Page 15 of Realm of Wind and Vines
My heart skips a beat. If Orion figures out that Isera lied, he will be gone in a heartbeat. The only reason that he is here is because he must honor the bargain they made. But if he finds out that the entire premise of their bargain was based on a lie, he won’t be bound to keep his end of the deal. And if we lose Orion and the Unseelie Court, we will lose this entire war.
To my relief, Isera doesn’t panic. Instead, she just flashes him a mocking smile and retorts, “Trying to worm your way out of our bargain, pretty boy?”
“I don’tworm,” he grinds out indignantly.
“You’re sounding pretty spineless to me.”
“Are you actually a descendant of the Seelie Queen’s second daughter?” A dangerous edge laces his voice. “Or just a scheming peasant who has bitten off more than she can chew?”
“I thought we had already established that I have no problem biting things off.”
Wicked light flickers in his eyes, and he adjusts his hips almost imperceptibly. But Isera notices, of course, and a villainous smile spreads across her lethally beautiful face. Orion clenches his jaw when he realizes what he did, but he doesn’t admit defeat. Instead, he simply changes the subject.
“Why don’tyouknow how that infamous partnership works?” he asks, shifting his attention to the three dragon shifters at the table. “They didn’t kill you off or imprison you. Your ancestors won the war. So why don’t you know?”
“Our ancestors had no riders,” Draven replies, somehow managing to sound both smug and annoyed at the same time.
“It’s a pretty good question, though,” Lyra says, a consideringlook on her face. “Why doesn’tanyof the dragon clans know? Surely someone must have remembered.”
Silence once more descends on the elegant wooden room. I chew my apple carefully while considering the question. They have a point. Our people don’t know about the partnership because the Icehearts slaughtered all of the adult fae and then imprisoned the children in the Seelie Court. There was no one left of our people who possessed that knowledge. But why doesn’t any of the dragon shifters remember?
And not just that. How come all dragon shifters believe that the Seelie fae enslaved all of them when it was only a few small groups of entitled rejects. How can such a fundamental piece of history be changed so thoroughly?
“Do you think the Green Clan could be involved?” Orion asks, his voice now serious rather than mocking.
“No,” Draven replies immediately. “The Green Clan is honest and principled. Always has been.”
“Their clan magic is memory magic. They can literally change people’s memories.”
“They would never use it against their own people.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.” Draven cocks his head, a considering look blowing across his handsome features. “But it might be worth asking them about the partnership. Maybe they know. They’re suppose to be the keepers of history, after all. Maybe they simply haven’t felt the need to keep the knowledge alive among the other clans throughout the centuries since this mythical partnership became useless the moment that the Seelie fae were imprisoned.”
Lyra sits up straighter, a smile once again back on her face. “So, we have a plan then?”
“Yes.” He nods. “We convince the other clans to fight with us, and we also ask the Green Clan about our shared history.”
She slaps her palms on the table excitedly, making a couple of grapes jump in surprise. “Great! Then let’s get going.”
Finishing my apple, I set down the remains on the smooth tabletop and suck my teeth.
Ideally, I want the other dragon clans, the dryads,andLavendera before we bring the fight to the Icehearts.
Right now, we have none of them.
But I suppose we need to start somewhere.
CHAPTER SIX
“If you come back a third time, we will kill you on sight.”
Turning around, I glance back in surprise at the Dryad Queen. Her tone brooked no argument, though. That threat was entirely genuine.
Irritation flickers through me.
“Not a problem,” I reply. “Once we’ve killed the Icehearts and freed this entire continent, I’ll just send a messenger bird to let you know instead.”
