Page 442 of Kingdoms of Night

And she was stunning. Beautiful even in this state, with her rounded belly and strange allure. Tall, too. Far taller than he ever would have guessed if he’d entertained the idea of what she looked like as a person. She’d looked him right in the eye, and he was no small man. That wild tangle of her dark red hair had dripped down her back in a smooth, graceful line. Like water that flowed over the edge of a cliff. And those eyes...

They were the same golden eyes he’d stared into for weeks now. The same intelligent gaze which captured his attention no matter how many times he tried to drag his mind from her. Tanis the dragon had consumed his thoughts for weeks on end now.

But Tanis the human? He wasn’t sure what to do with this new predicament. He hoped he would be able to function at least a little, though.

Aster stepped out of her home, arms full of something that looked like sticks. The moment she saw him rushing toward her, she dropped everything.

“Rowan?” she called out, her eyes wide with horror. “What’s going on?”

He was struck with the sudden sense of exhaustion. His arms trembled with the weight of the dragon in his grip, and he realized very quickly that he was rather tired after carrying her this whole way. He helped Tanis stand on her own and then braced her against his shoulder.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said. Those words seemed to carry throughout the homes of the dragon keepers, as so many people stuck their heads out through their doors. They all watched them, and he knew this moment would not end well.

Tanis straightened her shoulders beside him and pulled away. She stood on her own two feet to address the dragon keepers who had dedicated their lives to make sure that she and her people were well. And now, they would hear the news that they’d feared for such a long time.

“I have received word from Umbra,” she said. “They have failed. The dragons that were sent to help have fallen, and the last of the dragons that I am aware of used their dying breath to warn us of an army that comes for this place.”

More dragon keepers stepped out of their homes, and tears fell down many cheeks.

Aster let out a little breath, then asked, “How is that possible? I thought there was no known substance that could kill a dragon?”

“From the memory, it seems like acid.” Tanis’s voice wobbled, but she cleared her throat and continued on. “I do not know what they are using to kill our people, only that I have seen enough death in the past few weeks to last me a lifetime. We need to warn the other dragons to hide. If they still remember how to change into the form I am in now, then they need to do so. Otherwise, they will have to run.”

Aster nodded. “We can do that. We will go to all the dragons and make sure they are well hidden, Memory Keeper. I promise you that.”

He hoped that would be enough. Many of the dragons were stubborn. He’d worked with them close enough to know. What if they didn’t want to hide? What if they all decided it was smarter for them to stand up to the army, even though they didn’t have the numbers?

The dragon keepers were already running from their home to travel across the island to find all the dragons. And he knew, regardless of their opinions, that had to happen. Rowan knew better than to interrupt while they were planning on getting information to the dragons.

But once everyone had sprinted away, he caught Tanis’s arm as she started off to find a dragon of her own. “Tanis, a word?”

“We don’t have time for that, Rowan.”

“I think we do.” He caught her as she stumbled again. “And you need to rest for a few moments or your body will make you rest.”

Trembles shook through her arms, and he didn’t know if it was from exhaustion, fear, or a mixture of both. She had been through a lot in a very short amount of time, and he didn’t know how to help her other than to take care of her, as she clearly would not do for herself.

“Come here,” he said again, tugging her toward his tent. “You need to plan for the inevitable, anyway.”

“And just what is that?” Her voice was filled with venom, and he wondered if she thought he meant that her people were going to die.

That wasn’t at all what he meant, so he stopped her outside his home and grabbed onto her arms. “What about the dragons that don’t change? That can’t? Have you thought that there are still some crimson dragons here and they will want to fight? Others could easily agree with them over you. What then?”

Her eyes widened with horror. “They won’t. They’ll listen to me because this was the message from Attor. We have to hide.”

“If I have learned anything in my short time here, it is that dragons are prideful creatures.” He opened his door and ushered her through it. “You’re asking them to give up their pride and cower away from a fight, Tanis. Do you really think they’re going to do that?”

Perhaps she hadn’t given it thought when she first received the message from Attor, but she must think about it now. He hadn’t even given it due thought considering their mad sprint from her cave and then the sudden shock of seeing her like a real person in front of him.

But now he watched her as her eyes surveyed his meager home. There wasn’t much within the house. Just a small table where he ate his breakfast sometimes if he woke too early. A bed in the corner with a cushioned mattress and sheets tangled at the feet because he rarely had time to make the bed. The window in the back of the room looked out over the meadows where the emerald dragons sometimes rested when they grew tired of the forest.

It was a quaint home. Smaller than she was used to, but it wasn’t a cave.

“This is where you live?” she asked, her voice pitched low and quiet as though she didn’t want to disturb someone or something in his home.

“For now.” He’d offer her a distraction if that was what she desired. “It’s not unlike what the elves lived in back in Umbra.”

“You lived in a place like this?” She took a step inside the room and looked around again. “There’s not much here.”

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