Page 28 of Crown of Slumber

“You are asking me to give up our most precious resource when you have done nothing but fling accusations at me since you found out who I was.”

“I know,” I said quickly. “And I apologized for being unkind to you. It has been… a stressful day, as you can imagine.”

He grunted at that.

“You swore you would help me!” I argued. “Was that not in earnest? Now that it requires a sacrifice on your part, you’re going back on your word?”

His nostrils flared, and he leaned closer to me, his green eyes blazing. “I swore to help youhere.To try to find out the problem and a possible solution. I came with you to the witch lands. But to travel to my kingdom? To convince our treasurer to give up our already dwindling supply of stardust, for our enemy kingdom? They will laugh in my face. My mother would have me imprisoned for such audacity.” He leaned back, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I can’t help you.”

So now we were back to formalities. There was something very final about that. He was dismissing me.

“You need something from me,” I blurted.

He stilled, eyeing me with apprehension.

“That’s why you’re in the Summer Court, right?” I went on.

Slowly, he nodded.

I stepped closer until we were almost nose to nose. Or rather, nose to collarbone.

“If you need something from me, and I need something from you, then can’t we strike a bargain?” My voice was low, like we were sharing a dangerous secret.

In a way, we were. Making a fae bargain with my enemy was more dangerous than riding the wildest of dragons.

His eyes flared wide. After a moment, one corner of his mouth lifted. “My, my, Aurelia. You surprise me. You would bargain with the likes of me?”

I swallowed, my throat dry. “If it saves my kingdom, then yes. I would. Wouldn’t you do the same?”

His smirk vanished, and his jaw went rigid with determination. “Of course I would.”

“Then, you’ll do it?” I held my breath, not daring to hope that he would agree.

He released a long, slow breath, then rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes flicked from me to the encampment down the hill. After a long moment, he said, “Yes. But not here. This air is thick with witch magic, and I don’t want it interfering.”

My heart lurched, and I exhaled a short laugh of disbelief. He’d agreed. He’d actually agreed.

His eyes burned with amusement. “Don’t rejoice yet, little ember. We still need to accept the terms of the bargain. And I’ll wager it will beverydifficult for us to find common ground.”

He was right about that.

My brows furrowed. “Little ember?” I repeated. How very patronizing.

He smirked again. “Yes. Because of your fiery temper and diminutive stature.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved past him to climb atop Mal. The dragon had relaxed now that Fenn and I had reached an agreement.

“I amnotdiminutive,” I said as Fenn climbed up behind me, his arms circling my waist. “I’m nearly as tall as you are.”

“‘Nearly’ being a generous term.”

I jerked my elbow into his gut, and he grunted, then laughed. With a nudge of my feet, Mal took off, racing back toward the nesting grounds.

I still couldn’t wrapmy head around the concept of flying on top of a dragon. Yes, the scales were immensely uncomfortable, and it was clear Mal would chew my head off if Aurelia asked him to.

But the way the wind whipped at me, dancing along my skin and singing in my ears… It was otherworldly. Mal expertly arced through the sky, dipping high and low. Like before, it seemed he was trying to make me ill. But unlike before, my stomach was ready for it. Perhaps I just needed to orient myself with the dragon’s movements. Either way, I couldn’t stop a whoop from escaping me, and I heard Aurelia’s loud laugh follow after. She stretched her arms wide as if she, too, were a winged creature floating through the sky.

I wasn’t quite brave enough to loosen my grip on her waist. I still had my doubts that Mal would catch me if I fell.

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