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A Shade of Dragon 3(54)



Mother grimaced and nodded to him. “I see,” she said. “And what is it that you wish for your own future, if not the shackles of our dungeon?”

“I might like to be a history teacher someday,” Lethe confessed bashfully. “Power, and servitude, and even the accumulation of wealth, they hold no particular gleam in my eye.”

“Then you are no ice dragon,” Mother replied testily.

At this, Lethe laughed, and a plume of frost exited his lips along with it. “I assure you that I am,” he said. “But we are people, my queen. We share a land, and a culture, and a history, but we are each individuals, with our own dreams and histories, our own secrets and weaknesses. I am not exactly like my father, just as I am not exactly like the young woman you have shackled at your feet.”

Altair sighed loudly. “Can we do something about this?” he complained to Mother. His tone reminded me of the tone he would take in childhood, which had always made him the more spoiled one of the two of us.

Mother’s expression was dark, but she gestured for one of the sentries to advance and unshackle the young woman.

“I suppose mine is also not the correct way to begin anew,” she allowed.

“Aye,” Altair agreed, pulling the manacles from Merulina’s wrists. They embraced passionately. “It did not serve us well in the wake of Emperor Bram, did it? Rather, it seemed to radicalize the remnant of their people.” When they pulled away, he touched Merulina’s face and smiled down at her tenderly. “I can attest that this dragoness is as pure as the driven snow, and yet as steady as our own flame. The only reason she does not wear a ring with the Aena crest is that I wished to receive your approval before placing it upon her finger.”

“But—Altair—how will she dwell in the palace with us?” Mother asked, cocking her head to the side. “I do not mean to be rude, but the sunlight has always been concentrated heavily on the palace, and heat radiates into the city itself. This is why the ice people stayed on the Obran peninsula, where it was cooler. She won’t be… comfortable… here. You see, I am thinking of her when I express my… doubts as to this union    . I am also thinking of you… Lethe.” Her eyes moved with cool judgment between the pair.

“Things will be different from now on,” I told her. I tried to be gentle. Mother was older. She’d been taught long ago to treat the ice people a certain way, to think of them in a certain way. And it would be harder for her than it would be for the rest of us to change, but I had faith that she could do it. She was not made of stone. “You see… Mother… Altair and I followed Vulott, who had confiscated the astrolabe, to the nearby portal of the ghouls.”

Her weathered hands trembled up to her lips. “By the gods,” she breathed. “You went to the portal of the ghouls?”

I winced, thankful that she would never learn how Lethe and I had fought—albeit more a sparring match than a true fight, with fang and claw to draw real blood—in the air over the lake itself.

“But that doesn’t matter anymore, because we are fine,” I reminded her. “What matters is that the astrolabe, amid the scuffle, was lost in the gate of the ghouls, and Vulott, in his desperation to control this land, followed it.”

Mother’s hands slowly drifted away from her mouth. “But there is no returning from that gate,” she breathed. “Not for anyone, or anything.”

I nodded once. “Yes. Vulott is gone… and the astrolabe is gone.”

Mother shook her head as if to strike the words from the air. “But if the astrolabe is gone, we have no control anymore. Not over anything!”

“That’s true. The weather and the stars will follow a new pattern. They will follow their natural order and forget the prescribed motion of our preferences, fire or ice.”

“That is why the chill remains in the air. It is, indeed, a true winter. The first true winter this isle has seen in centuries.”

“But it will see a summer.” Merulina spoke up. Mother looked at her sternly, as if she wished to reject that the young woman was being quite considerate of her. “It will see the course of all four seasons—and my people, the ice dragons, will no longer be forced to stay on the Obran peninsula. We will be able to live and work in the capital city, if we wish.” She maintained eye contact with Mother, which was an admirable feat for anyone, particularly an ice dragoness. “Even in the palace.”

Mother’s expression was still sour. “Yes,” she admitted. “I suppose you are right.”