the other kings and queens have gone. He didn't take the silk off, even once he was naked. Instead, he made the little metal dragon flutter across Zafir's room and settle beside her head. It pecked gently at her lace until she stirred. When she saw the dragon, she smiled.
'It's the middle of the night.'
The dragon nodded. As Zafir reached under her pillow for her own strip of silk, Jehal looked over his shoulder. Two ruby eyes glowed at him in the dark.
'You're naked,' she whispered.
'I wish you were.'
'I wish I could touch you.'
Jehal sighed. 'Soon, lover. When Hyram's out of the way.'
The smile faded from her face. 'The potions are already losing their effect.'
'That's not right. There should have been enough to keep him going for another month.'
'Yes. You gave him too much, so I've been stealing them and watering them down.'
'What?
Zafir rolled her eyes. 'I want it done and over, Jehal.'
Jehal growled. He started to pace the room. 'Why did you do that? He wasn't supposed to get sick again until this was all long done.'
'You ask me why?' Zafir sounded scornful. 'Do you have any idea how dirty all of this make me feel? Sometimes, after he's finished with me and goes back to his own bed, I make myself sick to force the nausea away.'
'But now you're speaker – unless you fuck it up in the next couple of days. Isn't that what you wanted?'
'No, Jehal, it's what you wanted. What I wanted was you. Hyram disgusts me. I have to writhe and groan and call him the king of my bed when all I want to do is break his neck. And he knows something now. I don't know how, but he knows something.' She frowned. 'Something he didn't know this morning. He was asking questions.'
'Questions?'
'About you. Someone's put it into his head that we might be lovers, Jehal. Of course he doesn't believe it, but he won't quite let go of it either. He's put men on my door. He was enough of a bore before; now he's intolerable. Get rid of him, my prince. I've had enough. You've got what you wanted, so now give me what I want.'
Jehal leered at the little ruby eyes that watched him from the corner of his bed. 'I would like nothing more, lover. Nothing more at all. Even thinking about it…' He glanced down. 'Well, you can see for yourself.'
'Don't you want to be here? Next to me, feeling my skin?'
'I'd like to feel more than your skin.'
'Sliding under silken sheets together?'
'You know I would.'
'Then come! Now!' She pushed back the covers of her bed, slowly revealing herself to him. When they were at her feet, she lay back and ran one hand slowly from her neck down to the soft hair between her legs. 'Do I have to show you what to do?' she breathed, and then laughed as Jehal's Taiytakei dragon fluttered up into the air and flew erratically around in circles for a better view.
'We have to wait, lover. Wait until it's safe'
'No.' Zafir suddenly sat up and snatched Jehal's mechanical dragon out of the air. She blew Jehal a kiss and then everything went dark and muffled.
'What are you doing?'
'If I can't have you, you can't have me. I'm done with this. I'm lying your little toy up and putting him under my pillow. Then I'm going to take this silk off my eyes and go back to sleep, and if you want to see any of this again, you get rid of Hyram and your stupid starling-wife. And you do it soon, lover, or I'll do it myself.'
Jehal waited for a while, but all he heard was Zafir's breathing. After another minute he pulled the silk away from his eyes and took a deep breath. His heart was racing and his head spinning, and he wasn't sure whether it came more from lust or fury.
Get rid of Hyram. She's too impatient.
Could it be done? If she does it herself, she'll botch it and everything will be for nothing.
Could it be done?
He climbed back into bed and tried to sleep, but his head wouldn't stop. Thoughts blossomed and died faster than he could keep count of them. Could it be done?
And then it came to him, and he realised that yes, it could; and moments later he was asleep.
58
Patience
Kemir sat slowly whittling a stick into an arrow shaft. Somewhere nearby Nadira was pacing impatiently. Even from here he could feel the dragons' determination. Their focus on what they were doing was frightening.
When the alchemists had scuttled away into their caves, the dragons had been furious for a while, raging up and down outside, smashing the few buildings that remained intact, flying around the cliff face, searching for other ways in. Then they'd calmed down. Now they'd built enormous pyres at the mouth of each cave, set them alight, and were methodically blowing the smoke down into the tunnels. The frightening bit was that they'd been at it for two days, all five of them, without a pause for breath. Two of the new dragons moved from fire to fire, blowing the smoke. The other three went to and from the woods, tearing down trees to burn. Every few hours Snow soared up out of the valley. Sometimes Kemir and Nadira went with her. They flew above and beyond the ravine, looking for wisps of smoke leaking up through cracks in the ground. Whenever she found one, Snow sealed it shut, and then she'd circle for hours, looking for more. Kemir understood exactly what she was doing. He'd done it himself, except his victims had been rats and rabbits.
Ash lumbered past, dragging a fifty-foot tree towards the caves with his tail. The dragon looked at him greedily. Kemir, I am hungry. Which one of you has more meat on you?
'Me.' Kemir didn't bother to look up.
There's nothing left in the village, Kemir, and we need to eat.
'Then go and hunt.' When the dragons weren't tending to the fires, they were eating. In the first two days they'd eaten all the animals from the eyrie and the bodies of the men they'd killed. Today they'd gone back to the village at the mouth of the ravine. It seemed to surprise them that they'd found it deserted. The villagers couldn't have got far, but they had clearly had the sense to run and hide, and had even taken most of their animals with them.
'Hey, Ash,' shouted Kemir. 'You know, I'm hungry too. What does dragon taste like?'
The dragon paused in his labours and turned to look at Kemir. It was impossible to read anything from a dragon's face, but Kemir got the impression he was laughing.
Suddenly, the dragon froze. He dropped the tree and rose onto his back legs, staring intently towards the caves.
Kemir stood up as well, but he couldn't see anything through the rubble and the smoke. 'What?'
Ash began to run. The smoke has worked. They're coming out!
59
The Assassin
Side by side, two dragons shot across the Mirror Lakes. They barged and snapped at each other, looking for an advantage. Three more came after them, strung out in a line. Jehal squinted as they hurtled towards him, trying to work out which was which. Now and then he glanced sideways. Hyram was watching the dragons; so was Queen Zafir. In fact almost everyone was watching. The race was going all the way to the finish.
