by JD Monroe
Gabby stared at her in surprise for a few seconds. “Yes. Yes ma’am,” she amended. “Your Highness.”
The queen turned to Tarek. “Highness?”
“Su’ud redahn,” he replied. Apparently that got lost in translation. He spoke rapidly to the queen, but she cut him off with a single word.
“Tell me what you know of my daughter. Do not lie.”
“I’m a doctor,” Gabby said.
“Thodar,” Tarek interrupted. The queen nodded in understanding, but she squinted a little, like the description he’d given didn’t match up with what she saw.
“She was injured and was brought to my hospital. I took care of her,” Gabby said. She resisted the urge to say very good care of her and waited for the queen to acknowledge it, but she maintained that stoic, stony expression. It took a concerted effort not to babble on to fill the awkward silence.
“And how did you get the knife you carried to my Gate?”
“Tarek gave it to me,” she said. “To defend myself.”
The queen gave Tarek a sharp look and asked him something in their language. He responded quickly. The queen looked back to her. “Tell me of the dragons who attacked you.”
“One of them was silver,” she said. “I think that was the woman with white hair. And the other one was a man who turned into a gold dragon.”
The queen looked back at Tarek, who nodded in confirmation. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. For a second, the mask of the imperious queen slipped, and the smooth skin around her eyes creased, her brow furrowing. That was the look of a concerned mother, of someone who feared the unknown. Gabby had seen it on a hundred human faces as they listened to her describe the tenuous situation of a patient. In that tiny lapse, the queen became the most familiar thing Gabby had encountered since meeting Tarek.
The look disappeared as quickly as it had come on, and the queen opened her bright eyes again. “How is that you resist the commands of my men?”
“I don’t know,” Gabby said. The queen stepped in closer. The air felt thin as the imposing woman approached, close enough that Gabby could have touched her face if her arms weren’t pinned down. The woman reached out one hand. Each finger was tipped in a gold filigree claw embedded with blue stones. Her hand rested on Gabby’s face, icy cold.
Her silver eyes fixed on Gabby’s. “Tell me the truth. How have you resisted?”
The force of the queen’s will hit her hard. Where the men had caused an unpleasant crawling sensation, the queen made her head ache with a sharp, stabbing pain, like she’d gotten the brain freeze to end all brain freezes. Her entire body went ice cold. “I don’t know!” Gabby blurted, squeezing her eyes shut to escape that terrible gaze. Like someone had hit a switch, the painful cold stopped.
The queen’s thumb found the other side of her face, squeezing enough to make her point. “Open your eyes and look at me.” Her voice carried a resonance that vibrated into Gabby’s stomach, but she still didn’t open her eyes.
“I said I don’t know,” Gabby said. “Please stop. It hurts.”
The queen spoke rapidly in their language, then leaned in close to Gabby. She inhaled sharply, her jewelry jangling. “You smell like my daughter.”
“I took care of her,” Gabby said, still squeezing her eyes shut.
“It’s more than that,” the woman said. “I smell her magic on you.” Suddenly, she released her grip. Gabby risked opening one eye and saw the queen’s back as she spoke to Tarek. They talked for a while, Tarek’s eyes intense. Finally, they paused. The queen looked down at Gabby. “I trust Tarek’s word. Therefore, I will choose to trust yours,” she said. With a dismissive gesture, she gave an order to the silver-haired man. His face went slack in surprise, but he didn’t argue, just knelt behind Gabby to unlock the chains. “However, if you have come here to harm my people, or if I find out that you are responsible for my daughter’s attack, then I will…” She trailed off and looked at Tarek and told him something to translate.
Tarek swallowed hard and kept his eyes away from Gabby. “Then you will beg for mercy and she will not grant it. More or less.” The grim tone twisted her belly into knots of dread.
“However, if what you say is true, then I thank you for protecting my daughter,” the queen added, her voice lighter now, as if she hadn’t threatened to torture Gabby to death. “Tarek tells me that you cared for her and protected her as one of my Adamant Guard would.”
Gabby looked at Tarek hesitantly. His eyes widened as he nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I tried my best, at least.”
The chains loosened suddenly. She wriggled her shoulders, loosening them further until one end hit the ground. Tarek turned and unwrapped the chain quickly, leaning close to her as he did. For a moment, she rested her head against his shoulder and inhaled his warm, musky scent.
When the chains were completely loosed, he offered his hand and helped her stand. Her legs and knees ached from sitting in the low chair, but she was fine otherwise.
The queen nodded to her and gestured to her guards. In a single snappy motion, they moved their spears to clear the path. The queen hesitated before leaving. “I would offer you my…thivedh…”
“Hospitality,” Tarek offered.
“I wish for you to speak with one of my councilors. While I trust Tarek’s word, I am concerned about why you resist our commands,” she said. “I must ask you to stay until we have answers.”
Gabby’s stomach sank. “With all due respect, it doesn’t sound like you’re giving me a choice.”
The queen regarded her with a cool, stoic expression. “I am not. Even if your intentions are good, I still have unanswered questions whose answers may be very important.”
Anger swelled up in Gabby’s chest, hot and sudden. She couldn’t be sure how much time had passed since she answered Tarek’s call, leaving behind her normal life, but it wouldn’t be much longer before her mother figured out something was wrong and began to worry. “I have a family at home. And a job. An important one.”
“I will press my councilors to move quickly,” the queen said.
“But—”
“Gabrielle,” Tarek said coolly.
Gabby took a deep breath, giving her temper a moment to settle itself. In an even tone, she asked, “Will I have to stay down here?”
Tarek’s gaze lingered on the queen. The regal woman shook her head. “Of course not. You shall be my guest until we can have you returned home,” the queen said. “Come along.”
Gabby had to hurry to keep up with the queen’s long strides. As they walked back down the corridor, the inhabitants of the other cells were eerily silent, as if they were afraid to attract the queen’s attention. Gabby couldn’t blame them. The queen spoke rapidly to the guards on either side of her. She sounded furious. She’d have to make a point of asking Tarek to translate later.
The queen paused in the open area outside of the lift that Gabby had ridden down to the dungeons. She made a graceful gesture, brushing her fingers over her brow, then sweeping her hand down toward Gabby. “Thank you again,” she said. “Tarek will escort you to the guest quarters, where my staff will ensure that you are cared for. We will see that you return home as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you,” Gabby said.
The queen nodded, her lips curving in a smile that did not meet her cold, calculating eyes. “Remember what I said. Do not violate my trust. You will not live long to regret it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The queen’s guards escorted Gabby and Tarek up on the lift, though they had put away their weapons and even struck up casual conversation with Tarek. The unfamiliar language left her feeling utterly alone, and she was relieved to step out of the lift and into a long stone corridor. One side of the hall was lined in carved wooden doorways, while the other was a series of wide open window frames. They opened onto small balconies overlooking the city below. Cool, fresh air blew through the open arches. Outside the citadel, the evening sky was streaked in coral and fiery red
by the setting sun.
Halfway down the hall, a pair of finely dressed attendants waited at a door. The woman, a petite brunette in a blue and silver gown waved, her face lighting up in recognition at their approach. The man immediately made the same salute of respect that the guards had shown the queen, placing his hand to his heart. The others followed suit.
When Gabby and Tarek reached the doorway, the woman began speaking rapidly in the dragon language, her face animated and smiling. Gabby stared at her helplessly, then looked to Tarek. He responded to the woman, who looked at her male companion and gave him a shoo gesture that was apparently universal. Without protesting, he left and headed back toward the lift. The woman looked at Tarek expectantly, then shooed him away. Tarek shook his head and gestured to Gabby.
The woman sighed and motioned for Gabby to follow her into the room. Gabby only made it a few steps before she froze, staring around in wonder. When the queen had mentioned guest quarters, she had imagined a modest room, but she stood in a room that was a cross between an obscenely extravagant penthouse and a fortuneteller’s tent.
Dark-stained wooden doors opened onto a small balcony, allowing a cold breeze to blow through the room. Gleaming silver decorations adorned the stone walls. An enormous bed took up one corner of the room, with a canopy draped in shimmering blue silks. Cushions and pillows were strewn about, all glittering with embroidery and tiny silver beads. And it smelled divine. Though she knew it couldn’t be, it smelled like when her mother cooked homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning.
The woman spoke rapidly, and Tarek touched her arm lightly. “This will be your quarters while you stay,” he said.
Stay. Even if she had a pretty cell, she was still a prisoner. She quietly thanked the servant woman and glanced back at Tarek.
“The queen obviously appreciates your aid,” he said.
“Yes, so much that she decided to keep me,” Gabby murmured.
Tarek sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder. He gestured toward the balcony, then walked outside into the warm light of the setting sun. She didn’t follow right away, and instead enjoyed the view. Up until now, she’d been a little preoccupied with the whole being thrown into dragon prison and waiting for something to either kill her, eat her, or both. Now she could really appreciate that Tarek was wearing little more than a loincloth, with the evening light playing off his dark golden skin. Bruises and half-healed cuts marked his back, and for the first time it occurred to her that he’d been through a hell of a battle to get to her. A pang of guilt struck her as she realized how focused she’d been on herself.
“Are you coming?” he asked, startling her. One eyebrow perked in amusement. Oh hell. Her cheeks went hot, and she shook herself as she scurried toward him.
He gently touched her shoulder as she leaned against the waist-high wall around the balcony. The dark gray and blue of the mountain peaks stretched far beyond them, zig-zagging against the sky. Below them, the citadel’s walls curved out and around, like someone wrapping stone arms around the courtyard below. A stone dome covered much of the courtyard, but the center was open, revealing a dense canopy of green speckled with bright tropical flowers. Gabby was jolted suddenly with a sense of recognition. This was the garden she’d seen in Ashariah’s memories, where the princess had played as a child.
Gray pillars broke through the green canopy. Tarek leaned on the waist-high stone wall around the balcony. “Those are the Avekh dar Isina,” he said. “It means the Bones of the Skymother, more or less. The garden is the heart of Adamantine Rise.”
“Tarek, this is beautiful,” she said. “But I can’t stay here.”
“You do not have a choice,” he replied.
“Is that how you do things here?”
“If the queen orders it.”
“I have a life at home,” she snapped. “And people who are probably worried about me.”
A sad smile tugged at his lips. “I know. I am sorry to have involved you.” His eyes creased as he examined her. Hesitant at first, he extended his hand and lightly brushed his thumb along her cheek, outlining the tender, swollen welt where the guard had cuffed her. Though his touch brought a slight ache, it also sent a pleasant tingle down her spine. “Would you like me to break the hand of whoever did this?”
She laughed despite herself. “It’s tempting, but you don’t have to,” she said. “But why are they making such a big deal out of me?”
He turned to face the mountain vista. The blaze of sunset set off coppery tones in his hair. “It’s very strange that you can resist our commands.”
“Yeah, what is that?”
Glancing over his shoulder, he asked, “Do you remember when I tried to tell you to release Ashariah to me? And you fought me on it?”
“Of course.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to do that,” he said. “My kind can influence lesser minds.” As soon as he said the words, his eyes widened.
“Lesser minds? I went to medical school, jerk.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “You are very intelligent for the Vak.”
“Tarek!”
His cheeks flushed. “I’m saying things badly.” He sighed and touched her hand lightly. “I did not mean to say you were stupid. Clearly, you are not. Your kind is not gifted with magic. Mine is. That’s all I meant.” She gave him a cool stare. “I apologize. I truly meant no insult to you.”
After a long stretch of silence, watching him squirm, she finally nodded. “I accept. You can influence humans.” He nodded. “Who are also people who can be perfectly intelligent and capable of taking care of dragons who get themselves shot.”
He rolled his eyes, though the corner of his mouth pulled into a ghost of a smile. “Yes, of course.”
“Carry on.”
“I cannot force you to do something that you find abhorrent. If I told you to climb onto this ledge and jump, you would be able to resist, unless you were already considering it,” he said, giving her a questioning look. “But if I told you to go lie down inside and have a nap, you would immediately do it, regardless of what else you were doing. Likewise, if I commanded you to tell me the truth about something, unless you had an iron will, you would have to tell me. When you resisted me, I assumed that it was me, or that you were so devoted to protecting the princess that my persuasion didn’t work. But when the others at the Gate had a similar failure, I doubted that was the case. And when you resisted the queen’s commands and broke eye contact with her, that confirmed it.”
“Confirmed what?”
He shrugged. “There is something unusual about you. Did you feel anything?”
She nodded. “I felt this crawling sensation in my head. With the queen, it felt like my whole head was going to explode.”
He nodded. “That is why she insists on you staying. If there is a way to create a resistance to our commands, then we must know. That would be a very useful magic for our enemies to possess,” he said. “The queen’s council will work on it. Hopefully it won’t take long.”
“It better not,” she said. “Is there a way to make contact with my family? My mother calls me every day. If she doesn’t get me, she’ll start freaking out.”
He folded his arms over his broad chest. “We could send word back to the Gate. One of my subordinates could go speak with her and tell her that you were called away for work.”
“She wouldn’t believe it if she doesn’t hear from me,” Gabby said.
“We can make her believe it.”
Gabby stared at him in shock. “I don’t want you to use your little mind tricks on her,” she said. “She’s a person, not a puppet.”
He threw up his hands in frustration. “I cannot take you back. If you wish for her not to worry, this is my only suggestion.”
She stared out over the foreign landscape. This was all too much. There was a part of her that wanted to find a blanket to curl up in and cry like a little kid, from the sheer overwhelming weirdness and helple
ssness of the situation. But if she hadn’t broken down already, she wasn’t going to do it now. She’d get through this just like always.
Okay, Rojas, think. Her mother would be distraught if Gabby was out of touch for more than a day. Even when she was on call and sleeping in the hospital for two days at a time, she always touched base with her mother via text message. Her mother’s despair would reach Anna, who couldn’t handle a lot of stress to her already weakened system. And when she got home, which she had to believe she would, she’d have a mess to deal with.
“Okay,” she said, breaking the silence after taking a while to think. “I need a pen and paper. I have instructions.”
Tarek quirked an eyebrow. “You’re giving orders?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “The way I see it, you and all your scaly friends owe me for all of this trouble. This is the least you can do.”
“Your wish is my command,” he said. “Give me a moment.”
He turned and walked back into the room, where the servant woman was still fussing around, unloading a small basket with linens and candles. She listened intently as Tarek spoke to her, then bustled out of the room. When he returned, he had a smile on his face. “Your will is done. To be honest, I am much happier that you are staying for the time being.”
The butterflies in her stomach swirled in a tornado of giddy nerves. What the hell was wrong with her? She managed to keep her voice even. “Why?”
He tilted his head. “Things may become…unpleasant as the queen investigates this issue. I would feel better knowing that you are here where you can be protected.”
“What will she do?”
“She will likely send additional troops to patrol the skies near our Gate, The Drakemont, where I sent you with Ashariah. And she will almost certainly request an audience with Queen Tarim.”
“Who?”
“She is the Queen of the Ironflight,” he said. “The dragons who attacked Ashariah were from the Ironflight. They are old enemies. We are at peace, but it has been uneasy. The knife I gave you was of Ironflight make. I found it buried to the hilt in the chest of one of Ashariah’ guards in the desert.”
