Conor and Amina exchanged a wary glance.

‘All right, Noah.’ Conor turned to the younger boy, saying mildly, ‘Well, it’s up to the dragons now, they will choose who they want.’

‘I’m a true Norlander, not a halfie like Joe, or incomers like you two. Of course a dragon will choose me.’

Before the revolution, under the old duke, people of Norlander descent had been the most privileged and wealthy.

‘Ah, no one cares about that now,’ Joe said, biting down a stronger retort. He’d inherited both his father’s blue eyes and his mother’s black hair, while his skin was light brown. Sometimes people guessed his ancestry wrong. But he’d never been insulted like this before, not to his face at least. ‘Halfie?’ he repeated, trying to laugh it off. ‘Did you think of that one?’ It sounded ridiculous. 23

‘That’s what you think!’ Noah said. ‘You just wait and—’

One of the dragonguards was coming over, frowning. They all fell silent. None of them wanted to be excluded. Not now, at the last possible moment.

‘What are they waiting for? Call us through already!’ Noah muttered when the dragonguard had moved on.

Joe peered forward to see what was happening.

Isak was speaking to the eggs’ mother, the fierce black dragon Ravenna, who was bonded to Lanys, the young woman who was hunched stiffly, scowling at them all.

Was there a problem? Joe studied Lanys: her freckled face was white with worry, purplish shadows under her eyes, auburn hair braided tightly back, tension in every muscle. He guessed it must be tough, watching your dragon incu­bating her clutch, unable to help, unable to go near her. Brooding mothers were dangerous, everyone knew that. Their protective instincts were powerful, and they would hurt or kill anyone who came too near their eggs.

There was a rumour that someone had once destroyed an egg in the early days of the return of the dragons. The mother dragon had reacted, lethally, before anyone could stop it. Looking at Ravenna, Joe realised with a shock that the other dragons were there to protect the Potentials, not the eggs.

Let us through, he thought as he looked at Lanys. Just let us bond with the baby dragons, and you can have your Ravenna back.

As if she heard him, Lanys turned and frowned more deeply at all the waiting Potentials.24

Finally Isak stopped speaking to Ravenna, straightened up and raised his voice. ‘Welcome to the Sixth Hatching Ceremony of Duke Vigo’s reign …’

Applause rang out then, and cheers echoed around the marketplace.

This was it. The moment Joe had waited for all his life.

25

CHAPTER THREE

The time had come. Joe stood on his toes to see the dragon eggs revealed.

Duke Vigo stepped forward now. He looked serious and distant. Not the calm, kind man Joe knew from family gatherings. The duke’s deep voice carried right to the back of the crowd. ‘Citizens of Arcosi, guests from Sartola, I bid you most welcome.’