One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

57.

Gaze

When I was a dragonet, I snuck out of the house all the time. For all those years, my parents never got the slightest inkling about the New Star. It was part of why I wanted to move out so quick. One day, I was terrified they'd figure out my secret. (And when I died a martyr, they would go down with me.)

I couldn't bear to imagine my mom—my kind, ever-worried mom—staying up, wondering if she'd still have a daughter come sundown.

I guess I haven't really changed. Epiphany and I have been sneaking out while my mom pretends to sleep, and my dad humours her routine—poking around the city while most of its citizens hide scared in their apartments, for any clues as to what the New Star might be up to. Every night, I tell myself that if we just keep at it, eventually we'll manage to intercept the underground revolution. Every night, I can feel my good luck slowly fading out, like a candle.

I wonder what they'd do if they found us out here. (The soldiers, not my parents.)

Kill us, probably.

I can hear Epiphany's heartbeat racing as we look down on the street. We're pressed up close together, hidden behind the wing of a new statue Sharp-eyes had put in last week. It's Darkstalker—towering over any pedestrians as they pass by with an authoritative expression.

It's all part of his new policy—once a month, every citizen is entitled to go to the palace and present their talents to the emperor, and every month, one will be chosen to live at the palace. I think the first winner designed these statues.

He's finally figured out he can't just ignore history. So now, he's just going to rewrite it to his favour.

I watch a dragon in a full suit of armour as he walks away from us, patrolling the massive street, waiting until he turns a corner. Epiphany slides down from our hiding spot, and I follow a moment later.

"All clear," she whispers.

I race into the massive factory after her, and shut the door behind us. Sharp-eyes didn't even bother to lock up most of these buildings—there's nothing in here that the average dragon would want to steal, and even if they did, would it really matter? The moment it becomes a problem, he could take it away from them in a heartbeat.

Epiphany slumps to the floor, catching her breath. "I can't believe we're not dead right now."

"Me too," I say, laughing a little.

The lights switch abruptly on. I can't see any windows, but it still makes me nervous, for just a moment—before I'm promptly distracted by heaps and heaps and heaps of... armour, or it looks like it anyway. But oddly shaped, connected in such a way I think it would be pretty hard to remove after a battle is over.

Not a factory, then. Just another storage unit. I make a mental note, so we don't accidentally come back here again.

Epiphany furrows her brow. "I don't get it. What possible use does he have for all this?"

I shrug. "Well, the New Star clearly isn't meeting here, anyway." I've learned the hard way my visions aren't very good for specific questions like that. Maybe I just need to learn to target them—but I just can't figure it out yet.

Epiphany sighs. "There must be something you're missing here. Didn't you used to be, like, kind of a big deal? How has no one recognized you yet?'

"I don't know." I close my eyes. "Maybe I'm just... not looking in the right places. All the rules have changed, Epiphany."

***

"Lucidgaze! Where have you been?" Mom hollers as soon as I slip through the window.