I was mistaken, a separate door leading to a private bathing chamber.
It was the antithesis of the tiny room I had become accustomed to.
And, oh my, the windows. They showered the rooms in light. If not for the pounding in my head from passing out, I might have appreciated it more.
“You’re awake,” Callagh announced a few minutes later, catching me rummaging through a large dresser. I’d already finished ransacking the wardrobe.
“How did I get here?” I asked, ignoring the flush in my cheeks.
“Dane brought you to your rooms, my lady. While you were unconscious.”
“My rooms?” I looked around again. This space was huge compared to my last.
“Yes. Dane said to express his apologies that they were not ready sooner.”
“Did he, now?”
Something purred with bitter mirth in my mind.
After a quick meal, I hurried to the training room, which was now directly across the hall from my suite.
“Now, this is a view,” Lex purred from behind me.
“Shut it,” Raif barked.
“Oh, come on. We’re already practicing while leaderless. The least you can do is let me comment on the spectacular ass in front—”
“Nobody wants to hear it, lech.”
“No fun.” Lex’s voice was still laced with seduction. “If you don’t want to hear about Serae’s ass, how about I tell you what the sight of that tight bulge between your legs is doing for me.”
I groaned alongside the others.
“If you don’t want to train,” Lispen chimed in, “then by all means, come test your skills.”
“Against you, spar-master Lispen? I think not.”
She cackled.
“Though if you ever want to spar with a little less clothing, I’m your ma—oof!”
I turned to find Lispen flexing her fist, Lex doubled over and gasping.
“Next time, I’ll aim a little lower.” The grin on her face was feral.
Lex coughed a few times before muttering, “No fun,” in a much more subdued tone.
“Where is Wep, anyway?” I asked. My tension headache had not yet lifted. My stomach growled, but I wasn’t hungry. Was this my courses getting ready to start?
“Off on a mission,” Raif piped up. He had been tasked with keeping us in line during Wep’s absence. “Serae, with me. Pair up, we’re back on disarming with swords.”
For once, I leapt at the chance. I had been practicing extra with Lispen and Ivank, and I was finally starting to get the hang of it without jarring my arm off my body. I had even managed to disarm Ivank three times in a row, though never Lispen. No one but Wep ever managed to disarm her.
That afternoon, I stopped at the market to get my next book—I’d graduated from children’s books and was attempting to read a text of the creation story that was depicted on the Relaxation Room tapestries.
Then I returned to my room for lunch. The food looked ashen.
The smell of it turned my stomach, and I rushed to my bathing room to hurl bile into the toilet hole.
I begged off my lessons in favor of rest, and when Callagh brought my evening tray, the food looked the same.
I sat down and examined it more closely.
It wasn’t so much that the leafy greens were black, but they shone with an odd, black light.
I sniffed, and a bitter scent hit my nose.
“Callagh, come and look at this.” I gestured to my plate.
Callagh had been lounging on the window bench in my sitting room, looking out at the forest below. At my request, she hopped down and padded over to me, peering at my plate.
“Does something seem off to you?”
She picked up my fork, prodded the food around, then sniffed. Her face twisted into a frown. “Well, it doesn’t smell good. Let me get you a fresh plate.”
I nodded, but as Callagh reached for the door, I called out, “Wait! Ask for a plate for yourself, as well.”
“Oh, I’ve already eaten, my lady.”
“I know. Just ask anyway.”
She nodded, though her brow pinched with doubt. That was nothing compared to the way her eyebrows flew up when I demanded she fetch Dane after her return.
“To come see three dinner plates?” she squeaked.
“Yes.”
Fortunately, she complied, though it took half an hour before Dane burst into the room. Just enough time for doubt to creep in.
“I hear you’ve summoned me to your quarters, Daughter,” he boomed. “Is there something ailing you that prevents you from coming to the Hall?”
“If I had eaten my plated meal, yes, there would be.”
With a glower, he crossed the room to examine the three plates I’d arranged on the table.
“Hungry, are you?”
“Poison,” I corrected. “Or something like it.”
“That’s a heavy accusation, girl,” but his hand went to his belt, withdrawing a pouch that contained a white powder that he sprinkled over each plate.
The plate closest to him gave no reaction, but the next two fizzled when the granules came into contact with the food.
I sank into the chair nearest where I’d been pacing.
Worry bled from me, giving way to shock.
I was right. I knew I would be, but seeing the proof rattled me.
I watched, mute and numb, as Dane rounded on Callagh. “Where did these come from?” He shouted, looming over her with fury in his eyes.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “The kitchens!” she cried. “Dane, I swear, I just ordered a meal and brought it to her.”
He lowered his voice to a growl. “Why are there three?”
Callagh’s tear-filled gaze turned to me, pulling me back to the present. “That would be me. I suspected poison with the first plate. I asked Callagh to collect two more to confirm myself as the target.”
“Aye, this was no accident. Do not touch these.” Dane swept from the room.
Within the hour, three guards returned to collect the suspect trays, and one brought me a new tray, cleared by Dane himself.
As soon as he set it down, my mouth watered.
Fresh vegetables with a creamy dipping sauce and fresh fruits paired with a chocolate drizzle.
The entire plate shone with bright golden light.
I dug in. As I ate, Dane’s personal guards—the brothers—stayed behind to guard me throughout the meal. They stood stone-faced, staring at the wall.
“Will you have to stand there all night?” I asked.
“No, my lady. We will guard outside your door when you are ready to retire,” the one with the gravelly voice replied.
“I see. If you’ll be stuck with me for so long, I think I should at least know your names.”
They both cracked smiles. Turns out they were twin brothers—Braethair and Braedur—and had been guarding Dane for more than ten years. It was easier than I expected getting them to open up and start talking, though I imagined with Dane, there wasn’t much opportunity to chat.
That night, I opened my journal despite not attending my lessons. I had written no letters since Gerta’s departure, but I continued to fill its pages with notes on what I learned. It helped me keep all the new information straight.
When I was done, I went to my wardrobe and prodded around the inner base.
In one corner, there was a small gap where the base met the backing, just large enough to slip the journal halfway in with the spine facing up.
The brown cover exactly matched the wood, acting as a convenient camouflage.
With so much physical training, being knocked out multiple times, and now nearly poisoned, I could no longer risk carrying it.
TRAINING SESSIONS over the next several days, while Wep was away on his mission, were monotonous.
Raif or Lispen, and once, Ivank, kept us on task with dowsae and sparring.
Helene and I followed in relative silence.
Lex groaned constantly and did his best to derail our lessons with a variety of nonsense.
Teke just laughed and went along with whatever was said or done.
I had fully recovered from whatever-the-Creator-it-was, followed by my near poisoning.
The swirling lights subsided, and instead, the plant life around me started to glow softly—from within.
Alongside this was the equally miraculous healing of my eyes.
I tried once to wear my glasses, but it turned my world into a dizzying blur.
There was no denying it—this was magic. My own bierla, I suspected, though something told me to keep it to myself.
Nine days after Wep left, Raif drilled us for two full hours with practice swords. Then, Teke, Helene, and I split off toward the markets with Callagh for some much-needed time to let loose.
“This,” Teke announced, holding up a nondescript round bun, “will change your life.” They handed me the grapefruit-sized pastry, then bit a giant hunk out of their own. A thick, brown paste oozed in the center. I must’ve made a face, at which Teke grinned with a full mouth.
“Try it, my lady,” Callagh encouraged. “It’s better than it looks.”