Page 27 of Lady Dragon
Which left Samansa stewing in more embarrassment and with even more questions than she’d had before, and not a clue how to go about asking them in a way that would be proper.
They sat in silence after that, traveling only another hour or so on a quiet road before they pulled into a small outpost at the edge of a tall forest. When the carriage halted, Cenara grinned at her, nodded farewell, and swung herself out of the door without another word. Samansa was just leaning forward to seewhere she’d gone when Kirek vaulted immediatelyin, landing with rather a lot of momentum in the seat across from her and forcing her to jump back, choking on a shriek of surprise. As the dragon girl closed the door and sat back as well, her silver eyes seemed to shine even more than usual against the flush on her high cheekbones.
“Hello,” she said, sounding slightly breathless and oddly cheerful, for her, as the carriage started moving again.
Samansa could hear horses falling into pace around them—the other guards. But as she’d imagined, they may as well have been absent, for how far they were. Samansa and Kirek were well and truly alone in the carriage.
“Hello,” the princess replied, her hands fidgeting in her lap, feeling suddenly shy. “You seem excited.” As soon as she said it, she realized how that sounded—that perhaps Kirek was excited to seeher.
Maybe as excited as Samansa was, in turn.
But she needn’t have worried about overstepping, because Kirek only shrugged. “I flew here,” she said simply. “I’ve missed flying.”
Of course.Of course that’s all it was. If Samansa could fly, it would probably excite her, too. As it was, she had to settle for mere proximity to flying through the dragon girl.
Which wasn’t so bad, especially not with such little space between them in the carriage. Kirek was definitely getting the short end of that stick, as far as what they could offer to each other.
“I’m sorry you have to be stuck in here with me, instead of up in the air,” Samansa said carefully, her hands still twisting in her lap.
“You rate yourself such terrible company?” Kirek asked with a hint of disapproval.
“Well, I am death on people, apparently.” The words were out before Samansa could recall them. She tried to smile, but it was so forced that she heard the strain in her own voice as she met the dragon girl’s eyes across from her. “Dara should be here with us. And yet, perhaps no one should stay near me for long.”
Kirek raised one slim, dark eyebrow at her. “I’mdeath on people, seeing as I’ve actually killed people. You haven’t.”
“But Dara—”
The dragon girl cut her off sharply. “You didn’t kill Dara. The assassin did. And I killedhim, and the woman before that.” Her tone softened. “So at the very least, you don’t need to fear forme, or worry about causing me harm.” She smiled suddenly, with only a flicker of an edge. “As quaint as I find your concern.”
Samansa tried to scowl, but her own smile spoiled it. “You truly don’t mind… staying near me, then?”
“No.” Such a simple word, but delivered with such weight it struck the princess silent for a moment.
Finally, she managed to rally and ask on a playful note, “It’s notbeneathyou, as a dragon, to watch over me?”
Kirek’s lips twitched. “I didn’t saythat.”
Samansa pretended to glare at her, smiling all the more, and then leaned back into her seat and into companionable silence.
A few days on the road passed in easy conversation—as easy as it could be with Kirek, which, against all odds, meant it was getting easier by the day. They were even beginning toteaseeach other, something that would have seemed impossible when theyfirst met. Either the dragon girl had been harboring a hidden sense of humor all along, dry as it was, or else she was learning from Samansa—like she was ostensiblysupposedto be doing, but Samansa had highly doubted she was capable of.
Not that Samansa was entirely sure what she could teach Kirek, other than smiling and laughing. While it wasn’t much, she had to admit that humor looked good on the dragon girl.
Samansa did try to explain why the towns they skirted were made less of stone—none of which was the gold-threaded blue marble—and more of wood, the farther they went. The people lived more simply out here, and paid extra wealth in taxes to the crown in exchange for protection. Protection from bandits and raiders usually, as opposed to dragons, even though they were drawing closer to the border between the human and dragon realms. Kirek praised their utilitarian style with a gleam in her eye, while mocking them for being unable to protect themselves, though she did it gently.
All humor died within the both of them when they arrived at the site of the dragon attack at the predetermined time. Indeed, the journey here had been pleasant and uneventful, and their destination looked anything but.
Samansa spotted the charred husks of buildings out the window before they’d even stopped. A gasp was sucked out of her like a sudden draft, only a chill left to replace it.
All that remained was ruins. The village was, indeed, leveled.
“This is truly atrocious,” Kirek murmured, peering out the window with her at the smoking remains. She sounded genuinely perturbed.
“And it was dragon fire?” Samansa asked breathlessly, as much as she wanted to scream.
“It could only have been.” Kirek pointed, only calm calculation in her words now. “See how the buildings are blown so far apart like that? Humans don’t have weapons that can do that, or the ability to match the heat of the blaze that swept through here, at least on such a scale.”
No weapons to match adragon, if it came down to it, or at least none that were in use anymore. Samansa shuddered minutely under her clothes. She understood more than ever why, three hundred years ago, the widowed queen had bargained for peace instead of continuing the war that her husband, King Wyleth, had waged.
