“The nerf here are too lean and sinewy. They stick in my teeth.”
“Nonetheless, you’ll need to choke down more of them if you want to regain your strength.”
The massive spiral of ebony scales writhed and rolled as he uncoiled his serpentine frame, the firelight glancing dully off his hide.“Do you think to give me commands?”
“Just stating facts.” I popped a piece of mystery meat into my mouth.Mmm. Gamey. But not large game. Something smaller. Possibly lizard or rodent.
“Facts, you say.”His rumbling growl shook the walls.“What about the fact that it doesn’t take an entire day to find a flock of birds? Tell me, where did you go while I lay here suffering?”The long expanse of his neck unraveled, the horns along his spine throwing jagged shadows on the wall.“And do not lie. I can smell the lesser beings on you. Did you slink into the village to make use of their whores?”
“Please. As if the Puritans have anything worth paying for. I’d get frostbite from merely parting their thighs.” I faked a shiver.
“You dare mock my concerns?”
His blocky head finally emerged from the shadows, his elongated pupils slits of contempt. Thick, curving horns framed his skull, their razor tips promising to pierce even the toughest hide. He glared down at me, voice dripping with disdain.
“And here I thought returning to this place might jog your memory—make you recall the consequences of abandoning your duty. The pain you inflicted on those who depended on you.”His voice deepened, each word deliberate, meant to bruise.“But no. You’re just as reckless. Just as irresponsible. Some things never change.”
His words struck with brutal precision, stabbing at wounds that never healed. Guilt flared, twisting hot in my breast until the pile of ash I called a heart became an unyielding lump of coal. Still, I gave him nothing. My expression stayed carved in stone, every muscle locked into a façade of indifference.
“Even without shifting, the hunters know your mortal face,”he pressed.“If you were seen in the village, you might have led them straight to me.”
And there it was, the truth behind his concern. His worry wasn’t for me. It never was. Alaric’s fear was for his own hide.
Once, Alaric could devour hunters by the handful, their screams echoing from his gnashing jaws. However, these were no ordinary times.
“You think me that careless?” I sucked rodent grease from my fingers.
“If not out of carelessness, then with intent. Do you endanger me on purpose? Eager to be rid of your burden?”The accusation emerged on a spine-rattling growl, rows of flesh-tearing teeth flashing in the firelight.
If I’d wanted him dead, I’d have let the curse finish the job centuries ago. Instead, I’d wasted lifetimes trying to break it—a curse that shackled me as tightly as it did him. My brother knew the burden of the debt I could never repay, the oath I’d sworn ina moment of blinding pain and ruin. The crime that would outlive me, long after my bones turned to dust.
Fortunately, that oath failed to require that I be nice to the bastard. “Goddess save me, but I tire of your whining.” I pitched my voice high, mocking. “Thorne hates me. Thorne wants to kill me.” I snorted. “Some days I wonder if I should have left you in King Idris’ zoo.”
Three lunar cycles ago, I’d searched the entire realm for the missing dragon only to discover he was a prisoner. Chained, mind bent to the demands of a false king. The once fierce beast was being kept as a pet by King Idris in Carcerem. A rare sacred arbor kingdom full of magic, though that tainted magic was being squandered on foolish pursuits, like the Fallen Trials.
King Idris, the bastard, was using Alaric to incinerate the contestants he’d forced to take part in his games. The proud beast was reduced to performing parlor tricks for a bloodthirsty crowd. I’d risked life and limb to free him from that place.
Unfortunately, word spread that Idris’ pet dragon was on the loose, and hunters showed up in droves. Alaric’s head was quite the trophy, seeing as how dragons were rumored to be extinct. We escaped the wily bastards, but not without sustaining many injuries.
“What were you doing in Carcerem, anyway?” I nibbled a bit of sharp cheese. The flavor exploded on my tongue. It paired nicely with the rodent. “You never told me.”
Alaric settled his head onto his thick forearm.“There was talk of a temple, its sacred pool overflowing with obsidian.”
For close to a thousand years, Alaric and I had searched for a means to break his curse. Until our last argument—of which there were many—when Alaric had set out on his own. Much to his detriment.
When he fell silent, I cocked a brow. “So did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Find this miracle temple?”
“Yes…and no.”
I sighed, long and theatrical. “Must I drag the story out of you?” I twirled a finger. “Go on.”
“The temple had a guardian,”he grumbled, clearly not a fan of this story. Which made me want to hear it all the more.
“A child. Or at least, it looked like one. Wild red hair. Smug little face.”
