They stepped slowly through the field. Tiny flowers a" peablossoms a" grew among the tall gra.s.s, sprinkling the green with bright flecks of pink and yellow and violet. Calen stretched his arms up and closed his eyes for a moment to focus on the feel of the warm breeze against his face. It was nice to be out in the sun. One of the worst parts of being a mage, he often thought, must be having to spend so much time cooped up in a dark study. As an apprentice, at least he got to travel to the market once a week and run occasional errands outside the castle, but most of the business of magic itself seemed to require darkness and dust and shadows. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen Serek outside in the daytime. No wonder the man was always in such a foul mood.

Suddenly Calen pitched forward. He managed to get his feet back under him just in time to avoid falling on his face, and twisted around to look for whatever had tripped him. After a second he saw it. Stupid rock.

Meg was smirking at him again. "You might want to try walking with your eyes open," she suggested innocently. "Sometimes that can help."

Calen just looked at her until she turned away, laughing. He shook his head. She certainly did seem to find him amusing. But somehow it didn't bother him so much today.

They had come to the outer line of trees. The gra.s.sy field gave way to forest floor. Calen tried to keep an eye on his feet, not wanting to give any rocks or bulging tree roots a chance to trip him. Meg seemed a lot quieter than she'd been yesterday. Maybe she was just thinking about her secret. He hoped that was it, and not that she was getting bored with him already.

"How was the big dinner last night?" he asked her.

"Hmm? Oh, it was wonderful," she said. "Prince Ryant seems almost as perfect as Maerlie's made him out to be, and I think everyone had a good time."

"Did you talk to anyone interesting? Like that guard with the scar?"

"Jorn? No, I didn't get to talk to him. But I sat next to one of the other guards, Richton. I think you'd like him a" he told great stories. He had all of us caught up in tales most of the evening. And I met the son of King Ryllin's chief advisor. His name is Wilem." She stopped and looked as if she were deciding what to say next. Then she suddenly looked startled and grabbed his arm. "Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot a" I also sat next to Serek!"

"What? He was there?"

She nodded. "He sat next to me after having a mysterious private word with my parents, which unfortunately I wasn't close enough to overhear. I didn't even realize he'd be at the feast until I saw him come in."

"Me neither," Calen said. "I mean, I knew he went off to talk to your parents, but not that he'd be staying for the dinner."

"Do you know why he wanted to talk to them? They didn't say a word to us about it."

"Yes," Calen began, then stopped, suddenly feeling like an idiot again. He'd been so preoccupied with his anger at Serek's dismissal of his abilities that somehow he hadn't given further thought to what his reading of the cards had already suggested. Even with Serek's refusal to explain anything to him, it was obvious that bad things were involved. Bad things that were going to be happening to Trelian. And of course Meg would want to know that. He should have thought to tell her right away. Except a" he didn't know what to tell her, exactly. That terrible yet vague dangers were on their way a" look out?

Something in his face must have reflected his thoughts. Meg stopped walking, her eyes wide and concerned.

"Well, what? What is it, Calen?"

He shook his head. "I don't really know."

She poked a finger at him angrily. "Don't do that," she said. "You do too know, and you're going to tell me." She poked him again, harder. "Right now."

Calen rubbed his chest. Did she always have to be so violent? "No, you don't understand. I want to tell you, it's just that it's a" it's complicated."

Meg folded her arms across her chest and stood there, staring at him. He sighed. Then he explained about the cards, and the reading, and how Serek refused to tell him anything more about it.

"So even I can see it's about something bad," he said finally. "But I just don't know what." He thought back to the card with the grinning skull, and shuddered.

They started walking again. "Well, I can't pretend I'm not concerned," Meg said after a minute, "but I think it's too soon to get too upset over this. For one thing, you don't know for certain what the cards meant." She looked up at him apologetically. "I mean, you are just starting with divination a" you said it yourself."

He shrugged. "Well, yeah, that's true."

"For another, it sounds like some of the bad images you saw were balanced out by more positive ones, so maybe the overall meaning isn't necessarily a dire one. That's possible, isn't it?"

Calen looked over at her, impressed. For someone who didn't know anything about magic, she was doing some pretty clear thinking on the subject.

"Yeah," he said again. "I guess that could be true also."

"Don't mistake me a" I fully intend to find out what's going on. I'm just saying we shouldn't automatically a.s.sume the worst. The world is a big, wide place, with all kinds of wonderful things in it. One of which, I should point out, you are about to see."

Suddenly they were standing before the entrance to a cave. It looked extraordinarily dark and mysterious in there a" just the sort of place that cried out to be explored by a brave adventurer. Calen found himself impressed again. He wouldn't have thought a princess would be the sort of girl who went crawling into dark caves in the woods.

Of course, he wasn't usually the sort of boy who went crawling into dark caves in the woods, himself. But Meg didn't need to know that.

"In here?" he asked, ducking his head to step inside.

"Calen, wait!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back from the entrance. His surprise at being suddenly yanked backward combined with his seemingly infallible ability to find rocks with his feet conspired to spill him gracelessly onto the hard ground. He raised his head to stare at Meg, who blushed.

"Sorry." She reached out a hand to help him up. "But I need to go in first. I've never brought anyone here before, and it might be dangerous for you to go in without me."

Calen raised his eyebrows at this.

"Don't take it personally," she said. "Trust me a" you'll understand in a minute."

With that, she turned back toward the entrance. But then she stopped again, one hand touching the rough stone wall, the other motionless at her side.

"Meg? What's wrong?"

It took her a moment to turn back around. Her face had changed; suddenly she seemed lost and unsure, not at all the brash and confident girl she'd been just a few seconds earlier.

"Meg?"

She stood there looking at him, thinking G.o.ds knew what. Then she shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong." She hesitated, then went on. "It's just strange. I can't tell my parents, my sisters, not even Maerlie . . . But I do think I can tell you. I know we only met yesterday, and it's crazy that I'm so sure I can trust you, but"a" she shrugged a""I do."

Meg turned back to the cave entrance. Calen didn't say anything; he didn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing and make her hesitate again.

Before she went in, though, she spun back around to face him one more time. He blinked; her face and her pointy finger were inches away from his nose. "Of course, if you prove me wrong, I'll have to hurt you. Just, you know, keep that in mind." Then she grinned and ducked inside.

Calen swallowed nervously, then went in after her. The cave wound back into a tunnel. In an awkward crouch, he stepped forward carefully, keeping one hand against the cave wall for balance. Up ahead, he could just make out Meg's shape in the dwindling light from the entrance. She turned back to whisper softly, "Careful a" it bends to the right here." Then she disappeared.

Advancing slowly, Calen followed the tunnel around the sharp turn. The light from the entrance was cut off completely now, and he couldn't see at all. Calen didn't normally consider himself the timid sort a" well, except maybe where heights were concerned, but that was only common sense a" but this was like being blind. He stepped forward again, and again, one hand stretched out before him, certain each time that his foot would encounter nothing but empty s.p.a.ce and he'd go plunging to his death. How had Meg ever found this place? He was fairly certain he wouldn't have had the courage to venture in this far alone.

Suddenly there was a sound from the darkness ahead, making him jump.

"Meg?" he called out. Surely that sound had just been her. No reason to a.s.sume it was anything evil and scary. If some horrible cave creature was lurking in here, Meg would probably have already encountered it. She'd clearly been here before. But then again a" she had been concerned about his safety when they entered. So maybe there was something to be afraid of after all. These were not helpful thoughts. "Meg?" he called again. His voice sounded very small. Probably just some effect of the cave ceiling, he told himself rea.s.suringly.

"Here, Calen." He felt her hand brush his fingertips, and he took hold of it gratefully. She pulled him forward around another bend, to where a slight glow began to illuminate the tunnel walls. He could make out her face now in the darkness. Her eyes were shining with excitement.

"Ready?"

Calen nodded, though at the moment he wasn't sure he was ready. What kind of crazy secret was this, anyway? She could have warned him about the dark tunnel at least. His heart was still beating a bit too fast as she led him around another corner into a softly glowing chamber.

"There he is," Meg whispered, squeezing his hand.

Calen felt his jaw drop. He froze in the entrance, staring.

It was a dragon.

Curled up against the rock wall, it lay as if sleeping, with its pointed tail resting over its forelegs. As the first moment of shocked recognition pa.s.sed a" a dragon, it's a dragon a" Calen realized that it was probably still very young; from the little he knew about them, full-grown dragons were supposed to be enormous, and this one seemed barely bigger than some of the king's warhorses. Its scales were a rich dark green, deepening to nearly black at tail and wing tips, and its slender head was crowned with sharp spikes that continued partway down its long neck. He supposed it was beautiful, in a frightening, serpentine way, but most of all, in that small confined s.p.a.ce, it was terrifying, and Calen couldn't imagine how they'd be able to make it back out the tunnel entrance before it caught them and killed them. Or simply burned them to a crisp from where it lay, a.s.suming it was old enough to make fire.

Before he could even begin to think of what to say, Meg released his hand and began walking toward the creature. It opened great yellow eyes and calmly watched her approach. Calen stared in horror, certain he was about to see her torn apart with claws and teeth before his eyes.

Instead, the dragon rolled over onto its back and let her scratch its scaly belly.

Calen was aware of his jaw falling even farther toward the ground and quickly closed his mouth before Meg could notice and make fun of him.

She looked over at him and smiled. "Come on," she said. "I think it's all right."

"You think it's all right?" he asked under his breath. All the same, he found himself walking toward them. He still couldn't quite believe it. He had certainly never expected to see a dragon close-up in his lifetime; they tended to avoid populated areas, and as a mage in service, he would most likely always live in or near large towns or cities. Yet here he was, not only looking at a dragon but apparently about to touch it, a.s.suming it didn't decide to kill him before he got the chance.

The dragon, meanwhile, had returned to its previous position. It watched him with those unblinking yellow eyes. Meg stroked it and whispered to it softly.

When he was only a few steps away, Meg stopped him. "Now slowly hold out your hands," she said. "And wait."

Calen did so. For a moment nothing happened. He and the dragon looked silently at each other. Was he supposed to look at its eyes? Or would that be seen as some kind of challenge? He hoped it was all right, because he couldn't seem to look away. The dragon was mesmerizing, as still as if it were carved in stone, except that it was clearly very, very much alive.

Slowly, it started to move. It uncurled itself and slid toward him, sharp claws sc.r.a.ping against the rock floor. Calen remained frozen as the thing circled him, twining snakelike around his legs and inhaling with great snorts of breath. It was amazingly supple; it twisted bonelessly to surround him with its long body as it finally brought its head up to face his own. The yellow eyes stared into his with a strange alien intelligence for several slow seconds. Calen could just see Meg back against the wall, watching silently. Then the dragon began moving again, twisting around and bringing its scaly neck up to rub against the undersides of his outstretched hands. Calen released the breath he had been holding and thought he heard Meg do the same. He ran his hands along the creature's neck, feeling the smooth scales move under his skin. It was amazing a" he was stroking a dragon. He'd bet Mage Serek had never done anything like this.

Finally the dragon slid back over to where Meg was now sitting. It curled up around her and appeared to go back to sleep. Calen shook his head in wonder and went to sit beside her.

"His name is Jakl," she said. "Or at least, that's what I've been calling him."

"How a"?" Calen didn't even know how to finish the question. His mind was still reeling. A dragon!

Meg rested a hand on Jakl's neck and looked down at him fondly. "I found him about five months ago. I have no idea where he came from a" crawled down from the mountains, I imagine, but he was so little, and there was no sign of his mother or any other dragons. Nan Vera had taken all of us out for a walk in the woods, and as usual, we had all wandered off in different directions." She paused to glance up at Calen, grinning. "She really hates when we do that. I was walking near a creek, not really thinking about where I was going, and suddenly I heard this terrible hissing. I looked up and there he was, perched on the edge of a rock near the water. He was tiny, then, about the size of a big dog, but still, with his wings spread and his mouth open like that a" it was terrifying. I didn't know then that he didn't have any fire yet, either."

"What did you do?"

"Well, at first I didn't do anything. I was too scared. That was probably a good thing, I think. If I had tried to run right then, or cry out, I'm not sure what he would have done. So I just stood there, frozen, and I tried to radiate goodwill. That must sound pretty stupid, but it's all I could think of. They're supposed to be able to sense things; at least, I thought I remembered that from stories, and so I thought, let him just sense that I'm not going to hurt him. . . ."

"No, that's not stupid at all," Calen said. "I mean, I don't really know about dragons, but Serek has taught me about dealing with aggressive creatures in the wild, and you're supposed to try to communicate physically, let them know you're not a threat. You probably did exactly the right thing."

She shrugged. "Well, it seemed to work. After a few minutes he came over, sort of like he did to you just now. Stared at me, like he was trying to see who I was. Then he relaxed and rubbed his head against my leg. Just like a cat! I swear, I expected him to start purring. Anyway, just then I heard Nan Vera calling for us, and I knew I couldn't let her see him a" she'd tell my parents, and I didn't know what they would do. I'm sure they wouldn't just leave a dragon to grow up within sight of the castle, though. So I told him to wait, that I'd be back. I know he couldn't really understand me, but he didn't follow when I backed away, so either he somehow picked up some of my meaning or he was just too cautious to go toward the other voices. After that I started sneaking out every couple of days to visit him, and eventually I found the cave and brought him here."

She c.o.c.ked her head, frowning. "He's growing so fast, though. Pretty soon he'll get too big for the tunnel. I don't know what I'll do with him then."

"Aren't you worried at all about what will happen when he's fully grown? I mean, about him attacking the castle or carrying off serving girls or something?"

Meg shook her head. "No. I know I should be, but I'm not. I feel a" connected to him, somehow. Maybe it's all the time we've spent together or that he was separated from his mother so young, but somehow I know he's not going to hurt me. And I don't mean just physically. I mean, I know he's not going to threaten the castle or do anything that would cause me pain." She tapped her heart, then looked at Calen, clearly wanting him to understand. "I know it in here. I can feel it. Is that crazy?"

Calen looked down at the dragon, sleeping with his head snuggled tight against Meg's body. What she was saying did sound a little crazy, really, and yet a" there was clearly something going on here. He looked back at her. Her eyes were still on him, more open than he'd seen them before, questioning, wanting his a" approval? Understanding?

"I don't know, Meg," he said slowly. "It seems possible, but at the same time, it's a big risk to place that much trust in a feeling."

"But it's more than a feeling. I can't really explain." She paused, seeming to steel herself before she went on. When she spoke again, it was in a rush, as though she didn't want to give herself time to think. "We're connected, Calen. I mean truly connected. I can feel him, all the time. He . . . pulls at me. As if he wants something, but I don't know what it is. It's like there's a part of him that lives inside me now. It gets stronger when I get closer, but even when I'm farther away, he's with me. I can't make it go away. And sometimes . . ." She looked down at her hands, which she was wringing nervously. "Sometimes I don't want it to go away. It makes me feel . . . strong. Powerful. Like I can do anything. But even when it feels good, it's scary. I'm different. I'm changing. I a" I don't know what to do."

She fell silent. Calen tried to think of what to say. The bold, brash princess was gone again; during those last few sentences, Meg had sounded frightened and alone. She's asking for my help, he realized. Maybe that shouldn't have been so startling, but it was. Had anyone ever asked for his help before? Ever? He didn't think so. There had never been anyone to ask him. People had always been telling him to do things a" the innkeeper and his wife, cooks and masters of hearths and stables, Mage Serek, in abundance a" but no one ever asked him. For anything. He felt something small and bright and warm flare into existence deep inside him a" the same sort of feeling that magic used to inspire in him, before it became clear that Serek had been wrong about him, that he didn't have whatever natural ability the mage had thought he'd sensed all those years ago that day at the inn. His spark, he thought. Serek had used that word, and Calen had a.s.sumed he'd meant it metaphorically. But that's really what it was. He could feel it. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed it until he suddenly had it back again.

"Calen, please," Meg whispered into the silence. "Say something. You're the only person who knows. I can't tell anyone else. If my family knew, they'd take him away. I couldn't stand that."

She looked up at him, hopeful and scared. Calen watched her watching him, both of them trying to read the other.

"I'll help you, Meg," he said. She smiled, and Calen thought he had never seen a sweeter sight. "Of course I'll help you. I don't know anything about dragons, really, but I'll learn. Mage Fredrin's old library a""

Her worry returned in an instant. "But you can't ask Serek! If he found out about Jakl . . ."

Calen smiled grimly. "I won't ask him. I know how to find some things out on my own."

If Meg heard any of the bitterness in his words, she gave no sign. "You really think there might be something in Fredrin's books?"

"Have you ever seen that library? I'm pretty sure everything is in one of Fredrin's books somewhere. It's just a question of figuring out where to look." That would be the hard part. He could start with the Erylun a" there must be something about dragons in there, and maybe that would lead to other references. . . .

Meg placed a hand on his arm. "Thank you, Calen."

He smiled back at her, a real smile this time. She's my friend, he thought suddenly. I have a friend. Why would Serek try so hard to avoid this?

They stayed for a good part of the afternoon, talking about everything and nothing in the way that Calen supposed friends did. Meg asked him questions about his life before Serek, and seemed shocked to learn that he didn't have any family of his own. When she told him stories about her sisters and parents and that Nan Vera person who always seemed to be around, Calen tried to imagine what it must be like to be part of such a large and complex arrangement of people. Sometimes it just sounded exhausting, but he thought that other times it must be kind of nice.

Jakl nudged at Meg for attention periodically, but otherwise seemed content just to have her nearby. Calen kept stealing glances at the dragon, still trying to accept what he was seeing. A dragon, by the G.o.ds! If someone had told him yesterday that today he'd be sitting in a secret cave with a princess and a dragon, he never would have believed it. And here it was, really happening.

Eventually they got up to leave, saying good-bye to Jakl a" Meg with another belly rub, Calen with a more reserved pat on the neck. Those yellow eyes still made him more than a little nervous.

As they made their way back through the tunnel, Calen spoke into the quiet blackness. "Thank you for bringing me here, Meg," he said. "I'm honored that you shared your secret with me."

He couldn't see her face, but somehow he knew she was smiling again. "You're welcome," she said softly. "And thank you, too."

THEY PARTED ON THE ROAD, OUT of sight of the gate. Calen went back toward the castle, and Meg waited, not wanting anyone to notice the two of them too long together. She was probably being overly cautious, but all it would take was one person asking awkward questions and she would be in big trouble. She and Calen both, now. She hadn't done him any favors, taking him to see Jakl like that. She still couldn't really believe that she'd done it.

She also couldn't really imagine how this situation could ever turn out well. Did she honestly expect to be able to hide Jakl forever? Someday, the truth was going to come out. And then a" what? There was no way Mother and Father would ever just allow her to raise a dragon. Dragons had been systematically driven away from the castle environs for years and years for a reason, after all. They were dangerous! They flew around and breathed fire and were big enough to eat cows and horses and people and anything else they chose. Any guard or soldier who saw a dragon would attempt to kill it on sight. No one would be able to understand how attached she'd become a" even now, she could feel Jakl's warm, comforting presence back in the cave, like a small and distant sun.

The thought of losing that was awful. And there was no doubt that if the wrong people found out, they'd try to take him away from her.

Lately, though, she'd begun to realize that Jakl might not . . . allow that to happen. Which gave her another good reason to keep him a secret. She knew he wouldn't just go off and attack the castle, or her family, but if anyone tried to come between them . . .

Squinting into the distance, she decided enough time had pa.s.sed since Calen had gone ahead through the gate. She began walking, slipping into her Mellie persona as she went a" head down, shoulders slumped, focused on nothing but getting back to her mistress, errands complete. The gate guard barely glanced at her as she went back through. How nice it must be, she thought wistfully, to have such freedom! To be beneath notice, free to come and go as you please.

Once past the gate, she took off running across the ward. G.o.ds, she loved to run. Loved the feel of her legs pumping, stretching out, propelling her forward, her loose hair flying behind her. Running down the long, dark hallways of the castle just wasn't the same, especially not while wearing a dress and balancing a golden circlet on her head. Nan Vera invariably caught her at it and made her stop, anyway. Princesses walk, Meglynne! Ugh.

She took a roundabout way back to her rooms, checking the hallway to make sure it was empty and then slipping quickly and quietly past her sisters' doors and down to her own. She opened the door and darted inside, closing it behind her. Safe at last.

Then she turned around and saw Maerlie and Morgan sitting side by side like disapproving bookends in the deep, rose-colored chairs Mother had had made for all the girls' rooms several years ago. Her sisters were staring at her expectantly, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

Meg froze, torn between trying to explain her way out of this and turning and running right back out the door. What were they doing here?

Several seconds of unpleasant silence pa.s.sed. Finally, Morgan leaned forward in her chair.