“Do you think I’ll sprout wings?”
His eyes tracked toward her, the surprise evident on his features. “Do you want to?”
“I don’t know. I did in that dream, and others, I guess.”
“Living dreams don’t always show what will become reality,” he said, “and it isn’t always possible to know which ones are just ordinary dreams.”
She nodded. “They’re a thing with Dires and Sabres. Didn’t know they were with Dragons, as well.”
He looked away from her, to the moon. “No one I’ve asked knows much about them.”
“Aren’t there other Dragons who have been through it?” Dani bit her lip. He couldn’t ask them, not anymore.
“Not many go through soulbonds,” Tyrez said softly.
Soulbonds? Suddenly, Dani wasn’t sure she was ready for this conversation. Was that what he shared with Ash? It sounded like a powerful thing. It hadfeltlike a powerful thing.
She wasn’t going to be a third wheel to this. If they saved Ash, then he and Tyrez could be together. And she could start her new life. Maybe with wings, maybe not. But definitely without testicles.
Certainly not two sets.
Tyrez seemed to sense her tension. He stood. “You should see if you can sleep. We will need to be rested for tomorrow.”
She looked up at him. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you think your bite will make me a Dragon?”
He shook his head. “I do not know. You are already Dire, so it may not take.”
“But the dream—”
“To say that the dream foretells you becoming a Dragon—well, that kind of seeing is Ash’s domain. You won’t know until you shift form again, and it might take a while for the Dragon virus to alter you anyway.”
Her eyes widened. “What if I try to change to Dire, and it screws with me? Tries to take me to Dragon instead?”
He exhaled hard, and his brows drew down. “It might be wise if you don’t shift form for another week.”
“But I might need to, to help with the fight.”
“We aren’t part of this fight. We are only there to rescue Ash.”
“Do you think we’ll find him?”
There was a rapid flash of bared white teeth in the darkness. “I’m not leaving without him.”
She rose, raised her chin, and said, “Neither am I.”
* * *
Tyrez lay flat on his belly in the mud among the giant trees.
He and Razir had smeared the stuff all over them to help hide their glittering scales. Then they’d crammed their phase-one Dragons into the shrubs at the edge of the meadow.
The meadow was roughly circular and framed by the huge roots connected to the monstrous trunk hovering above them. From the first moment Tyrez had seen the massive trees, he’d been in awe. Then, the place had been used by Rindek to hide several of his tame Dire packs. They’d battled the Archmage here, beneath the giant trees, and almost had him. But with Dani and her Dire pack holding them down, Rindek had slipped through their grasp, escaping with his other Dire packs through the gates.
The huts at one end of the meadow were all that was left of Rindek’s local scheme to raise an army. Dani was setting up a fire pit near one, as though she was contemplating living in this beautiful but savage place. Her activity had garnered the attention of the local Firelizards, who ducked and dove around her as blurs of vivid scarlet.
Tyrez watched their lazy fluttering with only a fraction of his attention. They were surely more than aware that Dani was not the only visitor to this realm, but they gave no sign of it.
The giant trees’ branches were burdened with one hundred and forty-four Dragon warriors. Crouched amid the foliage in their phase-one forms, the Legion awaited the Archmage’s arrival.
