Page 34 of Dragon Eye (Rise of the Dragon Master)

“What are you doing?” I asked, startled, standing instantly.

She didn’t answer, but her hands reached for her heart, and she looked up at me with both devotion and hurt.

“Sire, I come to you humbled today, to remind you of yourfamiliam pristinam.To offer my unconditional loyalty, and ask you to please help me save my home.” Evanna reached for the ring, offering it to me, and when she brought it closer its light intensified. “I’ve come to bring you back your ring, in hopes that you’ll remember your origins and help us.”

Dumbfounded, I stared at her and the bright ring she held. Although her words made no sense whatsoever, something inside me was absolutely certain they were filled with truth. There wasn’t an ounce of insanity in her eyes, and I’d unfortunately come to recognize it easily enough in the past few years.

Swallowing, I tried to understand her words. Yes, she spoke strangely, as if she wasn’t from here, but there had to be a message behind it. Like when she’d called a payment an offering. I just had to think hard to uncover it.

“Please stand up,” I begged, extending my hands to her.

Evanna glanced down and took them, letting me lift her from the floor. I sat her on the chair once more, sitting before her, but I didn’t let go of her hands. “I’m going to try to help you as much as I can, but I’m not sure I understand what you are saying. I need you to help me figure it out, okay?”

Confusion and worry filtered through her expression. “You don’t understand?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

“But I brought you your ring. Don’t you remember?”

My gaze dropped to the band now on the table, and I looked hard at it to see if it spurred anything in my mind. “I’m sorry. I don’t. What should I be remembering?”

“It’s yours!” she insisted, letting go of my hands, and lifting the dragon band to my face. “This is your ring. You left it behind… My aunt said that when you saw it, you would know exactly what to do. Please.”

The desolation in her eyes cut through me, but I didn’t know how I could help. “Where is your aunt?”

“She’s gone… she was the last Elevated Warrior left in my family. Now it is just me, that’s why I need your help.”

With her words, dread filled my entire being. I understood. Her strange behavior was way too familiar to me, also triggered by the loss of someone she loved.

“I’m going to try to help you, I promise. But that is not my ring.”

“Of course it is!” she insisted, desperation gripping her voice. “Just take the ring. Maybe being here for so long has made you forget. So take it please… Please, Khayden,” she begged.

Her words slapped me across the face, and I reared back, standing from the chair in shock after hearing my father’s name on her lips. “What did you just call me?!”

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