Page 163 of Grave Situation

Leicht’s quiet for several wingbeats, and then he says,“Are you planning to do something stupid?”

“Why would you ask that?”I’m not even pretending to be indignant.“I don’t do stupid things—I sit on the sidelines eating nuts and criticizing other people who are doing stupid things.”

His snort rumbles through his whole body beneath me.“Usually, yes. That is the Talon I’ve heard so much about for the past ten years. But?—”

“Aww, you and Tia talked about me?”I keep my mental voice light, even though I still feel that knifelike pain at the reminder that she’s gone. I don’t know if that will ever go away.

“Stop trying to distract me,”he growls.“I can very easily drop you in the ocean, you know.”

“I was hoping our relationship had gone beyond the stage of you wanting to kill me,”I muse.“I’m foolishly glad it hasn’t. I think I would have missed all that adrenaline-stirring terror.”

In reply, he banks sharply to the left, forcing me to throw my weight in the other direction to compensate—at which pointhe banks right. I’m completely off-balance and scrabble for something to hold on to, but dragons don’t have convenient handles, so I slide right off his back and tumble toward the sea.

Damn dragons and their damn lack of humor.

Before I can draw on my magic to slow my fall, Leicht’s giant claw snatches me from the air and tosses me upward. I brace, and sure enough, a second later, I collide with hard bone and scales. That’s definitely going to leave bruises, but I don’t have time to think about it—if I don’t scramble back into the saddle divot, I’ll fall again and have to deal with even more bruises.

“I hate you,”I tell him when I’m more or less secure again.“That was completely unnecessary.”

“I disagree. Are you ready to take this seriously now?”

“Take what seriously? I’ve been taking things seriously from the second Wat waved a rock at me!”

“Is the reason we’re on this jaunt without Jaimin and the others so you can do something self-sacrificing?”

The words hit me like boulders, and if they could bruise, the marks would be worse than what I got falling on his back. But not because they’re untrue. Well… not completely untrue.

I swallow around the lump in my throat.“That’s not the reason,”I protest, and then honesty compels me to add,“But if a situation came up where a sacrifice on my part would keep the others sa—”I don’t get to finish. Leicht’s roar of fury echoes across the ocean and is so loud up close that my ears ring.

He banks shallowly and begins a wide turn.“I’m taking you back to that ship!”

Ugh. Dragons are so dramatic.

“Be reasonable, Leicht. I’m a god… sort of. It’s my job to sacrifice for my people.”

“You have no people. You don’t evenlikepeople!”

This really isn’t the best time for him to show off what he knows about me.“I have some people, and they’re special to me. I don’t want them to die if they don’t have to.”

The stone chooses that moment to give a clear and very disparaging opinion of that statement.

“Really?” I say aloud. “The one time in my life that I try to be noble and all ‘for the good of others,’ and you’re stopping me?” If anybody ever calls me selfish again after this, I’m tossing them into the chasm at the academy and smiling while I do it.

“Did you ever stop to consider that the stone wanted these specific people collected because they have a role to play in you defeating the zombies?”Leicht asks exasperatedly.

“Of course I did! They’ve all been playing their roles. Coryn protects us all, Peiris is the reason we knew where to go next and how to bring Wasianth’s power out, JaiminbroughtWasianth’s power out, and Arimen is the reason I know what a godsborn even is. They’ve all done their jobs… right?”I falter a little. What if they haven’t?

“You don’t know yet how you’ll defeat an entire army of zombies and the necromancers that raised them,”my annoying bonded dragon points out.“You don’t know how you’re going to deal with the temples in the aftermath either.”

I startle.“What do you mean? I don’t have to deal with them at all. That’s a job for the reigning monarchs and the go?—”

“The gods?”

Holy festering gods’ turds. Me?Ihave to kick the priesthood back into shape?

“Do you see any other gods around here?”

I heave a huge sigh.“Turn around,”I order resignedly.“I won’t do anything sacrificial, I promise. But if I’m going to defeat zombies and necromancers and beat the temples into submission, I need as much information as I can get, so I really do need to talk to my father.”As joyous as that’s goingto be.“And we need to fly over the estate on the way to Harfarin, anyway, so we might as well see for ourselves what’s happening there.”

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