Page 6 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
He sat back, shaking his head. “So Mother finally got her wish.”
“What?”
Phineas leaned in again. “Cighyss doesn’t leave the island.”
“Except to retrieve the sacrifices,” Zelig put in.
Choosing to ignore Zelig, I insisted, “The vineyardsburned, Phineas. I saw the devastation myself.”
“But did you see the dragon?”
“No, of course not. I was at the castle, miles away.”
“Didanyonesee him?”
I realized then what he was saying. Mother had long wanted to eliminate wine from Besia because she believed it corrupted sensible folk. She’d lobbied for years to have the vineyards repurposed and the wineries shut down.
“But Mother would never start a fire that could kill people. Seventeen died in the fires and six more afterward from the smoke.”
“Cighyss didn’t do it,” he insisted. “He would never have done any such thing. But Mother…”
I gulped. She had a cruel streak, I knew that, but to risk lives? I didn’t want to believe it.
I changed tactics. “He routinely flies off with sacrificed women?—”
“And brings them here.”
“Fine, but how does he know they’re being sacrificed to him if he isn’t already nearby?”
“He can hear their screams.”
I could still remember Coral’s screams, but they couldn’t possibly have been so loud that someone could hear them from so far away. “That’s not possible.”
Phineas shook his head. “It’s possible. He can specifically hearthemscreaming. I don’t know how, but he does, and he goes to them.”
He made the dragon sound so noble… “But he eats them,” I said lamely.
Each man chuckled. “I assure you,” the older one said, “he most definitely does not.”
“Explain yourselves,” I snapped, not liking that it felt like they were joking at my expense.
“I’d rather talk about this.” Phineas set one of the explosives on the table. “What is this?”
I glared at him. “It’s a new sort of candle. Why don’t you light it?”
The older man huffed a laugh and plucked the bomb from the table. He sniffed at the wick and smiled. “He means to blow us all into the afterlife. What a pleasant boy your brother is, Phins.”
“Was that the plan?” Phineas asked me. “Throw those amongst us and watch us all die?”
I struggled to sit up, wanting to grab him, smack him, but the room spun and sent me dropping back again. “No, that wasn’t the plan,Phins. If you’ll recall, you’re dead.”
Gulping, I closed my eyes and covered them with a hand, trying very hard not to vomit. Though if I did, I’d aim for him.
“Whatwasthe plan then?” he asked with urgency. “Are more coming? Were you the scout? We saw one ship, heard them setting off some sort of fireworks, but are others on the way?”
He sounded so earnest, like he cared, like he worried.
“Thousands more are coming,” I told him as I uncovered my eyes and stared at him. “Legions of warriors from all nine kingdoms will be here in moments, ready to bury your bodies beneath the rubble of this mountain.”
