“Oh, look,” Magnificent said cheerfully, pointing to the glint of sunlight on wings flapping through the trees. “The fruit gatherers are coming back.” She flew back to the center of the Arboretum and snatched one of the nuts off the mahogany table.

Two to one.

“Wasn’t that cheating?” Sunny called as Glory glided back down to her team. Kinkajou had furious red stripes marching along her scales, and Jambu was back to blue-gray again. Glory wondered if her brother had more than two moods.

“That was totally cheating!” Tsunami shouted. “You can’t let her get away with that! Boo! Hiss!”

“Silence them,” Magnificent said to Handsome with a frown. He spread his wings and cleared his throat.

“Nothing in the rules forbids what the queen did,” he announced. “She is the winner. Officially. If not in spirit.”

Magnificent glared at him while Mangrove and Dazzling swooped down from the trees.

Glory was too dazed to chime in. The others might call it cheating, but as far as she was concerned, Magnificent had only found a trick to reveal Glory’s hiding place, the same way Glory had used the RainWing audience for clues.

So Glory had really lost. She’d lost.

She couldn’t pay attention to the sorting and counting going on as Mangrove and Dazzling spilled fruits of all shapes and sizes across the greenery. Handsome picked each one up, muttered over it for a moment, and set it in a pile.

If I were competing alone, it would be over by now, Glory realized. She would have lost the throne in a direct contest with Magnificent. If she won it now, it would be only because the other RainWings made it happen. Tamarin, who didn’t know her at all, Mangrove, and Kinkajou. If they could do it.

Kinkajou’s eyes were fixed on Mangrove’s fruit pile. She fidgeted with her tail and counted along under her breath.

Handsome examined the last fruit, a dark blue prickled ball that oozed bright green juice when he poked it. He nodded and placed it on Mangrove’s pile. Kinkajou shot Glory a delighted look.

“Seventeen to sixteen,” said Handsome. “The winner is Mangrove.”

“What?” shrilled Magnificent. She whipped around to glare at Dazzling, who had yellow speckles around her mouth and a trail of green splatters down her chest. “You ate some of them! I know there were nineteen there when I —” She stopped abruptly.

“Sorry,” Dazzling muttered. “I thought sixteen would be enough.”

“Well, you thought wrong.” Magnificent growled.

“Excuse me,” said Handsome. “Did you say, ‘There were nineteen there’?”

There was an awkward pause as the two queens glared at each other. Magnificent flicked her tail and looked down her nose at Handsome.

“Are you accusing me of something?” she asked coldly.

“I am!” Kinkajou blurted. “You collected fruits and stashed them somewhere ahead of time!”

“Ludicrous,” said the queen. The red flickers along her wings vanished abruptly. “And impossible to prove.”

It occurred to Glory that Magnificent might have chosen to be purple today so that no one would spot any shimmers of guilt in her scales. Clever, she thought, glancing down at her own. The yellow had faded a little, and small gray clouds were gathering around her shoulder blades and wing tips.

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” Dazzling pointed out to Kinkajou. “You won.”

Kinkajou jabbed Glory with her tail, and Glory snapped back into focus. There was still a chance. Now they were tied, and there was one contest left.

“It matters if you’re planning to cheat again,” she said sharply.

“That won’t be necessary.” Wind rustled through the leaves as Grandeur slid majestically between Glory and Magnificent. Her bones creaked like ancient forests and the silver cast of her scales made her look as if she were reflecting moonlight instead of sunlight. She wasn’t like the other queens. In fact, she wasn’t like any other dragon in the village. Glory thought Grandeur might be the only RainWing who actually looked, moved, and sounded like a real queen.

She arched her neck and peered down at Kinkajou. “I can crush this little creature easily on my own.”

“We’ll see,” Kinkajou said bravely, but anxious streaks of green flickered in her ruff. This is asking too much of her, Glory worried. Kinkajou was barely half Grandeur’s size, with hardly any training. The NightWings had been so underwhelmed by her venom that they hadn’t even bothered binding her mouth. How could she possibly win?

Handsome beckoned the two dragons into the center of the Arboretum. “Standard venom practice rules apply,” he said. “Take the utmost caution to hit no living creature. We’ll be testing distance and targeting. Who’d like to go first?”

“I,” said Grandeur. She eyed Handsome and his two helpers as they rolled a long, polished plank of wood across the vines. It was as wide as five talon prints and four times as long, with small mea surement marks all the way along it.

One end stopped at Grandeur’s front talons. She stretched her neck and jaw while the RainWings scurried out of the way, leaving the plank laid out in front of her like a welcoming carpet.

“Whenever you’re —” Handsome started.

Grandeur’s mouth snapped open and a spray of black venom shot out. The droplets spattered on the wood near the far end of the plank, sizzling and burning small holes where they fell. The watching dragons all ooooohed admiringly.

“I’m guessing that’s pretty impressive,” Glory said to Mangrove.

His sigh answered her question.

Grandeur stepped aside with a polite gesture at Kinkajou. The little dragonet stepped up ner vously, opened her mouth as wide as she could, and shot a tiny jet of venom at the plank.

It landed barely a quarter of the way between her claws and Grandeur’s drops.

Glory’s heart sank. Mangrove dropped his head into his front talons with a groan. Kinkajou turned to Glory with a heartbroken expression.

“There’s still the targeting part,” Jambu said hopefully. He patted the little dragonet on the back. The helpers were already dragging out a kind of easel painted with three yellow and white circles.

“What if I fail?” Kinkajou said to Glory. “All those dragons — it’ll be my fault if we never see them again. It’ll be my fault that you’re not queen.”

“Stop that,” Glory said, placing one talon over Kinkajou’s. “I lost my own contest, remember? It’s my fault more than anyone’s. But I will be queen one day. And in the meanwhile —” She caught Mangrove’s eye to make sure he was listening. “We’ll get Orchid and the other RainWings back no matter what it takes. Maybe I won’t have an army, but we’ll make a rescue mission out of my friends and anyone else who’s willing to go.

“So don’t think about that right now. All I can ask is that you try your best — and I know I don’t even have to ask, because you’re the kind of dragon who always does.”

“That’s true,” Kinkajou said. “I am that kind of dragon.” She squared her shoulders. “I will. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Glory glanced up and realized that Grandeur had been listening, too. The old queen turned around and casually shot a spray of her venom at the painted board. It landed precisely in the center of the first circle.

Magnificent gave Glory a triumphant smile. It would have been really nice to wipe that smile off her face. And one day I will. I will be queen of this tribe. That’s what I’m meant for. I’m sure of it.

Kinkajou stepped up beside Grandeur, opened her mouth, and sprayed her venom at the circles. The drops splashed right on top of Grandeur’s, and a hissing sound came from the board as the wood melted a little more.

The older RainWing made a sound of approval and patted Kinkajou’s head. Then she tilted her head just a little and shot a black jet directly into the center of the second circle.

Kinkajou took a deep breath and did the same. More sizzling and smoking came from the wood.

Don’t get excited, Glory told herself, although she couldn’t help feeling impressed with Kinkajou. She knew for a fact that she wouldn’t have been able to aim that precisely. But if the two dragons tied on this part of the challenge, Grandeur would still win because of the distance part. Practice a gracious-in-defeat face. And then get ready to study like life depends on it so I can try this again. I wonder how long I have to wait between challenges.

Grandeur opened her mouth.

And then a sloth tumbled out of the trees, landing in front of the board.

Kinkajou leaped to shove it out of the way.

And time seemed to slow down, so Glory could watch each drop of venom sail in an unhurried arc to land, splash, splash, splash, right on Kinkajou’s wing.