A dragon.
My mouth drops open, but I can’t find the will to speak. Especially not when I spot something peculiar wrapped around the divine creature’s claw.
A thread of fate that is gray and fraying—its end connected to mine.
The dragon stares at me, an unmoving statue. Its eyes are a breathtaking emerald, hints of gold and amber flecks visible in the quickly fading light. I should be at my wits’ end. For all I know, it could still choose to make a meal of me, and yet there’s something…familiarabout its gaze.
I can’t explain it, this warmth that unfurls in my chest. I’m strangely at ease in the dragon’s presence. This, despite the crimson dripping from its lips and the angry flare of its nostrils. Of all the things I could be feeling, safe and sound should not be among them. And yet…
And yet I know it will not harm me.
I slowly and carefully take a single step toward the creature. It hisses, flashing its teeth and flicking its long tail—a warning. I put my hands up cautiously as I approach.
“Easy, easy,” I say gently. “I mean you no harm.”
Genuine surprise washes over me when the dragon allows me within three paces of it. I extend my hand, the sensation of its breath tickling my palm a quiet marvel. We watch each other with an intense mutual interest, staring into each other’s eyes as if all the answers from the Five Kingdoms to the Heavens above lie behind our gazes.
I know this soul, though I can’t explain how.
I’m whole and complete andhome.
But the cold, frightening realization washes over me. The dragon I have been tasked to hunt on behalf of the emperor, and my Fated One…
They are one and the same.
“How can this be?” I whisper, more to myself than to the dragon, my words soaked up by the surrounding foliage.
My questions are endless, but time isn’t on my side. Honestly, when has it ever been?
Something behind us shifts in the underbrush, startling the dragon enough for it to roar. It bares its fangs, jagged like a serrated blade and just as terrifying. I turn, alarmed to find a lone huntress with a spear in hand.
“Get back!” she shouts, emerging from the underbrush. She winds back her arm to throw the weapon.
“No!” I cry, but it’s too late.
The spear flies right into the dragon’s front thigh. The creature bellows, whipping its tail violently to raise dirt and dust into the air. It launches itself into the sky without warning, disappearing into the inky gloom above.
My chest aches as I watch it go, my thread of fate shifting as it ascends into the night.
“You!” the woman shouts at me. She’s a wild, bewildering thing. She pulls a knife and waves it before my face. “What do ye think yer doin’? Ye scared the blasted thing away!”
“Please,” I mutter, lightheaded. “My arm… I need—”
“Oh, fer fuck’s sake. Come with me before ye bleed out.”
“Thank you, good madam.”
She snorts. “There’s nothin’ good about me.”
“Then what am I to call you?”
The woman shoots me a pointed look. “My enemies call me the huntress, but ye can call me Feng.”
8
“Knowledge,” the stranger explains.
He has traveled far and wide, his homeland ravaged by widespread famine, plague, and treacherous creatures of the night. Having heard tales of the dragons’ generosity, the stranger set out in hopes of learning the secrets that might save his beloved people.
