Page 83 of A Thieving Curse

“I should accompany you to the palace,” Peter said. “If we go by cover of darkness, Alex can fly us both as a dragon. Then I can say I found you wandering in the foothills and escorted you to the palace to try to get a reward, so no one questions how you found your way there on your own.”

Raelyn murmured her agreement numbly.

“I think I can fly there in a night, if I hurry,” Alexander mumbled.

“Tonight?” Raelyn asked. The sooner she could get her brother out of the Rethali’s dungeon, the better. And the longer she stayed with Alexander, the harder it would be to say goodbye.

Alexander growled and smoke escaped from his mouth. “All right.” He growled. “Tonight.”

“I…” Lucas’s lips turned down as he appeared to be on the verge of tears. She hated hurting him. “I don’t want you to leave us.”

“I don’t want to leave you, either,” she replied softly.

When Alex roared, she wished she hadn’t said it.

28

RAELYN ADDED MORE holes to her gown and dragged it through the dirt. She rubbed it with charcoal and left it hanging near the fire in the dining cavern so it would smell like smoke. She even singed part of the skirt and threw it in with the goats for a while.

She watched while Lucas, through tears, dubbed the tiny goat kid Sir Roderick. He met her eyes afterward, then ran away. Hardly anyone spoke at supper. Alex picked at his food. Raelyn wanted to say something jocular to lighten the situation, but she couldn’t think of anything.

After supper, Raelyn helped with the dishes, even though Meredith told her she didn’t need to. Her hands shook as she scrubbed plates, but neither Meredith nor Lucas mentioned it.

The washing up completed, she dragged herself to her room, where she put on the filthy dress and mussed and tangled her hair. She was mostly clean, but she could say she washed up in a stream. The look wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

Alex was already in dragon form when she emerged from the cave. Everyone else stood around in the gathering dusk. Peter held a bag with Alex’s clothes and another with some food.

“We’re ready if you are, Raelyn,” Peter said, his tone gentle. Raelyn just nodded.

Meredith gave her a long, hard hug. “I’m sorry, Raelyn.”

Raelyn squeezed her in return. “I’m going to miss you.” An ache settled in her chest, and she would have cried if she had any tears left.

“I’ll miss you, too,” Meredith said.

Jasper gave her a much quicker embrace, but his eyes were damp. She wondered if his sorrow was for her, or for his lost hope of breaking Alex’s curse. Lucas hugged her so tightly she thought her ribs would crack.

“Be safe, Rae,” Lucas said through sniffles. A whimper caught in her throat at his use of her nickname.

“You too, Lucas.” She pulled back, fighting to maintain her composure. How could leaving after such a short time hurt so much? Like an invisible blade in her chest, burrowing deeper with each shuddering breath. “Good luck with Emmeline.” He nodded, his jaw quivering.

Raelyn turned away, trying not to think about how she would never see them again, not to crack under the weight of all the goodbyes forced upon her. As she approached dragon Alexander, he turned his mouth away from her, but she walked around so she was standing by his snout. She placed her hand on the side of his face. “Thank you, Alex.”

He trembled, and a massive tear squeezed from his reptilian eye. She hurried back to his shoulder, afraid her tears would return with the fury of a broken dam. After taking a moment to steady herself, she climbed onto his neck and Peter climbed on behind her. She looked down at Jasper and Meredith, who had her arm around Lucas’s shoulders.

“Thank you, all of you,” Raelyn said. “You’ll always be my friends.”

Lucas rubbed at his eye. Jasper waved, standing even more bowed than usual. Alex’s wings beat the air, and then he leapt upward, leaving Raelyn’s heart on the ground and a jagged emptiness in her chest.

This flight brought Raelyn no joy. She clung to Alex’s scales and laid against his neck. Peter held loosely to her waist. Alex flew faster than she would have thought possible, as high in the night sky as he could without them freezing to death. Rethalyon rushed by beneath them, and she dozed off and on. She longed for the peaceful oblivion of sleep, but she tried to keep awake out of fear she would fall off.

They flew for a mind-numbingly long time before Alex at last descended. Raelyn straightened a little. In the gray murkiness of the cloud-obscured moonlight, she could make out a vast castle and a large town far ahead of them, which had to be the palace and the royal town of Hathlon. The palace vanished behind trees as Alex landed in a deserted field at the edge of a forest.

Raelyn slid down Alex’s dragon foreleg, exhaustion weighing her down. She couldn’t imagine how tired Alex must be. Peter climbed down after her. Alex’s shift began, and she walked toward the trees with her back to him.

Someone touched her shoulder. “I think we should try to sleep until dawn,” Peter said quietly. “It’s still a long walk to the palace, and a couple hours’ sleep would do us both good.”

Gareth was waiting, but a few more hours couldn’t hurt, and she was so tired she feared she’d fall over if she took one more step. She sank into the grass. “All right. Just until sunrise.”

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