Page 91 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

Maybe I’ll give her a few hours to cool off and try again tomorrow.

I do my best to push thoughts of Ara out of my head while I leave the orderly part of Platoria behind, entering the area that borders the port. Platoria’s port is an important trading point because of the mist. Nearly all trade between the five kingdoms takes place by sea. It’s the perfect place to find answers or hire someone to find them for you.

The streets get darker and less frequented, and it always baffles me that this part of town is only a stone’s throw away from the cliff where I used to go swimming with my brother and Jared. Those summers seem like a lifetime ago.

We spent many summers down here in the south. I smile at the memories that belong to a life I left behind more than three years ago.

Nan sits on a blanket reading, the now empty picnic basket at her side. Louis and two of his friends are our guards for today, which makes the afternoon much more relaxed than it would have been otherwise.

I watch my brother race his best friend Leo to the edge of the cliff, clearly enjoying the free day as much as I am. They shout in joy when they propel themselves off the ledge, spreading their arms like wings.

They’re at that age when they have just started growing into their long arms and legs and seem a little uncoordinated and out of proportion, no matter how they dress. It’s even more obvious now since, apart from Nan, all of us are dressed in dark cotton shorts and nothing else.

“Oi, wait, you little buggers,” Louis shouts, running after them.

I remember our laughter while we jumped off that cliff, challenging each other to increasingly reckless jumps until Nan put her foot down and made us stop.

Louis was ten years older than his brother—about twenty-eight in that memory—but rivaled Jared in childish ideas even on a good day. He was also the best at sweet-talking his mother. So after his pleading and our promises to behave, we’re allowed to jump again.

We basked in the sun whenever our legs were too tired from running up the countless steps from the water below, just to do it all over again.

My smile slips when I remember why it’s the last summer I spent that way. The last summer of Louis’s and Leo’s lives.

I haven’t been back at the cliffs since. I haven’t even been back in Platoria until starting patrols.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

ARA

Two menat the table behind me talk about a dragon being in town, and I can’t believe my luck. I tune out the riders around me and focus on the conversation behind me.

Based on the heavy silence that follows when one of the men drops the dragon’s name, Lorcan, it seems his companion has heard of him.

“Lorcan was seen at the Dark Horse every night this week,” the deep voice continues. “I wonder what he’s waiting for.”

“Probably just a lucrative deal,” his friend answers. “Or maybe he got bored hiring out his services. I heard he fought on quite a few battlefields in the past century.”

“Fuck, can you imagine being around that long?” the first man asks. “He probably saw more people die than we ever met.”

“Forget seeing,” the other snorts. “He probably killed more people than we ever met.”

My mind whirls. Dragons are highly magical creatures, shapeshifters, and like the man said, they live a hell of a lot longer than humans do. So if anyone can answer my questions, it’s a dragon.

I have to meet him.

I glance at Tanner to my right. Zaza said he grew up in Platoria, so he would know where the Dark Horse is, right?

I wait for him to finish his conversation with one of the serving girls, who he seems to know on a personal level, and then engage him in a conversation about growing up in Platoria. He makes it easy, and I soon know a lot about his family and the town around us.

“So what is the Dark Horse?” I finally ask, holding my breath when Tanner sits up straighter at that.

“What? Why do you ask?” He sounds alert.

“Oh, I just overheard some men talking about it and wondered what it is.” I try to defuse his suspicion. He relaxes, and so do I.

“It’s a tavern close to the port,” Tanner answers my question, and I could have kissed him. “But not one you ever want to visit, kid. Believe me, there are more crooked things going on in one evening than you ever want to encounter in a lifetime.”

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