“And?” I prompted.
“He refused to take me. Said I was unworthy. So, I ate him.”
“Idiot.” It was no wonder we’d failed to break his curse in all these years.
“He grew angry after that.”
“You think?”
“When he reappeared, he swore at me. Claimed I deserved my fate.”
“And then?”
“I ate him again.”
“Ah.” I swallowed my laughter. “Now I see the problem.”
“After, Idris’ soldiers showed up, and in my weakened state—”
“They captured you.” Infiltrated his mind and kept him in a zoo. It was a humbling story to be sure. Not that the dragon had learned a single lesson from his incarceration.
“You seem to have forgotten the part where a devastatingly handsome hero snuck into the games, putting himself in grave danger to rescue you.” Along with the help of a few friends who were also prisoners, sentenced to the pit and forced to compete. One of whom turned out to be the rightful king of Carcerem.
“As if you would let me forget,”Alaric rumbled.
“You never did thank me for that.” Not that he’d ever expressed gratitude. For anything. Ever.
“We never should have returned to this mountain,”he snarled, deflecting.“I do not want to be here.”
I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be here either, but I didn’t parademy misery through every conversation. Unlike a certain overgrown lizard.
“Neither do I. But unless you’ve found another cavern big enough to wedge your fat ass into, we’re stuck. And you still need the healing waters in Nefarr if you want those gashes to close anytime this century.”
“Healing waters,”Alaric scoffed, a ribbon of smoke curling above his head.“We both know I am no longer healing. My curse has run its course. My time is up. The comet arrives tonight. In one lunar cycle, when it leaves our realm, I will turn to ash. Just as the curse foretold.”
I steeled myself against the pain that risked disrupting my carefree composure. Despite our tumultuous relationship, I didn’t truly want my brother dead. Pathetic as it was, Alaric was all I had left. Without him, I’d be alone. The last of our kind. For one such as me, it was a terrifying prospect.
Sure, I had hundreds of acquaintances. Some I called friends. I partied with the wild ones, slept with the pretty ones. But none of them truly knew me. Except Alaric. For better or for worse.
“Or maybe your interpretation of the curse is wrong. Again.” I let the word hang long enough to needle him. “You really think it’s a coincidence we ended up here? Gravestone Mountain? Where it all started?”
As much as I hated the idea, I couldn’t shake the feeling we’d been dragged here for a reason. Back to the place where his curse began… And maybe where it could finally end.
When Alric could barely fly without scraping his ass across the mountaintops, I’d brought him here out of desperation. It was the only location large enough for a dragon to heal in relative safety. To outsiders, the exterior of Gravestone Mountain appeared as it should, like a mountain. Thanks to the wards, nobody could see the lost kingdom buried inside. Or the dragon hidden in its belly.
“It’s more likely the fates brought me here to die.”Alaric sighed, resignation in his growly voice.
Also...possible. But if he lost hope, the curse would finish him. “Do you mean to tell me you’ve given up? That you’re ready to roll over and surrender?” I sure as hell wasn’t. For as long as Alaric lived, I would fight to find a way to break that flarking curse.
“I grow weary of the battle.”
His tone scraped across my nerves. If he was going to lie down and die, I wouldn’t coddle him on the way there.
“Sissy.”
“What did you say?”He lifted his head.
“Sissy. So what if you got a little banged up, and it’s taking a while to heal?”
