“I think she may finally be sleeping. She didn’t think she would, but she was so exhausted she couldn’t keep her eyes open,” Kitsuna said as she sat up and untangled herself from the dryad next to her. “Then again, the sleeping powder I gave her may have helped a bit.”
“You drugged her?”
“She needs to sleep.” Kitsuna stood and brushed her hands against the legs of her pants as I moved to the window, staring out at the back garden and the aerie beyond.
“Do you think she’ll ever be able to do it on her own? Sleep, I mean? Sleep and not remember?”
“No, she’ll always remember what happened this morning. Every day she’ll feel the loss of her sisters, but every day it will get easier for her to cope.”
“You think so?” I swallowed and then turned to look at Mercedes sleeping on a tattered blue cushion next to the fire. “That it will get better eventually?”
“We’ll win this war.” Kitsuna came over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight. “Then the fighting will stop. You’ll rule everything that both day and night touches, and we’ll have peace. Once that happens, she’ll cry and she’ll feel alone, but she’ll go on. And then one day it won’t be so bad and every day after that will get better.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that’s the way it has to be. None of us could keep fighting if we didn’t believe that somehow, one day, it’s going to start getting better. That’s what the dragons believe the Pleiades are for, to remind us that things get better. That Fate doesn’t control our destinies.”
“The dragons don’t believe in Fate?”
“No, we believe in Fate, but we don’t give her as much power as the others do.”
“Why?”
“Because the Pleiades don’t always shine constantly. They move and they shift, and sometimes they change. Stars are born, and then they die. And sometimes, if you’re very lucky, your stars will change.”
I turned to look back out the window at the very stars she was telling me about. The place where the people of Nerissette—my people—believed paradise resided. The stars were supposed to be the home of godlike watchers who would come to keep us safe. Not that any of them had ever bothered with that, except for Esmeralda. Then again, who knows what a sorceress turned into a cat was good for except catching mice and trapping us here in this alternate universe with no idea what we were supposed to do.
“Dragons believe that the stars aren’t meant to show us that our fates can’t be changed. Stars are meant to show you that they can. In dragon stories, it’s not Fate that you root for—you root for the guy trying to beat her.”
“I think I might like dragon stories,” I said.
“You will be the grandest of them all. One of these days, centuries from now, children will pretend to be us, and they’ll fight for who get to play you.”
“Nah, they’ll all want to be the brave wryen who took down a wizard all on her own and set fire to her own house to keep a queen safe. If this were make-believe, I’d want to be that girl—the most fearsome dragon warrior our world has ever seen.”
“I want to be that girl, too,” Kitsuna said. “The one who fought with honor beside the queen she was lucky enough to call a friend.”
“What if something happens and you get hurt? Taken prisoner? Bavasama knows how close we are. She’ll hurt you just to prove to me that she can.”
“If your aunt captures me, then I’ll fight my way free and have adventures all the way back here to Nerissette,” Kitsuna said, her voice quiet. “They’ll tell stories about my adventures for centuries. Besides, every hero has to have a black moment.”
“I’d rather let someone else have those sorts of black moments,” I said. “I’ll find you a nice, fluffy kitten to fight instead.”
“That wouldn’t make for a very exciting saga,” Mercedes cut in from behind us. We both turned to look at her, sitting in front of the fire, staring at us.
“You’re supposed to be asleep.” I glanced over at Kitsuna. “I thought you said you gave her something to make her sleep.”
“I did.” Kitsuna looked over at our friend, wide-eyed. “I gave her the strongest sleeping draught I could find.”
“A powdered infusion of griffin’s breath plant mixed with daffodil root?” Mercedes snorted. “Please, I’m a dryad. Plant-based potions don’t work on us. You’d have been better off trying some of the powdered emery fish scales Aquella always keeps on her. That would have at least made me drowsy.”
“Well, obviously.” I rolled my eyes dramatically and nudged Kitsuna with my shoulder. “We should have totally thought of that. Because, you know, we’re all experts on dryad medicine. Right, Kit?”
“Shut up, you idiot.” Mercedes stood up and came toward us, tucking the orb into the pouch that was tied to her belt. “You don’t even know what a griffin’s breath looks like.”
“Of course I do.” I shrugged. “It’s a plant. So it’s what? Green? With leaves? Maybe a flower or two?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you?” Mercedes huffed and then rolled her eyes at me.
“Shut up.” I nudged her. “Or I’ll whomp you upside the head with a book and really put you to sleep.”
“Hey!” Mercedes pointed toward the window. “There’s Winston. I didn’t know he was out on patrol tonight.”
I bit my lip and watched as a huge black dragon with curling horns and the elongated body of a snake flew straight toward the aerie. “I’m pretty sure that’s not Winston.”
Chapter Nine
“What do you mean that’s not—”
We watched in horror as blue flames shot from the dragon’s mouth, and the trees exploded. More dragons poured out from behind clouds, all of them long and snakelike, their wings shorter but wider than those of the dragons we were used to seeing.
“That’s definitely not Winston.” Kitsuna grabbed us both by the arms and tugged us to the ground, throwing herself down over our backs. “Get down. Don’t let them see you.”
“But—” I swallowed as we cowered low, underneath the window, and I heard the high-pitched, shrieking wails of dragons flying in the night. I turned to look at Kitsuna and could see that her eyes were closed and her mouth was twisted up in a way that made her look as terrified as I felt.
“Stay here.” Mercedes let go of my hand, and I watched as she scrambled across the room on all fours, snatching some things up into her arms and then turning to scoot across the floor on her knees back to us.
“Here.” She let her arms open, and both Kitsuna’s and my swords fell onto the floor between us. I looked up to see the thick red welts on her arms from where the iron had touched her skin. “We need to go,” she said.
“Go?” Kitsuna asked. I looked over to see her staring at Mercedes before she looked down at the swords at our feet. “Right, we need to go. Allie, you need to stay here and—”
“Shut up, Kit,” I said as Mercedes huddled next to us, keeping her head low while we hurriedly buckled on our sword belts. My fingers slipped on the slick brown leather, and I couldn’t get it to fasten properly.
“Come on,” I snapped as the leather slid again in the dark, and I felt the heavy sword bang against my hip.
“Here.” Kitsuna took the ends of the belt out of my hands and fastened it, pulling it tight enough around my waist that it wouldn’t slide down my hips in the middle of a fight.
“You ready?” Mercedes asked as she grabbed her bow and slid it on her back.
“Are you going to be able to use that?” I asked. “Its pitch black out there.”