Page 58 of Lady Dragon
“I know about the Songstones from my… my studies,” Samansa said quickly. “Only future queens learn of them, a secret we were content to let the dragons believe was theirs alone, if it encouraged you to send emissaries of peace to our realm. We knew you might use them against us, and yet we chose to trust you.”
Honestly, she had no idea how she knew about such stones any more than the dream-shrouded magical forge in a distant cave. Kirek hadn’t spoken a word to her of them, and Samansafelt the edges of her own betrayal as she shot her a sharp look. Kirek flinched.
So the human queens have withheld knowledge of hidden magic from us, despite the Treaty? As well as this stone you possess that allows you to understand us?
“No!” Samansa said hurriedly. “I—I don’t think we know how to wield this magic anymore, either. But together… perhaps we could relearn it. We could make more Heartstones. More Songstones—the existence of which you’ve tried to keep secret fromus, as well, and were perhaps using to plot against my life. I’m only using this… new… stone to understand you. To try to keep the peace.”
Kirek refocused on the Queen Mother, perhaps hoping to draw attention from Samansa’s ire.I don’t know if the twin of the Songstone here in High Nest is still intact in Andrath. When I bonded with Samansa, I lost control. It may have been destroyed. The Heartstone… it is broken, too. The loss of both stones at once would be terrible. But not so grave if we could make more.
Even if the Songstones had been used by the dragons to spy on and even conspire against humans, they were still a line of communication between realms. Now that humans knew about a way for dragons to speak with each other from within Andrath, as Samansa had claimed they already did, they could be used to help uphold the Treaty.
The Queen Mother’s startled question interrupted Samansa’s hopeful line of thinking.The Heartstone is gone? You can no longer shift into human form?
Before Kirek could answer with the truth—or perhaps a lie—Pavak’s oily voice floated over them.Perhaps its loss is a good thing, preventing another dragon from ever becoming so degradedagain. And if Kirek’s pair-bond broke so many symbols of the truce between our species, perhaps we should question whether or not we should honor it.
The bond or the truce?Kirek snapped.
Pavak looked as pleased as a cat with a bowl of cream.Perhaps both.
“But the pair-bond is a new symbol, is it not?” Samansa insisted. “And if we can create more such stones”—she looked at Kirek desperately—“then let us use them to strengthen the ties between our peoples, not erode them! We can find this place of magic together and see what power it holds.”
Thiscould be how they fix the Heartstone, or even replace it. How they could break the curse, or whatever this was that had befallen them with their transformations, and maintain peace between realms—and their tie toeach other. The pair-bond didn’t have to be a curse.
It didn’t have to tear them apart.
I may already know where this cave is, Pavak said,and it is not a place to be sullied by humans. It is Raka’s final resting place.
Raka?Samansa thought, the name ringing through her like a struck gong.
The Queen Mother’s nostrils flared, but only at her sister.Why didn’t you tell me of this?
Because you’ve never revered Raka, as I have, Pavak said with unmistakable self-righteousness,which is how I came to find what remains of her.
Long have you been obsessed with her, sister, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us should be.The Queen Mother’s tone was dangerous.Unless her memory can lead us to greater magic—magic you apparently wanted to keep for yourself?
“Raka?” Samansa blurted, finally unable to contain herself. She’d heard the name before, from Kirek, but now it seemed to mean something else—something more. She just didn’t know what.
The cave she’d dreamed of was Raka’s resting place, apparently. And in her dream, the red dragon had been looming over her, telling her a name she couldn’t quite recall when she awoke. Could the red dragon be…?
Old Queen Nakor’s pair-bonded mate, Kirek reminded Samansa unnecessarily, mistaking her exclamation,who perished shortly after the bond was severed by Nakor’s death.
Death at the hands of your King Wyleth, the Queen Mother added.Which was honorable, whereas Raka’s grief killed her. Her own weakness. She should not be revered.
Samansa thought the story had been rather romantic in a tragic way, but felt it best not to comment on that. “Wyleth is not our king anymore, and unless you wish to see another one, then uphold the Treaty.” She added with tentative hope, “In Raka’s memory, if anything?”
Don’t dare profane Raka’s name by speaking it, Pavak spat.As for any perceived weakness, there are those who believe that it wasn’t Nakor’s loss that killed Raka, but something else. Something only those who are found worthy are permitted to know.Her orange eyes flicked in the Queen Mother’s direction before landing back on Samansa like a blow.Why should we rely on you to give us knowledge we can find on our own—what is already ours, on our land?
“Because we don’t want another War of Fire!” Samansa burst out, nearly stomping her foot. “Is that what you want?”
She looked around desperately as the question weighedheavy in the air. Only many huge, multihued pairs of eyes stared back at her, lit with the glow of flames.
Pavak was the first to respond. Of course.I want dragons to be free of men and women both. Now speak no more of Raka’s resting place.She sounded more than angry; afraid, almost. But Samansa, for the life of her—hopefully not literally—couldn’t guess why. Never mind that the princess herself feared the red dragon, if indeed that was Raka, for reasons she couldn’t understand.Access to her remains is not yours to offer, nor is the cave a forge any longer. And even if it was, many of us don’t believe more Heartstones and Songstones are what we need.
“So more blood is the answer?” Samansa demanded, hoping beyond hope that blood wasn’t the only solution here. That dragons could be reasoned with.
I would acceptyours, Pavak said with chilling calm,but that would require an official challenge to your life. You are bound to Kirek, and even if you are no dragon, your bond protects you, abominable though it may be, from her kin.She turned to Kirek.But it doesn’t protectyou.
Samansa froze. A threat on her own life was bad enough, but against Kirek?
