He falls short, giving a shout before he latches on to the next outcrop down by the mere tips of his fingers. The sudden stop smacks him against the side of the cliff, but he holds on, heaving himself up to the top of the ridge moments later.
In fairness, it was an impressive jump, one I never would have been able to make if I were still wearing my armor and without my new levitation power.
He lands at a crouch and shakes himself off before disappearing on the other side of the ridge.
My eyes narrow.
Maybe I should have followed him, after all…
A moment later, Maxim reappears holding a bundle. This time, he takes a longer run up before leaping from the mountain ridge and landing at the very edge of the tunnel’s mouth, teetering there.
I grab his shoulder and pull him inside before he can fall backward.
He scowls at me as he wobbles past. “I had it.”
I may prefer to lie, but in this instance, the truth gives me joy. “You didn’t.”
Maxim glares back at me before he begins unfolding the bundle in his arms.
I blink at it. “Is that a?—?”
But it can’t be…a fucking dragon’s hide.
He pulls it closer to himself, guarding it.
Only one is rumored to exist.
Whispered to have been hidden by the Tol-Dakri, a fierce fae tribe renowned for their part in the long-ago Battle of Fire Dragons.
As the story goes, on winning that battle, they killed and skinned the last fire dragon. They’ve remained a fearsome people and have had uneasy truces with each Ember King.
I can’t see them giving up this dragon’s hide easily, not even to Maxim.
“Keep your distance,” Maxim warns me, hunching over the hide. “I went to great lengths to obtain this, and it isn’t part of our deal.”
It explains why he was reluctant to hand over the amulet and the knife’s hilt. He didn’t want me to see what they were hidden in.
Although…it’s now curious to me that he didn’t simply pull the wooden objects out of the hide and bring them to me. He could have left the hide on the mountain ridge and I never would have known about it.
Still, I step away from him, my hands purposefully raised. “I only want what’s dangerous to Thyra.”
Maxim keeps his eyes on me as he reaches between the folds of the heavy material and pulls out two objects: a wooden medallion strung onto a strip of leather and a wooden hilt, its shape and size identical to that of the knife I carriedwith me.
Placing both items on the ground, Maxim tucks the bulky hide under his arm, draws himself upright, and steps away from the wooden objects. “They’re yours.”
I scoop them up and grip them tightly as I, too, now maintain my distance.
Before Maxim can turn toward the light again, I say, “The hide is how you intend to protect Thyra from your fire.”
He gives me a nod.
As reluctant as I am to admit it, I say, “You’ve obviously gone to great lengths to ensure she’ll be safe with you.”
Maxim squares his shoulders, eye to eye with me. “You have your pain, Antony. I have mine.”
He strides back along the tunnel and this time, Azul steps aside for him.
I try to follow Maxim’s path, squinting into the light, before I turn away from it.
