Page 85 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
I rolled my eyes when she led us down the hall and into one of her dressing rooms. “I think the gryphons are a more pressing problem.” The dragon eggs too, not that I could say that since I wasn’t supposed to know of their existence. But the sooner we got them, the better. Then Andova would stop attacking, and I didn’t have to worry about a war terrorizing Clara’s home.
“Not to Aurelia.” Nimue snorted. “Fate of the kingdom pales in comparison to making sure thecolor of your dress matches your eyes.”
“Would you two shut up?” Aurelia went through the various dresses tucked on a rail in the corner of the room and then handed one to me. It wasn’t quite a gown, but it looked like one. The outfit had three parts to it. The first was an under-dress. The straps on the underdress were considered quite scandalous with only thin straps to hold up the dress which clung to my torso and flared out at my waist. Then the outer layer was a modified surcoat vest. The third part was pants. All in all, it was similar to the uniforms that the others wore when they were out in the field for more formal missions.
But it was strange to see on myself. The outfit hugged my torso, and the high collar protected my neck from the cold. The shoulders flared out in little points and the sleeves went down to my wrists. The front cut off at my waist, but the sides and back remained long. Put together with the boots, I made an intimidating figure.
“What’s with the formal wear?” I asked as I studied myself in the mirror. I had to resist the urge to tug the clothes off. I’d gotten used to the surcoat leathers that we sometimes wore, with how they were cut at the sides and allowed for us to ride our dragons. But this… there was no mistaking who I was when I wore it. I looked like one of them. The pointed ears and tattoo along my neck only enforced that.
Aurelia let out a noise of disgust. “The festival is the biggest event of the year. All five Noble Houses will be there. As per our treaty, our neighboring countries are also invited to see our strength as well as the peasants.You might be a little street ratthief,but you need to look like one of us. At least for the day.”
“Listen here, bitch—”
Nimue stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Aurelia’s a bitch, but she’s right. Not that you’re a street rat, though objectively that is your background. But you need to look like us. Andova’s assassins are still out there. The festival will show them you’re strong, and it should make them back off.”
My stomach churned. “Fine.” Gareth talked about roles and masks all the time. If I did this, if I put on this mask, I could change my story, just like he did.And if I please Luther, he’ll let my sister live with me sooner.“So what happens at the festival?”
Aurelia rolled her eyes. “Gareth’s been slacking. We start the festival with a dragon dance to show off our control. Then we each have a performance and mingle for the rest of the day. The Mother help me. You’re hopeless. I bet you don’t know how to ballroom dance, right? Of course you don’t.”
“Kill me,” I deadpanned.
Aurelia sighed. “I wish.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The next two months were a special kind of hell. I thought training was bad, but preparing to be perfect little dolls for the capital was even worse. We mainly did drills with our dragons, not for our safety, but to make sure we could ‘control’ our dragons, and so they’d listen to us during the performance.
When we weren’t practicing that or training, the others were constantly called in for missions to take out spotted gryphons. It was becoming a weekly thing—something that pissed Aurelia off to no end, since having one person missing ‘ruined’ performance practice according to her. Nimue was right. If Andova attacked us during the festival, Aurelia would be madder about the disturbance of ‘her day’ than the actual invasion.
I tried not to worry so much about the increased gryphon activity. We had more proof that they didn’t seek me out since we hadn’t been ambushed, but I still hated how often my friends had to go risk their lives. If this kept happening, nowhere would be safe.
I’d gone on a few missions myself to assist, but thankfully, the damage was nowhere near as severe as it’d been with the nest. With me being bait, wedid manage to minimize casualties since all the beasts wanted to eat me. Ever since those missions, I’d noticed whispers from the villagers. I wasn’t just ‘the commoner dragonsguard’ anymore, but someone who actually belonged in the dragonsguard. While I was happy for it, I also felt a bit uneasy by it.
My lessons with Gareth started up again. He drilled into my head all the Noble Houses and their extended family. “How the hell do you remember all this stuff?” I stared at the list of names, their descriptions, and the beliefs he had listed under their name. The amount of detail he’d included was scary.
Gareth grinned, but it had an edge to it. “Every Noble House learns this stuff, but you and I… we have a lot to prove. People want us to fail.”
If the noble lessons weren’t bad enough, I also had etiquette lessons with Aurelia, who delighted in showing me all the ways I was ‘inferior’ and a ‘mannerless street rat.’
“I won’t have you embarrass us,” she hissed. “As future queen, it’s my job to get you in line. If I can’t even do that, I might as well resign.”
The Family help me once she took up the mantle. She’d be even more of a disaster. “Looking forward to it.”
Aurelia bared her teeth in a smile. “Don’t be mistaken, wretch. You might think of this as merely a festival, but it’s a battlefield. You will be quizzed for information. The Houses will see what you let loose. Raghnall will be listening in as well as Andovan spies. If they spot weakness, they will think the entiredragonsguard is weak. And I willnottolerate that. If you fail, you’ll have even more people calling for your death, and next time, you won’t get so lucky with your life.”
At training one afternoon, a servant handed Kieran a slip of paper. Kieran instantly tensed as he read the missive. He clenched his jaw. “Training is over for today.”
“What a child,” Aurelia scoffed. Kieran ignored her and took off on Hesperos without a word.
I looked around at the others. They weren’t the least bit curious. Did they know the letter’s contents? “What’s going on? Is it another gryphon sighting?” I wouldn’t be surprised. There were already two this past week.
Gareth’s eyes glinted. “It’s probably a letter from House Caddel confirming who all is coming to the festival.”Oh.That explained Kieran’s tension. Gareth straightened his shoulders. “We might as well head back.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Ben stretched. “It won’t be long before my father sends his own missive. If only he’d stay home.”
I frowned and looked at the sky, where Hesperos was slowly becoming too small to see. He wasn’t headed toward the castle but somewhere else. Where did he plan on going?
“Don’t cave to his pouting,” Aurelia surprised me bysaying. “If he can’t manage his emotions that’s his problem.”
