ONE
Two dragons guarded the treasure Tate had been eyeing for the past while.
It wasn’t the actual dragons. There were no overgrown lizards with wings hovering over the sparkly gems hidden in a plain cloth bag. Rather, it was their human halves who were making her life difficult.
They were a species known as the dragon-ridden. One body, two souls—able to move between both forms at will. It made them powerful—and highly dangerous.
At the moment, however, they were more of a nuisance than anything. An obstacle Tate would prefer not to face.
There was a saying in Aurelia—never take treasure from a dragon unless you’re prepared to lose an arm. And possibly your life.
Tate didn’t often listen to reasonable advice. Perhaps, if she did, she’d run into fewer problems. Life would be easier, that was for certain. Less interesting, but safer.
Tate tapped a finger on her knee as she surveyed the situation from her perch on the roof. It wasn’t easy ignoring the cramping in her lower extremities from holding one position for so long. Any movement, even something as small as shifting her weight to take the pressure off one side, would draw the notice of the dragons below.
It’d be game over then. A chance like this wouldn’t come along a second time.
Tate sunk into thought. How exactly did one go about stealing treasure from underneath a dragon-ridden’s nose? Two of them, no less.
That very important question was what had kept her on this roof for the last forty minutes.
It was a tricky prospect, that was for sure.
As dragon-ridden, their senses were superior to that of an ordinary human. Reflexes. Strength. Speed. Very few could compare.
Even though she was dragon-ridden herself, Tate wasn’t certain she was their match.
The two below had been bonded to their dragons for centuries. Tate and her bonded, Ilith, might be the oldest dragon-ridden in existence, but most of that time had been spent in deep sleep.
She and Ilith didn’t have the years of experience the two below had. They hadn’t spent decades perfecting the bond and adapting to its power.
It left her with a sizable handicap. She and Ilith were both ancient and newly bonded at the same time. Their power unstable.
Tate pursed her lips as she considered her options. She could try rigging a rope and coming at the treasure from above…
Almost as soon as the idea occurred to her, she scoffed. Yeah, because it was so likely that the dragon-ridden wouldn’t notice a person descending from the sky. Even if she got within reach of the bag, how would she escape? Climb back up the rope?
All they would need to do was shift into their more lethal dragon form and eat her.
She blew out a silent breath, making a face.
There was always the smash and grab, she supposed. Go in as hard and fast as she could, then skedaddle in the opposite direction.
It wasn’t the most elegant plan, but of the options she’d come up with, it was the most likely to succeed.
My turn?Ilith, the incredibly life-like dragon tattoo on Tate’s forearm, crawled up her bicep until she reached Tate’s shoulder where she stopped.
More and more over the last few weeks, Tate had noticed Ilith’s presence was beginning to carry a tangible weight even when she was in the form of a tattoo. Right now, it felt like a small cat perched on Tate’s shoulder.
She’d hoped it meant Ilith was close to manifesting—an ability only one dragon-ridden had mastered so far.
In their present circumstances, Ilith being able to manifest her physical form separate from Tate would have been a godsend. All Tate would have needed to do then was send her forward to steal the treasure. Ilith could have secured it and flown off before either dragon-ridden could react.
Unfortunately, such ideas were nothing more than an ephemeral dream. As far as she could tell, Ilith was no closer to manifesting than she had been all those weeks ago when Ryu demonstrated the theory behind how it worked.
It left Tate with no choice but to get her own hands dirty.
Almost,Tate thought at Ilith.
