Peril twitched nervously. “She said not to let you guys stop me.” Peril glanced around the courtyard, peering into the shadows with a hopeful expression. “Is, um — I mean, are you all here?”
“No — sorry,” Sunny said. She knew who Peril was really looking for. “Clay’s not here, but he worries about you.”
“Did he say that?” Peril asked. She touched her front talons together — the same way she had after Clay had taken her talons in his, when they had said good-bye, Sunny remembered. “That he worries about me? What did he say exactly?”
“Um,” Sunny said, trying to remember the last time Clay had mentioned Peril. They’d been a little busy lately, escaping from the SeaWings and invading the NightWing island and running from volcanoes. But he had said something about her one night in the rainforest, after Starflight had disappeared. Clay and Sunny had been curled together near Kinkajou, the little RainWing dragonet who’d been injured in the contest where Glory became queen. She was asleep, and it was Sunny’s turn to watch her; Clay was keeping her company.
“He said, ‘I wonder where Peril is right now,’ ” Sunny said. “ ‘I hope she’s all right. There’s that new queen in the Sky Kingdom —’ and I said, ‘Ruby,’ and he said, ‘Right, her. I hope she’s taking care of Peril and not making her fight anymore.’ ”
Peril waited a moment, and then said, “That’s it?”
“Well, then his stomach started growling, and he had to go look for something to eat,” Sunny said. “But he wants to see you again. I’m sure of it.”
“I bet you’ve had all kinds of adventures together,” Peril said a little bitterly.
“It’s been really scary,” Sunny said. “It seems like every dragon we meet either wants to kill us or lock us up.” She glanced around at the tower and sighed. “Case in point.”
Peril looked down at her talons. The sunlight gleamed on the gold veins in her wings.
“What about you?” Sunny asked. “Um, have you …” She didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Have you stopped killing dragons? Have you found a safe way to live around others? Have you by any chance come here to rescue a dragon who really wants to kill me?
“The answer is, she’s not,” Peril said sharply. “Ruby. Is not taking care of me. She ordered me out of the Sky Kingdom as soon as she took over. She said if I ever set claws in the Sky Palace again, she’d find a way to kill me, and I’d better believe it. She said I was dangerous and unpredictable and she didn’t want me near her subjects.” Her voice broke and she coughed, ducking under one wing.
“Oh, Peril, I’m so sorry,” Sunny said.
“Don’t feel sorry for me.” Peril lifted her head and frowned. “I am dangerous. That’s, like, the whole entire point of me.”
“That’s not true,” Sunny said. “You can be whatever you want to be. I mean, I could say, well, I have no barb on my tail, I guess I’m just harmless and useless and should sit in the corner covering my head whenever there’s a fight. But I don’t want to be useless and I’m not going to do that, not if dragons I care about are in danger.” She glanced at the sky, wondering anxiously how the battle was going and whether Thorn was still all right. “Um, speaking of which … I could really use your help right now.”
Peril shook herself, copper scales flashing. “I can’t help you. I have to rescue Scarlet while everyone is distracted with that battle outside.”
Sunny felt a cold shiver of fear run through her scales. She had still hoped maybe that wasn’t why Peril was here. “But why?” she cried.
“I’ve been waiting days for a chance like this, when I could get her out without fighting anyone,” Peril said. “So you can tell Clay, I’m trying really hard not to kill anyone.” She hesitated, looking at the guards behind Sunny, between her and the tower. “I’m trying,” she said again.
“No, I mean, why would you help her?” Sunny asked. “After everything she did to you?”
The breeze picked up into a quiet wind, scattering grains of sand across Sunny’s claws and bringing her the heavy, scaly smell of fear from the SandWings behind her. They hadn’t moved from their spots, but they stood tensed and ready with their weapons. Sunny guessed at least some of them knew who Peril was from visits to the Sky Kingdom with Burn.
“I know Scarlet’s not perfect,” Peril said. Understatement of the year, Sunny thought. “But she didn’t kill me when she could have, when anyone else would have, when I was a dragonet. And she didn’t throw me out. She treated me like I was special.”
“She lied to you,” Sunny pointed out. “About Kestrel, and about the black rocks she said you had to eat so you could never leave her. She was using you, not taking care of you.”