14. The Midnight Moan

Leila sat out on the bedchamber terrace alone. It was approaching midnight, and Thorn still hadn’t returned.

After the Dragon Moon, and after her family had been slaughtered by the royals, something changed inside her. A feeling of insecurity emerged, as if she was trying to grab a floating branch while drowning. She suddenly realized how fragile and alone she was in the world, and it terrified her.

She wanted to scream and fight with Rina and the queen. But all she could do was hide in the bedchamber. Leila opened the bundle her aunt had given her. Inside, there was a pitch-black flute stone with a hollow core. She observed it under the bright moonlight. She had never seen anything like it before. The smooth surface looked alien to her, but extravagantly beautiful.

A sense of grief weighed down on her again. She had officially become an orphan, without ever knowing her birth mother and father.

In the dark sky, she saw a red dragon coiling above the main castles. Then, the dragon l