“Of course it did,” he barked.
“No, it didn’t, Roberto,” Ezaara melded. “It’s faded—I used piaua.”
Simeon had them backed into a corner.
“I don’t suppose you’d be happy to show this scar to us, would you?” Simeon asked, all reasonableness. That leech.
“I’m not disrobing in front of half the hold, just to please you,” Roberto snapped. “Master Lars, please call this man to order.”
“To the contrary,” Lars said. “A romantic relationship with Ezaara would prevent you from being impartial, invalidating your mental testing as well as being cause for banishment. Please show us the scar as proof of your injury. Or otherwise explain what you were doing half-naked in the Queen’s Rider’s quarters.”
Roberto was silent. There was nothing he could do. “Sorry, Ezaara.”
Guards stepped up to hold Roberto’s arms and Tonio pulled his jerkin and shirt open.
There was an audible hiss as Tonio sucked in his breath. “No new scar,” Tonio announced. “Only old ones.”
At the front of the crowd, Adelina’s face was stark, eyes wide with shock.
Tonio’s voice sliced through the silence. “Son of a traitor! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You’re the lowest of the low, consorting with your trainee, who’s the daughter of a dragonet slayer and plotting to poison the council—of which you’re an honored member.” Tonio spat at Roberto’s boots. “Honored no more.”
“Steady, Tonio,” Lars cautioned. “The council haven’t cast their votes yet.” He motioned to the guards, who circled Roberto, Ezaara and Tonio.
Ballot papers were handed to the council masters. The scratch of their quills made Roberto’s scalp crawl. Masters passed their papers to Lars.
He opened and read the votes, his brow furrowing. His mouth grew tighter as he separated them into two piles. Only two papers were on Lars’ right. The rest were piled up on his left.
“Ezaara, please stand,” Lars called.
Chairs creaked as people craned past others to look at her. Roberto wished he could send them all away. Her legs were trembling. Hands shaking. But her shocked green eyes were the worst.
He’d failed her.
“Honored Rider of Queen Zaarusha,” Lars said. “We find you guilty of attempted murder and treason. If Master Jaevin dies as the result of this incident, you will be guilty of murder.”
Zaarusha bellowed, talons raking stone, shards of rock skittering across the floor.
They were convicting Ezaara. They’d throw her in the dungeons. Then banish her. There was no way she’d survive the Wastelands—the harsh red desert full of scorpions, rust vipers and Robandi, the tent-dwelling assassins who scoured the hot sands. If she didn’t get caught in one of their cut-throat feuds, then the heat or a sandstorm would finish her.
Banishment was a death sentence.
He had to save Ezaara. He’d do anything to help her. Anything to secure the queen’s rightful rider. Thoughts spiraled through Roberto’s head with dizzying speed. Flee. Make a stand. Fight. Burn their way out and escape on Erob.
But all of those options led to Zaarusha losing her rider.
“Steady, Roberto. You’re only one man. You can’t change the world.” For once, Erob wasn’t teasing.
His mind cleared, settling on one irrevocable course of action. Straightening his shoulders, he faced Lars. Roberto’s thoughts slid over Dragons’ Hold: the snow-capped peaks of Dragon’s Teeth soaring high against the blue sky, fertile fields and forest sprawling at their feet. All he’d ever wanted was here. Especially now that he’d met Ezaara.
Roberto held his hand up. “Stop. I have more evidence, upon my word as a dragon master.” Guards gripping his arms, he moved to the council table and met each master’s gaze. “I poisoned Jaevin. I planted the poison in Ezaara’s cavern. I’m part of Zens’ plot to overthrow Dragons’ Realm.”
Lars gaped at him.
“No!” Shari gasped. “That can’t be true. I know you, Roberto. You’d never do that.”
Erob roared.
Tonio nodded, eyes narrowed. “I saw you with that pot after the feast. Is that when you did it?”
Adelina paled, mouthing, “No.”
Shari’s hand flew to her mouth.
What? Ezaara’s shock seared him, burning through his bones. He’d saved her, but he’d lost her. She’d never trust him again. He tightened his resolve, slamming his mind shut. He pulled his mask down and turned to face her, sneering. “You were fools for trusting me,” he said. “All of you.”
Ezaara’s face paled further, her freckles standing out like blood stains on snow.
Betrayal
Ezaara gasped. What about them mind-melding? What about their feelings for one another? “So, it all meant nothing to you?” Ezaara reached out to mind-meld with Roberto, but she came up against a wall of granite. She tried again. And again.
And again.
Nothing. Not a sniff of Roberto’s thoughts. He’d blocked her out. Withdrawn.
Tonio’s eyes were sharp, tone cutting. “Did you administer the poison? Or did your accomplice, Ezaara?”
“Ezaara!” Roberto snorted. “Hardly. That silly fool had no idea I’d poisoned the weapon. You heard her, she didn’t even know what the blades were for.”
Ezaara’s stomach jolted, her breath knocked from her. She’d been a fool, all right. He’d deceived her and gained her trust—and she’d believed he loved her.
“When did you poison the blade?” Tonio asked.
“Yesterday, during the after-race celebrations.”
The race had only been yesterday. A lifetime ago, when the world had been full of possibility. And love.
“Where did you source the poison?” Tonio asked. “If dragon’s bane only grows in Lush Valley, did Ezaara give it to you?”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s common in many places, including Naobia. Any proper healer would know that.”
Master Bruno yelled, “I’ll not have you speak about my wife like that!”
Roberto laughed, a hard, arrogant bark that made Ezaara’s skin break out in cold prickles.
How could she have believed him? Their love had felt so real. So beautiful. Just what she’d dreamed of. His icy arrogance fit him like a natural skin. This
