"Where are we headed?"

Lukas spared only a brief glance back at her. "You'll see. Grab on- Kicidian takes off fast."

Petra glared at the back of his head. "I'll see? I think not. Where are we going?"

"Why do you feel the need to know everything beforehand? Are you that afraid of surprises?" he returned. She let out a disdainful huff.

"Surprises can be horrible. I like to be prepared."

He nodded, adjusting his grip on the reigns and reaching forward to pat the dragon's neck. "True, true. But I think you'll like this."

She didn't have time to reply to that before Kicidian unfurled his wings and leaped into the air with absolutely no preamble. Sliding back several inches, Petra yelped and wrapped her arms around Lukas. She was used to Rhys's takeoffs, which, while being just as swift, were a lot smoother.

"I warn-ed you!" Lukas singsonged casually as the silver dragon's manically flapping wings settled into a smooth rhythm. Petra cursed under her breath and sat up straighter, finding it easier to balance now that Kicidian's flight pace had evened.

This wasn't entirely new territory for her. She'd gone night-flying several times, but wasn't as used to riding bareback, since Rhys's spine was lined with sharp ridges.

There was something impossibly peaceful about flying at night, and she found herself starting to relax against her will. The scrubby desert that covered most of Jefinscha stretched out below them, the landscape dotted with huge sedimentary rock formations and bristly Joshua trees.

She had to admit, as hot and dry as the place was during the day, the arid kingdom was beautiful from up here. The bright eye of the open moon lit up every detail of the rocks in a monochrome glow, leaving the crevasses beneath and between formations in dense shadow.

Kicidian flew on for several long minutes, seeming very confident in his path. Lukas seemed infinitely at ease as well, making her again wonder where exactly they were going.

But she stayed silent, knowing that if she inquired about their destination again, she would most likely get nothing more than another 'you'll see', or something equally infuriating.

After around twenty minutes- maybe more, maybe less -the sandy desertscape below faded into dried yellow grasslands dotted with large boulders in an array of dark colours. Petra straightened up again, looking around Kicidian's flapping wings at the new sights below.

They were nearing the border of Jefinscha. The silver mount swooped upwards, following the landscape as it rose into broad hills that she'd seen looming in the distance of the desert.

Only a minute or so later, Kicidian gradually slowed and landed gracefully on a particularly flat area. Lukas dismounted immediately, rubbing his dragon's neck affectionately.

Petra slid off as well, her mind full of questions. She began to follow Lukas, but was momentarily distracted by Kicidian bending his long silver neck and beginning to graze. The grass was brittle and dry, but he didn't seem to mind.

Lukas seemed to notice her confusion. "Some dragons eat meat, some eat rocks...Kicidian eats grass. He likes hay or leaves, too, but his favorite food is vegetables. He likes carrots best."

Still watching the silver dragon, she asked in disbelief, "You...have...a vegetarian dragon?"

He smiled, more than a little sheepishly. "Yep."

Shaking her head, Petra walked over to where Lukas stood. She caught her breath as she realized they were standing at the edge of a formidable cliff, the yellow plain dropping off completely just a few feet away.

With a jolt, she realized she knew where they were. "Okay, so, do you wanna explain why the sae we're up on Masker's Flat in the middle of the night?"

He grinned, and pointed at her. "We are here in the middle of the night because I couldn't find you earlier."

She shrugged. "Alright, that's fair. But uh...Masker's Flat?"

"Why not?" he returned.

"Are you ever serious?" she asked, glaring impatiently.

The smile dropped. With a sigh, Lukas sat down, dangling his legs over the edge. "We're here because it's one of the few places I feel safe. It's beautiful and peaceful, and it gives me the peace of mind that I need to be able to really talk to you."

Begrudgingly, she sat down beside him, though she kept her legs tucked up. She didn't like the feeling of having nothing but air below her feet. A warm breeze swept gently around them, making the dry grass rustle softly.

"I'm not good at talking to people, Petra. Especially you." he continued. She tipped her head to the side.

"Why's that?"

"Conversations confuse me. I'm bad at reacting, and gauging how people are feeling. It's a whole mess of things, actually." he explained briefly.

"No, but why especially me?" she pressed.

He opened his mouth, looked at her, and shut it again. "You kind of scare me, for one." he said finally. "But in a good way. You're just...different. I can't figure you out."

She studied his face mutely for a few moments before saying, "I'm gonna take that as a compliment."

He laughed softly. "See? That's exactly what I mean. You're unusual."

Leaning back on his hands, Lukas let out a heavy sigh. "And that's what makes this whole situation so damn hard. If it was someone I didn't know, didn't like, we wouldn't be having this problem."

Petra almost asked him to elaborate on the 'someone I didn't like' thing, but decided to leave it. "What problem, exactly, are you referring to?" she asked instead.

"The problem of us both needing to win tomorrow. We both have things to gain and lose, things we're not willing to let go of. I've got to get out of this. But the big problem- well, my problem, really -is that part of me wants to see you get what you need, too."

"We can't both win." She said solidly. "That's not a thing. I...we need that victory. We need the prize money, and we need a sponsor, and we need at least a chance of getting into the finals. You don't get that by coming in second. Not in the semis."

He looked at her sadly. "Things are really that bad for you guys?"

"Yes. It's terrible. We've been struggling for years now. Our financial situation is slowly getting worse and worse, and without a dreefing miracle, we don't have a way out. Gadan's economy...I don't wanna say it's complete krin, but it could be better. Good-paying jobs are difficult to keep, and with all four of us coming from nothing...it's hard."

"You don't all come from nothing. Olivia's the daughter of a duchess." Lukas commented.

Petra arched a brow at him. "Olivia is the bastard daughter of a disgraced duchess and was unfairly disowned as soon as people figured out her father wasn't said duchess's husband." she corrected him. "Do your research."

"Oh." was all he said in reply.

She allowed herself a smug smile at him, but it faded quickly, and she looked down at her scarred hands folded in her lap. "But you already know the gist of our situation. If I win our race tomorrow, things would be different. We'd be in the running for the finals- at least one sponsor would be interested in supporting us. Once we got some kind of backing...well, you know how the races work. We'd just...things would be a lot better."

Sighing softly, she said, "I know others might need that prize, but we desperately need it. The whole reason we got into dragon-racing was to earn money. We simply can't keep going like this anymore; we have next to nothing. It's like we're cursed."

Lukas was silent, and Petra risked a glance over at him. "What are you gaining, if you win?"

It took a few moments for the blond man to answer, his voice as quiet as the sky. "If I beat you tomorrow, Aiden will let me go."

Petra blinked. "What?"

"I...I owe him. It's complicated, but I've been indebted to him for several years now. We've gained enough attention that it wouldn't be hard for him to find someone else to fly in my place, but he doesn't want to."

Lukas shifted his position, seeming vaguely uncomfortable. "But I finally made a deal with him. If I come in first in the semifinals, he has to let me leave. I'd probably stay on for the finals, but the deal was about the semis, since I knew we had a higher chance of winning that. To tell the truth, I've never been very into racing. I mean, obviously I love dragon-riding, but not competition."

"What would you rather do?" she asked. Lukas lifted his head, the breeze ruffling his short blond hair. "Travel." he said simply. "Crelang is a big place, a lot of it still unknown. I want to roam the world, finding everything yet unseen by human eyes. Sae, maybe I'll even go across the ocean to Kevomohhs."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"But why don't you just...take off? You don't have to listen to Aiden. He doesn't own you." Petra said.

Lukas's head dropped again. "He kinda does. Like I said, it's complicated. I could never do that to him, just...up and leave."

Petra huffed. "Why do you care? He's such a jerk. Like, the biggest crot I know. I don't care how 'complicated' things might be, you shouldn't be stuck with someone like him."

Another sigh. "I know. But...he didn't used to be like that. When we were younger, he was the most amazing person. We had...back then, he was just so different. We were really close. I trusted and cared about him, and it used to be mutual. And I don't...with who he was in the past and who he is now, it's all just so much harder."

Shooting him a suspicious look, Petra remarked, "When you say it like that, it kinda sounds like you were in love with him."

Lukas shrugged, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe I was."

Petra lifted one eyebrow. "Maybe." she echoed dubiously.

"Alright, yes, I was. You got me." he said with an indifferent wave of his hand. "We were together for a while, actually, but there was...an incident, and I left. Then, a couple years ago, he got me out of a nasty situation. I don't even know what would've happened if he hadn't interfered, but in exchange, he asked me to join his racing team. There's more to it than that, but I don't really like talking about it."

"What kind of 'nasty situation'?" Petra pressed. She'd never heard anything about any of this, and was very curious despite herself.

Lukas looked away. "I don't wanna talk about it. Let's just say I made some big mistakes and bad decisions and leave it at that. The point is, between our old feelings and my debt to him, I don't feel right just leaving. Even if I did, he'd probably find some way to track me down."

"Do you...do you still care about him like that?" Petra hesitantly asked. He shook his head firmly.

"No. Not in a long time. With all the things that have happened, we're not right for each other anymore, and there's...someone else I think I'd rather be with. But that doesn't change the fact that I can't just fly away."

He pulled in a deep breath, looking out over the cliff's edge as though an answer waited on the horizon. His expression hardened slightly as he said, "But I've got to get out of this. The whole thing...the races, the people, the pressure, my dreefing team...I just can't do this anymore. It's driving me mad, and turning me into someone I don't wanna be. I need to get away, and there's no other way to do it."

He casted another sad look at her. "But even with all that...I don't feel right trying to steal your victory out from under you, either. It's a mess."

"It is a mess." She agreed quietly.

They were both quiet for several long moments. Lukas's heavy words were spinning around Petra's mind, making her suddenly unsure of what was going to happen.

The blond man wasn't the smug piece of krin she'd thought him to be. She'd spent so long looking down on him that she'd nearly forgotten that he was human too. He had the same kinds of hopes, fears, and problems that anyone else did.

If she was being honest with herself, she had never hated Lukas, not a bit. Sure, his smugness and arrogance was irritating, but that wasn't why she had an issue with him. No, she had an issue with him because it was convenient. He was good at hiding his feelings and masking his problems, while hers always seemed to overflow and come out as anger. She'd believed he represented the things most wrong in her life, and had spent years lashing out because of that.

It was so much easier to keep people at arm's length, where you could disdainfully or angrily think of them as tricks without knowing the truth. The truth got in the way. It changed things that she hadn't wanted changed until they already had.

She looked out at the landscape far beyond and below, her eyes travelling from the drop-off all the way out to the horizon. Far off, the dry grass transformed slowly into lush forest, marking the boundary of another kingdom.

"I've always wondered why this place is called Masker's Flat." Lukas said softly. "As far as I know, no one has ever done anything significant here, named Masker or anything else."

His voice was so impossibly quiet, made even more so by the slight breeze snatching at the words. But they were sitting close enough that Petra heard him quite clearly.

"You're trying to change the topic." She said bluntly.

Lukas glanced over at her again, his eyes strangely dulled. "Change it from what? I have nothing else to say. All my cards are on the table. And unless you've still got one up your sleeve, I'd say the game is over."

She pounded her fist against the ground. "Stop speaking in metaphors!" she demanded. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Petra. I feel like I have to do something, but I don't know what. Probably something crazy and desperate and half-assed at the last minute, that will end up failing." he said simply.

"Desperation can be both an ally and an enemy." She muttered, somewhat absent-mindedly.

The barest hint of a smile flickered across his face as he gazed at her. "I'll say. It was pure unfiltered desperation that convinced me to bring you here, you know."

"I kinda guessed." she replied off-handedly.

Another small silence stretched between them, changed only by the fact that they were looking at each other instead of away. In the silver moonlight, all sorts of little details sprung out at her that she'd never noticed before.

Lukas's ears were ever so slightly pointed, and he had a small, pale brown birthmark right along the edge of his jaw. Petra also suddenly realized that they were sitting rather uncomfortably close to each other, his face tipped up to look her in the eye.

"If you try to kiss me right now, I swear to god I will break both your elbows." She warned, scooting a few inches away. Despite the grim threat, he laughed, which in turn made her smile as well.

"Don't worry, I'm smarter than that." he assured her, then tipped his head back to look up at the stars. "We should probably go back soon, if either of us are going to get any sleep at all tonight."

Petra snorted. "I'm not. But that's probably fine; I seem to do my best racing sleep-deprived."

He hesitated for a moment. "I...meant what I said earlier, you know. You did do a really good job today. I already knew you were a good flier, but that was honestly exceptional."

Shrugging in what she hoped was a modest, offhand way, she replied, "Rhys and I have been flying together for a long time. She's fast, and we both have good instincts, and it just...works."

It wasn't bragging. It was simply the truth again. So much more truth was spilling out than she'd ever intended, but somehow, she didn't feel like making an effort to stop it.

She lowered her head, looking again at the silver-washed landscape below. "That's...another reason why I need that prize. Keeping a dragon is kind of expensive, with the gear and all her food and everything. When the time comes that I can't support us anymore...I don't know what I'm going to do."

"She's an excellent dragon." Lukas said slowly. "It must've crossed your mind, at some point, that even though now you're poor and with a great dragon, there's a future out there where you could be rich, but with no dragon."

She started to glare at him, then looked away as she realized it wasn't worth the effort. "Of course it's crossed my mind. How could it not? I...I know, deep down, that selling Rhys would solve everything for me. But I can't, I mean cannot, do that to her. That would be the worst betrayal, and I would rather die of starvation than literally sell out my best friend."

"I know what you mean." he said in a low voice, attempting to catch her eye again. She didn't look at him, but she didn't deliberately turn further away, either.

"If...if you win the race, and get away from Aiden and all the races, will you still get to keep Kicidian?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded. "Yeah, he's officially mine. When I first joined the team, Aiden wasn't too happy with my choice of dragon, but he changed his tune pretty quickly. Yet another reason why he wants to keep me on. He'll not only have to find another rider as good as me, but they'll have to have an equally fast dragon. He's...not going to settle for mediocrity."

Petra got the distinct feeling that there was more to be said about that last statement, but didn't have a chance to figure out how to word her question before Lukas continued speaking.

"Kicidian's a pretty weird one, I'll be the first to admit." he said, glancing back at the glorious silver beast, who was still nibbling the dry grass. "In fact, he's about all the 'weird' you could possibly pile onto one dragon. He's a runt, he's some strange kinda hybrid, he's got unusually weak scales, he's impossibly dependent, and he's a vegetarian. But he's cute and fast, and I love him."

"He doesn't seem like he'd do very well in the wild." Petra commented, studying the silver dragon again. She had only partially realized it when she was petting him earlier, but Kicidian did have strangely thin scales. She doubted they'd last a second against even Rhys's claws, much less those of a more dangerous dragon, like Elan.

"He wouldn't." Lukas agreed. "Which is why I bought him. I got him from one of those breeding farm places; the owners were going to turn him loose since he didn't seem like he'd be of much use to them. But I noticed that, for all his flaws, he had ridiculously strong wings, and would most likely be a good racer. I got a pretty good bargain for him, which was only made better when I flew him for real and saw how fast he was."

He sighed yet again. "So at the very least, if I do get out, I'll still have him."

"Well, you'll still have him even if you don't get out." Petra pointed out, a little mulishly. The smile that appeared on Lukas's face was swift and faded. "Yeah...I suppose that's true."

He moved back from the edge and pushed himself to his feet. "We should go back. I doubt we're going to find a solution to this just by sitting here."

"Yeah..." she said softly. Lukas reached down to help her up, and together they walked back to where Kicidian was waiting.

Neither of them said much as they mounted the silver dragon and began the return flight. The night somehow felt more still, less alive than it had on the way there. The landscape streaked along below them, transforming back into scrubby desert, but Petra wasn't paying much attention.

Their conversation was looping through her head, again and again. All the things she'd confessed and admitted, and all the things she'd heard in return. It didn't feel real.

She didn't know what would happen tomorrow.

She didn't know what she wanted to happen tomorrow.

Well, that wasn't true. She wanted to win. She wanted to feel successful. She wanted to keep her dragon. She wanted to have a chance in the finals for the first time since she'd started racing.

But things had changed in just the short time they'd been talking. She wanted Lukas to somehow be able to succeed as well. She wanted him to be able to escape to the life he'd dreamed of.

She wanted too many things.

Somehow, it seemed like only a few minutes before they were silently landing in front of the dragon stables, though she knew that it had logically been much longer.

Again, Lukas slid gracefully off his dragon's back, then offered his hand to Petra. She didn't really need help getting down, but she accepted it anyways.

"Thank you. For...giving me a chance to see the bigger picture." she said.

"Of course. Thank you for giving me a chance to show it to you." His reply was too light, too easy. Too clearly covering up the fact that he was masking his own inner turmoil. She was quite certain his thoughts were running in the same loops that hers were.

She didn't even notice that he still had her fingers gripped in his until he gently lifted her hand and, before she could object, pressed a light kiss on her knuckles. A strangely pleasant shiver rippled across her shoulders, and she felt her face go warm.

He smiled, a trace of his old arrogance sneaking into his expression. "I hope that's not enough to incur your elbow-breaking wrath."

"Nah. I'll let it slide this time." she said.

They both stood there for a few moments, looking at each other. It was as though they'd been frozen- neither of them dared move an inch. Petra wished she could interpret the flashes of emotion in Lukas's mysterious blue eyes, but she was having enough trouble figuring out her own feelings in that moment.

Kicidian suddenly nudged Lukas's shoulder, and the spell was broken. The blond man coughed quietly and stepped back, reaching up to self-consciously scratch at the back of his neck. "So. I guess we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow."

"Yeah. Tomorrow." She agreed. "May the bes- ah, may the most desperate dragon rider win."

He gave another one of those small half-smiles. "May the most desperate dragon rider win." he echoed.

As though guided by a hand of fate, they both turned away then. Petra strode towards the back entrance of the inn, and Lukas led Kicidian into the stables.

He glanced back, for only a moment, but she was already disappearing into the night.

May the most desperate dragon rider win.