Page 76 of House of Embers
She came uneasily to her feet. The cave was unlike anything she had expected. It was under the waterline and somehow only half-filled. The white chalk covered every surface. Crystals glittered in some spaces, sending rainbows across the room.
And at the center was a small, pure white dragon, curled into a ball. She was not much smaller than Tieran, a hatchling perhaps in name only. Her tail was long and wound all the way around her body. The wings were nearly translucent as if they too were going to reflect rainbows across the room. Kerrigan had never seen a dragon in all her days that looked like her.
“Amita,”Tieran said with relief.
The dragon’s head popped up. Her eyes were wide and milky.“Brother?”
“I am here.”
Tieran stepped forward, letting their necks touch. The tension went out of Amita at once. It was as if the room had an enchantmenton her to keep her own abilities dampened, the same as the room Kerrigan had been held in.
“They told me that you would not choose me.”
“They were wrong.”
Kerrigan smiled at the siblings. “He chose both.”
Amita’s head swiveled toward Kerrigan.“This is your rider?”
“Yes,”Tieran said.“Amita, let me introduce to you the most infuriating person you will ever meet—Kerrigan Argon.”
Kerrigan rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the introduction.”
Amita bowed her head.“He did not want a rider. It is only fitting he would get one that matched his energy.”
Kerrigan snorted. Tieran growled low at the both of them.
“If you two are done, we should return to the mountain. I have one more test.”
“Will they allow us both to live?”Amita asked.
It was a question that Kerrigan too had wondered. It was supposed to be an either-or choice. Surely they wouldn’t discredit him for managing to save both.
“Do you remember where we hid in the woods when you were but a fresh hatchling?”he asked.
Amita came to her feet.“Should I hide there?”
“Just in case. If I do not win the final test, then I cannot protect you. And I do not trust Mother to do so.”
Fire gurgled dark in Amita’s throat.“Let them try to come for me.”
Kerrigan grinned. Oh, she liked her already.
Tieran huffed in frustration. He had so many women in his life that gave him a headache.
Kerrigan climbed onto his back while Tieran took one last look around the room. “What is this place?” she asked gently.
“During the summer, the water recedes, and Risa and I spent days within the caves after the bond snapped into place. This was our home, however briefly, before she was called.”
Kerrigan’s hand went to her own bond. She couldn’t feel Fordham at this distance, but even from the brush she’d felt while at the mountain, she could turn to face the exact direction where he resided, but this made her ache with missing him. She couldn’t imagine how Tieran had survived without Risa.
“Let us leave this place.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Soul
They fled the relative safety of the caves, back through the murky waters, and on the trek back to the mountain. Amita said her goodbyes on the way, disappearing into a forest clearing entirely.
