Page 31 of Into Ember

Huh.

“Why was it funny?”

“You know what’s funny? Brock’s face. Look at him. Man thinks he’s out of the—”

“Gunnar.”

She didn’t even turn her head.

So this is what Brock felt like.

Hate it.

The grin’s not working. The grin always works. I’d like it on the record that the grin has worked on royalty.

“You had a whole word ready,” she says. Quiet. Level. That’s the unfair part — she just keeps coming. “Blanket fort. You didn’t even have to think about it. You’ve been calling it that for days, haven’t you. You had a harmless little name all picked out.”

I look at Leif. Commander. Brother-in-arms. Centuries of me saving his life.

He looks back and does nothing.

When the Vestry comes for us all, I’m negotiating separately.

“It’s not a thing,” I say. “It’s a story. A fairy tale. It’s a thing mothers tell dragon kids so they’ll—”

The kitchen stops.

“…Dragon kids.”

“Kids. Generic kids.”

“You said dragon kids.”

“I said kids. In a strong accent.”

She closes her eyes. Wrestles something down behind them. Opens them.

Worse. They’re worse now.

“No,” she says. “You know what? No. One impossible thing at a time. That word goes on the pile, and we ARE coming back to the pile. Right now — nest. What is it? Not what it looks like. What it IS. You knew on sight. You’ve been laughing for days. Tell me what you know.”

Easy. Joke first. There’s always a joke.

“It’s like a group project,” I start, “except the grade is—”

And it dies.

In my mouth. Halfway out. In front of everyone.

That has never happened. Not once. I don’t care for this either.

And with the joke gone there’s nothing standing between me and the sentence, and it comes out on its own. Flat. My own voice.

“A nest is what a female builds for her mates.”

Nobody moves.

“When she’s chosen them.” Still coming. Apparently once it starts it doesn’t stop. “Her blankets. Her scent. Her territory. Built for the ones that are hers. It’s the oldest word we have. Every dragon alive knows it on sight, and none of us have ever seen one, because there hasn’t been a female to build one in—”