Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 206625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1033(@200wpm)___ 827(@250wpm)___ 689(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 206625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1033(@200wpm)___ 827(@250wpm)___ 689(@300wpm)
“They’re stories, Luca,” Rhi says over her shoulder, and I can’t help but notice how much ground we’ve covered. “Pryor, you can walk a little faster if you want up there.”
“Maybe we should slow down and take our time?” Pryor suggests from ahead of Rhiannon, rubbing his palms along the sides of his uniform. “Or I guess we can go faster if we want to get out of here.”
A red steps out of line, putting one claw forward toward us, and my stomach drops to the ground from the weight of the dread filling my entire body. “No, no, no,” I whisper, freezing in place, but it’s too late.
The red opens its mouth, exposing sharp, glistening fangs, and fire erupts along the sides of its tongue, streaming through the air and into the path ahead of Rhiannon.
She yells in shock.
Heat blasts the front of my face.
Then it’s over.
The scent of sulfur and burned grass…burned…something fills my lungs, and I see a charred patch of ground in front of Rhiannon that hadn’t been there before.
“Are you all right, Rhi?” I call forward.
She nods, but the movement is hurried and jerky. “Pryor is… He’s…”
Pryor’s dead. My mouth waters like I’m going to vomit, but I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth until the feeling passes.
“Keep walking!” Sawyer shouts from farther down the path.
“It’s all right, Rhi. You just have to…” She just has to what? Walk over his corpse? Is there a corpse?
“Fire’s out,” Rhiannon says over her shoulder.
I nod, because there’s nothing I can say to reassure her.
Holy shit are we insignificant.
She walks forward and I follow, maneuvering around the pile of ash that used to be Pryor.
“Oh my gods, the smell,” Luca complains.
“Could you please have some level of decency?” I snap, turning around to level a glare at her, but Ridoc’s face makes me pause.
His eyes are as wide as saucers, and his mouth hangs open. “Violet.”
It’s a whisper, and I wonder briefly if I heard him as much as I saw the word forming on his lips.
“Vi—”
A warm huff of steam blows against the back of my neck. My heart thunders, the beat increasing erratically as I take what might be my last breath and turn toward the line of dragons.
The golden eyes of not one but two greens meet mine, consuming my field of vision.
Oh. Fuck.
To approach a green dragon, lower your eyes in supplication and wait for their approval. That’s what I read, right?
I drop my gaze as one chuffs another breath at me. It’s hot and appallingly wet, but I’m not dead yet, so that’s a plus.
The one on the right chortles deep in its throat. Wait, is that the sound of approval I’m looking for? Shit, I wish I’d asked Mira.
Mira. She’s going to be devastated when she reads the rolls.
I lift my head and suck in a sharp breath. They’re even closer. The one on the left nudges my hands with its giant nose, but I somehow stand my ground, rocking back on my heels to keep from falling over.
Greens are the most reasonable.
“I cut my hands climbing the obstacle course.” I lift my palms, like they can see through the black fabric binding my wounds.
The one on the right sets its nose right at my breasts and chuffs again.
What. The. Hell.
It inhales, making that noise in its throat, and the other shoves its nose into my ribs, making me raise my arms just in case they feel like taking a little nibble.
“Violet!” Rhiannon whisper-shouts.
“I’m all right!” I call back, then wince, hoping I didn’t just seal my fate by screaming in their ears.
Another chuff. Another chortle, like they’re talking to each other as they sniff me.
The one under my arm moves its nostrils to my back and sniffs again.
Realization hits and I choke out a tight, surreal laugh. “You smell Teine, don’t you?” I ask quietly.
They both draw back, just far enough for me to look them in their golden eyes, but they keep their jaws shut, giving me the courage to keep talking.
“I’m Mira’s sister, Violet.” Slowly lowering my arms, I run my hands over my snot-covered vest and the armor carefully sewn into it. “She collected Teine’s scales after he shed them last year and had them shrunk down so she could sew them into the vest to help keep me safe.”
The one on the right blinks.
The one on the left sticks its nose in again, sniffing loudly.
“The scales have saved me a few times,” I whisper. “But no one else knows they’re in there. Just Mira and Teine.”
They both blink at me, and I lower my gaze, bowing my head because it feels like the thing to do. Professor Kaori taught us every way to approach a dragon and exactly zero ways to disengage one.
Step by step, they retreat until I see them take up their places in line in my peripherals, and I finally raise my head.