CHAPTER 1
Jakob
The mountains should have been quiet.
They usually were at this altitude. With all the stone and snow, the only thing that should have broken the silence was the sound of the lonely gales of wind that echoed through the peaks. Jakob normally chose this hike for that very reason. The area was remote and cold. Empty of the voices always directed at him. No courtiers, no advisors, no townspeople with problems they wanted their king to fix. There was only space to breathe in his human skin and let his dragon lie half-asleep beneath it.
But this morning, there was something off. Something that made his mind alert instead of quiet.
He moved along the ridge at an easy pace as he searched for the source of his unease. His boots crunched through the crusty snow before he stopped to take a long look around. The winter sky had a pale, washed-out blue, and the sun was muted over the jagged white peaks that jutted upwards in the distance. Pine trees perched precariously on the slopes below with their dark green needles heavy with freshly fallen snow. The air smelled clean and pure while snowflakes floated every which way.
It should have been absolute perfection.
Jakob tilted his head and listened to the wind. Even as he scanned the landscape for whatever bothered him, he still felt the peace settle around him that he normally experienced.
With a sigh, he turned to continue his search but froze mid-step when something suddenly cut through his senses like a blade.
Fear.
Sharp and sudden, it felt more like terror. His dragon surged awake instantly and heat flared in his chest. His muscles coiled as if preparing to launch skyward. Before Jakob could even process the feeling, his instincts had already seized control and hauled his attention downslope.
A sound quickly followed. Thin and raw, a startled cry that echoed off the cliffs and vanished into the open air.
Jakob swore under his breath and broke into a sprint.
Snow plumed around his boots as he tore along the ridge. He vaulted over a fallen pine and skidded around a jagged outcrop of stone. His lungs burned, but he barely noticed. The dragon pressed hard against his ribs, a constant, urgent push.
Protect. Protect. Protect.
He rounded the cliff and saw her.
A woman hung by both hands from a narrow, icy ledge several feet below the trail. Her fingers were white with strain, knuckles locked tight around a thin shelf of rock glazed with ice. Her boots scraped uselessly against the cliff face and dislodged small pebbles that clicked and skittered into the abyss below.
“Oh God—oh God—” she gasped, her voice breaking as her foot slipped again.
Jakob didn’t think.
He dropped to his knees and slid toward the edge. He dug his boots into the snow to stop himself just short of the drop.
“Hey,” he barked, sharp and commanding. “Look at me. Hold on.”
She jerked her head up.
Her eyes were wide with terror. Shades of blue and gray reflected the light even now in a moment of fear. Wind whipped strands of dark hair loose from her braid and slapped them against her cheek. Her breath came in frantic bursts, accompanied by a whimper that Jakob knew would haunt him.
“I—I can’t—” Her fingers slipped a fraction. She cried out. “I’m slipping!”
“I’ve got you,” Jakob said in a low, calm voice. “You hear me? I’ve got you.”
Jakob stretched out over the edge with one hand braced on the rock and the other reaching down. “What’s your name?” He needed her to calm down. Maybe small talk would work.
“Mal…Mallory.”
“Just Mallory?” He positioned himself the best he could.
“MacDougal,” she replied in a voice no more than a squeak. “Don’t let me fall.”
“That’s my plan.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Let go,” he ordered. “Now.”
