That was easy enough to answer. “He killed my brother... while my brother slept. Coward snuck in as if my brother were a monster and not the best brother who’d ever lived. Best father and husband, too. Then, the real monster took my brother’s head. I want him to pay for his crime!”
The unicorn tried to untangle its horn from the loop that held it. “Dragon slayer, you say?”
“Aye. A putrid, vile beast I have to find. I know you have the magick to make me human. And I need that.” Unicorns were born of magick the likes of which no other species could match, except for one, and it wasn’t hers.
It was said they could do anything they wanted, even live forever. And there was only one thing she craved. “I want to look him in the eyes when I take his life and reclaim my brother’s head from him. Please. Help me save my brother’s honor.”
Dash eyed the vengeful dragon curiously. With ombre scales of red to orange, she held a pair of darkbrown eyes that smoldered from her passion for vengeance.
Hell, she could blast him with fire right now. While it wouldn’t kill him, it would take him centuries to heal.
Ruin his day most definitely.
Piss him off to absolutely no end.
Yet she refrained, and that restraint impressed him. And impressing him was a hard feat for any creature to accomplish.
He also understood her hatred for a human. They were treacherous, cutthroat bastards, first and foremost. Especially since he had one in particular he needed to spear with his horn. But then, dragons weren’t much better than a human. Most days, they weren’t better than maggots. Dragons, too, were known for their treachery.
And their treasure hunting. Before peace had been brokered between the reigning monarchs of the Thirteen Kingdoms, dragons had laid waste to entire nations for no other reason than to take their gold and jewels. No one knew exactly how wealthy the dragons were, but they were said to be richer than all the other Twelve Kingdoms combined.
Given his own experience with them, he could easily believe their riches were beyond measure.
Not to mention dragons and unicorns were natural enemies. Back in the day, dragons had helped wizards enslave his kind. Until unicorns had learned to command the same power those wizards had...
His horn itched as a reminder of what he had to lose.
And what he was desperate to find.
It’d been why he was rushing in such a state that he’d missed the lure the dragon had used to snare him. In his normal frame of mind, he’d have never fallen for such a trick.
Damn me.
And damn her as well.
“If I say no?”
She let out a tired sigh. “I don’t like to hurt things.”
Weird comment for a dragon, especially given their natural tendency to set things that annoyed them on fire. Not to mention, she’d be hard-pressed to harm him, given his powers. “But?”
“I need this. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get to the man who killed my brother. Please don’t make me into something I’d rather not be. I just want justice.”
How simple she made it sound. But life was never easy. Nor was it that simple. “If you kill this man, you’ll become a killer, Madam Dragon.”
“I know. But this is one life to appease my soul that craves equity for the life he took. And to keep that... that...murderer,”shespat the word as if she could taste it like bitter fruit, “from killing more innocents. If I don’t stop him, his future killings are on me. I won’t have that, either. Someone has to stop him from taking someone else’s father from them.”
That made perfect sense. He’d done worse to protect those he cared about.
And he intended to make his past sins look petty once he caught up to the man he was currently seeking.
As he looked into her clear, dark eyes and saw the depth of her grief and determination, it touched him. How could he deny her the very thing he was out to claim for himself? No one should lose a loved one. Not needlessly.
Especially not to cruelty.
And he wasn’t hypocrite enough to deny her the very thing he wanted most in his life. The very thing he was out here, trying to claim.
Maybe if the death of his beloved sister wasn’t so fresh, he would be hardened against the dragon’s request. But Renata’s loss was too recent.
