“I told you to stop reading my thoughts.”
“It’s not your thoughts I’m reading. I cantasteyou. Your honey. It belongs on my tongue.”
“Naughty dragon.” I slap his hide.
He shakes again. “I told you that tickles.”
If I told anyone from Raingreen I smacked a DragonKin, they’d think I’d caught lunacy. Or had a death wish. Gods, how everything has changed. HowIhave changed.
Vander tenses.
I peer between his talons, watching as the trees rise along a sharp ridge.
“This is where I would feel it. The curse pushing me back.” He flaps his wings hard, pulling us up until we’re high above the green below.
“Do you feel it now?” Golden sun pours along the landscape and sparkles along a blue ribbon that cuts through the forest.
“I…” He shudders.
“Vander?” I call.
He tucks his wings closer and arrows forward, the wind whistling in my ears as we shoot through the air. Suddenly, the bond pulses, my entire body warming, a golden glow all around both of us. Something shatters. Not a sound so much as a sensation, one that raises goose bumps all over me.
“The barrier is gone. Destroyed. We pierced it as surely as a talon pierces flesh.The way is open. The sun and the sky beckon us home.” He opens his wings, catching the wind and lofting us gently, leveling us out. “We’re here.” His voice is full of wonder. “This is … this is the DragonLands.”
I feel him inhale, the entire world going warm and hazy, and then he roars, the sound like thunder inside the storm. A blast ofgolden flame fans out in front of us, and I revel in his joy, in the pure happiness that seems to flow like a river from his heart to mine.
Rivon barrels past, his black wings flapping furiously.
Then Faraday, who’s flying so fast he’s nothing but a streak of silver, shoots ahead of us. His roar mixes with Fyan’s who nips at his heels.
“They’re racingto the Palace of the Sky.” Vander snorts sparks.
I pull my blanket tightly around me and wedge myself between two of his talons. “Are we going to let them beat us?”
I swear I can feel him smile, feel his amusement like a tickle along the back of my neck.
“Absolutely not.” With that, he flaps his mighty wings and propels us forward.
His smile infects me as I whoop right along with the wind. “Show them what a golden dragon can do!”
“Yes, my treasure. Hold tight. Hold onto me. Always.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
VANDER
“Iremember this town. The Firefolk had a festival every year. Right? It was here, wasn’t it?” Faraday flies low over Kunrith, one of the many villages with the DragonLands.
Everything is falling apart and overgrown. The main road is dotted with trees and brambles, and the homes along the village square have long since crumbled into piles of brick and rotted wood. Just seeing it like this sends knives of guilt and grief through my heart.
“Stop!” Larellin smacks my talon. “Stop blaming yourself.”
“I know, my treasure. I know, but?—”
“No ‘buts’. I’m not having it. I refuse to let you wallow in this anymore. You did nothing wrong. And if anyone says different—anyoneincluding you—I will fight them. I will go head to head with you, DragonKin. Understand?”
