“
ruby and topaz and pink against the dark green backdrops. Manta came over to greet them, smiling and tipping her wings down to avoid the string of hanging lanterns. “You look lovely, Indigo,” she said without batting an eyelash at the borrowed pearls. “And you, as always, are the picture of majestic splendor,” she added to Pearl. There was always a weird vibe between Pearl and Manta, which Fathom couldn’t entirely figure out. Indigo said it was because the only way Pearl could become queen was if Manta first challenged Lagoon and won, and then Pearl would have to challenge her own mother. Fathom wasn’t quite sure that was right — because Lagoon had a daughter, Splash, who had no dragonets of her own. If she became queen, couldn’t Pearl challenge her? Indigo said no, because Pearl was technically Splash’s first cousin once removed, not her niece, and then Fathom had to yell “LA LA LA” and stick his claws in his ears because complicated family trees and succession laws were not only boring and impossible, but frankly irrelevant to his life anyway. “Is there coconut rice tonight?” he asked his mother. “And tuna rolls? And that mango-lime drink from last time?
”
”
Tui T. Sutherland (Darkstalker (Wings of Fire: Legends, #1))