Epilogue
NINETEEN YEARS LATER
Amos and Clover trekked up the mountainside behind their normally quiet fifteen-year-old daughter, Rose. Last night, she’d gotten her familiar mark—a dragon—and it was all Clover could do to keep her from coming to the den in the middle of the night.
Amos remembered how his own father had ruined this experience for him, and he wanted hers to be one of the happiest days of her life. So when Clover caught Amos and Rose trying to sneak out, they’d both been given a lengthy lecture on the value of patience and letting the dragons sleep.
Inside the cavern of the den’s entrance, Rose looked expectantly at Amos. “What do I do?”
“You wait for them to come to you, honey,” Clover said. “You can wait here to see if they’re ready to say hello yet.”
Amos glared at the empty cliff. They better come say hi to her today, or he’s sending Sariah down there. She doesn’t mess around when it comes to Rose.
The sound of wings approaching the cliff froze everyone. “Oh my gods, is that my familiar?” Rose whispered.
A dragon with dark red scales that Amos hadn’t seen in almost twenty years landed softly on the stone floor.
Amos and Clover stood, speechless, staring at the dragon who’d saved Amos in more ways than she’d ever know.
His daughter’s voice broke his trance. She stood in front of Sasha, eyes glazed over. “My name is Rose, what’s yours?”
It can’t be…
“Sasha? That’s my dad’s best friend’s name.”
Sasha turned to look at Amos, and he held his breath. Did she remember him from when she was a familiar?
Rose spun around and looked at her dad with wide eyes. “She said to tell you she loves you too.”
The End.