Siofra checked her glowing blue palm. Was it slightly brighter?
She heard the rustling again and bit her fist to keep from screaming.
“You’ll never find what you seek,” a gravelly voice said, blowing hot hair over her back.
Lysander jerked her behind him and held up his knife. Siofra peeked from under his arm to behold one of the most glorious creatures she’d ever imagined.
Its scales captured the light from the sparkling walls and reflected it back, making it difficult to tell what color the dragon was. Black, maybe? And iridescent, like a butterfly’s wings.
“Oh. My.” She took a step forward.
The eyes reminded her of snake eyes, gold with round black pupils and heavy lids. It took a step toward them, and Lysander pulled her back.
Harsh guttural laughter shook the dragon. “Pointless. You’re already so close I could scorch you merely with my breath.”
Siofra’s palm felt on fire, and she looked down. Practically her entire palm glowed blue.
“That’s right,” the dragon said. “I have the ring.” It thrummed the claws of its right forearm on the ground. “Right here.”
“You’re wearing it?!” Siofra’s exclamation came out much louder than she expected and echoed back at her.
Lysander placed his hand on her shoulder, but Siofra didn’t see the point of caution now. They were done for, so she may as well see something no one else ever saw.
“Not exactly,” the dragon replied. “It’s stuck in a crack of my claw. But it looks nice.” The giant head dropped over one foot.
Good. Now they knew where it was.
“Might I have a look at you? Where I come from, there are no dragons.” Siofra took several steps forward, though she heard Lysander grumbling behind her. “You really are the largest, most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Do you know what you look like?”
“I do, having flown over many lakes. You may come closer. I won’t eat you…yet.”
Siofra walked right up to the dragon and stared upward. She had to bend her head back to see its head. “Can you bring your head lower?”
It actually complied, and Siofra found herself staring eye to eye with the beast. “I have no words to tell you how I feel,” she said. “You are so wondrous.”
“Thank you. It’s a pity I must kill you. You’re a pretty thing yourself…for an elf.”
“Oh, I’m not…I guess I am.”
“This is a strange marriage ritual. Visit a dragon to find the bride’s ring. Die together,” the dragon said. “Not that I mind.” It swiveled its head toward Lysander. “Would you like to see it?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Doesn’t talk much, does he?” The dragon’s eyes came level with Siofra again.
“Sometimes he does.” Siofra shrugged. “I like him.”
“If you’re going to marry him, shouldn’t you love him?”
“The ring, please,” Lysander said, stepping even with the dragon’s claws.
“It won’t come off, but you can try if you like. I suppose you’d like to see it on her hand before she dies.”
The claw lifted, and Lysander bent to look. “May I?” He held up the knife.
“Suit yourself, but that scrawny thing can’t hurt me.”
Lysander spent several tense moments slicing at the nail around the ring. From Siofra’s viewpoint, it appeared that he was successful so why was he still hacking at that claw?
She should get the dragon’s attention. “How long have you lived here? It seems far from…everything.”
“Not when you can fly. I’ve lived here for centuries. It takes years to dig that many tunnels.”
“How many people—”
“Don’t ask, dear. It would only upset you.”
“I suppose so.”
“Ah, he’s done. Quite the warrior.” The dragon sniffed Lysander. “Put it on her hand. Now.”
Lysander drew closer. His eyes on Siofra, telling her something. What? Why couldn’t elves read minds?
“Down on one knee. Do it right,” the dragon commanded. “I want to hear your pretty speech.”
Siofra stared at Lysander in fascinated horror as he bent on one knee and gazed up at her. “You can’t—” she started.
“Siofra—” he began.
“No, no, girl. Silence. Let the man speak.”
“Siofra, the day you wandered into the Forbidden Wood I was merely going for a walk to ease the disappointment and tension I’d been feeling…for quite some time. I was annoyed, at first. Humans had never invaded that far into the forest. Usually, they get eaten within minutes of passing the first tree. But there you were. I wanted to get rid of you so I could go back to feeling…disappointed.”
Siofra tried to smile at him, but she was still half-scared out of her wits and couldn’t forget the dragon hanging over their heads.
“And then I realized I no longer felt disappointed. You lifted the heaviness.” His eyes burned into hers as he slid the ring on her finger. She so wanted to believe him, but this had to be a ploy for the dragon. “The way you always carried stones in your pockets and threw them great distances. I’d done that so many times as a boy, with my father.”
Now she knew his speech was a pack of lies. The king of the Unseelie Court would never go out skipping rocks with a child, and Lysander had never seen Siofra throw anything.
What was he saying?
“You were so adorable with your hands always fishing for things in your pockets.”
Siofra shuffled her feet and ducked her head as if touched by his sincerity, then shoved her hands in the pockets and found both stones. Now, if she could get them out. Throw them great distances, he’d said. Toward the eyes?
“If only I could see you do it one more time.”
“That is dragging on a bit, boy. Where is the—”
Siofra threw the stones as high as she could, but the dragon snapped them up in his mouth. In terror, she looked at Lysander, but he was smiling. “Wet,” he said then grabbed Siofra’s hand and started running.
Any moment she expected to get snatched up by the dragon’s teeth. Why wasn’t it roaring? Why wasn’t it chasing them?
A roaring like that rushing river sounded behind them, and Lysander jumped to the side and started climbing. “Higher, Siofra. We’ve got to get to that ledge.”
She followed, but the gurgling sound behind them was excruciating to hear, as if some poor animal was drowning! “Hah,” she gasped, remembering the trousers of the bard. The dragon really was drowning.
They made it over the ridge, but Lysander didn’t slow. He ripped open the side of her satchel and pulled out the rowan wood. With one hand tugging her along, and the other holding out the rowan, he plunged into a tunnel.
He ran, criss-crossing through the tunnels, but never slowing. Siofra was panting for breath, but still, he urged her on. “Not much farther.”
“How can you tell?”
“Daylight.”
A pale gleam of light gave Siofra the motivation she needed. They burst outside, and when she would have stopped, he dragged her up the side of the hill.
Finally, he let her sit. She collapsed against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I never want to see another cave as long as I live.”
“It’s not over yet.”
There was a rumbling beneath them, and murky brown water came gushing out the side of the hill along with bits and pieces of treasure. “I never expected that much water. Is the dragon…”
“Quite dead. Dragons and water cannot inhabit the same space.”
“How did you do it? There’s so much water.” It continued to trickle out, running out into a meadow and meandering around other hills.
“I’ve been telling the stones for days that they missed the river. When I finally told them they were wet, they believed me and pulled all the water to them. There’s an underground river nearby. I could smell the water.”
“You amaze me.” She threw her arms around him and held tight.
“You amaze me,” his whisper brought shivers up and down her spine.
She let go to stare at him, shaking her head. “Why? I did nothing.”
“Siofra, you never see how marvelous you are. I felt your shaking limbs when we discovered the chamber, yet you walked right up to a dragon and spoke to it. You didn’t see me talking to the dragon.”
“But your instructions were brilliant. How did you know I would understand?”
“Because I know you.”
Larger pieces of treasure floated past, and Siofra elbowed Lysander. “I suppose we’ll have to leave all that gold here.”
“Cursed. You wouldn’t want it.”
“I didn’t think so, but we may need it someday. Can you hide it with a glamour or make it invisible?”
“Easily.” Lysander stood and waved his hands in the air, forming golden runes. When they sprinkled to the ground, all the treasure disappeared.
She turned to Lysander. “The queen’s court?”
“Are you certain?” he asked. “What if what you find isn’t what you wanted?”
There he went with the riddles again.
“I’m certain. If only there were a quicker path. And a way to change into the dress.”
No sooner had she uttered the words than Siofra and Lysander found themselves standing before the queen’s high servant. His head reared back, and he blinked several times.
“We would like to see the queen,” Siofra said, taking a moment to admire her glorious gold dress. She swiveled toward Lysander. He looked resplendent in a black and gold coat and vest with black trousers. This had to be the work of the king.
The steward cleared his throat. “I regret to inform you that the Steward has a visitor who has been waiting at least an hour already.”
Lysander shared a glance with Siofra. “Who—”
Suddenly, a figure transformed before them, bowing at Lysander’s feet. “Sir, forgive the intrusion. There’s…there has been a murder.”
Siofra bit her tongue on the exclamations that toppled through her thoughts, and instead, studied the man that rose before them. Was he a dwarf? His muscular, wide frame made her think so. His facial features were broad and squashed, with a large sloping forehead and wiry brown hair and bushy beard. He dressed the same as Lysander. A billowy white shirt, though he, at least, wore a brown waistcoat of sorts, buckskin trousers, and those low-heeled leather boots. All this she was able to discern before Lysander ever opened his mouth to reply.
“I’m sorry, Siofra, but I must leave—”
“Take me with you.”
His glance tore from Siofra to the stranger and back to her. “Nothing about that would be advantageous for you.”
She didn’t need that dark look from him to remember that the tree would likely expect her to become its guardian. “I’m going.”
He didn’t wait, but ran toward the door with the dwarf.
“Siofra!”
Siofra looked back, and her heart quaked. The queen held out both arms to her. Her mother!
“I’m sorry, Mother. I have to go, but I’ll be back.” She blew a kiss at the queen and ran out the door, holding her skirts as high as she dared. Any moment now the queen would either strike her dead for running away or give her the time she needed to get accustomed to the idea.
Lysander had already replaced his clothing with his usual attire, else he wore a glamour. If only it were that easy for her. “Don’t you dare leave without me!” she called after him.
The dwarf looked slightly confused as Lysander ran back, swept Siofra up in his arms, and ran on with her.
One minute they were racing through the palace, the next, they were in the border village, walking down the cobblestone lane. Lysander set Siofra on her feet and waved a hand over her. The golden dress transformed into her blouse and trousers, even her human glamour was restored. She could tell from the shape of her fingers, not nearly as long and slender.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, but his mind was already on the task at hand. “Where is she?”
“Still in the shop. We set a boundary around her and another around the shop. No one has been allowed to exit or enter through the realm doors. I’ve isolated those present in the store at the time of the mishap and prevented them from communicating with one another.”
“Very good.”
Siofra followed behind, ducking the leaves that fell from the tree. Lysander seemed to notice and paused to look upward. “How long?” he asked the dwarf.
“Right away. The leaves fall like rain. The other nymphs have tried to console it, but…”
Console a tree? Considering what she’d seen, that wasn’t any harder to believe. Siofra walked to the tree and reached out. Before she could touch the bark, Lysander snatched her hand away. “I know you mean well, but the tree will assume you are the new Keeper. Do. Not. Touch.”
“I will not touch the tree.”
“Good. We have much to discuss.” Those silvery eyes bored into her, and he grasped her left hand, rubbing his finger along the ring. “You called the queen your mother? You know?”
“I felt it when she spoke my name.” Siofra patted her heart. She felt many more things, but now was not the time or place. The dwarf was waiting to the side.
He squeezed her hand. “Soon, I can answer all your questions. I was forbidden to speak until you figured it out. Right now, I have to…tend to this matter. It may be some time before…”
“It’s alright. But I’d like to accompany you. Maybe I can help?”
He smiled. “You are always a help.”
He kept her hand in his as they walked to the shop, past a crowd of fey onlookers.