Page 97 of Kingdom of Dance

Silence fell at once, every eye on the lieutenant. He nodded to Zinnia, offering her the floor.

Torn between gratitude and disgruntlement, Zinnia turned to her sisters. “I know I have a lot to explain, but there will be time to talk about all the details later. For now, let me give you a summary that Obsidian will also want to hear.” She cleared her throat nervously, throwing him a glance.

“Does that mean we can talk about Idric in front of him now?” Briar interjected. “Huh,” she said, before anyone could respond. “That answers my own question.”

Zinnia nodded. “It’s clear we can talk about Idric now. I assume that since Obsidian entered the cavern, he’s now been encompassed by the enchantment.”

“I have been,” Obsidian informed her. “Like I said, I followed you last night as well.” There were gasps around the room, but he ignored them. “I was unable to tell King Basil anything of what I saw.”

Zinnia deflated slightly. “That’s a little crushing, but not a surprise.” She smiled hesitantly at him. “And probably worth it to have you on the inside.” Her look became more somber. “I know you don’t like using your magic, Obsidian, but I’m begging you. If you can help us, if there’s anything you can do, please don’t hold back.”

“Of course, he’s an enchanter,” said Violet, measuring the lieutenant with her eyes. “Maybe he can help us find a way out.”

“Help us with what?” Jasmine was clearly confused. “Since when do we want a way out of Idric’s balls? What happened down there tonight?”

Zinnia drew a breath. “You’re right,” she informed her sister, “I’ve gotten sidetracked. The balls were always an illusion. Idric created them in your minds so that he could conduct his experiments without you knowing. Out of some perverse curiosity, he gave me the power to choose who was under the delusion. I refused to enter it myself—with the exception of last night,” her eyes flicked to Obsidian, “which was a mistake. But I couldn’t bring myself to prevent any of you from staying in it.”

“So what was he really doing?” Lilac sounded alarmed.

Zinnia grimaced. “Gathering information, sometimes. But mainly experimenting. His key aim was to see if any form of magical attack could pull out thissparkdragons speak of, that only humans have. That process he reserved almost exclusively for me, though. He rarely tried it on the rest of you.”

“So we were just his subjects, for him to experiment on?” Lilac asked, aghast. “He was never trying to benefit us at all?”

Zinnia snorted. “Benefit us? Hardly. He despises every one of us, believe me. He’d kill us in a heartbeat if it served his purposes. But it doesn’t. He knows he can remove a human’s spark from their body by killing them. He wanted to know if it could be removedwithoutkilling them.”

“But why?” Violet demanded.

Zinnia let out a weary breath. “He’s planning some kind of attack, that much isn’t in question. What exactly he intends to do is unclear. But he obviously feels that he would have more success attacking humans if they were…spark-less.”

“No, I meant why not kill us if he wants to take away our sparks or whatever they are?” Violet pressed. “He could wipe out every human in the kingdom if it took his fancy.”

“Not without drawing the attention of the rest of the dragons,” Obsidian interjected grimly. “I dove into the water tonight and found out where exactly you’ve all been going. It was inside the dragons’ realm.” The princesses all stared at him wide-eyed, and he added, “But well hidden. It seemed to me that the other dragons wouldn’t have known about your presence.”

“Of course,” Zinnia breathed. “I knew he couldn’t use overwhelming force in his attacks, because none of it was sanctioned by the other elders. That’s why he’s had to remain hidden, work through other humans. But I hadn’t put it together that it must also be the same reason why he wants to remove people’s sparks, to make them more susceptible without it being obvious.”

“Did you say theotherelders?” Obsidian asked, looking alarmed.

Zinnia gave a grim nod. “Idric is an elder of the colony,” she confirmed. “Which means he’s old, influential, and incredibly powerful.”

“But what made him focus on you?” Obsidian demanded.

Zinnia fidgeted. “I was stupid enough to sort-of-accidentally eavesdrop on him, and got a target on me. Apparently he found my spark to be very strong.”

Obsidian groaned softly. “Why does none of that surprise me?”

Zinnia grimaced but made no other answer.

“He can’t be all bad, can he?” Cassia asked, as if anxious to retain some semblance of the reality she’d believed in for so long. “He could have made us all miserable—it wasn’t as though we could have told anyone—but instead he gave us these fabulous balls to enjoy.”

Zinnia shook her head quickly. She wanted no misunderstanding about the depths of Idric’s depravity. “That wasn’t compassion,” she said firmly. “He doesn’t experience compassion. It’s foreign to his nature. That was motivated by practicality. A group of crying, complaining, terrified children would have been inconvenient, to say the least. He most likely would have found it infuriating to deal with. His intentions were always evil.”

“I don’t know if I can go back down there, now I know that,” said Magnolia, her lips white.

“You won’t have to,” Zinnia reassured her. “Idric said that was the last one. That’s why I pulled you out of the enchantment. I wouldn’t have shown you the truth if we had to endure more such nights.”

“Yes, about that.” Violet sounded unimpressed. “What gave you the right to make that decision for us, Zin? I don’t appreciate being duped, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

“I’m not surprised,” Zinnia said wearily. “I’m guessing I’d feel the same way in your shoes. But honestly, I think youmightappreciate it if you’d experienced the alternative. Being the main focus of Idric’s experiments all this time wasn’t exactly a picnic.”

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