Page 31 of Dragon Awakened

Sometimes, our beliefs are lies.

My belief about the infallibility of my king and my kingdom. My belief about my place in the world.

The back of my throat burns, and my dragon swims through molten rock within my chest.

Sister Grace pushes away her drink. Turning to face me more fully, she huffs out a breath. "Are you going to order me to attempt the ritual, Your Excellency?"

I dig my nails into the meat of my palm. "I am not."

"Then why are you here?"

My gaze instinctively goes to Ember, and my ribs constrict around my heart.

I am here for her.

But my sense of purpose in this moment goes deeper than my soulbond connection to my mate. She is a miracle--her companionship is everything I ever wanted in this world.

But she is more than simply my mate.

She is a light, meant to push back the darkness that has slowly corrupted dragonkind. I never believed in the prophecies about an heir who would ascend to the grand throne, uniting the kingdoms and bringing light to shadow. I'm still not sure I do.

But I believe in her. I believe that there is something rotten in the throne of the Stone King, and I believe that there is a way to stop the endless dragon war.

I believe that Ember is the key--and when she tells me that she needs to find her final mate, I believe that, too.

"I am here because I think you are bound by the oath you took as a Sister to uphold the Stone Kingdom traditions," I tell Sister Grace.

"Of course I am."

Forcing myself to look away from my mate, I meet Sister Grace's gaze. "Then I am asking you to feel with your heart, and to think about the principles of the Grand Stone Temple, and not about the letter of its laws."

She flexes her jaw. "The interdiction against Sister magic containing dragon Priestess magic goes back centuries. It is not merely some technicality."

"But what is its purpose?"

Sister grace chews at her bottom lip, looking away for a long moment. When she directs her gaze to mine again, her conviction has been shaken. "To halt the spread of Shadow Dragon magic in the Stone Temple."

"The Shadow King's forces are already there." It's the only explanation I have for my father turning on me.

"Not in the Temple," she protests.

"Perhaps not. But soon they will be." I let out a rough breath. "The Shadow Dragons themselves are not the enemy. Their magic is not anathema."

That was the word that Sister Grace used, earlier.

But it does nothing to persuade her now. "They have been our enemy, though. For millennia."

Have they, though?

"Their kingdom. Their ambitions and their manipulations. Those have been our enemies."

The dragons, themselves, however...

I look to Amy and then to Jett. And finally to Ember. My mate. She has Shadow Dragon blood in her veins; she wields Shadow Dragon magic.

But she is not the enemy.

"They are part of dragonkind," I say, new conviction in my voice. "And it is time to bring them back into the fold."

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