Page 74 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
“Tell me,” I demanded.
She laughed airily, her hand to her chest like I’d just told the most amusing joke. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Tell me, or I’ll go back to the mud quarter. I’ll tell everyone. We’ll rise, and—”
“And do what, exactly?” She drawled, ice dripping from her voice as she turned to fully face me. “I have two dragons that obey me. And dragons around here seem to have a habit of turning your people into ash.”
My jaw dropped as my heart sank into my feet. She kneweverything.
I opened my mouth to argue that Zion or Zariah would never, but I hesitated, remembering how they always obeyed her, no matter what. Suddenly, horrifically, I wasn’t so sure who’d they pick if forced to choose between their mother or me.
“What dragon?” I insisted, remembering the charred remains in the cave. “It wasn’t Zion or Zariah—”
The queen huffed, looking away. “Haven’t you heard the proverb never to poke a sleeping dragon? I suggest you go down there and have a nice time. This—” she gestured between us with her fingers, “is not a nice time.” Her eyes sharpened, as if a sudden idea just occurred to her. Nausea rose in my stomach.
“Actually, stay awhile. I have someone I’d like you to meet.”
The queen clapped her hands twice, and a young man stepped up to the dais. He was dressed as a noble in long, silver flowing robes that matched the queen’s, now that I saw them standing next to each other. He was handsome with brown eyes and shoulder length hair that was black. He was probably only a little older than I was. I stared at the short hair that was exactly the same shade as mine. Something about him felt familiar.
“Yes, my queen?” he asked, his voice smooth and cultured.
The queen held out a hand to him and he kissed it, his lips lingering on her fingers. She giggled like a schoolgirl and my dread only increased. Where was the king? He was conspicuously absent. “Tell our new princess who you are, dear.”
He cleared his throat. “Ah, Flame Six Seventy-Six. The others call me Ess.”
For all the S-sounds in his name, I bet. Oh boy.
My brain struggled to remember what the other fireguard had told me about the significance. “So … the sixth boy taken during the seventy-sixth reaping?”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, grinning at me. “Yes!”
“Maybe you knew my brother,” I said faintly. “He might be older, though.” I couldn’t stop staring at the shape of his eyes. The shape reminded me of my mother’s.
The queen had a sick smile on her face that didn’t bode well for either of us.
He blinked. “Do you know his flame number?”
I shook my head.
“What does he look like?”
Again, I shook my head. I’d been too young when he left.
“Ah. Well, fifteen of us got reaped my year, but five went back, eventually.”
“He would have been from the third row; like me,” I added.
Ess beamed. “I’m from the third row. I had a little sister like you, barely toddling. I wonder—”
He stopped short, staring at me as his lips parted in shock. I flinched backwards.
No.
It would be too much of a coincidence. And if I let myself believe it was really him, it would only hurt all the more if he wasn’t.
“My sister is the infamous dragon rider of Barcenea?!”
“Barcenea? What’s that?” I demanded.
