Dragon Blood Curse (Emperor’s Assassin #4)

One

The forest muffled our footsteps, the decomposing leaves and soft earth hiding us just as much as the shadows did.

The Dogs made no sounds; the only noise was the Kennelmaster’s wheezing as he struggled to breathe, as though the hole in his chest from Centipede’s monsters was still open, air leaking out with each exhale.

Above us, a few dark shapes glided between branches, and they had to be Irad?o’s owls. My own ravens had made it bitingly clear they had no interest in crashing into trees just to give me some forewarning of what was coming.