he said, “Will I see you for dinner in the hall?”
“Ah, I’ll probably eat with Leyra,” Tauran said. “I’ve been neglecting her recently.”
Roric nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll see you in the morning.”
* * *
His room was empty.
Tauran stood in the doorway, heart hammering.
Leyra’s mess had been cleaned, the tattered remains of his blankets replaced with a new one, the bent and broken sleeping cage gone all together, and Leyra herself was nowhere to be seen.
Tauran spun in a circle, rubbed the back of his neck before gripping the muscles there tightly. Stay calm. His confrontation with Falka aside, the general had no reason to suspect him of anything illegal.
“Ah! Darrica.”
The sound of his name made Tauran turn quickly. One of the dragon physicians stood behind him with an apologetic smile already in place. Tauran didn’t miss the large tear in the sleeve of his white shirt.
“Where’s Leyra?” Tauran asked.
“She’s upstairs,” the physician said. Up close, it was clear he had been sweating, the shirt sticking to his chest. “The general thought it’d be good for her to be moved somewhere more spacious, since she has been making a mess of your room.”
“How far upstairs?”
“Eighth floor. The general knows you didn’t want her placed on the nesting floors, so we’ve made room for her in the upper meeting chamber.”
Tauran tried not to let his trepidation show. The eighth floor was hardly any better than the tenth, and considerably higher up than he was comfortable with. But he had more urgent concerns. “Is she all right?”
The physician’s apologetic expression turned to something like discomfort. “She was… rather wild. At the general’s request, we’ve strapped her down, but she’s… strong. It was a bit of a struggle.” The physician must have seen the worry in Tauran’s expression, because he quickly continued, “she’s unharmed! Just a little tired. As we all are after that ordeal. It took five guards, myself and another physician to get her to follow along. The general voiced concerns about her disobedience, and I have to say I agree. It is my opinion t—”
Tauran pushed past and into the corridor. The height of the eighth floor no longer seemed important. He had to make sure she was as all right as the physician claimed. With everything going on, he wasn’t about to take anyone on their word.
The physician trailed close behind him up the stairs. “Based on her rate of development, we’ve decided that it’s time to start actively training Leyra. We’re putting together a schedule with important physical exercises that we’d like your input on. The general will speak to you first thing in the morning about her training plan.”
Tauran only listened with half an ear, wishing most of all that the man would stop talking. On the stairs to the eighth floor, the pain in Tauran’s leg was almost enough to sprout tears in his eyes, but he didn’t slow.
Already before he reached the top, Leyra’s shrieks of displeasure were audible. Tauran called her name in greeting and received a muffled call in return. When Tauran set foot on the eighth floor and took in the sight of her, his worry ignited into anger.
They had cleared a large space in the center of the room and wrapped a heavy chain around the central column. The other end of the chain was attached to a head collar strapped tight around Leyra’s jaws to keep her mouth shut. It was askew, betraying how she had been struggling to free herself. Around her wings were yet more straps, keeping the limbs folded against her sides. When she saw Tauran, she wiggled her wings to free them and bounded toward him. The chain stopped her ten feet short, and she twisted painfully, throwing herself on the ground in an effort to pull the head collar off.
Tauran spun, seized the physician by the front of his torn shirt and shoved him against the wall. “How dare you!” he roared, loud enough to still Leyra’s struggles.
The far smaller man cowered under Tauran’s fury, face paling several shades as he grasped Tauran’s wrist. “Sir! I swear this was only to make moving her easier. We were going to free her jaws as soon as she calmed down!”
“She’s never even worn a training harness before! What were you thinking!” Tauran jerked the physician who wobbled like a rag-doll. “You should have waited until I returned and I would have taken her myself. Skies damn you!” Tauran released him and spun, marching to where Leyra lay flat