Page 45 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

Except for one.

“I’m not picking this one because it’s a precious stone or anything.” After our discussion about hoards, I wasn’t sure how this would look. “But I’d like that emerald you put in your pocket when you were showing me the gnomes my second day here, if that’s all right.”

I wanted to hold that emerald and see reflected in its glinting facets how far I’d come since the moment I’d first glimpsed that stone as a lost maiden searching for a truth I wasn’t yet ready to handle.

When Evander didn’t answer right away, I peeked up at him. “I don’t have to pick that one. I can pick another.”

Evander shook himself, as if he, too, had been lost in memory. “No, that one is perfect.”

He led me through the shelves until we reached the shelves of precious stones. He picked up the emerald from the velvet. For a moment his eyes lit, his hand paused, as if he struggled to hand the emerald over.

“I don’t need a piece of your hoard.” I wasn’t sure why Evander wanted to give me something. Maybe it was a fae thank you? A way to reward me for all the help I’d given him?

Yet if it was only that, then a part of me would be disappointed. This felt like more, even if I didn’t know why.

Then he pressed the emerald into my hand, closing my fingers over it. “It’s yours.”

“Thank you.” I stared up into his blue eyes, the flecks of amber the only hint of his dragon eyes lurking beneath. Yet it wasn’t fear melting my insides.

He was a dragon while I was merely one of the many maidens he’d rescued and had to find a new home for in the past decades. Why should I think I was more special than Clarissa or any of the others? Surely many before me had found themselves attracted to Evander, and he clearly hadn’t returned the feelings of the maidens who swooned at his feet.

That still didn’t stop me from leaning closer into the warmth wrapping around us and glinting in his gaze.

The stone floor beneath my feet gave a shiver. The slightest tremor, but still noticeable.

I reached a hand to the nearest shelf, trying to regain my equilibrium. “What was that?”

Evander stiffened, spinning toward the door even as he spoke. “Rock slide.” He sprinted toward the door, barely slowing as he dodged between the shelves.

I stuffed the emerald into my magic pocket, then raced after Evander.

As Evander burst onto the landing, he nearly ran into Daphne. She was gasping, pointing down the stairs. “Rock slide. The gnomes—”

“I know.” Evander rushed past her and threw himself down the stairs, shifting into his half-dragon form as he did so. His wings snapped open, and he soared over rather than fell down the staircase.

Daphne shouted after him between huffing breaths, “Dorrian went for the village healer. One of the tunnels collapsed. Boss Gob and at least ten gnomes are trapped inside. The other gnomes are trying to dig them out, but some of the boulders are too big for them to move quickly.”

I had to go more slowly, not having fae agility or dragon flight on my side. By the time I reached the base of the stairs, I’d lost sight of them. But I turned toward the tunnel to the gnomes, following the sounds of raised, panicked voices.

The rock polishing room was empty, the doors to the gnomes’ halls thrown wide open.

I hurried between the piles of gems to the far back of the cavern.

There a huge tunnel opened up from the larger cavern. Many tunnels branched off. Some were large enough for Evander to stroll through. Others were so small that I would barely fit even if I crawled on my stomach.

Gnomes rushed about, their voices a chatter of indistinct language, no longer that rhythmic, joyful chanting. Evander and the rock polishers clustered around a pile of rocks. Dust and debris still trickled down, rattling off the boulders.

I shot a glance at the ceiling. I hadn’t felt unsafe in the eyrie before, but now I couldn’t help but take in every crack and jagged piece of stone. Would the whole thing come crashing down on our heads?

His wings rustling, Evander waved to the cluster of fae and gnomes. “Step back. I’m going to need to shift to move these boulders.”

The others backed up, giving plenty of space around Evander. His body blurred, then grew until, in a blink, a large blue dragon curled in the space, his head hunched, his wings scraping the ceiling.

I stumbled back a step, my heart beating hard in my ears. I hadn’t seen Evander’s full dragon form yet, and even knowing the massive creature was Evander couldn’t stop the instinct screaming in my head to run.

I heaved a few breaths, refusing to listen to the panic filling my chest. That dragon was Evander. My Evander. I couldn’t let an instinctual terror of a predator make me fear him.

The dragon reached for the first boulder, scooping it up easily in his large claws. He set the boulder down in the center of the room, then reached for another.

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