Page 71 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
Yet again, I am a prisoner.
Yet again, no onlooker comes to my aid.
Horses and soldiers alike scream in terror as Malice takes to the skies, a warning roar thundering from his throat. Magic shimmers all around me, taunting me with my inability to wield it. To save myself. To save Bene.
Bene, who might very well still be alive.Somewhere.
I reach for threads of Air with my mind and imagine using them to pry Malice’s claws from around my waist. I grasp for threads of Fire. Water. Spirit.Anything.
But it is no use. No matter what I do, no matter what anyone says about how important I’m supposed to be, I just…can’t. I can’t weave. I can’t escape.
Not as Malice flies me far beyond the twinkling lights of Spindleton—far from my mother, my father, Lord Reggie. Far from all I’ve ever known.
And straight into the heart of Drakara.
Chapter 21
Aurelia
Twelve Years Ago
Tonight, I would turn eighteen.
Tonight, Bene would come.
And I had no way of knowing yet if he would be coming to steal me away to Drakara or to say goodbye.
I fretted with the skirt of my gown, twisting the silk until it wrinkled beyond repair. When Mama caught my eye, my hands stilled immediately. I knew what she would say if she could:“You are soon to be a lady, Aurelia, and ladies do not fidget.”
But how could I possibly sit still?
Lady Danbury cleared her throat. “I imagine you must be so terribly eager for next week, Miss Weaver.”
My attention fixed back upon the two women sitting across from Mama and me—none other than Miss Selina Danbury and her equally odious mother. I despised these stuffy afternoon teas just as much as Mama adored them, but they had become a weekly tradition I could not escape ever since Lord Harcourt’s proposal.
Ever since I became somebody ofmoderateimportance.
“Next week?” I asked.
Selina tittered into her teacup. “Yes… yourwedding, Miss Weaver?”
My stomach tightened at the reminder that I was soon to be a married woman, assuming Bene didn’t spirit me away.
Of course, Mama would be so terribly cross with me if Benedidspirit me away. She would never forgive me. Papa’s business in Spindleton would be ruined. Our family’s name would be forever stained.
But perhaps I could convince them to come to Drakara with me.
In my silence, Selina’s tone turned sharp—a sugar-coated blade she sought to wield against me. “Or have you forgotten poor Lord Harcourt already?”
“Selina,” Lady Danbury warned, her smile turning brittle.
I conjured up a smile of my own and sweetly asked, “How could I possibly forget the most eligible bachelor in all of Spindleton, Miss Danbury? Well…” I trailed off, lowering my eyelashes toward my teacup. “I suppose he is a bachelor no longer.”
Some dark part of me delighted in making Selina frown like that—like she wished I would drop dead from her stare alone—even though I didn’t care at all for Thomas Harcourt. He was arrogant and cold.
If Bene were here, he would have said my Shade was tempting me to be cruel.
Diplomatically, Mama changed the subject. “Lady Danbury, these tarts are divine. I daresay your cook is the best in all of Briarhold.”
