“So, yeah, that’s pretty much all of it,” Sara said.

  Shayla shook her head. “Well, I don’t see how you’re going to manage to keep up with school and work and take over the Galaxy no matter how short the commute is for you,”

  Sara laughed. “That would definitely make the ‘shit Shayla says’ channel if your fans could hear us talking.

  “Just because it’s ridiculous doesn’t mean I’m wrong.” Shayla said. “I have no clue what I’m supposed to say about you being missing. There are going to be so many conspiracy theories. I know you hate the spotlight.”

  “Good thing I have a Stealth Affinity,” Sara said. “I have a feeling I’m going to be using it a lot.”

  Shayla bit her lip, “I’m just going to tell them you don’t want me to say where you were. God, you have no idea how hard these people will work to figure it out. Would you believe there’s an entire group dedicated to tracking my periods based on my mood, and fuck me if it isn’t somehow accurate.”

  “That’s not creepy at all,” Sara said. “I don’t know how you can stand it.”

  “You get used to it,” Shayla said. “And you get lots of security cameras.”

  “I don’t have the money for security cameras,” Sara said. “I probably don’t even have a job anymore, though I guess I could just live in space. I still need to be able to buy human food and it might be easier to just keep my apartment so I can use the kitchen and refrigerator and sleep there. The wyrmcraft is literally 3 steps from wherever I am.”

  “God, that’s so crazy,” Shayla said. “Gary would have loved this. I kinda want to see it, but at the same time...”

  Sara winced at the mention of their brother. She still couldn’t think about him. “Not a great idea. I’ve been watching the dragons since they got back to the ship. Bodran seems OK – for a dude who expects people to literally worship him, but I think Etta might be a psychopath. I wouldn’t put it past her to hang you over a shark tank to keep me in line, especially after she finds out I have the ability to make wyrmholes without her. I have no intention of telling her you exist.”

  Shayla stared at Sara. “I keep waiting to wake up.”

  “You’re taking all this better than I expected,” Sara said.

  “On the outside,” Shayla said. “I’m freaking out on the inside. I don’t think you could get me to go to your spaceship with a cattle prod. I’m doing just fine here on Earth.”

  “I asked Eski about trying to unlock any affinities you might have, but he told me it only works in me and Hammy because we have dragon souls, whatever that means.”

  Shayla got quiet. “I can feel it. When I first saw you I thought maybe you’d both died and come back as angels. There’s an aura about you. Sara, if I didn’t already know what a dolt you can be, I might have knelt down at your feet on instinct. It only goes away when you focus on your Stealth Affinity. I … I really don’t see how you can go to work or class until you get some practice with it. The minute you stop paying attention you’ll end up with stalkers or something.”

  Sara frowned. “That’s not good.”

  “But I do have an idea how you can manage to afford to keep yourself in your apartment.” Shayla waggled her eyebrows. “A really terrible… I mean … a really great idea!” Shayla’s megawatt smile beamed.

  “Oh?” Sara said.

  “We need to set Hammy up with a YouTube channel. I could come up with cute stuff for him to do and have him do it. He’d probably be more popular than Max, and with my fan base, I could really get you a head start. I can cover your rent and utilities and groceries until you get off the ground, and you can pay me back by making me Hammy’s manager and letting him appear on my show too. You can portal to my studio and no one ever needs to see either of you in person.”

  Hammy popped awake from where he was half napping on his favorite furry blanket. “I’ve seen cat videos,” he said. He attempted to scrunch his face like grumpy cat, then stuck his tongue out as far as it would go, then fell over on his back and stuck all four of his legs straight up. “Oh noes. A cucumber. I am in fear of my life,” he deadpanned. He righted himself and started cleaning one of his paws, then made a howling noise that sounded just like, “I rove rue.”

  He fixed his gaze on Sara. “I’m going to make us rich, and I fully expect you to buy me one of those wheels cats run on. One for the spaceship as well.”

  Sara almost died laughing.

  Shayla stared at them both. “Well, are you going to tell me what he said or not?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “He’s in,” Sara said.

  *

  Bodran caught up to Keyth at an engineering hatch located between the city and eyrie portions of the wyrmcraft. It would have been impossible for Keyth to open on his own, but Bodran lifted it with no effort. There were side by side stairways leading down. One was sized for an empyrean form dragon, the other for the Vailen who had served aboard the ship before being abandoned to die on it.

  Bodran lifted his hand into the air and called a light spell pattern to mind. It was a simple spell composed of only a few hundred shapes. He moved the pattern in his mind’s eye from formation to activation. Light was the first spell he had learned to cast without an Affinity and every time he used it he remembered the long hours of work it took to learn to manipulate spell patterns using nothing but his will and his sense of artistry – and he’d been considered a prodigy. Most dragons spent decades mastering the art of pattern casting. It had taken Bodran a few months.

  But no matter how much a dragon practiced, pattern casting required focus. A globe of warm yellow light appeared. He placed it so it hovered above his eyeline and then used his Connection Affinity to cause it to move with him.

  Keyth moved next to him, needing to take three steps for his every one.

  Bodran played it cool for Keyth’s benefit, but his heart was racing with excitement. Bodran had been obsessed with wyrmcraft since he’d first heard of them. He knew every rune that enspelled them, right down to the history of trial and error that led to the discovery of every function. He had committed his time, his body, and his life to his father’s mission, but his heart had always been in wyrmcraft engineering. This was the first time he’d ever set foot in the engineering section of a wyrmcraft… and not just any wyrmcraft, an infamous one.

  This ship had disappeared with an Imperial heir on board, and ever since, there had been rumors that she would reappear one day and take Empress Ziedda the Tyrant’s place. It had been missing for a very long time, until Bodran found the location in a rebel stronghold buried in a pile of records. He never knew how it connected to the rebellion and had always dreamed of coming here to investigate. But only wyrmhole dragons could travel to wyrmcraft, so knowing its location had done him no good. He’d never even mentioned it to his father.

  The magitech was as he expected. Dated, but state of the art for the era in which it had been built. Mana flowed smoothly through it. Runes were etched into every conduit with precision and flourish. There was artistry in the building of wyrmcraft, and the making of this ship had clearly been a labor of love. He closed his eyes. Because of his Energy Affinity, he could see the flow of magic even with his physical eyes closed. Instead of looking for anomalies, he felt for patterns. It was hard to see at first, but ultimately, everything flowed into and out of one space hidden under the floor.

  They went to it and hefted a panel revealing a compartment. Inside was a massive core. It looked just like a dragon core but for two differences. It was the size of an entire dragon, and it was covered in welded copper and gold patterns, each acting as a gate that could either stop or permit the flow of energy. Every system in the entire ship had a thread of connection to it. In addition to the energy flowing in and out of it, there was a soul tether. It was the thickest tether Bodran’s Connection Affinity had ever sensed outside of a bondmate connection. He knew where it went because he had a tether coming from his solar plexus going to the same exact place. This ship was connected to Sara. He only hoped Etta couldn’t sense it.

  Wyrmcraft weren’t supposed to have cores, and he’d only seen a core that resembled this one, with all the gates on it, once. But that one had been so small he could hold it in his hand. He’d seen it in the same place he’d found the location of this craft.

  Focusing on the core’s connection to Sara, he had an epiphany. She and Hammy hadn’t been kidnapped, they’d left on their own. He would have smiled, but he didn’t want Etta to see. Maybe he wasn’t tethered to a couple of weak creatures who needed his protection after all. Maybe they could be worthy allies. If they could make wyrmholes, it would make dealing with the spoiled princess a lot easier.

  He was drawn from his reverie by the impatient voice of Princess Etta. “Can you fix it or not?”

  “One moment,” he said. “I’m still analyzing.” He put his hand into the massive tether of connection between the core and Sara watching for signs that the princess could sense it. She was still peering at the core itself. He used his Connection Affinity and the already existing soul bond with Sara to strengthen the tether and sank his awareness into it.

  Sara was watching them. He almost laughed.

  Probably best if her Imperial Highness doesn’t find out about this, he said into Sara’s mind.

  Sara choked on her coffee.

  I assume you are in control of the wyrmcraft? Bodran said. Is there any way you can make Etta think she is?

  Sara thought the question at her core.

  Permissions can be granted on a temporary basis and the illusion that Princess Etta is in control can be maintained as long as needed.

  Yes, I can do that, Sara said. She felt the permission being granted. There, it’s done.

  That easy? Bodran said. Sara saw him moving his hands around as if he was making repairs, but she knew he wasn’t actually doing anything. She’d have felt it if someone tampered with the ship. She made some of the runes near his hands glow and buzz as if something was being done to them.

  Etta was peering at Bodran as he moved his hands in a made up pattern of circles and waves along one of the conduits. “Can you see the way of it?” he said.

  “It’s extremely simple,” Etta said. “A child could do it.”

  “Excellent,” Bodran said. “Try to access the wyrmdrive again.”

  A wyrmhole opened outside the wyrmcraft. Sara realized the ability was coming from her, and not Etta, and she almost fell as the wyrmcraft shot through the wyrmhole. The ship was part of her, and that piece of her moving that far under the will of another was like being yanked across a room by an invisible string. Her hand flew to her mouth when she realized what Etta’s destination had been. The wyrmcraft was now in orbit around the star known as Sol, so near Jupiter that the planet sat there above it like a giant moon in the sky.

  “Damn,” Sara said.

  To Bodran she said, There’s no way I’m letting Etta take over my planet. You and I need to have a long talk.