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“The Nine Dead Gods willing, we will not be testing anything but soil and air samples,” Akoni said dryly.
I chirped. Flopped onto my belly scales, and sorted myself into baby cobra. A haze of light threads rose off Auryn into my own scales, restoring their deep black opal sparkle.
“Ready?” Keon asked.
Chirp.
Akoni headed down the tunnel to summon the others. Auryn reached into the large gear satchel he’d be carrying through and pulled out four of the neck-ring light gizmos the water dragons wore for underwater work.
“Should I just toss these, or?” Auryn asked wickedly.
CHIRP.
He tossed one to Keon. Keon caught it. I chirped angrily. I was not a ring stack—
He tossed the ring, and it landed around my horns and spun down my neck until it rested against my wings.
Chirp chirp brrrprp chiiirrrrp.
The cousins switched into their dragon forms while snickering and ducked their heads through the loops of large satchels of gear. I couldn’t carry a damn thing due to lack of appendages, so I got stuck imitating a child’s toy. I flapped into the air and tried to look regal as Sorren led his dragons down the tunnel.
The dragons stopped dead as they saw me.
Sorren twisted at the hip so fast his shendyt kept moving after he stopped. “Forward.”
“Wyrm Sorren—” the first one said, staring at me. “What is… that?”
“That,” Sorren spit out the words, “is Helena. And yes, she is a Chaos dragon. And no, you are not getting an explanation beyond she’s not some errant topside drake’s illegitimate spawn. The fact she exists at all should impress upon you the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. The cosmos did not forge her into a Chaos dragon foramusement.”
Sometimes it sure as hell seemed that way, and the cosmos was playing an epic game ofhold my beeralong withwhat happens if I shock the critter in the maze.
“Now, if you are done gawking, Homeworld awaits.” Sorren stepped to the side and indicated the Gate.
The dragons had changed into their uniforms, which were a more appropriate light body armor for the cold conditions on Homeworld. One by one, they stepped across the threshold. The remaining dragons arranged themselves two by two to guard the Gate.
Akoni moved to unsash his own shendyt just as Keon headed for the Gate.
“Wait,” Sorren said.
Akoni looked towards his father. “I regret nothing. I apologize for nothing.”
Sorren approached him. “You are a stubborn whelp.”
“I have places to go and civilizations to save, so if you could hurry this.”
Sorren raised a fiery brow. “I am proud of you.”
“Ah, this conversation again. But the conversation I want is the one where you apologize to my consort and partners. Or you can keep your pride, and history will play out in the same fashion, except I have no intention of making myself a Wyrm.”
The small muscles of Sorren’s shoulders flexed under his skin as he clenched his fingers behind his back.
Akoni’s thin lips pulled upwards at the corners in a grim dragon’s smile, revealing his metallic, needle-sharp teeth.
Sorren might have been the guy handing out the prizes in the Stupid Games Contest, but when it came to a battle of wills, my money was on Akoni. Akoni had made peace with being a failure about four dance partners before me. He’d also been raised with Sorren’s legacy. Defying a roost, overthrowing it, making himself Wyrm as a final act of revenge andneverlook back? Of course, that was how life went.
“Comment isn’t necessary,” Akoni said. “I regret only what is necessary, not my resolve.”
“And I am proud of you for it.” Sorren’s voice seemed liquid metal. “I hope we both live long enough that one day you will understand what I sought to protect you from, and what I wanted you to inherit, and that it had nothing to do with my ego. This life at the edge of the cosmos is not what any parent wants for their offspring.”
