Page 102 of Dragon’s Rebel

She undid the first shackle—the one with the bracelet on it. She moved that hand to get to the other, and her bracelet brushed against his.

It was the dragon’s voice. She moved her arm away, then touched her bracelet to Thornes’s again. the dragon repeated more urgently.

Rebel’s heart caught in her throat.

Where are you?

Was he crazy? She was sitting here, trapped by an evil sorcerer who could come back any moment, and he wanted her to drift off into the spirit world? For how long?

This was nuts. She shouldn’t even consider it.

She looked again at the wound on Thorne’s arm, the veins still blackening.

She left his second shackle alone. If she left the shield up, then maybe no one but Corwyn or Jean-Claude could touch them.

And if the sorcerers came back, they were fucked anyway.

She clasped Thorne’s free hand, making sure their bracelets were touching. And then she closed her eyes—and flew.

Dark shapes rushed past her, too quickly to see. There was wind in her face, stinging her eyes, and she felt disoriented, like she didn’t know which way was up or down.

And then she flew into the mouth of a cave—and he was there.

The dragon.

He was just as beautiful as ever—shimmering midnight blue shading almost to black, great big glowing eyes with their slit pupils like a cat’s, and a tiny pinpoint of flame in the middle. His barbed tail extended back into the shadows.

Rebel ran to him and threw her arms as far around his neck as she could, hugging him hard.

“I never take it off,” she said. “It reminded me of you. And apparently it’s useful. You might have mentioned it was a communication device.”

She stepped back. “I’m a witch. Who knew?”

He sounded smug. She thumped him on the shoulder.

“So how do we do this?” she said. “We don’t have much time, and Thorne’s in a pretty bad way. How do we get you back to him?”

Fury and fear warred within her. “Then why did you drag me in here?” she demanded. “You told me to trust you, and now you say you can’t help him. Fine. I’ll go back and figure something else out.”

The dragon said,

“Like it did the night you took the serum?”

He shook his big head.