Where the Sage of Wrath detonated a working so massive, magic no longer functions inside.
Except, evidently, dragon magic.
I’m in danger.
Yet somehow, I don’t feel like it.
The dragon could kill me, easily. I could do nothing to resist his magical flame. He couldstepon me—that must have been the shove I felt.
But death isn’t the worst fate for me. That, he’s already saved me from.
Shame coils in my gut at the thought, and I lash out.
“Your kidnapping skills need some work,” I snap. “Humans need to breathe.”
“I don’t make a habit of kidnapping humans,” the dragon snaps back.
That startles me into a frown.
Of course dragons kidnap humans. They need humans to mate, and dragons take any offspring with them back to wherever dragons live. What a bizarre thing to protest—
—Unless this specific dragon doesn’t?
“What are you doing here, then?”
I am completely unprepared for the dragon to look away from me. Almost as if he’s... embarrassed?
To be caught among humans andnotbe preying on them?
«The Sage of Wrath is still inside the temple,» the dragon says, and I’m not sure if that’s an answer to my question or changing the subject.
Either way, it surprises me. To have created a working this powerful, I had thought she’d have needed to give up her life. “How do you know?”
The dragon glares at me. «You’re a sage. Can you get inside?»
“You can’t?”
The dragon lets out a snort of fire. My eyes widen and my heart rate kicks up, even though it wasn’t directed at me.
There is something going on here I don’t understand, and I don’t think asking the dragon questions is going to get me answers that don’t burn me, one way or another.
I walk around the dragon to approach the temple. He stomps around me, as if fighting his own instincts to allow me to, despite the fact that he asked me to try this.
But the closer I get to the door, it’s like the air around me thickens, like I am trying to walk through a swamp that slows me further with every step.
I grit my teeth and strain, my muscles protesting more every second but I amresolvegods curse it—
Then it’s like the air itself turns solid andshovesagainst me.
I fly backwards, and only years of training have me flipping to land on my feet.
I gape at the temple.
«You were supposed to use magic,» the dragon growls at me.
“I don’t have any here,” I say absently, still stunned. Did he think it would be different because I’m a sage? Is this one place immune to dragon magic? “You’re sure Yora’s still in there? Alive?”
The dragon goes still. «Her name is Yora.»
