Page 18 of Blood of Dragons

You think?

I KNOW. IT’S NOT POSSIBLE FOR TWO RACES TO EXIST PEACEFULLY.

Talon said his people and yours lived peacefully together.

UNTIL WE DIDN’T.

We flew for hours, the air warmer now that the mountains were behind us, but it still made my eyes smart.

I think that’s it. A forest became visible, dense with trees, nothing visible beyond the lush canopy.I just realized we haven’t seen a single dragon in the sky.I expected it to be full of Khazmuda’s kind, brilliant scales gleaming in the daylight. Mighty roars carrying on the wind. Dragons sleeping on rocks and absorbing the sun’s rays.

YOU’RE RIGHT. AND THAT FOREST IS FAR TOO DENSE FOR MY KIND.

Do you think my father was wrong?

PERHAPS THINGS HAVE CHANGED SINCE THAT LETTER WAS WRITTEN.

Like what?

SOMEONE ELSE CONQUERED THE ELVES AND THE DRAGONS.

That seems impossible.

I’VE SEEN IT HAPPEN BEFORE. AND IT’LL HAPPEN AGAIN.

I’m not sure what to do. I can’t risk anything happening to you.

I DON’T WANT TO RISK YOU EITHER, CALISTA.

We came down for a landing, several leagues away from the forest that was marked on the map. I climbed off the dragon and finally stood on my own two feet after several hours of sitting still. I paced for a while, letting all the tight muscles loosen. “Relatively speaking, the distance isn’t that great between here and Scorpion Valley…at least as the crow flies.”

IT’S NOT.

The forest was visible in the distance, and I stared at the tree line, wondering if someone was staring back. It looked quiet from where I stood, no guard posts visible. If I didn’t know that the elves lived there, I would assume it was just an uninhabited forest. “I’ll go alone…and let you know what I find.”

Inferno turned his enormous head to look at me.IF ANYONE IS WATCHING, THEY ALREADY KNOW I’M HERE.

“But they can’t capture you from this distance. You’re a lot more valuable than I am, Inferno.”

I DISAGREE, CALISTA. YOU WANT TO HELP ME OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF YOUR HEART, NOT FOR A SELFISH ULTERIOR MOTIVE LIKE THE OTHER TWO.

“Honestly, I’m just as selfish as they are.”

Inferno stared at me for a long time, his red eyes considering.HOW SO?

I almost couldn’t bring myself to say it, not wanting to admit it to myself. “For the first time in ten years, I’m free. But I have nowhere to go, and no one to see.” My family was dead. My home was destroyed. “I have no other purpose.”

I KNOW YOUR HEART—AND KNOW IT’S IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

“I want to reclaim my kingdom and drive out the man who destroyed it. And I need the dragons to do that, so I’m just as bad as he is. I thought we were different, but I’m realizing we’re the same person.”

He continued to watch me, sympathy in his eyes.

“You can’t tell me I’m good and he’s evil, because we’re one and the same.”

Inferno said nothing.

I didn’t expect him to argue with me, not when there was no foundation to stand on. I did care for the dragons, cared for Khazmuda and Inferno and wanted them to be free in all the skies, but I did want my crown. I did want my revenge against Talon. “I’ll enter the forest and report back what I find. If it’s safe, I’ll let you know. And if it’s not…”

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