Page 160 of House of Ashes

Thirty-Four

Adragon flew at my side, wings of mist and gossamer brushing my face as we soared over Akalla. A crown of a thousand horns grew from his skull, sweeping back to run down his spine, his tail a fan of light.

We passed over the tarn…over the mountains…swooping low over Jhazra Eyrie before rising back into the sky, the sun beating down on our scales.

Heading south with every beat of our wings.

The sea shimmered before us, waves wine-dark, and the gossamer dragon passed them over—spreading his wings wide, and casting a shadow across the land.

The shadow spread, like a drop of ink in water. The lights of the eyries extinguished. The mountains crumbled where they stood.

I beat my wings frantically, but the shadow drew me down. The wind had ceased to exist. The fire in me had burned out.

The great ghostly dragon spiraled over the earth, casting the shadow everywhere he flew, and he finally landed in front of me. Feet sinking into the shadow, which crept over him like a living thing.

Consuming him. Devouring the light inside him.

He leaned forward, staring into my eyes as the shadow crept up over his face. “Sera, it’s time to wake up.”

“Fly away!” The shriek tore out of me, and the shadow poured into my mouth—invading me, swallowing me whole.

“Wake up.”

I blinked, sitting bolt upright and panting for breath. Rhylan knelt in front of me, one hand on my shoulder.

I was lying on the floor, tangled in a blanket that someone had draped over me, sweat coating me in a fine sheen.

The dream was already fading. I remembered a dance of dragons calling me from above, urging me to join them in the sky…and then what?

It slipped away, so much mist in my fingers. All I remembered was…terror. The sensation of drowning.

I rubbed sleep from my eyes, stretching the sore muscles in my neck.

“You didn’t seem like you were having a good dream.” Rhylan rubbed my neck for me, and I leaned into the warmth of his hands.

“Strange. Myst gave me something to help.” I blinked hard, trying one last time to recall the dregs of the dream, but there was nothing left of it.

“You should’ve come for me.” Rhylan sat next to me, pulling me onto his chest and stroking my hair. “I would’ve helped.”

I plucked at a loose thread in his trousers, frowning. “No. Not with things as they are. Is she…?”

“Alive and…well enough.” Rhylan pressed his lips to my hair. “Myst threw me out of her room. We’re to give her peace right now. Your Ascendant will let us back in when—when she’s ready.”

Despite whatever night terrors had gone on in the dream, I felt much more refreshed than usual. I remembered with clarity every detail of the night before—but it was like a numbing fog had been draped across my mind, allowing me to hold those details at arm’s length without being devoured by panic and fear.

“Rhylan, are you really fine with what I did?” I pulled the thread again, afraid to meet his eyes.

I didn’t deserve to have him look at me ever again. Not after making his sister a Naga.

He took my hand away from it, wrapping his fingers around mine, and tilted my chin up. “I was useless down there. My mind was…not mine anymore. I’m glad you’re with us, Sera. Because you did what I should’ve done. If I wasn’t frozen and fucking useless,” he spat.

I sat up, alarmed by the vitriol in his voice. “For gods’ sakes, Rhylan, you’re so far from useless—”

“No,” he said bitterly, cutting me off. “All I could see was my…my mother and Loralei. I wasn’t there, Sera, I was seeing something totally different. All I could hear was the screaming in my head. Kirana was dying right there, she needed me—and I wasn’t there. Not in my mind.”

I fell silent, tightening my fingers around his. I had seen the look on his face…a dragon screaming in silence.

A dragon whose eyes—and mind—were a thousand miles away.

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