Page 84 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

There’s murmuring from everyone else.

“Good to know,” Cyrus answers, “Sorry, Sarah—what were you saying?”

“When I saw that vision of you and Evander getting attacked, I saw so many Eclipse members attacking just the two of you,” she says, “There weren’t so many Eclipse members because the whole Candara team was there—the others only came after I told them about it. They thought it would only be you two; they wanted you bothdead.”

Cyrus nods slowly, staring intensely at her.

“What this says to me,” Sarah continues, “is that theyreallydidn’t want that message that Soleilus has a month to evacuate to reach the rest of Soleilus.”

“Oh, my god,” I mutter as I pick up what she’s laying down.

Evander and Milo’s eyes widen. Kaius looks between us all. Orion closes his eyes. Both the other girls look horrified.

“She’s right,” Cyrus says, “If we didn’t make it back, Soleilus wouldn’t know to leave. They are obligated to give us a warning to leave, but nothing in the rules says that they have to repeat that warning if something happens to the messengers.”

“Thosebastards!” Kaius explodes.

Julie gives a little squeak, and Kaius tries to comfort her. Lena’s looking horrified, rubbing her pregnant belly worriedly. There’s concerned murmuring among everyone else.

“So… how long do we have exactly?” Milo is the one to ask, “The next full moon, they said? How long is that?”

“One has just passed, so about a month,” Cyrus answers, “Considering everything, it’s a generous amount of time for us to escape—if we’re going to run, then we have plenty of time to pack up.”

“Would that… include the humans of Greyson Ridge, too?” Lena asks.

“Yes,” Cyrus answers, “It has to be. We can’t leave them to be killed.”

I look to Sarah. She’s glaring out at Cyrus. When I look at Julie and Lena, Lena has the same almostoffendedlook as Sarah, and Julie has a tearful look on her face.

That’s when Sarah steps forward, putting her hands on her hips.

“We are not going anywhere,” she declares.

Chapter 27 - Sarah

Everyone is silent for a moment after I speak. Cyrus just stares at me for a moment—and it feels like it’s me versus him in this conversation.

“We’re not going anywhere,” I repeat, “Even if wecouldtry to convince every person in Greyson Ridge to pick up and leave, there’s no way we wouldn’t have stragglers. Merl’s not leaving, for one thing.”

Julie and Rufus both nod knowingly next to me.

“But even more important than that, Greyson Ridge is our home,” I assert, “Ourhome. We should have therightto fight for it.”

“A nice sentiment,” Cyrus says stonily, “but Soleilus can’t defend all of Greyson Ridge if Eclipse goes all out in their attack.”

“It won’t just be you,” I answer confidently, “If we stay in Greyson Ridge, there’s a better chance that we might be able to help you.”

Cyrus frowns a little.

“Who’s ‘we’?” he asks.

“The people of Greyson Ridge,” I answer, “Us humans. I think you’ve been underestimating us.”

“I am not happy to involve humans in this,” he answers me in a monotone.

I put my hands on my hips.

“While you dragons were off facing the attack,wehad to deal with one of the stragglers from Eclipse,” I say, “You know, one of those who gave up on the idea of hiding themselves fromhumans; we’re lucky he didn’t cause a panic when we fought him.”

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