Page 70 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

“You’ve made enough decisions on my behalf. This is my choice. If you leave, I’m coming with you. Whatever happens, I want to be there.”

“It’s not safe,” he begins, but I cut him off.

“Nowhere is safe,” I exclaim. “Not here, not on the mainland.”

“But I—”

“You realize that I’m offering to stay with you when I know my family is still in Elekstan, under the rule of that monster Rahzien? You should be grateful that I’m choosing you over them, at least for now. You need me, and so I’ll stay.”

He shakes his horned head. “You should put yourself and your safety first.”

“You’re one to talk,” I scoff. “You never put yourself first. Look at everything you’ve given up for your brother! I used to think you were selfish, but you’re actually the most selfless dragon I know.”

His eyes warm with humor. “You don’t know many dragons, darling.”

“And you have much to learn about the tenacity and resolve of human women,” I retort.

We stare each other down, and I can sense that we’re at the beginning of a very long argument we’re both determined to win. But before we can plunge into it, Ashvelon appears in the mouth of the cave, with a woman on his back—the sorceress. I haven’t met her before, but it strikes me that she looks thin and shaky. There’s a sallow look to her brown skin and sunken shadows around her eyes that speak of suffering beyond the pangs of hunger.

She slides down, bracing herself against Ashvelon’s shoulder while he looks around the cave.

“You’ve made some alterations, I see,” Ashvelon comments to Varex. “I like it. Very roomy. Making space for a whole brood of hatchlings, I suppose?”

Varex bristles, and I stiffen.

“Ash, pet, I don’t think they’ve had that conversation,” says the sorceress. “Let’s tackle one difficulty at a time, shall we? I’m Thelise.” She smiles at me. “And you are?”

“Jessiva.”

“Delighted. Alright then, Prince—tell me exactly what you’ve done and how it happened.”

Varex glosses over the madness that drove him to the point of nearly tearing me apart; he emphasizes our lack of food instead. Then he describes how it felt when he swallowed the storm. Thelise asks several specific questions about his magic and how it normally operates.

“What do you think?” I venture when both she and Varex finally fall silent. “Will he be alright?”

Thelise takes a tiny flask from her bodice and sips from it before corking it again. “No idea.”

Irritation heats inside my chest. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Can’t, love,” she says. “I never studied the Mordvorren in depth. Wish I had—maybe I could have done something to turn it aside. But as you may have heard, spellwork can go terribly awry if it’s attempted beneath the Mordvorren’s shadow. While it hung over Ouroskelle, I couldn’t perform any magic at all. In fact, I was—not entirely myself. If the storm had continued much longer—” She clears her throat. “Let’s just say I’m grateful to you for stopping it, Varex.”

“As am I,” Ashvelon puts in fervently.

“There’s not much information about the origins of the storm, how it moves, or why it chooses specific areas,” Thelise continues. “What we do know is that it contains magic within itself—a twisted, toxic, arcane magic that no one today understands.”

“So you don’t know anything,” I say curtly. “If you can’t help him, just say that.”

Thelise’s gaze intensifies—not anger, but a stern sympathy. “I have no idea what containing this storm will do to your dragon, Jessiva. My gut feeling is that it won’t be anything good. It’s possible that he’ll be able to withstand its effects for a while, but eventually itwillchange him. I think that’s unavoidable. It might be absorbed by his void completely. It might be altered by living inside him, or it may change the form of his magic. It could try to burst out of his body and return to tormenting the world.”

“This island has endured enough,” Varex says. “I told Jessiva I plan to go elsewhere, to a distant island, and wait until my future reveals itself. She’ll be staying here.”

“I will not,” I snap. “I’m going with him, even if I have to hang onto his fucking tail the whole flight.”

Varex rounds on me, growling.

“Easy,” exclaims Thelise. “God, you dragons are so volatile, so unreasonable.” Ashvelon whimpers softly and she pats his nose. “Not you, pet. You’re a good boy.”

He rumbles his satisfaction, and Thelise turns back to us. “Jessiva should go with you. Tell us where you’ll be, and Ashvelon can check on you now and then. If something happens, Jessiva can be there to witness it and tell us what occurred. Consider this—that the information we gain through your experience could be important to destroying the storm once and for all.”

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