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Chapter 25

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The three of us headed into Veilmar. Our destination was a house in the city where Theo had once met Viktor; it was as good a starting place as any at this point. I wasn’t a psychotic dragon this time. We’d decided bringing a dragon, even one who was not stable—well, not completely—was not the way to go. Not when we were headed right into a dense urban area. That had been easy to agree to, especially since the truth was that the thought of shifting again made me want to fucking puke. The thought of going into the city again made me feel that way, too, but I was keeping that to myself. Besides, I had no choice. Our friends were in danger, so I’d do what needed to be done.

We took a carriage into the city, had it drop us off at a safe distance, then walked. Veilmar looked different. Well, no shit, right? But I was seeing it for the first time since … well, since Vorago and I had laid it to waste. Whole streets were abandoned. Some blocks were nothing but rubble. Others still had buildings, but they were hollowed out and crumbling. Still others were completely untouched. The randomness of it made my stomach twist. One street burned while their neighbors lived. There’d been no logic or purpose to it, just Vorago’s lunatic rage.

I’d had weeks to think about it, to piece together fragments of memory. How roofs had folded and towers had burned. And things much, much worse than that. But the most bizarre thing—even though I was seeing Veilmar for the first time since flying over it, and even though it was awful and the sights made me sick to my stomach—was that part of me was.… well, happy. Really happy. I was free. Pendragon was beside me. I could have skipped for joy, if I were the skipping type. But the fact that I was even imagining skipping? Sure, I guess it was messed up. Or did it make perfect sense, considering how fucked up everything had been until just a few hours before? Now Vorago was gone, and there was a lightness in me that bordered on sheer euphoria. Despite Florence, despite Visha, despite Theo and Vaughn and Vaughn’s family—I felt happy. I guess some irrational part of me was convinced that with Pendragon beside me, everything else would just magically fall into place.

We turned a corner. The town house rose at the end of the cul-de-sac, another Drakharrow property that I’d never known existed. Like the street around it, the town house had been grand once. But now the area had faded into middle-class obscurity. It was three times the size of the neighboring houses around it—lots of room for Uncle Viktor’s evil deeds. The curtains were all drawn.

We walked up the street, keeping to the shadows and staying out of sight. This was easy since half the houses on the street looked abandoned. Pendragon glanced at me. I touched her hand; I knew she was sick with worry, so I made sure to keep the fucking smile off my face.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Theo suddenly said. “That Viktor doesn’t get to rewrite my life. Being his … son … doesn’t erase me. I’m still who I always was.”

I nodded seriously. “You’re still the idiot who thought starting a House Drakharrow theater club was a good idea.”

Theo blinked, then snorted. “Shit, I’d forgotten about that.”

Pendragon looked between the two of us. “Theater club?”

“You didn’t know Bloodwing had its very own Theatrical Society of Venerable Players?” I asked her.

“Venerable?” Pendragon shook her head, a smile creeping onto her lips. “That does sound like a word Theo would use.”

“You wound me, Medra. I have a large vocabulary, and I’m not afraid to use it. I won’t be ashamed of that.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “Remember when you played Prince Ediphar in The Hollow Crown of Phebes?”

Theo made a strangled sound. “Bloodmaiden, how could I forget my debut. I was the son.”

“Who kills his own father,” I added helpfully.

“And marries his mother,” Theo finished flatly. “Yes, thank you. A little too on the nose. One might even call it in poor taste, in hindsight.”

I chuckled. Beside me, Pendragon laughed softly. The sound meant more to me than I could express. Proof that joy could still exist in the midst of all this ruin. It would take some time. But my cousin would be okay.

“I feel like I’ve let that side of myself waste away,” Theo said quietly.

“In your defense, there’s been a lot going on,” I pointed out. I looked at Pendragon. “And we’ve all changed. It’s not just you.”

“You and Vaughn haven’t had an easy time of it,” Pendragon agreed. “Viktor made sure of that.”

We were nearing the town house. “Here,” I said, gesturing to the shadow of an alley. We fell quiet, eyes on the house. One guard stood outside.

“What if Viktor’s in there?” Pendragon asked.

I didn’t look away from the house. “Then, I stop pretending I’m civilized,” I said lightly.

“Don’t forget Viktor can do that, too,” she reminded me. “But the last time …”

“The last time?”

“When Viktor became a dragon, his Inferni wasn’t like yours,” she said. “Kage said Viktor’s dragon looked unhealthy. Possibly even infected.”

“Infected?” I’d been a little too distracted to notice that.

She nodded. “Kage said there were black veins all over Viktor’s wings.”