Forcing her facial expression to remain calm, she took another step back. She did everything she could not to awaken its full predatory instincts. Pissed she could maybe handle. But if the dragon turned truly murderous she didn’t stand a chance.
“You fae never respect our lands,” the beast growled in disgust.
“I’m human.” She probably shouldn’t be correcting a dragon. What was she thinking?
“That’s what I said,” it snapped. Sharp points protruded from its tail as it swung it angrily in the air.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ambrose pleaded, hands still raised.
It curled its scaled body around her, giving her little room for escape and she made sure not to break eye contact. Not to appear weak. Like prey.
“It is no concern of mine what you understand.” Steam rose from the dragon’s nostrils as it spoke.
Its eyes ran over her body in a far too familiar way, as though he were looking inside of her instead ofather. The ruby pair moving from her hair, to her eyes and down her body. “You are lost.”
She straightened slightly. “Yes, that’s how I got here.”
The dragon huffed in frustration. “What an ignorant creature. You arelost.” Ambrose had no idea what it meant, but she bit her tongue, too terrified to challenge it. It growled deep from its stomach. “Your kind has no respect for the creatures of the forest. Vermin. Every last one of you…”
She could hardly speak through the fear. “If you permit me to leave, I swear I’ll never return to your land.”
“Why would I do that?” It hissed as it crushed a boulder larger than her under its foot like it was nothing more than a pebble, claws scarring the ground as it did so. Its tail beat against tree trunks, shattering wood with each strike.
“Because I mean you no harm.” Gods, she hoped it believed her.
“Liar.” The dragon snapped its jaws again, missing her by only inches.She had no doubt it could kill her without a second thought and the fact that it hadn’t eaten her yet, wasn’t luck. “All your species does is cause pain. You know nothing other than destruction.” It raised its head and stared down at her from glowing red eyes like enraged stars burning in the night sky. “First, your gods arrive driving all of my kind from the land that wasour homeand forced us into the mountains.” The glow in its belly returned. “Then, your kind arrived, hunting us further and further into isolation. Leaving us no choice but to flee to the caves… And that still wasn’t enough for you…” The glow wound its way up its throat as the roar of its flames licked the edges of its snout.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ambrose begged.
“You hunt and murder us, all forour skin.” The dragon’s rage poured from its mouth as steam rose in the cool night air. “And youdareclaim no harm? All of your species knows is harm. You’re all the same.No honor.”
With the last words, the dragon released the inferno inside it as fire scorched from its belly and shot at her with deadly accuracy. Without thinking, Ambrose pulled her hands in a circle around her as her magick—or its fire, tingled her skin, she wasn’t really sure—and she pulled all the oxygen from the surrounding area, giving the flames—and her—nothing to breathe with.
She choked on hot air as the last flame extinguished and there was nothing for the fire to catch. Releasing her hold on the air, she pulled in smoky gulps that burned the back of her throat and eyes.
The dragon brought its head down to her, only inches away from her own face, its jaws so close she could reach out and poke a tooth if she wanted to. “But you’re not a normal fae. Are you?” Its eyes widened for a second as it stared into her very soul. “You’re something quite different…”
Why did he keep calling her fae?
“I don’t know what you mean,” she coughed out, “I don’t understand anything you’re saying. I didn’t know that’s where dragon leather came from. I didn’t know they were killingdragons.” That was suicide.
“It’s no matter to me.” The dragon snarled and snapped its jaws together.
“What do you mean the gods drove you from your land?” She jumped tothe side, and surprised herself when she dared to say, “The gods were the first ones here, there was nothing but an empty continent when they got here.” She shifted her weight to be ready for the next attack.
“How little your species knows of itsownhistory,” it scoffed. “You knownothing. No better than a hatchling unaware of the world around it.”
“Tell me,” she begged. This was absurd, she was talking to adragon. “What don’t we know?”
It stomped the ground in front of her, almost knocking her off her feet. Its ruby eyes flaring as though made of flames themselves. “That light that assaulted my forest earlier, that was you, was it not?”
“Yes.” There was no use lying.
Its spiked tail swung in a large arch, knocking her from her feet behind her knees. Her back hit the ground with a painful thud and she regained her composure, rolling backwards and she was on her feet as quickly as he struck her down. Her heart sent a thank you to her brother and the countless nights he’d knocked her down with the intent for her to get up as fast as she could.
Muscle memory turned into instinct.
“Yourgods…” The dragon paced towards her. “Invaded this land. They did not find an empty continent, they foundourcontinent. Our home. All twelve of them came and destroyed everything we built and held close. They burned nests and killed our young. Hunted us for sport and drove us further into hiding likerats!Dwindling our numbers over the millennia.” It beat its wings in fury. Wings so big they filled the space between the trees and shook the limbs above them. “They tookeverythingfrom us. We aredragons! Not filthy pests.”
