Page 57 of Rejected By Dragons

Instinctively, my hand goes to my wrist, and I look down. The hum of energy radiating off the bracer has gone as quiet as my dragon, but I can still feel it there. It's solid and strong and warm to the touch, clasped tightly to my arm but not so tightly as to be uncomfortable. It feels brand new and like it was always meant to be there.

I feel like I'm brand new. But also like I was always meant to be here.

"What is it?" I ask, my breath a whisper.

"Old, old magic." Rhiannon takes a step toward me, and I stand firm. When she reaches for my arm, I extend it out toward her. She traces her fingertips over the surface of the bracer, but she hovers just an inch or so away from actually touching. "Powerful magic."

Yeah, I could tell that.

"But it's not like anything I've ever felt." I shake my head, searching for the words. "It's..." What? Dark and swirling, rich and deep. Brilliant and seductive.

"Close your eyes again," she urges me.

I glance up at her to find no manipulation in her gaze. I trust her. I let my eyes flutter closed again, and immediately, I'm immersed in that encompassing darkness. It greets me as a friend this time. It's not a shock. I feel like myself inside of it, and my dragon remains still and at ease.

Rhiannon gently grasps my hand. "You tell me what it is."

A soft, gentle magic flows from her into me. New radiance fills the darkness, highlighting every particle swimming through its depths, leading toward the flashes of light in the distance.

I open my eyes to find them damp. "It's beautiful."

Her smile this time is bittersweet, and my sense of her long life overwhelms me again. "It is, isn't it?"

"You've seen this before."

"Yes. Years and years ago." She lets her thumb brush the very edge of the bracer this time, and there's more of that gentle flow of magic. "The Shadow Bracer once belonged to the Shadow Queen."

I want to jerk backward, but somehow I stop myself. I can't quite suppress my flinch, though.

"But she's--"

"A myth? Yes." She's still staring at the bracer, but her attention feels far away--lost somewhere deep inside the past. Then she raises her gaze to mine. "But most myths and legends have their roots in truth."

My throat constricts, and my already racing heart speeds further. That sounds like the kind of thing my parents used to say to me.

"You think the Shadow Queen is real?"

"I know she was. Long, long ago, she ruled by the Shadow King's side. She tempered his most malicious instincts. Helped the Shadow Dragons live in harmony with the rest of dragon-kind."

I suppress a laugh, but a snorting echo of one still escapes me.

The Shadow Dragons have been the bad guys of the magical world for eons. Some like to believe that they were once the allies of the other dragons, but there's no evidence.

There's only a sunken kingdom, lost to the world of dragons. A legacy of war and carnage and manipulation. Cairn after cairn left to mark the fires that burned our dead.

Her eyes narrow, and there's that flicker of danger and darkness in their depths. "Mind your manners, child." She digs her thumb into my wrist harder, her nail sharp against my tender sin. "Her legacy is yours, now."

I glance down at the bracer. Can that be true? Even if it is...

"What does that mean?"

"It means you'll help bring peace to the world of dragons."

I have to stop myself from laughing again. She has to be kidding, right?

Only there's no trace of humor in her expression or her tone.

"Me?" I shake my head. There's no way. "I'm nobody." I swallow, my throat rough. "Nothing."

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