Free Wings of Fire Book Three: The Hidden Kingdom by Tui T. Sutherland

a future as
a
snoozing dingbat. Fantastic choices you’ve left me with, Talons of Peace.
    Mangrove and Bromeliad had already swept out the door. Glory started to follow them and then jumped back as Tsunami burst in, followed by the other dragonets. Clay and Starflight had their shoulders under Webs’s wings and their guardian was staggering like his tail was about to fall off.
    “Ooooo!” said the queen, perking up. “You’re
all
new!”
    “What about —” Glory glanced out at the waiting platform and saw that the other three dragons were gone.
    “We convinced them that our situation was an emergency,” Starflight said. “Well, Sunny did.”
    Sunny beamed.
    “Greetings, Queen of the RainWings!” Starflight said grandly. He swept his wings out and bowed low.
    “Ooooo,” the queen said again.
    “We have come to you despite great peril, in a time of crisis, to throw ourselves upon your merciful —”
    “We need your help,” Tsunami said.
    Magnificent’s wings drooped a little. “Oh dear,” she said. “Do I have to do something?”
    “This is Webs,” Sunny said, tugging on his talon to lead him forward. She pointed to the venomous gash near his tail, and Queen Magnificent made a disapproving “tsk” noise.
    “That is very ugly,” the queen observed.
    “It sure is,” said Glory. “Also, it’s kill ing him. Minor detail.”
    “Your dragons know about poison,” Tsunami said. “We need someone who can help us cure him.”
    “That doesn’t look like something one of us did,” said the queen. “We never use our venom on other dragons!”
    All of the dragonets shot sideways looks at Glory. She narrowed her eyes back at them.
I dare you to tell her what I’ve done to save your stupid scales.
    “It’s not RainWing venom,” Starflight said hastily. “He was scratched by a SandWing’s tail barb.”
    “Oh,” said the queen. “I don’t know anything about those.” She took a deep breath to yell “NEXT!,” but Sunny interrupted before she could.
    “Oh, please, you must have healers,” she pleaded. “Someone who could look at it? Please? We don’t want him to die.”
    “Well, some of us don’t,” Glory muttered.
    Queen Magnificent tapped her claws on the treehouse floor. Her sloth seized one of her talons and tried to gnaw on it.
    “We do have healers,” said the queen, rolling her sloth playfully onto its back. “I guess you could talk to them. They’re about twelve tree lodges down from here, in the one with the red berries growing on the balcony.” She pointed out one of the windows. “They might not be able to do anything, but you may ask.”
    “Thank you,” Sunny said, backing toward the door.
    “And don’t forget to report back to me on that investigation,” Magnificent said to Glory. “It’ll be nice to have something to make Mangrove go away. What’s your name, anyhow?”
    “Glory,” she answered. “I was stolen from the RainWings by this dragon six years ago, when I was still an egg.” Glory pointed at Webs.
    “Oh, my,” said the queen. “That is rude. Well, I’m glad he finally brought you back, dear.”
    “He did nothing of the sort!” Glory flared. “I brought myself back! He was going to let me die!”
    “Glory,” Tsunami interrupted with a frown. “What are you doing?”
    I don’t know
, Glory thought.
Maybe I just want
someone
to be punished for every thing I’ve been through

.

.

. and the fact that nobody here even noticed I was gone.
    She took a deep breath and forced all the dark rolling red and billowing orange out of her scales until she was a calm white, like the blossoms around the queen’s neck.
    “Nothing,” she said to Tsunami. “Whatever. I just figured Magnificent would want to know what happened to me. But she doesn’t, and who really cares, anyway.” Glory bowed to the queen and stepped over to the door. “You all go see the healers. I’m going to start looking for the missing dragons.” She pushed through the