Julian stared at the ceiling, his dragon looking out through his eyes.
“No. It wasn’t.”
They dressed quickly in outdoor clothes. Julian explained they need to be prepared for more of the enchantment to fail, and that included the heating. “We might not be imprisoned in ice, but we’ll be as cold as if we were.”
“Until the enchantment breaks down entirely,” Francine muttered, remembering the fraying shadows.
“Until then.” Julian checked her outfit. “Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“We can’t let them get into the main fortress. Once they’re inside, it will be all but impossible to stop them with only the two of us. There are too many routes down to the prison, and we don’t know how well Harper’s people mapped out the fortress. We have to stop them in the vestibule.”
“One lioness and one dragon? What hope do we have?”
He held her tight. “We’d better have some. Or else why be here at all?”
Together, they raced up to the entrance level of the fortress. Francine’s heart was in her throat. The fortress wasso silent, so untouched—and in a few hours it might be a battleground. A few minutes.
They reached the door to the entrance hall. Julian went first, his body taut, ready for battle.
*There’s nobody in there,*he said. *Not yet. Let’s keep it that way.*
*We could lure them in.* She frowned. What made that sound, if there was nobody here yet? *Trap them, take their scales off them. You said this entranceway is a natural cave, right? But the door itself is stone.*
*Exactly,*he whispered in her mind.
*So without your magic, they’ll be stuck between the actually-real-stone door and the stone where the real fortress begins.*
*Do we want them trapped?* he asked, a dragon’s snarl in his thoughts. *Or dead?*
She hesitated. *If Lance is coming…*
*Ah, yes. The forces of good are on the horizon. Only running a little late.*
*I want every one of them dead.*She took a deep breath. *But—we should keep them alive.*
“Trapped, not slaughtered.” His voice seemed to echo in the silence, and he squeezed her hand. “I’ll do my best.”
They made their way silently into the entrance hall. It was empty.
*We’ll need to lure them inside. One by one, so we can take their scales and keep them contained.*
She stared at the door leading out to the snow and ice.
*Ready?*Julian asked.
She checked with her lioness, alert inside her. *Ready.*
They stepped through rock that parted like mist around them.
There was nothing on the other side.
Francine looked around. “Wait. Where—”
Julian scanned the horizon. He closed his eyes briefly, and his face tensed. Something itched at Francine’s mind, like telepathic communication. She whipped around. “Someoneisout here—”
“Is your scale still safe?”
