Page 128 of House of Embers
“Still waiting, Little Bit?” Dozan asked, slinking in from the shadows.
She nodded. “No word.”
Dozan’s jaw flexed. “They’ll be back.”
“They were supposed to be here yesterday.”
“You have to remember who you’re working with. Nothing goes as planned for Red, but she always gets out. All right?”
“You were the one who said that she might get caught in the vault.”
“Yeah, well, she’s smarter than that, okay?”
“Fine. And Clover?”
“Clover’s smarter than that too,” he said with a wink. “I trained her myself.”
Darby looked him up and down. His auburn hair was disheveled, his eyes hollow, his fitted black suit rumpled. “You’re worried.”
“Yeah, but I’m trying to make you feel better.”
She didn’t feel any better. “When do we raise the alarm and go after them?”
“We?” Dozan shook his head. “Little Bit, you’re much too fragile for a fight.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I may be soft, but I’m a fighter. I grew up in the House of Dragons like the rest of them. I will fight if I have to.”
A slow smirk crossed his lips. “I look forward to that.” He glanced wistfully once more at the horizon. “Find me if you see wings.”
“Fine,” she said and watched him disappear again.
She sank back onto the pallet she’d created with a huff. She’d sit here all night if she had to. She couldn’t just donothing.
“Youarea fighter,”a voice slithered into her head.
Darby yelped and jumped to her feet again. “Who’s there?”
The aerie had emptied out when the others had left. One of Dyta and Ordrax’s seconds had taken the rest of the dragons and riders away for training in the mountains. The rest of the dragons had been givento other houses. For the first time since they’d all returned from the Holy Mountain, it had been quiet up here. There shouldn’t have been any dragons left behind.
A white shape stepped into the moonlight.“Hello, Little Bit.”
Darby breathed a sigh of relief. “Hello there. My name is Darby, actually. Dozan just calls me that.”
“I too am a little bit. It is fitting.”
“You’re Amita, right? Tieran’s sister.”
“Indeed.”Amita dropped to the ground before Darby, curling her long tail around Darby’s pallet.“You wait for word from my brother. For his bonded.”
“Yes. Among others.”
“I have been in a waiting place for many years. Many don’t know how long hatchlings wait before reaching maturity.”
“I was in the House of Dragons, so I had some acquaintance with hatchlings. Much smaller than you though.”
“I see. Then perhaps you understand. You humans would call today my name day.”
“Oh!” Darby said. “Happy name day! What year are you celebrating?”
