Page 445 of Kingdoms of Night

She staggered away from him as sorrow hit her in the gut. They didn’t see into the future the way she did. They were willing to accept that they were the last, if only they could keep their pride intact.

The sound of wood hitting sand reached her ears. She whipped her head around to stare at the boats that had landed on their shores. The wind teased her hair, tangling it in front of her face, and time seemed to slow.

Men launched over the sides of their vessels, swords in hand. But it wasn’t those men that frightened her. It was the weapons they brought with them. The catapults were already filled with balls of green acid that glowed with some magical property she couldn’t name.

“Tanis!” the crimson dragon shouted. “Get out of here or change back!”

His words snapped through her mind and then all the sounds returned. A blow to her senses knocked her straight, but the noise... it was too much. There were so many people shouting, footsteps thudding against the earth, swords striking dragon hide. The creak of ropes as they pulled back on the acid balls and then let them fly through the air.

She tried to run. But the ball of acid hit a yellow dragon near her and he shook his body to dislodge some of it. She could smell the acrid scent of his scales burning and a rain shower of acid drops fell upon her. She tried to dodge them, but then let out a scream as one landed on her hand.

Tanis knew better than to draw it to her chest, but it took everything she had to hold the hand out in front of her. The acid bubbled on her skin and the pain was unlike anything she’d ever felt.

“Tanis!” The voice came from far away, but she looked to see the dragon keepers sprinting toward her.

One of them grabbed onto her hand and plunged it into the sand. “Get the acid off,” the woman muttered. “The faster the better.”

The sand bit at the wound, but the sizzling sound of her skin stopped.

“Up,” the woman said, picking her up by the elbows and then shoving her back the way they came. “Find Rowan! He’s looking for you!”

Rowan. Yes. She should find him. He’d know what to do and how to convince the dragons that they were fighting a battle they would lose.

The woman’s eyes widened, and she spun in time to catch the sword that swung at her. The man behind her had a beard down to his chest and wild eyes burning with hatred.

“Go!” the dragon keeper shouted. “Run!”

She had no weapons. Nothing to protect herself or the eggs inside her.

Tanis turned and sprinted away from the beach. She ran through the trees, knowing the forest might protect her even as she heard footsteps chasing after her. She knew they would follow her. Why wouldn’t they?

The pounding feet lessened as she ran through the woods and then burst out into the fields by the pools. Empty. She slowed at the sight, sides heaving, as she realized this was what the isle would always look like now. No sapphire dragons to fill the pools. Nothing but an empty home and an empty realm.

Vomit pressed against her throat, but she had to keep going. There was shouting in the woods. They were still looking for her.

“Rowan,” she called out, screaming the word even though she knew it would warn the warriors following her to her location. “Rowan, I’m here!”

No one called back for her.

Tanis ran through the pools, slowing as the water reached her thighs and soaked the skirts around her legs. She moved forward, pushing even as pain lanced through her stomach and the dragonlings inside her screamed. They wanted to be laid. They wanted to get out of this body that pushed against them too tightly.

“Now is not the time,” she said, pressing her hand against her stomach. “You have to wait.”

The pain worsened as she reached the end of the pools. Tanis looked behind her, hair sticking to the sweat on her face. A single man had followed her, but his strides ate up so much ground. He ran after her with a single-minded purpose. It was the same man who had fought the dragon keeper.

His blade was covered in blood.

She ran as fast as she could. All the way back to her cave, although she knew without a doubt that he followed her. The uphill sprint made her breath saw from her lungs and she tasted metal on her tongue, but she had to hide from him. The only place she knew that might be safe were her own caves. He wouldn’t be able to find her in those. He’d have to search for hours and then Rowan would find her.

Rowan would know to look for her within her own home, wouldn’t he? She had to believe he would.

Tanis braced herself on the stone outside the entrance. It all looked too large. So much larger than she remembered. This tiny form would have to move through so many crystals that were the same height as her, when she had thought they were smaller than her feet.

More places to hide, she supposed.

Tanis rushed away from the open air and dove deeper into the cavern. It was hard to see without having her dragon eyes, which peered through the darkness so much easier than these mortal ones. But the crystals glowed every time she touched them and they illuminated a way into the very back of the cave.

She could only hope they stopped glowing before the man behind her entered the cave, or they would lead him right to her.

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