As we walked, Merulina continually glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. I knew she had something on her mind, and finally it came out. “How… how is everyone in the dungeon?” she broached. “Is everyone all right down there?”
“You mean Altair?”
At this, Merulina whirled on me and brandished a trembling finger. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed. Then, looking right and left down the corridor, she straightened her shoulders and withdrew the offending finger. “I don’t understand—or appreciate—your implications.”
“You’re an interesting sort of ice dragoness,” I commented. “You seem quite hard—but you must not be, really. Not if you’ve attracted the affections of a fire dragon.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Merulina insisted again. Her pace quickened as we approached the wash room. “But if I did, would you say that Altair was faring well enough without me—I mean, not me specifically—but without any additional help? From anyone? In general?”
I smirked. Poor Merulina. It must have been hard for her. She couldn’t openly care about Altair’s fate, but there it was. “Altair was doing well last I saw him. Even without ‘additional help’ from ‘anyone in general.’”
“What are you doing with your fingers?”
“They’re called air-quotes. On Earth, people make them whenever they don’t really believe the words they’re saying.”
Merulina glared at me, her porcelain complexion easily betraying a blush creeping over her cheeks. We ducked into the wash room with our brooms and pans, but none of these tools were put to work. The instant that the door clapped shut behind us, Merulina thrust the dust pan and broom to the tile, gripped my neck and sent me floundering into the wall. “Do not speak so flippantly of the fire prince. Explain these air-quotes to me at once! Do you or do you not believe that Altair Aena fares well in the dungeon? Do not be coy, human! I have not seen him in days! You do not want to tempt me—”
“Excuse me?” I spluttered around the grip of her hand. “Did you say… Altair Aena? The fire prince?”
Her frigid fingers squeezed my wind pipe and I gurgled.
“I said do not be coy!”
I shook my head frantically and she released me; I collapsed onto the tile, still sprayed with shards of porcelain, coughing and cringing at the stinging sensation in my palms and knees. “I’m not being coy,” I cried. “He was safe last I saw him—and I had no idea that he was a member of the royal family.”
Merulina scoffed. “How could you be so uneducated toward the land on which your feet rest?”
I pursed my lips. “You know I am human,” I reminded her, “like the ice queen. We both came from Earth at the same time. There is still much I do not know regarding the ways of your people. Especially…” Especially the fire dragons. In all truth, I knew more about the ice dragons than the fire. I had spent more time here than with Theon and his family. I hadn’t even known he’d had a brother. How could he have never mentioned something like that? But, as I scoured my memory, I turned up just as little about his mother and father. I truly had no idea what his childhood had been like. “Especially the fire dragons.” I was Theon’s wife—and I hadn’t even known he had a brother. One imprisoned in this castle, no less.
“Fire dragons are far and away beautiful,” Merulina allowed, “but none are quite as captivating as the men of the Aena lineage. Though I risk my head for saying as much, and you are never to repeat those words. That is how you can know Altair Aena. He… is… beautiful.”
“Um,” I said, my eyes finally lifting to meet hers, “I know exactly what you mean.”
Merulina smoldered. “Stand up,” she snapped. Ah, the ice dragons. Although they had moments of cruelty and kindness to varying degrees, much like actual humans, they seemed to be uniformly of the jealous sort. “That’s enough. I’m sure you two got quite cozy in your cells—”
“No, no,” I assured her, pulling myself to my feet. The layers of my servant gown had protected my knees, save an errant sliver or two, but my hands had not been so lucky. Beads of blood blossomed across both palms, and I went to the sink to disinfect the meager wounds. “He told me about you. He seemed to think that you would be coming. That I might have the chance to meet you, if I stayed.”
I saw Merulina’s face in the mirror. It softened. “That was sweet of him,” she whispered, “to keep hoping like that. But… Dorid suspected that I was developing feelings for Altair. She’s sharp. She had my shift exchanged with another servant. Now my route does not take me into the dungeons anymore. It’s been days since we’ve seen one another.”