Page 21 of Kingdom of Dance

“Well, Briar,” she assured her sister solemnly, “as I said, I’m back now, and I promise both to avoid lecturing you and to keep myself and anyone in my vicinity as far from any embroidery as humanly possible.”

Briar gave her a look. “As far as humanly possible? You’ll have to find an isolated wilderness, then, or perhaps invade the dragons’ realm.Anywherein a castle is bound to be close to embroidery.”

She said the final sentence with such distaste, Violet burst into a peal of laughter. Zinnia couldn’t help joining her, even as she shuddered at Briar’s words. Invading the dragons’ realm was the last thing Zinnia would ever do.

“Are we going to the shore or not?” Briar asked with dignity, clearly miffed at being laughed at.

“Yes, let’s go,” Zinnia agreed, releasing Magnolia’s hand with one final squeeze to better enable them to file down the uneven steps.

Zinnia was so focused on making sure Magnolia didn’t stumble—although given how much time the shy ten-year-old spent looking at her feet, she should have the surest footing of anyone—that she didn’t notice who was already at the shore.

“The dragons are here!”

Violet’s excited words brought Zinnia’s head snapping up. Her eyes brightened at the sight of two enormous reptilian figures stretched out across a rocky outcropping several yards out from the sand, just past the point where the ocean floor dropped steeply away.

She didn’t bother calling out to the creatures, knowing they would have heard Violet’s cry. Sure enough, after a moment, the nearest dragon—a purple female not much above half Idric’s size—lifted her head in a leisurely movement.

“Princesses,” she said, surveying the four of them. “Greetings.” Her orb-like eyes, so like Idric’s in shape, and yet so unlike in expression, passed to Zinnia. “Well met again, Zinnia.”

“And to you, Dannsair,” Zinnia smiled. “It’s nice to see you again so soon.”

Dannsair dipped her head in what Zinnia thought was an acknowledgment, until Dannsair’s snout entered the water, the rest of her body following fluidly. Water splashed up onto the rock, and Zinnia could just make out the dragon doing a roll below the surface. The next moment, she had plonked herself onto a flat rock a yard from the sand, water pouring from her head and dripping off her scales with a sound like a fingernail tapping glass.

Zinnia could see the guards shifting in place, clearly uncomfortable with the proximity of the dragon to their charges. But they were well used to the relationship by now. None of them attempted to intervene.

“I thought you would be happy to be home,” Dannsair commented, observing Zinnia with interest.

“I am,” said Zinnia, surprised.

“Hm.” Dannsair looked unconvinced. “But you still carry the tension I sensed on you when we met in Albury.”

Zinnia didn’t answer. She couldn’t explain the reason for her stress, not with Idric’s silencing enchantment holding her captive.

Another splash heralded the approach of the second dragon. Yellow, with a slight purple tinge around his scales, and almost identical to Dannsair in size, he appeared in the shallows before Zinnia could blink.

“Greetings, Rekavidur,” she said, her sisters echoing the words.

The dragon sat with water up to his haunches, his tail drifting idly back and forth through the waves. He inclined his head in acknowledgment of the princesses’ greetings, but like Dannsair’s, his eyes stayed fixed on Zinnia.

“You are still tense,” he observed. “Even though you are home.”

Zinnia let out an exasperated breath. “Since when are you so interested in my mental state?” she asked.

Rekavidur tilted his head to the side, studying her curiously. “What is that unpleasant taste in your words?” He turned to Dannsair. “Bitterness, do you think?”

Dannsair nodded serenely. “Definitely bitterness.”

“Hm,” said Rekavidur, once again considering Zinnia. “How curious.”

Zinnia felt a mingled sense of amusement and shame. She was usually entertained by the dragons’ habit of speaking appraisingly about her in her presence. But she was chastened by their observations this time.

She hadn’t meant to sound bitter. It was just hard not to when she remembered all the times she’d tried desperately to tell them of her predicament, only to be blocked at every turn by Idric’s magical restraints. She’d heard other royals mention enchantments that prevented them from speaking freely, but from what she understood, none of them had come close to the hold Idric had on her. It was as though every time the dragon elder so much as crossed her mind, she could feel his icy grip steal over her, as his magic took every word, every gesture captive, not releasing it unless completely satisfied that it was no threat to his secrets.

She had been so sure that she was saved, the first time Dannsair and Reka came after she met Idric. By then he’d already called the princesses underground for their first so-called ball, and she’d already been subjected to her first examination. Which meant she had some grasp of the two enchantments Idric had placed on her: the silencing magic that coated all twelve sisters, and the other enchantment which he’d put on only Zinnia, allowing him to physically compel her to present herself at the trapdoor at his convenience, her sisters in tow.

She and her sisters had discovered by then that they couldn’t breathe a word about any aspect of the encounter to anyone but each other. She and Violet had even experimented with attending the Enchanters’ Guild, in the hope that some of the magic-users there would sense the power of Idric’s enchantments on them and would investigate. It had all been to no avail. But those were human enchanters. Zinnia hadn’t doubted for a moment that her dragon friends—their magic infinitely more potent than any human’s—would be able to not only sense Idric’s enchantments immediately, but to lift them with a breath from their magic-filled cores.

Reality had fallen a long way short of her expectations.

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