“There must’ve been about twelve eggs. But only one of this group was strong enough to survive.”
“But—oh!” She swallowed hard as the light picked out several withered wings and blots of dried blood. “You mean the one we saw lived because he—”
“Exactly. It’s unusual for only one of a clutch to survive, but I suppose this one was pretty ruthless.” He shrugged and poked at a shard with the toe of his boot. “They’re not so different from us, you know,” he mused. “We just wait until we’re grown to kill each other off. And it might be said that we consume each other, too, if you think about it.”
“I’d rather not, thank you. Will we need more light?”
“Please.”
The flame brightened and now they could see the jagged stones of the walls and the high ceiling, a cave large enough for a she-dragon and her mate. Rohan ran his fingers over the stone. “A river flowed through here once, ages ago. It carved out the soft stone. But the dragons hollowed out a lot of it, too. See where they’ve been at work with their claws?” He pointed out the marks that had deepened the cave. “They use the debris to make the hatching walls.”
“And then the little ones break them down. Those that hatch first do the bulk of the work and exhaust themselves, so they’re fairly easy prey for the later ones.”
“Very good. We’ll make a Desert dragon out of you yet.” He crouched down in the sand, scooping up a handful to sift through his fingers. It glistened in the light of Sunrunner’s Fire.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sioned murmured.
“Give me your waterskin,” he said abruptly. She did so, and he pulled the cork out with his teeth. Pouring the contents over his hand, he rubbed the fine sand with his fingers. Shining grains remained in his palm. With a soft exclamation, he emptied his waterskin and poured sand into its narrow neck.
“What are you doing?” Sioned asked, mystified.
“It’s not obvious?”
“Rohan, more sand is the very last thing you need!”
“Look at it, Sioned. And at the shells.”
With a lift of her finger she conjured the Fire higher. By its light the whole cave sparkled. She picked up a stray shard and examined it. “It’s ragged where the dragon poked through it with his claws,” she said slowly. “But on this side it’s smoother, almost as if it had been—melted?”
“To dry and toughen their wings after they’re born, they breathe fire. They also breathe it at each other. Roast dragon meat is their first dinner.”
She gulped. “Go on.”
“They lose the capability by winter. But look what happens when they breathe fire on their own shells.” He plugged the waterskin and stirred the shining sand with his fingers.
“Rohan,” she whispered. “This can’t be real gold.”
He hefted the waterskin full of sand. “I’ll take this home and do a few experiments, find out for sure. But do you know what it means if I’m right?”
“You can’t let the dragons be killed off—and you certainly can’t tell anyone else about this! Every other prince would be marching across your borders within days!”
“Do I look that stupid?” He rose to his feet, grinning.
Sioned laughed. “You look like someone who’s just found his heart’s desire. I had no idea you were so greedy!”
“Oh, but I am!” Light-headed with his discovery and its possibilities, he laughed back. “And I found my heart’s desire at the beginning of summer, as filthy and sweaty as she is right now.”
“The things you’ll say to seduce me,” she chided playfully.
All the effervescent excitement died. “And you know all about seductions, don’t you? Who was it for you, Sioned?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Who was it?” he demanded. “The man who taught you—”
“I don’t know. I never wanted to know. What difference does it make?”
“What did he do, wear a robe and a mask to bed? Never say a word so you wouldn’t recognize his voice? Did you expect me to welcome the idea that you’ve been with other men?”
Her green eyes lit with fury and her conjured Fire leaped in response. “Do you expect me to be ashamed? It’s something that happened and doesn’t have anything to do with us!”
“How many, Sioned?”
She gasped. “How dare you! You have no right to ask me that, as if every man at Goddess Keep had been through my bed! I never asked you about your women, did I?”
He was so startled he almost forgot to be angry. “What are you talking about?”