Free Silverblind (Ironskin) by Tina Connolly Page A

school—the sort with impeccable school spirit, top marks in every subject, stars in one or three sports and sadistically competent in the rest, and who occasionally could be found having panic attacks in one of the restroom stalls. “Clear sign of wyvern battle cry, ja ? Next it would have torched Thomas’s face.” There was the barest hint of foreign lilt to her words.
    “I had it under control,” protested Dorie as she stormed over to the felled wyvern. “It might have broken its neck.” Or, almost worse for it—a wing.
    The woman did not bother to respond. She strode past Tam and swung herself easily up the tree. Grabbed the two remaining wyvern eggs and tucked them in a special pouch. She was as tall as Tam—taller than Dorie, who made a slight, skinny boy. She did not think she could bulk up further without losing some of her solidity. She was used to being short, but being short was not a thing when you were a girl—she suddenly felt odd, being at a disadvantage for her presumed sex.
    The woman swung carefully back down. Her casual athleticism felt like arrogance—she was not even breathing hard. Next she turned her attention to the felled wyvern, and ran her fingers along one wing while Dorie examined the other. She made a great show of double-checking Dorie’s checking, before easing the tranquilizer dart free and patching the wound with a bit of cloth tape. Dusting her hands, she turned to Dorie, dismissing the adult wyvern as no longer her problem. “There were three hollows in the nest,” she announced, looking straight at Dorie. “Did you already steal an egg?”
    “If I had, it would be half as many as you,” returned Dorie. She gently tugged the wyvern under some nearby bushes and arranged some fallen birch limbs in front of it.
    The woman was not amused. She stalked over to Dorie and held out her hand. “All wyvern eggs have been declared the property of the Crown,” she said, adding, “we will pay you a fair price.” Dorie turned from her work, looking at her calmly, stubbornly, and the woman added, “And we will fine you that same fair price if we find you in possession of one.” Still nothing, and the woman sighed, pulled out a medallion with a silver eye, and said, “Look. By the authority invested in me by the Queen’s Lab, I command you to surrender the egg you have stolen. That is official enough, ja ?”
    Dorie gaped, words deserting her. “You? The Queen’s Lab?” What did this woman have that Dorie didn’t? Besides the ability to callously tranq wyverns, that was.
    The woman appeared to have waited long enough. She took advantage of Dorie’s shock to reach into Dorie’s egg pouch herself.
    But of course the egg was not there.
    Dorie smirked and the sharp annoyance on the woman’s face shuttered closed. She clearly felt she had been made a fool of, and detested it. Dorie was too impossible to deal with. “You might have said you didn’t have it,” she told Dorie, and then turned sharply to Tam, dismissing Dorie from her world. Dorie looked at Tam, wondering if he would say something, but although he gave her a puzzled expression, he did not. “Oh, Thomas, did you hurt yourself?” said the woman, finally seeing Tam’s arm.
    “I’m all right, Annika,” Tam said, waving her off. “Dorian helped.”
    “What a terrible bandage,” said the woman. “The University needs you in prime condition. You must return immediately.” She pulled Tam protectively into her, a move Dorie was perfectly well used to seeing when in girlshape. She was still a boy, she thought. Maybe her cover was slipping. The woman glanced back at Dorie. “I would leave before the mate comes,” she advised.
    “Of course,” Dorie said dryly. “Good-bye, Tam,” she said. “Pleasure meeting you.”
    “Stop by the lab sometime,” he said, still giving her that same puzzled face. He raised his eyebrows. “This afternoon would be an excellent time.” With the unhatched wyvern egg in tow, he