Page 33 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

“Oh, good. I was hoping as much.” I crossed my legs and rested my hands in my lap, not sure what I felt. Mostly too numb and wrung out after the ups and downs of the night to feel much of anything besides the burning need for the truth.

“It’s a long story. Would you rather wait until daylight after you’ve had a full night’s sleep?” Evander gestured to me. “You’ve already had a tumultuous night.”

A part of me was shutting down, freezing, under the onslaught of the night. All I wanted to do was huddle under a blanket and hide as I’d done when I was first brought here. But there was no going back. I had to face the truths of this night.

“I’m not going to sleep anyway, so you might as well tell me.” I shifted on my bed. Should I offer Evander a seat, if the story was that long? The thought of facing him across my bed, him looking far too much a dragon, his wings hogging most of the space in the room, squeezed my chest and throat.

He was Evander, and yet he was the dragon.

“In that case, would you mind going to the main room down the hall? There are more comfortable chairs, more light, and we can snag snacks from the kitchen.” Evander waved toward the corridor.

The invitation was so very Evander that it calmed the shaking inside me.

I hopped to my feet, ready to latch on to an alternative that didn’t involve having this discussion in my bedchamber. “You had me at snacks.”

“I should have led with that.” Evander took a step into the corridor, then halted again. “Do you mind if I shift back to my fae form? It might look a bit strange for a moment, but we’ll both be more comfortable if I don’t have to worry about accidentally whacking you with my wings. They can be such a bother in tight spots.”

“Go ahead.” I crossed the room, my gaze locked on him. I needed to see this, no matter how strange. “I was beginning to wonder if you could shift or if you were stuck this way at night.”

“Nope, not stuck. Just living up to the expectation of what a scary dragon should look and sound like.” Evander went still for a moment. His wings shrank while that reptilian something shifted in his face, returning back to the square jaw and strong cheekbones that I was used to seeing. When he opened his eyes and spoke once again, his voice was back to its normal tones. “Letting my dragon show also helps disguise my voice.”

“But why do it? Why purposefully keep me scared?” I trotted to keep up as Evander strode down the corridor. “Why do any of this?”

It didn’t make sense. Evander wasn’t the type to go around demanding maidens. For that matter, what had happened to all the others? I knew for a fact that Evander hadn’t eaten them. He’d told me they were safe—and I actually believed him now—but what did that mean?

“Like I said, long story.” Evander shook his head, his mouth quirked in a wry grimace. “Trust me. It will make more sense if I tell it in order. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.”

“Then the others are alive?” Even trusting Evander, knowing he wouldn’t have hurt the others, I needed to hear it from him. The hope ached inside my chest. “I had a friend. Clarissa. She was sacrificed five years ago. Well, five years ago in the Human Realm. I don’t know how long ago it was for you.”

“She’s alive and well. I can take you to see her. Tomorrow, perhaps. Once you’ve had a chance to sleep in. Tonight will be late.” Evander rolled his shoulders, but the grimace disappeared into the smile that softened the hard edges of his strongly featured face.

I could see Clarissa tomorrow. All these weeks, and Clarissa had been so close.

Why hadn’t Evander offered before? Then again, I hadn’t mentioned Clarissa before. I’d been too scared to give away any information to the dragon or his minions.

As we reached the kitchen, we found it already lit with candles. Even the massive fireplace at the far end crackled with a low fire, as if waiting for guests to snuggle up in the chairs before it.

Phoebe bustled around, both a gusting whirlwind and a soothing zephyr at the same time. She turned around, already holding a tray piled with sweet breads, desserts, and two mugs of something steaming and hot. “I heard the two of you talking and saw you fly off earlier. I figured tonight would be the night.”

“It was.” Evander’s smile widened as he took the tray. “Thank you, Phoebe.”

“You’re one of them. Of us.” I froze where I was, gaping at Phoebe. All this time, how hadn’t I put it together? A human in the dragon’s castle. Then again, I’d been so focused on her being the dragon’s minion that I’d lumped her in with everyone else.

“Yes, I was.” Phoebe smoothed her hands over her apron, something in her face sad yet peaceful. “It was seventy or so years ago in the Human Realm. Less than thirty years here.”

Right. The time moving differently thing.

“Like you, I was afraid to look at the dragon’s face. But eventually, Evander won me over, and I lit the candle.” Phoebe gave a shrug, looking away from me. “There was nothing left for me back in the Human Realm. My parents had both died from a disease that swept through Thysia shortly before I was sacrificed. I wasn’t chosen by lottery. I was picked because the village thought I was tainted. Why should I return to a village that was willing to sacrifice me to a dragon, thinking I was going to be eaten? So I decided to stay. After all, someone needed to look after this one.”

Evander squirmed under her gaze. “I’m grateful for your help all these years.”

“Wait, if it’s been so many years, shouldn’t you be…older?” I gestured to Evander.

According to Phoebe, it had been over thirty years here in the Fae Realm that my village had been sacrificing maidens to the dragon. But Evander didn’t look much older than thirty, putting him only a few years older than me.

I would have thought the Fae Realm stopped aging, but Phoebe had aged.

Evander shrugged. “I’m a dragon. We Greater Dragons don’t age as quickly as humans or even other fae.”

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