Venero blinked and Gemma knew Urbanus was right behind her. She spun and drove the broken piece of stone into his gut. The point slid into him far more easily than Gemma had expected, and she recalled how soft he was.
Urbanus fell back, staggering. “Gemma!” he cried, but she spun again, as Arista had taught her, and kicked him in the teeth.
Urbanus howled and fell backward, blue blood streaming from his mouth. “Witch!”
Gemma braced herself for attack when he growled and spun to his feet, fury in his eyes.
But then his expression changed and he scrambled to his feet, only to make a low bow.
Surely not to her.
* * *
The hair prickled on the back of Gemma’s neck. She pivoted smoothly, and knew she shouldn’t have been surprised to find Queen Arcana standing between the stalagmites. The monarch lifted her hands and clapped lightly, mocking Gemma with her applause. “I like a woman who is quick on her feet,” she said, and Gemma doubted that was true. “Never mind one who keeps men in their place. Urbanus was always lazy about his physical training.”
Gemma didn’t ask about Venero.
“Help me, Mother,” Urbanus said, holding his injured gut. The blood flowed from between his teeth, and also from his stomach. He stood in a puddle of blue blood, one that reminded Gemma of her first sight of the toad.
“That will depend upon your bride, and her cooperation.”
“Gemma, I entreat you!” Urbanus said, then evidently realized the chance of Gemma helping him were slim indeed. He sank down to the floor, moaning quietly.
“Definitely not the stuff of kings,” Arcana murmured, perhaps for Gemma’s ears alone.
The queen smiled and strolled closer, holding her long dark skirts in her hands. “The time for games is passed, Gemma.” She put out her hand imperiously. “Return it to me.”
“Return what to you?”
“Your disobedience will only infuriate me.” The queen smiled tightly. “Neither of us want to see that situation.”
“But I don’t know what you mean.”
Queen Arcana sighed. “Very well. We shall play this your way.” She strolled the length of the grotto, pausing to consider the pavofel. Felice stared back at her without blinking, as if the beast would provoke the queen deliberately. “I used to have a pavofel,” she said. “I miss him so much. And this is a fine specimen.”
“She is.” Gemma picked up Felice again, not trusting the queen one bit.
“You could give her to me.”
“I’m not feeling very generous right now.” Gemma shrugged. “I might if I had a certain antidote.” The truth was that she’d never abandon Felice, but the queen didn’t need to know that.
“A wager then. How interesting.” Queen Arcana made a circuit of the grotto, touching items idly, and Gemma guessed that the queen meant to distract her from something of import. She watched the queen with care, noting all the places the queen did not direct her gaze.
She had the antidote. But where was it hidden?
The queen gave the stone that contained Venero only the barest glance. “There should be enough air for him to see how this all ends,” she murmured and Gemma was horrified. “Of course, that depends upon you, Gemma.”
Gemma straightened as Arcana turned to face her.
“You were the Sword Sister of Arista, a Warrior Maiden of Cumae, with whom you trained for several years,” the queen said with authority. “She was here under false pretenses. She accepted a commission from me and failed to perform it because her true intent was the theft of a possession of mine. She only escaped because she was aided by my own son.” Queen Arcana smiled. “Now you want something from me. You want your shifter powers back. I want the ShadowCaster back.” She put out her hand again. “I think it would be a fair exchange.”
“A ShadowCaster?” Gemma echoed, pretending this was the first she’d heard of Arista’s theft. “They exist only in legend!”
“No. There is one that exists in truth. It was mine. It is mine, but the intruder stole it. I demand its return.”
“Was Arista given that opportunity before she was killed?”
Queen Arcana smiled. “Of course. She insisted that she had given it away, for safekeeping.” Her voice dropped low. “Who better than a Sword Sister? You must have it. Give it to me.”
Gemma knew that the ShadowCaster was safe, somewhere.
But she didn’t have to admit that just yet.
“I don’t have it.” Gemma reached into her satchel and removed the memoria. “I found only this,” she said then lied. “But it has no more power. I have to get it charged on Cumae to learn what Arista did with the ShadowCaster.”
Queen Arcana snatched the memoria and studied it, trying to divine how to use it. She shook it to no avail. She tried to crack it open like an egg, but even the thin seam remained invisible. She whispered a spell to it, but nothing happened. She flung it back at Gemma so hard that Gemma wouldn’t have caught it except for her dragon reflexes. “Open it!”
Gemma decided there was very little to be lost by following the command. She whispered Arista’s code word to the memoria. Just as before, it took a long time to respond, and she feared it really had no power left.
Then it split and opened, moving more slowly than it had the first time. It spun in her palm and projected a hologram of Arista.
The image pulled to one side, distorted, and flickered.
“I don’t know why I’m recording this,” Arista confessed, just as before. But this time, the recording of her voice caught, crackled, and faded. The image dimmed even as Queen Arcana stepped closer, intent upon hearing every syllable. “Only my Sword Sister could ever view it…”
The hologram winked out, and the memoria closed.
“There must be more!” the queen insisted.
“Undoubtedly, but the device has no power. It must have had a faulty power supply in the first place. It can only be restored on Cumae.”
The queen glared at her. “And only you can make the request.”
Gemma shrugged.
“No, it’s a trick,” Urbanus said. “Don’t let her go, Mother! She won’t return and you’ll lose the only chance we have of retrieving the ShadowCaster.”
“We?” echoed the queen, turning upon her oldest son. “I wouldn’t need to retrieve my ShadowCaster if you hadn’t been such a fool.” Her dark eyes narrowed. “I have to reconsider my assumption that you would become king, Urbanus.”
“But…”
“You are proving to be a failure of the most colossal kind. Perhaps it is your father’s legacy. He had little talent for leadership.” She grimaced, waving off his protests. “First, you failed to guard your dreams, a particularly grievous error when I had entrusted you with the secret of the ShadowCaster.”
“Of course, I thought about it. It was key to the future…”
“No doubt with the encouragement of Venero.” Queen Arcana rose and approached her other son. “Who undoubtedly shared your dream with others, ensuring that the secret of the ShadowCaster was no longer a secret.”
“Then Venero is the guilty party,” Urbanus protested. “He must have wanted to compromise your power.”
Queen Arcana turned to face him. “But he would not have had any revelations to share if you had guarded your dreams as you had been taught. You were the origin of the problem.” She held up a second finger. “Then you failed to have the ShadowCaster retrieved before the thief Arista was killed. Third, you failed to fully hide your involvement in that assassination contract. Fourth, you failed to consummate your marriage, or to control your wife, or to conceive an heir.”
“It’s only been two days!”
The queen held up a fist. “And now, as a result of all of that, your wife has a bargaining position, to which I might just have to cede. You could not have made a greater mess of matters, Urbanus.”
“But I’ll make it right…”
“No.” Queen Arcana’s voice boomed through th
e grotto. “My patience is expired!” When she pointed at Urbanus, there was a deafening crack and a flash, as if lightning had struck in the depths of the grotto. Gemma closed her eyes and grimaced at the smell of burning flesh.
She opened her eyes to see flames and smoke where Urbanus had been. There was a pile of soot on the floor of the cavern and the smell was horrific.
She checked but her ability to shift was still gone.
Gemma hoped it wasn’t lost forever. She’d need every bit of her dragon power to get herself and Venero out of this place.
Queen Arcana turned upon her, those eyes gleaming. “Do we have a wager, Gemma? I let you leave, you return with the ShadowCaster, and I give you the antidote?”
Gemma didn’t know what to say. She didn’t trust Queen Arcana to keep her word, and she already guessed that Venero would suffocate in that stone before she could return. There didn’t seem to be any good options.
Before she could think of another plan, Felice looked up at her, those eyes shining, and mewed. The pavofel’s gaze flicked to Queen Arcana and back to Gemma again, and although she couldn’t explain it, she understood what the creature meant.
And she trusted Felice, more than anyone else.
* * *
“We have a wager,” Gemma said to Queen Arcana. “Provided you take care of my pavofel. It’ll be a faster journey without her.”
“And I’ll be able to rely upon your return. What a fitting suggestion.” The queen reached for Felice, casting an admiring glance over the creature’s gleaming coat. “Such a beautiful—” she had time to say before Felice stretched up, bared her fangs and bit into the queen’s neck.
Queen Arcana screamed. She tried to fling the pavofel away, but Felice dug her claws into the queen’s shoulders. Gemma had to look away. Her pet gnawed into the queen’s throat with vigor, that blue blood flowing over both of them.
When the queen stumbled, Gemma raced to her side and removed the pouch bound to her belt. Inside was a stalactite of clear crystal, with a flame flickering deep within it.
A dragon flame.
The antidote!
Queen Arcana managed to fling Felice aside, but she couldn’t stand anymore. Her skin was even more pale than it had been and she lifted a shaking hand to Gemma. “Help me,” she whispered.
“The way you helped so many others? I don’t think so.” Gemma picked up Felice with concern. There was something wrong with the pavofel. She staggered as well, and her coat looked patchy. Her eyes were dulling and Gemma feared she’d been poisoned by the queen’s blood. She scooped her up and set her in the satchel. Felice curled up, wrapping her tail around herself and gave a little sigh.
Then Gemma shattered the crystal stalactite, cracking it on the side of another stone projection and releasing the flame. Fire burst forth and the flames swept over Gemma. She felt invigorated and saw the shimmer of blue that heralded her shift of shape. She summoned that a familiar tingle from deep within herself and shouted with joy that her powers were returned. She felt it surge through her body, then gave a triumphant roar when her transformation was complete.
The queen cried out in protest, but Gemma swung her tail and shattered a thousand crystals. She let it rip the other way and broke a thousand more. The queen moaned, but Gemma beat her wings and broke as many stones as she could.
The roof began to crumble.
Gemma bounded across the Grotto and seized the rock that held Urbanus captive. She cracked it hard against the ground, using every bit of her strength to shatter it.
He tumbled out and she feared she was too late.
But he was breathing. Gemma snatched him up and raced for the stairs. She was glad the descending passageway was so wide, and took the steps fifteen at a time. She burst into the reception hall of the Citadel, flung herself through the portal, then leaped into the air. She beat her wings, soaring high with effortless ease, and breathed a stream of fire just because she could.
Home to Incendium, and the hidden Starpod as planned.
* * *
The wind in his hair roused Venero.
He was wide awake when he realized he was high about Regalia, in the tight grasp of a massive dragon.
The dragon was as deep a blue as the midnight sky. Its scales could have been carved of sapphires, and ornamented with diamonds. The dragon’s chest looked like hammered gold, and its eyes, when it looked down at him, glittered like faceted sapphires in the snow.
Gemma.
She was beautiful, powerful, and the queen of his heart. “You found the antidote.”
“Your mother had it, just as you said. Marked with a flame and all.”
“I owe you a thank you,” he said and she chuckled.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
He noticed that she had the satchel and wondered what had happened to the pavofel. The air was thinning and he could see the stars when Gemma rolled in the air. He didn’t see what she did but when her spin was completed, they were sealed in a clear bubble.
“A crystal orb,” she informed him. “It’s only strong enough for jumps between planets in the same system, but it will get us home.”
Home.
Venero looked down. She must mean Incendium. He had to consider that any home would be better than the one he had known.
Especially if Gemma was with him.
He cleared his throat. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m really glad you’re a dragon.”
Gemma chuckled. “And I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad of your DreamCasting powers.”
“Maybe we should reconsider our assumptions.”
“Maybe we already have.”
Venero sensed that she was waiting for him to say something, so he did. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that true love stuff.”
“Really?”
Venero had the definite sense that she was teasing him, but he carried on, knowing he needed to say it. “I think we make a good team.”
“Because I keep saving your butt.”
“There’s something appealing about a woman determined to save my life.”
Gemma gave him a challenging glance. “Even if she isn’t demure.”
“Even then. Maybe especially then.” Venero grinned. “In fact, you’re changing my mind about a lot of things. I think that’s a good sign for the future.”
Gemma flew onward and said nothing.
“It makes me wonder if you like defending my back as much as I like defending yours.” He paused and swallowed. “I love you, Gemma, against all expectation.”
“I could say the same, DreamCaster.”
“We could get married, and ensure the union between our kingdoms and our family line. I’m the Carrier of the Seed, after all. We could have more sons.”
“True,” Gemma acknowledged. “It’s usually good for a king to have more than one heir.”
Venero blinked. He hadn’t considered the implications of his mother’s injury. “She won’t die,” he said, shaking his head. “Not anytime soon, that’s for sure. No one even knows for sure how old she is.”
“Maybe you should check on her.”
Venero looked down. He took a deep breath and he cast a dream down toward the Citadel. He closed his eyes and felt it spiraling down, through the clouds, through the roof, passing through the seams of the building to the Grotto.
He felt Queen Arcana winced, as if she were aware of it, but her eyes were closed and evidently she was unable to defend herself against it. The dream slipped into her mind, a poisonous and dark place, and Venero was startled to hear one resonant thought.
I should have killed you in the cradle.
Then darkness descended in her mind.
The queen had breathed her last and died.
Venero was shocked.
“Mission completed,” said a mechanical voice at close proximity. Venero’s eyes flew open and he looked around in confusion. “Begin self-destruct.”
The voice was coming from the satchel.
br /> Venero opened the bag and stared at what was left of Felice. The distinctive fur had already thinned and disintegrated. A moment later, he could see the pavofel’s skin, except it looked more like the silvery surface of the memoria. Tiny seam lines appeared around the joints and down the spine, then opened as the internal mechanisms smoked and disintegrated. He gasped as he glimpsed gears within the creature, including one emblazoned with a symbol.
He seized it and sheltered it in his hand. By the time Gemma landed on Incendium, there was only the single gear remaining of her pet, and a quantity of blue-green dust.
He was so busy staring into the bag that he barely noticed Gemma changing shape. There was a flash and a ripple in the air, then she was standing beside him with her hair flowing loose over her shoulders.
“It doesn’t hurt you?” he asked, amazed by her all over again.
She wrinkled her nose to tease him. “Amateur.”
Venero’s smile was fleeting because her gaze dropped to the bag. “I’m sorry, Gemma,” he said and offered her both open satchel and the single gear.
She paled as she lifted the gear from his hand. “You were right,” she whispered and he saw that the symbol upon it was Arista’s mark.
Gemma turned it over and frowned. “I die gladly for duty,” she read, then looked up at Venero.
“She knew she was going to be stalked, and she let herself be killed,” Venero guessed.
“Maybe so that the ShadowCaster wouldn’t be retrieved.”
“Maybe.” Venero picked up the gear from Gemma’s hand and examined it again. “She wasn’t just a cyborg: she’d created one that looked like pavofel and programmed it for one purpose.”
“To kill the queen.” Gemma shook her head, marveling, then fixed him with a piercing look. “Why do you hate pavofels? You hated them before you were a toad, before you met mine.”
“My mother had one, years ago.” Venero touched his throat, revealing the scar there. “It often attacked me.”
“They’re known for acting upon their custodian’s will.”