So, Ajax and the girl, we still don't know her name. And now the Mean Ones have the harpoons.
For the first time since I arrived here, I wake up to an empty room. Yesterday was exhausting. Everything was fine until it wasn't.I get up and shower, trying to figure out what I’m going to do. I went to sit with Iniko last night, telling him what had happened, even though I know he probably can’t hear me. I hadn't found any answers there.When I finish getting ready, I grab my things and head down to the dining hall. I’m surprised when I see that Anala is already here. Usually, she waits for me, or wakes me up so that we can come together.I get my food and make my way to the table to sit with her and the other dragons.“Sorry, Eliane. There aren’t any extra seats here today,” Anala says, looking up at me. Her face is filled with anger. I look at the others at the table, and realize that every one of them looks almost hateful, and that hate is directed at me.“I…okay,” I say, frowning and turning to go to the hybrid's table.“Sorry, no room here either,” Kano says. Ajax sighs and st
When someone knocked on the door, the last person I expected it to be was Eliane. She told me she wanted space to think and figure things out, so, as much as I’ve hated it, that’s what I’ve done, with the one exception of putting the dragons on notice. I understand why Anala is angry. If the roles were reversed, I’d be furious. But I also know that as my rider, Eliane now has control of my actions. If she tells me to stay away, I stay away. The dragons will have to accept it just as I have.That doesn’t mean that I didn’t ask Ajax to look out for her. I needed to know that Revalor wasn’t going to try and claim her and by extension me and Iniko. As dangerous as Eliane’s lack of knowledge is, Revalor’s need for power is much, much more dangerous.I watch Eliane as she crosses her arms over her chest and leans against my wall. I would say it’s the fire dragon in her, but she had this in her when we were in the laboratory together. A stubbornness to help me and others. It’s one of the reas
After leaving Ancalagon, I didn’t want to go to my room. Anala’s animosity was palpable in the dining hall. I can’t imagine how suffocating it would be in our room. So, instead, I head over to where Iniko's dragon is lying. There, I find Zephyr keeping watch over her son.“Hi,” I say softly, unsure of the reception I will receive from her. Given Avani’s anger, I expect anything but the kind smile she gives me.“Hello, Eliane. Are you here to see Iniko?”“Well, I thought I’d sleep out here and keep watch over him.”“The dragons are causing you problems?” she asks knowingly.“They are…loudly expressing their anger at me,” I say, taking a seat beside her.“Do you understand why?” she asks.“Yes, I think I do. I want you to know that I didn’t mean to be cruel to Ancalagon. I’m not…I’m not my father, no matter what anyone else says,” I say, my throat constricting at the thought that anyone thinks of me that way.“Ahh, a fire dragon’s angry words can hurt just as much as their fire,” she say
I’m not sure what has changed, but Eliane keeps claiming me as her dragon. I’m not complaining, I love it. And now, whether she realizes or not, she’s walking into the dining hall still holding my hand.As soon as we walk in, everyone goes quiet and stares at us.“Why are they staring?” she whispers, even though everyone in here can hear her.“You’re holding my hand,” I tell her, waiting for her to yank her hand out of mine.She looks down as if just realizing that our hands are still joined.“Does that bother you?” she asks, looking back up at me.“No.”“Okay,” she says, continuing to hold my hand as she walks to the food area.I hand her a plate and I’m just about to start piling the food onto it, when I hear Revalor’s smarmy voice.“Well, if it isn’t the Alpha dragon and her little pet.”I desperately want to smash his arrogant smile into next week but I’ve just gotten Eliane to agree to spending time with me. I’m not willing to risk giving up her attention for my anger and frustrat
I wake up, smelling Eliane’s scent nearby. It’s faint, but it’s here. I need to make sure the Mean Ones didn’t get her. If they did, I need to help her!I force my eyes open and push myself to a seated position. There are voices all around me and someone puts a blanket over my back which still feels raw from my last whipping. I feel weak, barely able to sit up. I can hear a lot of voices around me, but I can’t seem to make out what they are saying until I hear one in particular. The only one that matters.“Let me through!” Eliane’s insistent voice says.“ELIANE!” I cry and even to my ears, my voice is weak.She’s pushes through the crowd of people surrounding me. “Iniko! You’re awake!”“Oh Eliane! You’re here! You’re safe!” I say, pulling her into a hug.She carefully wraps her arms around me. As gentle as she is, it still makes me flinch.“Of course. We came to get you, the dragons carried you back,” she says.The dragons?“How are you feeling?” she asks. I can feel my rider’s strengt
I knew what needed to happen to heal Iniko. And since I know that this is what my rider wants, I’ll do it.I knew my father wanted to say something. He was the Alpha once, so he knows what it takes to heal a dragon whose scales have been ripped off. The only way to heal him is to give him mine.Since he’s in his human form, I stay in my human form. I duck my head so Eliane can’t see how much pain it causes me to rip my own scales out of my body and insert them into Iniko’s. It's a mental transition and I have to feel past his human side to do it. I’m thankful that my scales are larger than his. I won’t need to replace as many as he lost. And in our human forms, she’ll only see that his skin is healing, not what it’s costing me to heal him. Who knows, maybe it wouldn’t matter to her how much it hurts me, as long as he is healed. She obviously loves him very much.I feel my parents come to stand on either side of me. They push their healing power into me so that Elaine won’t smell the bl
I watch Ancalagon walk out of Iniko's hospital room, knowing that he overexerted himself. I’m pretty sure he did it for me.“Will he be okay?” I ask Zephyr. She seems to be the only one willing to help guide me to understand this world that is so new and confusing to me.“Ancalagon is a very strong dragon. But you should be careful, Eliane. He would destroy himself for you, if that’s what he thought you wanted.”“It’s not what I want,” I tell her, looking down at Iniko’s healed back. “Do you…do you know why he can’t hear my thoughts?”“What did he tell you?” she asks.“That he thinks that I’m trying to protect him. That he thinks that because of everything that happened with Iniko after he looked into my mind that I’m afraid of something bad happening again.”“Do you agree with my son?”“I don’t know. How…how would I even know if I had closed my mind to him? It wasn’t a conscious decision. I’m not actively trying to keep him out of my mind.”“Aren’t you? You’re the only one who can mak
I never knew that Eliane was jealous. I knew she was mad about Charlotte, but jealous? She’s never come across as jealous, not in her human form, anyway.Jealous. I’m excited to get to know more about that. However, her next words have all that excitement going out the door.“What do you want to know, Eliane?” I ask, trying to find a way around answering her question. I’m not sure I’m ready for whatever response she’s going to have for what I did.“You’re weak. I want to know why. What did you do that caused you to need to rest, Cal?”“You know that dragons can’t heal missing scales. Only an Alpha can do that,” I say carefully.She turns and looks at me.“How did you do it?” she asks, saying the words slowly and letting me know that she realizes that I’m avoiding her question. “Did you….did you take away your ability to fly?” she asks and her voice catches.“No! No, I can still fly,” I say, wanting to reassure her.“But not tonight?” she asks.“You’re my rider, Eliane. If you want to f