Page 61 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

Her feet sank instantly in the snow, and when she turned to face me, I noticed one off-white fang curled outside her closed mouth, on the left side.

A snaggletooth dragon. How perfect.

We are born…

As further proof, I could hear her heart beating, and I felt it in my own chest, its rhythm lagging just behind the beat of my own. It was like sitting up late at night and hearing a clock ticking in the stillness—whether it was still or not. Despite the slight breeze skimming off the frozen water, I could still hear it. Maybe it was coming from my bones…

I hunger.She turned toward the mökki and hopped once, which made the ground shake. Heavy clumps of snow fell from the trees, creating mini blizzards all around us. Her second hop lifted her massive feet off the ground completely. Her wings stretched to twice as long as I expected, and after two downbeats, she was fifty feet above our heads. In the strange orange light of the half-day, she flew over the cabin and disappeared beyond the black wall of pine forest.

Griffon ran to me and wrapped an arm around my waist, gasping like he’d been holding his breath. “Where is she going?”

“She’s hungry.”

“But she’ll be back?”

“I would think so.”

“How does she know I’ve flown with you?”

I’d wondered the same thing. “She’s been communicating through Hank. It wasn’t the stone that was aware of what was happening, it was her. She was the one hissing when I tried to leave Hank behind.”

Hank had been no more than a fancy pet rock after all, and understanding that fact removed the sting of him being gone for good. And that led me to another thought.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to run a little errand back to Bridie’s house, would you?”

“And leave you now? Not a chance.” He dragged his gaze from the treeline. “Why?”

“Those other star stones. I can’t leave them there, knowing…”

“Knowing what?”

“That those voices belong to dragons.”

He laughed, dismayed. “Don’t tell me you like this one so much you want more of them?”

“I can only say for sure that they can’t stay locked in that box. If Daphne were here, she’d feel the same.” I remembered the little frame near the box on her shelf that depicted a dragon with a rider on its back. “Maybe your sister was hunting DeNoy and star stones. Maybe she just wanted a dragon of her own.”

We stood there for ten minutes, clinging to each other and waiting for the next surprise. The chills I felt were internal only.

“Speak of the devil.” Griffon pointed up. I blinked up into the downdrafts created by my new friend’s wings. It was like standing below a helicopter.

Something large and dark fell from her claws and landed with a heavy thud twenty feet away. A large reindeer, no blood, no immediately visible wounds. The sound of the dragon landing beside it was slightly more gentle, but it shook off what little snow remained in the surrounding trees.

Griffon leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Is that supposed to be our dinner or hers?”

21

A Blanket Sandwich

“For Marka,” the dragon answered, “to celebrate the start of our union…and the end of others.” It cocked its ears and dared Griffon to argue. “She will share with you, Son of Fae.”

Griffon went to the back of the cabin, produced a shovel, and started digging in the snow fifty yards away, in the trees. The dragon and I watched him, amused.

I shouted, “What are you doing?”

“It’s not legal to hunt reindeer without a license. I’ll have to bury the hide and the entrails.”

The dragon huffed. “Entrails? What do you suppose fills my belly? You think I would offer my Marka an undressed meal?”

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