Page 6 of In the Embrace of Dragons

I’mjolted awake in the early hours of the morning by the door opening. I get out of bed in my nightgown, rubbing my face sleepily, to find Ari has slipped inside.

“Oh, Niss.” Her eyes are red with tears, and her cheeks are streaked red with them, too. “Niss, I’m so sorry.”

I stare at her. “Sorry? For what?”

When she falls to her knees, my heart sinks. Something is very wrong.

“My father,” Ari says, sniffling. “My father... when I got home last night, he wouldn’t wake up. It took me hours to get him just to open his eyes.”

I know what’s coming.

“He’s sick. I don’t know what it is, but he’s... he’s...” Fresh tears run down Ari’s face. “I think he’s dying.”

I shut my eyes hard, clenching my hands into fists. I do have sympathy for her right now, but I also know what it means for me.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur, kneeling beside her. Ari cries harder as I pull her in for a hug. “That’s horrible.”

“I can’t go with you.”

I already knew it before she spoke, but hearing it is worse.

“I’m sorry, Niss.” Ari rubs her face against my shoulder, drenching the fabric of my nightgown. “I’m so sorry. You need me.”

“Not as much as your father needs you,” I say, though I hate the words as they come out. Idoneed her, right now more than ever, but that’s not what’s best for Ari.

She hiccups and pulls away. “I’ll help you get ready,” she says through her tears, voice shaky. “Whatever I can.”

I nod and thank her, though my chest is hollow. I will truly be alone in the land of the dragons.

RAGNAKOR

Something has happened, or so I gather from the chatter among the servants.

You can learn much from servants when they think you aren’t listening—or if they believe you’re not important enough for it to matter if you overhear. That’s likely what they assume as I stand guard outside King Vizarios’s door and they clean the soldiers’ rooms.

The princess, Nissia, has a close handmaid who was supposed to make the journey with us. But now something has befallen her, and she won’t be coming along after all.

“Poor Nissia,” whispers one of the servants. “She’ll be stuck with the dragons.By herself.”

I stiffen. The princess will be entirely without a companion. This bodes very poorly for her. I saw how Vizarios reacted to the princess and it was not positive. It means the coming months won’t be pleasant for any of us. Perhaps years, or a lifetime.

I shudder as the servants continue babbling, and I wait for Vizarios to finally arise. At last, the door opens and he peers out into the hallway, squinting.

“Is it time to go yet?” he asks in a surly voice.

“It has been for a while.”

He rolls his eyes, then ducks back inside. Minutes later, I open it to find him shoving things into his trunk, his footman hot on my heels to help carry it. Then, at last, we’re ready.

Outside in the stable is not where I expected to find the princess. When we arrive, she’s saddling up her own horse, dressed in a shirt and pants with her curly hair pulled up out of her face and arranged under a beautiful silk scarf. I freeze when we walk in, immediately recognizing her now.

The young man from the practice arena. It washer,the princess herself. I’d thought she looked strangely familiar last night, but I couldn’t place it. Now I’m certain.

Her deep brown skin is soft and unblemished. She has a broad mouth and strong brows that remind me of a man, but strangely, make her more beautiful as a woman. And her body shape, though reined in by her clothing, is distinct. Now I can tell how, when released, her breasts would fill out a dress but can be contained by whatever it is she’s wearing under her tunic.

A peculiar fluttering sensation in my belly draws my attention back to where we are and what we’re doing. Vizarios is watching me expectantly as his footman emerges with our horses.

“Getting on, Rag?” he asks, gesturing to my large gelding, which comes from workhorse stock and is big enough to carry my frame. The princess watches us for only a few moments before she mounts her horse and rides out ahead.