“Release the shadows, Reaver,” the dragon said. “She is safe with me.”
This thingwastalking and might know something about this Shadow Reaver bullshit. It was all too fantastic and good to be true, but if a dragon could speak, it certainly had to possess more knowledge and power.
“And as much as I don’t like it and would prefer to kill you, you are also safe with me,” the dragon continued.
Cole didn’t lower the barrier.
“I see,” the dragon murmured before shifting its attention to Lexi.
“You know about the Shadow Reaver?” Lexi asked.
“I do,” the dragon replied.
It lowered its head to examine Lexi. Shifting toward it, the shadows sought to defend and protect her, but the dragon didn’t move closer.
“Let me see you more clearly,” the dragon said.
“I’m not releasing the shadows,” Cole stated.
“I didn’t expect you would. But I want to see her arach form.”
Lexi frowned. “My arach form?”
“Yes, show me yourself in the sunlight.”
Lexi glanced at him before closing her eyes and releasing the shield she’d erected around herself. Golden light and silver scale-like markings spread across her until she stood before them, bathed in a golden glow.
When she opened her eyes, they were the same striking gold color as the dragons, and her pupils had become slitted. She was always beautiful, but seeing her like this was breathtaking.
The dragon breathed out what could only be considered a sigh; it blew Lexi’s hair back from her face and stirred her clothes. Its face softened as much as a dragon’s face could, and an “Oh” issued from it.
Then, like a dog rolling over to expose its belly, the creature rested its chin on the ground as it gazed at Lexi with longing.
“Itistrue,” the beast murmured. “Youarereal. An arach still lives.”
“I’m real,” Lexi whispered. “But areyou? How is it possible a dragon cantalk?Do you all do so?”
Cole swore the corners of the dragon’s mouth pulled into a smile.Thething issmiling.
After hearing a dragon talk, he didn’t think anything could astound him anymore; he was wrong.
“Not all of us do so,” the dragon replied.
The dragon lifted its head from the ground and curled it above them in a proud gesture and—as much as he hated to admit it—a beautiful one. The sun glittering on its scales emphasized its radiant coloring.
“I, alone, am the speaker,” the dragon continued. “Many,manymillennia ago, the arach imbued my great-grandfather with the ability to talk with them. When he perished, it passed to my grandmother, then it went to my mother, and on to me when she died. I am Alina… the speaker of dragons. Though, no one has heard my voice in a thousand years.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alina,” Lexi replied. “I’m Elexiandra, but almost everyone calls me Lexi. Why has no one heard your voice?”
“I talk with the arach and the arach only.”
“But you don’t report to the Lord?”
“I wouldnevershare my voice with that usurper. He may control us, but he isnotprivy to us.”
“I see,” Lexi murmured.
The dragon lowered her head again and tilted it to the side while studying Lexi. “How is it you exist, child?”
