voice was too light, too casual. Bad news, then.
“About the dragons?”
“About Alyssinia.”
She turned to look at him. He stood in the doorway, a roll of parchment clutched in his hand. “What is it?”
He stepped inside and closed the door. “A letter came for me while I was injured,” he said. “A guard just gave it to me. It was from Nettle.”
“What does it say?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Then tell me faster.”
Finnegan unrolled the letter, but he spoke without really looking at it. “John’s arrested Rodric,” he said. “Everyone in the kingdom will know by now, but Nettle says she heard it early, from a reliable source. She says he’s being charged with treason.”
Treason. Aurora had been afraid this would happen, but that had been before. Before Finnegan’s burn, before Celestine, before the dragons. In all the more immediate danger, she had almost forgotten Rodric. But he had been caught.
And John burned people for treason. He burned people for less.
The thought was too huge, too terrifying after everything else, so she grasped for another detail, something else to focus on. “A reliable source?” she said. “What does that mean?”
“Someone in the castle, I assume. Did you hear what I said? Rodric is being charged with treason.”
She had heard. But what was there to say? “I suppose the rumors were true.”
“Perhaps,” Finnegan said. “He was connected to you, and the king’s not exactly reasonable. John must have decided his son was too much of a threat.”
Aurora reached for the parchment, as though she could make any sense of Nettle’s code, as though she could drag some other meaning from the page. Finnegan did not give it to her. “That’s not all,” he said.
“What else could there possibly be?”
“He claims that he has arrested you as well. You will be tried together, but the verdict seems set.”
Aurora closed her eyes, but it did little to calm the buzzing in her head. “He has someone he’s pretending is me?”
“Nettle certainly thinks so.”
It was possible the king was bluffing. But why would he risk that, when he could use any blond girl off the street? She was a story, after all. Any girl could play her part. “When?” she said. “When’s the trial?”
“Seven days from now.”
A long wait, from capturing them to putting them on show. Was he doing it on purpose, trying to tempt her back to save Rodric and the innocent girl he had taken in her place? Or was he dragging it out, to get a confession from Rodric, to get the greatest advantage from the promised burning of the princess?
“I have to go back,” she said. “Now.”
“You’re going to fight him?”
“Yes,” she said. “I have to.”
“For Rodric?”
“Of course for Rodric. He’s a good person. He’s my friend.” She couldn’t make a deal with Celestine to save Finnegan, and not even try to help Rodric, not after his kindness to her, not when she ran and left him to help the people in Alyssinia alone. “He needs to live through this, so he can be king, so things can be better.” She had the answers she’d wanted; she had control over her magic; she had a piece of dragon heart beating beside her own. She was as ready as she would ever be.
“What’s your plan?” Finnegan said. “My mother won’t help you, not after that.”
“I have something that she wants,” Aurora said. “She’ll listen to me.” Aurora had never been good at negotiation, but she could not back down now. And their kingdoms had a long history of unbalanced bargains and broken promises.
She might not be fit to be queen, but she had the power to help. She had to use it, whatever that would mean.
“As for the king . . . I can fight him,” she said, the certainty building inside her. Finally, she had conviction. Finally, she knew what to do. “I have you. I have magic. And I have a dragon.”
TWENTY-NINE
“THESE ARE MY TERMS.” AURORA STARED AT ORLA, determined to look the part of a queen, negotiating with an equal. “I will take the captured dragon to Alyssinia and overthrow the king, to what I believe will be our mutual benefit.”
Orla raised her eyebrows. “Finally seizing the throne for yourself?”
“I’m not seizing anything,” Aurora said. “John is killing my people, including his own son for his association with me. Maybe Rodric will be king, maybe someone else, maybe I will rule. Regardless, the path seems simple to me.”
“And you expect me to let you take a dragon there?