Chapter 4

I was jolted awake by screaming.

Dawn had barely broken. Wails tore through the air outside my tent.

I dragged myself up and opened the tent flap. In the distance, a crowd had gathered near Rowan's tent.

My stomach dropped. I stumbled outside and ran.

The wound on my chest split open. Blood seeped through the bandages, but I didn't stop.

I burst into Rowan's tent and came face to face with Silas, his face pale and his body shaking.

He saw me. His lips trembled for a long time before he managed a single sentence. "Miss Vale... the chief... he's dead."

For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

Rowan lay on the bed, his face bluish gray, with a streak of fresh blood at the corner of his mouth.

His expression was frozen in his final moment, as though he had wanted to say something but never got the chance.

On the small table beside him sat a bowl of medicine, half finished.

Someone had poisoned it.

And three days ago, I had sent someone to gather serpentgrass.

I stood rooted to the spot, my whole body turning cold as my mind went blank.

Then I heard footsteps behind me. Vivian entered with a dozen tribespeople, her eyes red. In her hand was a piece of cloth holding a single dark greenish-black scale.

"Everyone, listen!" Vivian's voice quavered, as if she were struggling to hold back her grief. "I can't keep this secret any longer. Aurelia... she isn't one of us. She isn't a Silver Serpent."

She held the scale up for all to see. "Look carefully. I found this under Aurelia's pillow! These are the same kind of scales that appeared on her when she failed to shift. They're lizard scales! Silver Serpent scales look nothing like this. Even the pattern is different! She's a lowly lizard who snuck into our tribe!"

The crowd erupted.

Vivian burst into tears. "I treated her like my best friend. I've been hiding the truth to protect her, and this is how she repays me? She sent people to burn down my tent! She was jealous because she couldn't shift, so she tried to get rid of me. She even tried to take back the seal so she could stay in power!"

She turned to me, tears running down her face. "Aurelia, you're nothing but a lowly lizard who's been pretending to be a Silver Serpent all these years. What were you really after? And what about Rowan's death? Did you poison him because you were afraid he'd wake up and reveal the truth about you?"

The crowd exploded. Someone jabbed a finger at my face and screamed, "Lizard! She killed the old chief! Burn her!"

"She's a spy! No wonder she couldn't shift!"

"Rowan wasted years raising her! Ungrateful wretch!"

The crowd grew louder, their angry stares piercing me like arrows.

I looked past them to the edge of the crowd.

Kael stood there, expressionless. I had expected him to step forward and say something, even if it was only for show.

But he just watched. From start to finish, he said nothing.

I found myself laughing, until tears filled my eyes.

"Kael," I called to him across the surging mob, "have you lost your voice? You know Vivian took my seal by force. And now you don't have a single word to say?"

Kael's lips moved. He finally spoke. "Aurelia, the evidence is right in front of us. Vivian has a lizard scale that she says came from you, and witnesses saw your people set fire to her tent. How am I supposed to defend you? I thought you had simply failed to shift. But now I don't even know what you are anymore. How can I trust you?"

Vivian quickly turned to the crowd. "She's still trying to make excuses! If we let her go, who knows who she'll hurt next? We can't let a lizard spy stay among us. Burn her at the stake!"

"Burn her! Burn her!" The chant thundered through the square.

Two guards seized my arms and dragged me toward the stake at the center of the square.

The wound on my chest tore wider. Blood ran down my clothes, leaving a red trail behind me.

They tied me to the stake.

Vivian stood beside me and leaned closer, lowering her voice so only I could hear. "Lia, I can't believe I ever called you my friend. You're such a fool."

She leaned closer, her warm breath brushing my ear. "You're going to die anyway, and dead people can't tell their side of the story. Rowan learned that the hard way... I was the one who brought him that medicine."

I snapped my head toward her.

She gave me a tender smile, stepped back, and shouted to the crowd, "Light the fire! Burn the lizard!"

The rough hemp ropes dug into the wound. Blood beaded between the knots.

Dry wood was piled around the bottom of the stake. A guard walked toward me with a burning torch.

I looked up at the sky.

It was gray. The clouds hung low, as if rain were coming.

Dad, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you.

I couldn't protect the seal you left me. I don't even... know who I am anymore.

Vivian screamed at the guard, "Light it!"

The torch fell.

The wood burst into flames. Fire roared upward and filled my vision with blazing red.

The heat burned my skin. It felt like thousands of needles stabbing every inch of my body.

I threw back my head, unable to hold it in any longer. A scream tore from my throat!

It was not the cry of a serpent. It was not a human voice.

Something ancient echoed through my scream, as if a power buried deep in my blood had finally awakened.

The scales on my neck, always cold until now, blazed with heat.

I heard bone and flesh tearing apart across my back.

Enormous wings spanning more than thirty feet burst from my back!

"Aargh!"

The flames scattered as my wings beat them away, sending arcs of fire spinning through the air.

I broke free of the ropes and rose slowly into the sky. The scales on my wings caught the sunlight and glowed gold.

Below, the crowd screamed.

"A dragon... she's a dragon!"