Page 64 of Lady Dragon
“Fine,” Kirek muttered, trying to calm her racing heart. Carrying a human really wasn’tsobad, but she wasn’t about to argue that. “But what will I do for water?”
Dig.
With the pathetic digging tool that was her hand, Kirek was tempted to make a human gesture at her cousin, one that Samansa—once upon a time, at least—would have calledvery rude, but Kirek didn’t yet want to die.
Because she had a reason to live, if a faint one. The bond was still like a barbed hook in her chest, even if the rope that drew her to Samansa was more like a fragile thread from this far away. The red dragon must have flown quickly in her panic. Kirek had to find her, whether the dragon princess wanted her to or not. If Samansa turned back into a human out here, she wouldn’t last long on her own.
Besides, the red dragon, at least, seemed to know where the cave was, and could perhaps lead them there. Even if there was no hope for Kirek, there was still a chance to save Samansa—herSamansa—from herself, if anyone.
So instead of provoking her own death, Kirek turned away and tested the weight of the saddle, saying blithely, “You have my undying thanks, cousin.”
As false as your thanks are, I hope they don’t diesosoon. Not until I can extract them from you, if you ever become a worthy opponent again.Valraka spread her black wings wide, covering the sun for a moment and forcing Kirek to raise a hand to block the sudden gust of sand.Until then. Farewell, cousin.
The dragon didn’t wait for a response before launching herself into the air.
Kirek spat avery rudeword after her that doubtless wouldn’t be heard.
Then she truly was alone. Only dragons flew far overhead. She was now too beneath them to notice, even if they spotted her. She sighed, and began coiling the remaining leather straps across her chest, and then hefted the saddle onto her shoulder. She stood with it for a moment, staring at nothing.
Her mother was dead. And it was Kirek’s fault.
That knowledge weighed far more heavily on her than the saddle, but she didn’t want to examine it too closely, for fear of realizing she wouldn’t be able to carry it for long.
She faced the desert instead, the endless sand dunes stretching away until they met the sky. Shading her eyes against the glare, she searched, but there was no sign of flashing red scales in the distance.
So she began to walk.
17
SAMANSA
Samansa awoke to sand caking her dry, cracked lips, her tear-gummed eyes, and her filthy, burned, quite human arm, which was thrown over her face to shield it from the sun. She sat up, groaning, and scraped the grit from her face, wincing down at her red skin.
But that pain didn’t hold her attention for long, minor as it was in comparison to the one in her chest—not that it hurt her physically anymore.
She shoved aside the tails of the knotted floral kerchief around her neck—ironically the mark of her own favor—to stare in loathing at the shard of red stone, nestled in her now-smooth breast. Her fingers clawed for the edges, her nails trying to find purchase. It hurt then, sending a bolt of agony through her flesh, but she kept scratching at it, attempting to dig it out with her bare hands.
When she couldn’t, she screamed. Once wasn’t enough. She screamed again at the uncaring sky, her voice breaking and falling away into the vast expanse.
She was lost, in more ways than one. But she could remember how she’d gotten here now, and getting some sleep hadn’t eased the torture of the memories.
As the red dragon, she had flown throughout the night, blinded by rage and confusion and fear, and then landed near dawn next to a rocky outcropping in the sand where she had… fallen apart.
Everything had come crashing down upon her like a bad dream suddenly made real: Kirek’s mother, brutally slain in front of her daughter. Samansa’s change, which had let Kirek’s aunt deliver the final blow. The terrible things that Samansa had said to Kirek, in place of an apology.
I am not myself.With that despairing thought, Samansa had shifted back into human form. And then exhaustedly cried herself to sleep, since she didn’t have the strength for much else.
She was obviously not in an ideal place, literally or figuratively. Yes, she had found a rocky outcropping to offer her some shade, but she was stranded in the middle of a desert with only a ragged scrap of clothing for cover that didn’t deserve to be called a dress anymore, no weapons, and no water or food. And the sun had moved over the course of the day as she slept, burning her anyway. At least as a dragon she had taken to the ground in order to have her emotional breakdown, else she might have shifted back into human form from hundreds of feet in the air and plummeted to her death, like Kirek almost had.
Maybe that would have been the better end for her. Maybe she didn’t deserve to live like this. Not with whatever—whomever—she was becoming.
She’d never thought she was terribly worthy of her position in life before. Now she was certain she wasn’t.
She looked out at the desert, rippling with invisible waves of heat under the beating sun, and worked her parched tongue. Well, perhaps she didn’t have long anyway. The last of her waterwas in the bag attached to the saddle that was still likely back at High Nest, and there wasn’t much of it left, since the journey there had forced her to drink a fair amount. Even if Kirek managed to somehow find her, she couldn’t have brought the saddle along, stuck in human form as she would have been for most of it. Which meant no water was forthcoming, and there would be no means for Samansa to fly out of here upon Kirek’s back. She didn’t imagine the dragon could fly very quickly with the princess clutched precariously in her claws—not fast enough to get her to the water she desperately needed to survive.
Andthatwas if Kirek had even bothered to come looking for her in the first place. Samansa wouldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t, not after what the red dragon had said to her. She remembered all too well the look on Kirek’s face—it was burned into her mind like a brand. Kirek had gaped at Samansa as if she hadn’t known her, the dragon girl’s silver eyes wide and shocked and hurt. And maybe she didn’t know her. Samansa barely knew herself.
Why would Kirek chase afterthat? If she even could—if she wasn’t something like a prisoner in High Nest. It wasn’t as though she could have simply climbed down from those heights, not even as someone who could scale castle walls with relative ease. High Nest was as unforgiving as the dragons who lived there.
