Page 116 of House of Ashes

She thrust the hook back in my face, and I stumbled back a step.

“Or I will ensure you do not walk away from that Circle,” she ended quietly. “All of Akalla will know you for the deceiver you are, and you’ll pay for your insolence in blood.”

I stared at her, my fingers sticky and hot with blood, the sickness in my stomach threatening to come up all over the floor.

Chantrelle lowered her fist, tucking the bloodied strap away. She backed away from me, pointing with one bony finger as she disappeared into the eyrie, slamming the door behind her.

We were ruined. I blinked away tears before they could freeze.

I didn’t know how long I stood there, hand clasped to my bleeding face, before Rhylan came in. He looked as relaxed as he had before, radiating contentment…and I couldn’t bring myself to ruin it yet. I needed to regroup, to rid myself of this awful, cold shock…

I yanked my neck scarf up, covering the lower half of my face, and wiped my sticky fingers surreptitiously on my pants.

“Hurry,” I urged, turning so he wouldn’t see any sign of the wound on my cheek or the redness around my eyes. “We need to be back before nightfall.”

“It’s not that cold,” he said, looking bemused at the scarf covering my nose and cheeks.

I missed a beat, unable to fathom levity at the moment. “Maybe if you’re a dragon, it’s not.” It was impossible to keep the edge of panic from my voice, and I swallowed hard.

The line between his brows was back. He stalked closer, eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong?”

Oh, gods, I couldn’t let him see my face…not while we were still in Kirion, not while Chantrelle knew that we were lying, that we were breaking the Law—

“Please, let’s just go home,” I asked, on the verge of begging and unable to care, as long as we got out of here. “I want to go back, right now. Just take me home!”

He hesitated, clearly torn and hating it, wanting to give me what I wanted and knowing I was hiding something.

I pressed the advantage, feeling no shame. “I have a bad feeling about…about Kirana. We need to get to her as soon as possible.”

It was a dirty, underhanded tactic, to appeal to Rhylan for the life of his only remaining family…and it worked.

I knew the very instant that he broke, giving in to his own fear and letting it drive him—that little gleam of fear was a cold spark in his eyes.

“What kind of feeling?” he asked, climbing under the harness and beginning the shift. As his face lengthened into a snout, the words garbled into draconic growls.

I frantically buckled the harness, climbing up into the saddle without a speck of grace. When I checked for the other safety strap, I found it had been cut free as well, leaving me with nothing.

I swallowed my own fear and reached out to pat his scarred back with a quaking hand. “It’s just an intuition, but it’s better to hurry and check, right? And please, for the love of the gods, Rhylan, don’t roll over today. I can’t…I just can’t do it today. Not now.”

He rumbled assent, spreading his wings as he leapt smoothly over the eyrie’s open edge, but I saw him tilt his head, peering back at me with one eye.

I snuggled deeper into my scarf, wrapping the reins tightly around my wrists…just in case.

“Home, Rhylan,” I urged, stroking his back, ignoring the hot sting in my cheek, drowning in terror.

The ruse was up the moment we descended through Jhazra’s dragon door, because Kirana was sitting at Viros’s desk, pen in hand and the logbook open before her, eyes shielded against the glare of the late-day sun.

Rhylan landed heavily, taking in Kirana with panicked eyes, who surveyed him in return with a slight frown.

“Yes?” she asked, a little acerbically. “I’m assuming you’ve come tearing back in here like that with good news?

He settled down onto the floor, tail twitching hard enough to knock over several of the provision barrels. He stared at Kirana for another long moment, then twisted his entire head around to glare at me with baleful intent.

I unwrapped the reins from my wrists and jumped down to the floor. I needed to throw up. I needed to be alone to scream out the all-consuming fear before I could think clearly again.

But that was not in my cards.

Rhylan shifted, and as he straightened onto two feet, his body was entirely covered in black scales, flames glimmering in his eyes. “You’re unhurt?” he asked Kirana, in a rather perfunctory tone.

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