Page 84 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

“Maybe you were remembering that you promised not to leave me.”

“Yes, well.” He took my hand and led me back to that bench. We sat and he took both of my hands, then bit his lips together.

My stomach sank. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I do owe her something, though, for rescuing us.”

“What does she want?”

“She has only one daughter left that has not chosengevri.She wants us to fetch her home for the announcement. She says she will explain nothing until her daughter is here.”

“So, another long dragon ride.”

“Yes, and no. She wants Sweetie and Minkin and Bain and I to make the trip.”

“Oh. Not me.”

He bit his lip again, this time embarrassed. “I tried to explain that I need you with me, but she insisted that you’ll be perfectly safe here. Besides, it should only take two days. One there, one back.”

“And if I want an audience?—”

“There will be no audience. I’m sorry. She says you’ll have all the answers you need after it’s over.”

“And she’ll allow me to stay for it if…”

“You’ll let me go.”

“And not make a fuss.”

He blinked a few times. “You make all the fuss you want, my Asper. Bend the world to your will as you always do. Just promise me…promise me you’ll be here when I get back.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I won’t give her a reason to send me away.”

He inhaled deeply and sighed with acute relief. “Thank you.” He kissed each of my eyes. “You are all I ask for.”

“And when you get back, will she have other errands for you?”

He looked unsure, but he said, “After the ceremony, you and I will be free to leave all this behind.”

“If there’s any time left.”

He nodded and sighed again. “If there’s any time left. But I can’t believe she would ask me to leave you if two days was all we had.”

“Can’t you?” I heard a creak and looked past him just in time to see a brunette figure slipping back inside the royal residence. “I can…”

40

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN!

“Demius, please?—”

The old man shook his head. “I’m asking you to be patient, Asper. Just a little longer.”

To show my desperation, I snatched from the shelf the dragon sculpture I’d made the week before and threw it against the wall where it shattered into a dozen pieces and left a deep scar in the imperfect wood. “You’ve been saying the same for years! I don’t understand why you can’t just take me into the city one time. Just for a day. Nothing bad can happen in a day.”

“Something unfortunate happens every day.” He nodded to the broken mess on the floor. “You can never predict what others will do.”

I woke with the sour taste of frustration in my mouth—part dream, part memory, and part annoyance with a woman whose actions I could neither predict nor control. It didn’t matter how desperately Tearloch and I wanted to stay close, someone was always keeping us apart!

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