Page 27 of Too Dangerous To Die

He knows.

He canfeel it.

I shake my head, forcing my voice to be steady. "It was just a dream."

A lie.

A mistake.

BecauseRhaegar never misses a lie.

He steps forward, slow and deliberate, hismassive form blocking out the firelight.Shadows curl at the edges of his wings, shifting like somethingalive.

"A dream," he repeats, his voicequiet, unreadable.

I nod, swallowing hard. "Yes."

A long pause.

Then he exhales, but it is not relief.

It isacceptance.

He knows that something is coming.

And Idon’t.

"Sleep while you still can, little healer," he murmurs, stepping back into the darkness.

His voice is quiet. But his meaning isnot.

Because whatever is comingwill not wait for me to be ready.

And whatever I saw in my dreams,it is already near if not yet here.

12

RHAEGAR

Nora does not sleep.

She lies still, curled beneath the thin blanket near the fire, but Ihear her breathing, the subtle shift of her body, the restless energy vibrating beneath her skin.

She thinks I do not notice.

But I always notice. Especially now.

She ischanging.

I felt it as the earthbent to her will, in the way her powerburned through the ruins like a living thing.And now, as she lays there pretending to sleep, I can feel something else rising in her.

Something she does not yet understand.

I remain still, my wings folded tight against my back, my claws resting against the dirt. The Wastes are silent, but silence here isa lie.

This land is never truly still. And I am not the only onewatching her.

Beyond the fire’s glow, theshadows shift.

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