Page 100 of Draekora

“Well, if it isn’t my favourite draekon,” Niyx said in greeting. His words may have sounded snarky, but Alex knew he’d established a kind of mutual respect with Xiraxus, especially after they’d both laughed so hard together during the volcano incident. “Do I want to know why you kept our little mortal friend here up past her bedtime?”

Alex let the derogatory comment slide over her, since she’d heard much worse from him in the past few days.

“Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Xiraxus asked Alex.

Niyx glanced between them both. “I’m officially intrigued.”

“Xira thinks he’ll be ready to take me back to my time in a few days,” Alex said, still marvelling over what the draekon had told her the previous night. After everything she’d experienced in the past, she found it difficult to wrap her head around the idea of returning home—back to her friends, back to her family.

Niyx looked puzzled by the lack of jubilation in her voice. “This is a good thing, right?”

Alex nodded, more to herself than him. “Definitely. I mean, coming here was an accident to begin with—or maybe not, if you want to read into the whole looping-time paradox. But getting stuck in the past was never in my five-year plan, so I always knew I would have to go home when the time came.”

She didn’t mention her option to leave earlier through the Library, knowing it would raise too many questions about how she’d stayed to get a better idea of how Aven had become… well,Aven.

“I made the best of a bad situation by trying to learn what I would have if I’d been in the future,” Alex continued, “and thanks to you, I’ve come a long way with that.” She tipped her head in gratitude. “But I think it’s about time I got back to my real life.”

Knowing her better than she would like, Niyx asked, “Are you ready for that?”

“Psychologically?” Alex shook her head. “Probably not. Physically?” She grinned self-deprecatingly and shook her head again. “Definitely not. But I’m more ready than I ever have been before, so I’ll take that as a win.”

He watched her carefully, his eyes alert, and then turned to Xiraxus. “When do you think you’ll be up to the journey?”

“The day after the festival, at the latest,” the draekon returned, his tail sweeping forest debris in an arc around his hindquarters. “Possibly sooner.”

Niyx looked back to Alex. “Then we still have a few days left to practise before you go.”

The challenging glint in his eyes caused Alex no small amount of unease as she wondered what agonies he might inflict upon her next.

“Summon A’enara back, Aeylia,” he ordered. “If you think I’ve been going hard on you these last couple of sessions, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

Thirty-One

Niyx hadn’t been lying about taking iteasy on her previously, not if the rest of their training session was any indication.

When they eventually called it quits that evening, Alex was barely able to summon the energy to return to the palace, clean up her bedraggled self and stumble down to dinner. Once there, she struggled to lift her fork to her mouth, and she was sorely tempted to ask the queen to feed her like a child. But after a few bites of the delicious meal, along with some hearty swigs of warmedlaendra, Alex finally felt strength return to her body, enough to look up and properly take in her surroundings.

The moment she did, she froze with her goblet in the air.

For the first time in days, the entire royal family was dining together. Astophe and Niida were there, but so too were Roka and Aven, as well as the addition of Kyia—something which Alex was pleased to note, since the more time she spent in the presence of Roka, the more Alex was certain they would soon fall for one another.

What Alexwasn’tpleased to note was how oblivious she’d been of her dinner company up until thelaendrajolted her back to awareness. How had she missed both Roka and Aven being there? The former was barely at the palace at all of late, so busy as he was with theZeltorarecruits, and the latter Alex had been deliberately avoiding due to his potentially unrequited feelings for her.

But now… Now everyone was looking at Alex with unbridled amusement.

“Rough day, Aeylia?” Kyia asked, a grin tugging at her lips.

Lowering her goblet to the table, Alex considered how best to respond. They’d all seen her zombie-like self just moments ago so she wouldn’t be able to brush aside their observations.

“I feel as though I single-handedly hunted down and fought my way through an entire pack of Sarnaphs.”

Her answer produced chuckles all around the table, and given how outrageous her statement was, it had the effect she was after, meaning that no one thought to question the real reason for her exhaustion.

“I hope you still have it in you to practise tonight,” Niida said, passing a hamper of pastries over to Alex.

Reaching for a spiced fruit scroll, Alex asked, “Practise for what?”

It was Kyia who answered, taking the hamper from Alex once she was done. “There are only three days left until the ball, andsomeonestill doesn’t know enough to pass as a Meyarin.”

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