“She’s not.” Torrin’s voice shakes. He’s pissed at Mina now, despite their flirting earlier, and the way he was so eager to correct her about us not being a couple. “And even if she’s had some bad things happen lately, it’s Vee. She hates dragons. She’s absolutely terrified of them. She’s the last person who would ever let one go.”
Shut up, Torrin. Shut up, shut up, shut up.
“He’s not here,” Mina says. “I’ve looked in all the cells. We’d better go report this.”
“Did you hear me? I said she wouldn’t do this.”
“I heard you.”
“And?”
Mina sighs. “And, like I said, we’d better go report it.”
We wait until they’re gone, and then I lead Amelrik out of the dungeon, around the back hallway, and up the staircase to my room. It’s the last place I ever thought a dragon would be, and certainly not because I brought one here.
But it’s also the last place anyone would look for him, and with Torrin and Mina starting up a search, it’s not safe to leave the barracks right now. When I decided to bust Amelrik out of jail, I thought I’d have more time. I didn’t plan for anyone to find out he was gone until we were well away from the barracks.
Amelrik stands in the middle of my room, his shoulders stiff, not touching anything. He was limping on the way up here, and I wonder how bad his injuries are and how much he’s healed over the past few days. He frowns at my wedding dress, which is on a wooden dummy in one corner. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. “You’re bringing a boy to your room on your wedding day?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that your plan to get out of your marriage, Virgin?”
I can feel my face heating up, and now there’s not even the dim lighting of the dungeon to hide behind. “That’s not—I just saved your life, you know.”
“So you can use me for your own purposes. You made that clear.”
“Not like that. And if losing my virginity or getting caught with some guy in my room was all it took to get out of this marriage, don’t you think I would have done it by now?”
He tilts his head, not believing me.
“My father wouldn’t let a little thing like ‘the loss of my virtue’ or whatever get in the way. He blames me for what happened to my mother. He doesn’t want me around—especially now that Celeste’s gone.” I let my hands fall to my sides, trying to look like it doesn’t bother me. Or at least not too much.
Amelrik’s staring at me, a concerned expression on his face.
Great, apparently even a dragon feels sorry for me. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you care.” Which he doesn’t. “I didn’t tell you that so you’d think I . . . Look, my point was that I’m not stupid, okay? If there was an easy way out of this marriage, I would have taken it.”
“So instead you’re running away with a dragon.”
“I’m doing that to save Celeste. I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get back.” Maybe Lord Varrens won’t want me after all this, or maybe he’ll have died of old age by then.
“If you get back,” Amelrik mutters. He moves away from the wedding dress and over to my bookshelf.
“Those are books,” I tell him. “They have words inside that tell stories or give us information.”
He looks at me like I’m incredibly, unbelievably stupid. “I know what books are.”
“Oh.” Oops. “I just thought . . .”
“You just thought what? That dragons don’t have books? Even if we didn’t, I’ve lived among humans off and on for years. And despite how uncivilized most of you are, this isn’t the first time I’ve come across a bookshelf.”
“So, you can read?”
He scoffs. “Can I read?”
I swallow. “English, I mean. I’m sure you can read dragon language.” Though I hadn’t thought about it before now.
His eyes widen, and he blinks at me. “Dragon language? Are you serious?”
I have no idea what I’ve said wrong—at least, not this time—but he’s obviously offended. I should probably shut up instead of risking sticking my foot in my mouth again, but I don’t. “Well, you can, can’t you?” Maybe they don’t have a written version, but he said they have books.
“There’s more than one ‘dragon language.’ But yes, I can read Vairlin, my native tongue. And Drost, and some Marish, though I’m kind of getting rusty at it. And I’ve been speaking ‘human language,’ as you probably call it, my entire life. I can read it, and—this is really going to shake up your whole worldview—I can even write.” He mimes scribbling with a pen.
“Okay. So you can read. And write. I didn’t know.” Maybe he’s lived with humans for years, but it’s not like I’ve been living with dragons or anything. “But if you’ve been speaking English your whole life, why do you have an accent?”
He sighs and flips through a couple of books on my shelf, though none of them seem to interest him. “I don’t. You’re the one with the accent. Everyone outside of the Valley, humans and dragons alike, talk like their mouths are full of marbles.”
That’s so not what I sound like. At least, I don’t think.
There’s suddenly a loud knock on the door, and Torrin shouts, “Vee?”
Me and Amelrik both freeze. I share a look with him. Then I come to my senses and motion for him to hide.
He mouths the word Where?
“Vee?” Torrin says again. “Are you there? I’m coming in!”
“No! Wait, I’m . . . I’m naked! I mean, I’m changing!”
“Well, that’ll scare him off,” Amelrik whispers.
I shove him toward the bed, accidentally nudging him in the ribs. Or maybe more like punching him, if I’m being honest. He gasps. His face goes pale, and his eyes water.
So, maybe not that healed, then.
“I really need to talk to you!” Torrin shouts. “It’s urgent!”“Just a second!” I’d meant for Amelrik to hide under the bed, but since he’s standing in the middle of my room, looking like it’s all he can do just to breathe, that’s not exactly going to happen. “Get down,” I hiss, pressing on his shoulder.
He seems worried, but he doesn’t have a lot of options—none, really—so he sinks down to the floor. I grab my bedspread and throw it over him.
“I won’t look,” Torrin says, opening the door. “I promise.” He comes in with a hand over his eyes. “I swear, Vee, I can’t see anything.”
I glance over at Amelrik, who looks like a wadded-up blanket and blends in really well with the pile of dirty laundry next to him. If you weren’t looking too close, you might not even notice that the wadded-up blanket is breathing. “I’d still feel better if you were facing the door.” Though he must really not be able to see anything, or else he’d know I’m fully clothed.
Torrin turns around, letting his hand fall away from his face. “You’re not going to like this, but you need to know. So I’m just going to say it.”
I rustle some clothes on the floor, trying to make it sound like I’m actually getting dressed. “So say it already.”
“The dragon’s loose. Me and Mina went to haul him up to his execution, and he was just gone. I don’t know how it happened. Mina swears she locked him in after the last interrogation session.”
“You mean torture. Call it what it is.”
“We don’t know when he escaped. She swears she locked the door, and Justinian’s trying to figure out who might have seen Amelrik in his cell since then. But that doesn’t change the fact that a dangerous prisoner—a dragon—is loose in the barracks. I’m sorry, Vee. I know this must really be freaking you out, and today is, well . . . It’s hard enough for you as it is. If you want me to stay—”
“No.”
He’s quiet a second. “Are you mad at me for something?”
“Am I still mad, you mean?”
“I already apologized for what I said.”
As if that makes up for it. “It’s not that.”
“Okay. Is this about the wedding? Because, Vee, you know I—Are you dressed yet?”
I’ve stopped making getting-dressed sounds. “I’m completely naked. You really shouldn’t be here, alone with me, on my wedding day.”
He knows I’m lying. At least, I’m pretty sure he does, because he sighs, exasperated, and turns around to face me. “Don’t be mad.”
“You don’t even know what I’m mad about.” I take a step to the right, hoping to block his view of Amelrik. Or at least the blanket he’s hiding under. Listening to all this.
“You wanted me to marry you.” Torrin moves closer and looks me right in the eyes.
I glance away. “‘Want’ is a strong word.”
“I hate that this is happening to you. And I do love you . . . just not like that. Plus, I’m in training.”
“Right. I know. You don’t have to say it. You don’t have to come here, today especially, and rub it in.”
“I’m not trying to. But don’t resent me for it. You’re practically family. I don’t want to lose you.”