least the size of a five-story building, she made Dory’s friend look petite. I hadn’t realized it when we met, but Claire—the half dragon’s human name—might still be an adolescent, the equivalent of a teenager in their world.
I did not think that this one was.
She ran after us—moving gracefully in spite of her size—and then flew, taking off from the steep mountainside as easily as a human would step off a stair.
I watched in awe as she launched herself into the air, leaving an avalanche of dirt behind her. Unlike her baby, she was all shades of blue, from the acre of pale, silver-blue scales on her belly, to aquamarine on her sides, to sapphire on her back and, finally, to midnight along the heavily ridged spine. The darkest hues blended beautifully with the iridescent color of her wings, which was variously black, navy and silver when the sun hit them just right.
No, not the sun, I thought.
An alien star . . .
I felt dizzy again, and only came back to myself when someone began tugging on my clothes. I looked up and realized that Ray had found an emotion at last. Unfortunately, it appeared to be terror, because he was screaming again. And pointing ahead to where something else was hurtling at us through the sky.
Or perhaps we were hurtling toward it, I thought, or we were both rushing at the other, which might explain the speed at which—
“We’re gonna crash!” Raymond shrieked, as whatever was in front of us tried desperately to turn.
It succeeded, although not in getting away. We hit it broadside, and at such a rate that all I saw was a massive explosion of shattering wood. I hadn’t had a clear view of the craft or whatever it was, but it must have been big judging by all the fey suddenly falling everywhere. And getting plucked out of the air by the mother dragon, who seemed to have forgotten us in the face of an easy meal.
For our part, we continued racing ahead, and then falling so quickly that we splashed down in water what felt like only seconds later. I was still looking behind us, at a wooden platform that was all that remained of whatever we’d hit. It was listing around the skies, half a dozen fey holding onto the edges and another few trying to haul them back up, while a dragon picked them off like appetizers from a canape tray.
I’ve been here an hour, I thought, blankly.
I’ve been here an hour, and look what I’ve seen.
What will I see next?
“Don’t turn around,” Ray said conversationally, sitting beside me.
He no longer appeared terrified, and in fact, seemed unusually calm.
“Why?”
“We landed in a river and we’re about to fall over a great bloody waterfall.”
I looked over my shoulder. He was right. “Faerie is . . . unpredictable,” I commented, not sure what to say under the circumstances.
“That’s one word for it,” he agreed, as the current took us.
This time, I was the one who screamed.
Chapter Eight
Dory, Cairo
I woke up—again—in a strange bed—again—although the sheets smelled of butterscotch, so I wasn’t too worried. I’d never told my lover that he reminded me of my favorite candy and couldn’t now because he was gone. Maybe off explaining to Hassani why we’d switched rooms.
And torched his rug.
And scandalized his servants.
Or, knowing Louis-Cesare, who had the aristocrat’s disdain for explaining anything, he hadn’t so much as mentioned it.
Yeah, that was absolutely what he’d do, I thought, grinning slightly and getting out of bed. I padded over to the bathroom, which was huge and luxurious. Because Hassani might have the reputation of a scholarly monk, but he didn’t live like it.
I eyed the stone pool—that was the only word for it—that took pride of place in the center of the room and easily fit two. It would probably fit ten, but we’d hadn’t had ten this past week, when we’d thoroughly enjoyed the one in our old suite. I thought that was just as well. Ten Louis-Cesares would probably kill me.
I opted for a shower this morning because it was quicker, then got out, dried off, and ran a comb through my hair. The Svarestri had almost scalped me on the left side of my bangs, so I parted the hair on the right to hide it, and decided it would do. This whole goodwill tour had required me to seriously up my game, not just wardrobe-wise but makeup-and-hair-wise as well. But today I was working, and I