Page 31 of Kingdom of Feathers

As his sister had promised, once the familiar shoreline came into sight, it was impossible to miss the enormous reptilian figure draped over a rock a short distance out to sea.

Well, enormous compared to a human. Basil knew that, at three times his own height, Dannsair was on the small side for a dragon. It was due to her relative youth—she was probably only several decades older than him. Not that he would ever be impolite enough to ask. The brightness of her purple scales also proclaimed her youth. Basil had heard that the oldest of the dragon elders were so darkened by time their scales were almost black.

He wasn’t likely ever to confirm that information for himself, however. The elders rarely left their colony, even to meet with human royalty. They certainly didn’t wander past Entolia’s seaside capital every month or so to indulge a love of sun-baking the way Dannsair did. Inasmuch as dragons and humans could be friends, Basil and Zinnia had considered her a friend since their childhood. She’d told them the love of the ocean was in the bones of every dragon, but most preferred to commune with the vast expanse of water in less populated areas. Basil had indeed caught sight of unfamiliar dragons from time to time, brooding on top of the wave-lashed cliffs far to the east, staring out over the sea like landlocked sailors.

Dannsair, however, didn’t seem to mind being near people. In dragon terms, she was downright friendly.

“Greetings, Dannsair!” Zinnia called brightly, once they’d reached the shoreline.

The dragon raised her head in an unhurried gesture, swinging her long neck around to take stock of her visitors.

“Greetings, Dannsair,” Basil echoed his sister, bowing to the majestic creature.

“Greetings, Princess Zinnia,” said Dannsair. Her yellow orb-like eyes lingered unblinkingly on Basil. “And to you, King Basil, Entolia’s new monarch.”

Basil inclined his head again, fighting the urge to smile at the dragon’s solemn words. Dannsair was sprawled on her back, stomach exposed to the sky, and tail dangling into the water in a posture of total relaxation. Nothing in her dignified tone suggested any awareness of the ridiculousness of the posture.

Straightening again, Basil glanced from the wicked talons, as long as his forearm, which tipped Dannsair’s feet, to the sharp triangular plates that ran along the back of her neck, all the way down to the tip of her tail.

He wasn’t a fool. Dannsair had so far shown herself inclined to be friendly, but he would be wise to remember that she, and the rest of her kind, were more powerful than he was, crown or none.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Zinnia said brightly. “I’ve been waiting for you for a week, and I thought you wouldn’t come in time.”

Basil frowned slightly at his sister. She’d always lacked the appropriate fear of the dragons. He worried that one day Zinnia would go too far, and get herself into trouble with the unpredictable beasts.

“Is that so?” Thankfully, Dannsair’s voice held curiosity rather than offense. “Why were you waiting for me?”

“I wanted to ask for your help,” said Zinnia. As she spoke, she hiked up her skirts and removed her slippers. Basil saw one of the princess’s guards shift uncomfortably as she stepped into the water, toward the dragon. He didn’t envy them the task of keeping her safe. “My brother is leaving for Mistra in the morning, to put himself at the mercy of our enemies.” She flashed the dragon a grin that was far too cheeky for Basil’s liking. “Into the dragon’s mouth, so to speak.”

Dannsair made a gurgling sound that Basil knew to be laughter. “The Mistrans may be your enemies,” she said indulgently, “but they are hardly as dangerous as dragons. Do you mean to suggest you fear for his safety?”

Zinnia nodded. “We all do.”

“Zinnia,” Basil started impatiently, but she waved him off.

“I have my own interests at heart,” she told him sternly. “You think I want you to be knocked off, and to find myself queen at seventeen?”

“What is it you wish me to do for your new king?” Dannsair asked, mercifully cutting off the rising sibling squabble.

“Well,” said Zinnia, then trailed off. For all her apparent confidence around the dragon, it sounded to Basil like she was finding it hard to put her request into words after all. “We count you a friend…” She paused, perhaps waiting for the dragon to reciprocate.

Dannsair remained serenely silent. With an unhurried movement, she flipped herself over, catching at the rocks with her talons, and pulling herself back onto the mostly flat shelf on which she had been reclining. She gave herself one shake, a rippling motion that started in her tail, and passed all the way up to her reptilian head. Then she settled onto her belly, resting her chin on her folded front feet, for all the world like a dog waiting for a treat.

Clearing her throat, Zinnia tried again. “I wondered if you would go with him,” she said in a rush. “Just to sort of…keep him company.”

“Zinnia!” Basil scolded, aghast. He turned to the dragon. “Dannsair, I apologize on my sister’s behalf. I would never ask you to join me on a state visit to another crown.”

The dragon didn’t look angry, but there was no compromise in her voice as she replied. “I am glad to hear it. I have no intention of accompanying you. Dragons do not involve themselves in the politics of human kingdoms.”

Zinnia visibly deflated. “Sure you do,” she wheedled, although Basil could tell she didn’t have much hope of actually changing the dragon’s mind. “I know for a fact that you paid a state visit to Princess Penny and Prince Rian after their wedding last year. She wrote to me and told me that you descended right into the castle’s central courtyard, and presented her with a wedding gift in front of the king and queen.”

Dannsair’s mouth stretched into a slightly unnerving smile, her thin lips pulled all the way back past her eyes. “That was not a state visit. That was a little reminder to the Bansfordian monarchs.” She paused. “And I am very fond of little Penny, of course.”

“A reminder of what?” Basil asked, in spite of himself.

The dragon’s voice was suddenly steely, and there was a dangerous glint in her eyes. “That while we may have chosen to forgive the Bansfordians for their audacity in banning magic from their kingdom for fourteen years, we haven’t forgotten.”

Before either human could respond, something enormous broke the surface of the water just behind Dannsair. Basil and Zinnia both jumped, and threw up their arms to shield their faces from the sudden spray, and Basil heard alarmed cries from the guards just behind them. Dannsair, of course, had no reaction whatsoever.

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