Page 59 of Lady Dragon
Pavak, the Queen Mother warned.Neither the Daughter Heir of Andrath’s nor Kirek’s blood is yours to accept in atonement. That choice is mine. Do not think it has escaped me that you culled your own eggs and you’ve named your only daughter Valraka in the hopes that this memory of Raka lives in her and lends her strength to one day best Kirek. Do not try to steal your daughter’s chance at triumph before it has hatched.
Samansa swallowed. So Pavak, like the Queen Mother, had squashed all eggs but one—a terrible act only dragon queensusually performed. Probably to avoid this exact sort of sisterly bonding.
She supposed her relationship with Branon wasn’t much better, but she had a hard time imagining her own mother killing him in the cradle to avoid their situation. Rather, more like taking a tonic to empty her womb. Eggs weren’t babies, she reminded herself—hatchlings were. Women in her realm could make such a choice, but it was still a heavy one, and not done simply to avoid your children competing with one another.
Kirek boldly met the eyes of a smaller, youthful-looking dragon crouched behind Pavak. Where the Queen Mother was near black with a hint of Kirek’s purplish gray, this dragon was black as pitch, her eyes as red as the blood they must have wanted to spill.
Valraka. Pavak’s daughter and Kirek’s cousin. Kirek’scompetition.
This family is for certain more bloodthirsty than mine, maybe even Branon included.Samansa’s shrill thought was bordering on hysteria. She nearly wanted to laugh again.
The Queen Mother continued,She—and you—will have to wait until Kirek is queen in my place—after Kirek has challenged me, and bested me, if she can. As for whatever honor Kirek may have lost now in pair-bonding a human girl, we don’t yet understand what has occurred—what fault may be placed upon her for something that has never happened before. As for anyconsiderationshe may have for the daughter heir beyond the pair-bond, there is no proof—
She’s weak!Pavak’s silent shout was so loud Samansa nearly covered her ears.She was supposed to strengthen our realm by killing the daughter heir. By your own order, was it not, QueenMother? And now she has brought the festering ruins of your plan to lay at your feet in the shape of this girl. Is this a shame you will now bear?Pavak’s burning stare landed back on Samansa.
Maybe the princess should have taken being likened to a rat as a compliment, as opposed to a shameful, festering ruin.
Indeed, the Queen Mother said.This is a stain on all dragonkind.
So kill her, Pavak said.The daughter heir. Now.
Samansa found a hot well of fury buried under her cold fear, like molten earth beneath a crust. Her fists tightened at her sides as she glared at Pavak with all the royal indignance she could muster—which was considerable, in light of her predicament. “You dare try to command your queen? EvenIcan see how that lowers you.” She spun on the Queen Mother. “I can also offer you free hunting over the forests of Solomir, in the south. The lands are exceptionally verdant, teaming with wild game. They used to be the dragons’ favorite… hundreds of years ago… before the war. Right?” She blinked at her own sudden uncertainty.
Rather, at the fact that she hadbeenso certain, when she had no idea how she knew that.
Is that also something you learned in your studies?Pavak asked snidely.That is not somethingweremember, and we have long memories.
It is my turn to carry a memory that you do not, which proves you do not know all, sister, the Queen Mother said, and then considered Samansa for a long moment.What you say of these lands is true. They are invaluable. I agree to your terms, Daughter Heir of Andrath, provided your mother agrees. You will return to get her sworn word to revise the Treaty.Giddy relief bloomedinside of Samansa, until the queen’s next command fell like an executioner’s ax.Andyouwill agree to never return here. My daughter’s stay in your realm is over. If we ever craft another Heartstone, she will not be using it. Never lay eyes upon her again, or the Treaty is finished.
What?Kirek cried, at the same time Samansa said, breathless, “Excuse me?”
But Pavak seemed to think such an earth-shattering pronouncement was nothing.You gain only some hunting grounds that we could take by force and a sacred place that is already ours and should not be defiled?She snorted in disgust.Perhaps some things should remain hidden. From humans, even from you. Such concessions are not enough to redeem Kirek.
Permanent separation from the one she is bound to is punishment enough, the Queen Mother declared—not entirely oblivious, at least, to the staggering pain tearing through Samansa, the gaping wound left at the thought of not seeing Kirek again. She and Kirek were both staring at each other wildly, as if caught in the eye of a storm. Their last foothold of peace, before they would be ripped away from each other by forces far bigger than them.If your revered Raka supposedly survived such a thing, Kirek will, too, to prove her strength.
But if you believe Raka’s bond wasbrokenby Nakor’s death, Pavak said,then this is a mere stay on the true punishment.
The daughter heir will not be killed, the Queen Mother snarled.No one will harm Kirek until she is ready to challenge me—I will not allow it.
Pavak hissed in disdain.You only wish to keep her safe—to keep your line safe, by thwarting me and keeping peace with the human realm. You coddle your heir, who should be hardened by fire.
She drew herself up to her considerable height and spread her pale wings, and Samansa staggered back despite herself.
So be it. I choseyou, then, my queen. For thatisallowed. Rightful law permits our Queen Mother, who makes the choices for other dragons, to be questioned.Pavak bared her fangs in something disturbingly like a crazed grin.Therefore, sister, I challenge you to a fight to the death for the title of Queen Mother.
16
KIREK
Blow after blow after blow—that’s what this situation was akin to: a constant assault. Kirek felt as though she couldn’t keep fending off strikes forever. Except this one wasn’t aimed at her, but the Queen Mother. It still felt like a spear piercing Kirek’s own breast.
She’d always been awed by the Queen Mother’s seat, ringed in the warm glow of fire, even took comfort in it as a marker of her place in the world. But now she hated it. With faintly amused bitterness, she imagined Samansa would compare it to something human—like a frying pan. It felt as scorching as one now, and they were all in it.
Kirek knew she couldn’t intervene in Pavak’s challenge; dragon laws wouldn’t allow it. If she did, she would face exile or worse. And yet her claws scraped forward over the stone of the platform as if by their own accord, and her mouth filled with the saliva that preceded biting. But her mother’s sharp glance pinned her more than anything else, drawing her up short.
Do not even think of stepping between us, the Queen Mother snarled.You will not bring even more shame on my rule by fighting my battles for me. You’ve done enough.
Indeed, she has, Pavak said, circling the platform, flaring herpale wings that looked veined in fire from the glow around them, forcing other dragons to move back for her and to clear a space. Some hissed their disapproval, while others were watching intently, waiting. Kirek could swear she caught the gleam of satisfaction in a few eyes as Pavak circled closer to the queen.And now you must answer for it.
