Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Never laugh at a human. Unless they trip. Then it’s allowed.
-Humaning for Beginners: A Dragon’s Tale of Human Management
The next morning, Taron and I prepared for the last leg of our quest in silence.
Tension swirled around us, but it was a wildly contradictory and worryingly different kind of tension than before.
Awkward but comfortable. Sharp, yet softer than before.
Mostly it sizzled. My awareness of him heightened, leaving me restless and torn.
I fought the urge to step closer, knowing the danger of giving in.
After cleaning up in a nearby pond, I took a selfie with the Sunsong Crystal and the flower to send to Adelaide. Or tried to. I couldn’t hold the camera and both items while taking a proper proof of life photo.
Taron watched, his lips twitching at the corners again, in a way I was coming to really, really dig. “Let me help you.” He held out his hand, requesting the camera, which I gave after a beat of hesitation.
“Thank you.”
He snapped a few photos while I posed and blushed.
“I never realized dragon berserkers could be so…human,” he said, flipping through the images on my phone. The barest hint of affection hid inside his tone. Then he shocked me further. Lightning quick, he moved behind me, stretched his arms around me and angled the camera in front of us. SNAP!
“Did you just take, like, a couple’s selfie?” I demanded.
“In case your sister wonders about my condition.” He winked.
My chest clenched. Not being enemies was going to wreck my heart, wasn’t it? The real kicker? We were doing exactly what Lorik hoped, growing closer.
I gulped, reclaimed the phone to text Adelaide the picture, which I didn’t let myself study…yet. I asked for kingdom updates, then set off with the mortal who had basically scrambled my brain.
My phone dinged. Then dinged again. And again.
A series came in one after the other, and I groaned. “I’ll be fielding messages from her all day.” I didn’t check them yet, not wanting to be distracted as we entered new territory.
Trees rose tall and thick, stretching so high their leaves grazed the clouds.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy, setting crimson and pink wildflowers aglow as though the forest staged a show just for us.
The caw of darting birds and the gentle hum of trickling water over rain-washed stone threaded through the hush.
The air smelled of honeysuckle and smoke, sweetness touched with danger.
Every footworn path beckoned, but we kept to the shadows, avoiding everyone we came upon, skirting around them, slipping through the dark and sneaking past. At the midway point, Taron pulled a tin of cookies from his backpack.
Oooh. Cookies! I reached for one, but he twisted, ensuring my greedy fingers couldn’t snag a sugary treat.
“You play with fire, human!” I mock-growled.
“These are members-only cookies,” he warned, holding my gaze as he continued striding forward, popping one of the delicacies in his mouth.
The bout of playfulness threw me for a thousand loops. “Members of what?”
“The Taron Rules Club.” Cookie crumbs dropped from the corners of his mouth.
Snort. “I signed up for the thirty-day trial, remember?” I plucked an overflowing handful from the tin and stuffed my face, leaving him the broken remnants.
He barked out a laugh, and I marveled anew. Who even was this man? This wasn’t the spiteful warrior I’d faced on day one, or the merciless professor from our second interaction. Not the cold travel companion, or the passionate kisser. This was…Taron. The man who’d been hidden beneath the hatred.
We continued on, and I maybe started skipping.
“Tell me something good about you,” he said, as we navigated a massive maze of twisting tree roots and tangled undergrowth. “A favorite memory.”
I thought for a moment, uncertain we should travel this emotional path but unwilling to retreat. “I was nine years old, soon to turn ten, when I would set off for combat training.”
“Ten. Wow.” One of his brows winged up. “I mean, I knew the age from stories, but thinking of young Olyssa really puts the details in perspective. You were just a baby.”
“Ten is when the dragon begins to make itself known. Trust me, training is for the good of everyone.” I let the memory overtake me.
“My sisters, all younger, threw a surprise going-away party. We danced and sang and ate the most atrocious snacks they had prepared themselves. My mother presented me with a paper tiara she’d helped them create.
” Nostalgia clogged my throat and slid to the very pit of my stomach.
“I didn’t have siblings, but I did have an abundance of cousins, and we always had fun when we played together.” He clasped my hand and boosted me over a log, and for the first time, I was the one fighting a laugh.
“A mortal assisting the fiercest of all the dragons is kind of adorable.” My gaze met his, and we stopped, just stopped.
Time slowed to a crawl.
“But I’m not just any mortal,” he offered. He smoothed a lock of hair behind my ear, leaving my cheek tingling with warmth.
Nein. Nein, he wasn’t any mortal. He was…him. And as we continued to peer at each other, studying, I forgot to breathe.
He leaned close, as if he meant to kiss me again. Caught up in some kind of spell, I drew nearer to…
My phone dinged once more.
In unison, we jolted and darted our gazes.
Saved by the cell. I checked the screen and groaned. Twenty-eight texts from Adelaide. A combination of questions and statements about Taron, mixed with emojis and GIFs.
I sighed as I glanced over the messages. “My sister is being nosy.”
Well, well. Don’t you 2 look cozy.
Are you sleeping cuddled up in his arms?????
How many times have you kissed him?
Have you burned him yet? Maybe just blew a teeny tiny little ember on his rippled man-chest?
Is he your firebrand? He’s your firebrand, isn’t he???? I knew it the moment you returned from meeting him with sparkling eyes. I’ve missed that sparkle SO MUCH!
Should I go ahead and plan your wedding now or wait till you accept the inevitable???
The dude’s got a good dowry, or whatever. You should see his treasure, sis. I collected the ingredients for the potion, as requested, but sweet fire! A boatload of awesomeness.
By the way, it’s nothing to worry about, so you know, definitely don’t worry, because I’ve got everything under control mostly, but um, three members of the council are missing, along with multiple soldiers, and Cedric won’t stop laughing hysterically.
He claims they betrayed us and bailed. That Nyla and Lorik are hidden in Ashmorra, and the council works with them.
“What!” I burst out, halting. I punched in her number.
No answer.
Taron backtracked, evincing concern.
“More of my people have disappeared, and Lorik might be in my land working with my should-be-dead father’s should-be-dead wife and three members of my council.”
“That tracks. Lorik likes to make offers others can’t refuse.”
“Or my father is lying to me, hoping I’ll turn against the council.
Maybe Lorik is sneaking in intruders.” Until learning of the rift cutter, I’d assumed there only existed one route in and out of a realm: the traveling stones.
The very reason we kept them so heavily guarded.
But Lorik, like Taron, could have found another means.
I texted the idea to Adelaide, along with orders.
Send out a small search party. Let the people know what’s going on. They are to report any shifter—or council member—sightings immediately. Activate every defense. I’ll be home first thing in the morning.
Playtime was over. Time to find that ingredient, break the bond, and deal with the kings attempting to topple my throne.
I stowed the phone and marched forward, taking the lead. A queen did not hesitate while her realm bled.
“You’re wearing your scary warrior face,” Taron said, catching up.
“This isn’t the time for compliments. My problems have multiplied during my absence, and most center on Nyla.” Her name escaped on a single, drawn-out, annoyed sigh.
“That name sounds familiar.” He snapped his fingers. “A former manticore-shifter who wed your father after he became the first dragon-shifter king. Long dead by now.”
His unsettling knowledge of the inner workings of dragonkind would have to be dealt in the future.
“Maybe not so dead, as I said. According to my father, she’s like him.
Deathless. And that means even if I root her out, I can’t kill her.
He also insists she hides among us. If true, Lorik has her help, and that’s another guarantee. ”
“A deathless woman who is part lion, part scorpion.” He threaded his fingers through mine. “We will find a way to expose her.”
The offer of aid shocked me. Mostly? It filled me with all kinds of dangerous longing. “You’re leaving Ashmorra as soon as the bond breaks,” I reminded us both. His absence would be for the best. Necessary. Though ja, even the thought sparked a clench of regret. But that was okay. Regret faded.
“Right.” His voice sounded as hollow as mine, and our hands dropped.
The forest thinned, and ahead the trees broke to reveal the realm known as the City of Bones.
A burial ground for dragons of old. Huge skeletal remains had shaped the hills, their open mouths forming toothy entrances.
The dirt beneath our feet crunched with shards of bone with each step.
Wind threaded through the ribcages, a solemn and mournful whistle.
Sunlight slanted through the bleached skulls, the air smelling of chalk and old ash. Even dragons feared this place.
“If I were a shifter, this is where I would put a secret rift,” Taron muttered with a shudder.
Agreed. I slowed by reflex and he did the same, matching my pace without any words spoken.
On the lookout, weapons ready, we made our way through the hollows, where Lament Stones were found. Except, there were no stones.
None. Null. Zero.