Up in Smoke - Katie MacAlister [92]
The “you” stung. Cyrene had always spoken of the silver dragons as separate from me, but now I was clearly one of them.
I nodded, miserable, and followed Gabriel as he took his place at a long table. The sárkány was short, just long enough for Fiat to claim he had challenged and beaten the red wyvern, and he was now leader of that sept.
“Oh, yeah, I just bet it went that way,” Jim said, leaning against Aisling’s leg.
Fiat smiled. He was still blue-eyed, which made me wonder about wyverns and their respective eye colors. I made a mental note to ask Gabriel about it later.
“You cannot rid the weyr of us,” Fiat told everyone present.
I said nothing. Gabriel had told Drake he wanted to have a talk with him and Aisling later, so I assumed we would use that time to explain what had really happened in Fiat’s house.
“If there is no other business, we will consider this sárkány ended,” Gabriel said after Fiat made his formal statement.
“I have a question,” Cyrene said, raising her hand.
“You are not a mate, nor a recognized member of a sept,” Fiat told her haughtily, blithely ignoring the fact that he had been willing to recognize Kostya earlier. “You do not have a right to speak at a sárkány.”
“I am too a mate. Well, possibly am a mate. I just haven’t been named such because Kostya isn’t formally recognized. And he’s on the list for that, so we get to be here and ask questions. Don’t we?”
She asked the last bit of Gabriel.
He glanced around the table and, with a little shrug, said, “I don’t see any harm in your request. The weyr recognizes your right to speak at the sárkány .”
“Thank you. My question is how someone who is one color can become another color. I mean, I know Drake did it, but Kostya says their grandmother was some special dragon, and that’s how Drake did the change. But Fiat was blue and now he’s red. Shouldn’t that make purple?”
Aisling giggled. “I thought the same thing, but it doesn’t quite work that way. As I understand it, dragons who are ouroboros are stripped of their septs, which means they’re . . . well, kind of colorless, so to speak. So they can join another sept without having to go through the rigmarole that Drake’s grandmother went through. Isn’t that right, sweetie?”
Drake nodded. “Ouroboros dragons can be taken in by any sept.”
“Just as they can take over any sept,” Fiat added with a smirk.
“Provided they actually challenge the wyvern for it,” Gabriel said softly.
Fiat shot him a startled look, but Gabriel evidently had a reason for keeping mum about the true happening with regard to Bao. He simply met Fiat’s gaze with a steady, knowing one of his own. I followed suit, saying nothing when the sárkány was declared closed, and the dragons rose to depart.
“Something is wrong with you,” Cyrene told me in a quiet aside as coats were gathered and farewells were made. “You feel different. Are you all right? Is it something to do with Neptune?”
I shook my head, giving her a little hug that I hoped reassured her in ways my words could not. “No, silly, I’m not a water elemental. He can’t really affect me.”
“I know, but you seem . . . off. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, but thank you for being concerned.”
“Now you’re the one being silly. You’re my twin; of course I’m concerned.” She bit her lip, her eyes troubled. “May, do you ever wish I’d never created you?”
I frowned. “I told you decades ago that I forgave you for binding me to Magoth—”
“No, not that. I meant do you ever wish I’d never created you to begin with?” Her hands fluttered in movements of distress. “That comes out sounding so wrong, but you know what I mean. Do you wish I’d left you to be born normal. Human. Mortal.”
Emotions generated by the dragon shard swamped me. Rage, love, lust, joy, and sorrow, all mixed up together in a big jumble that left me wanting to cry to the heavens with the confusion of it all.
“May?” Cyrene’s eyes grew big. She reached out a finger and touched my cheek,