Page 52 of Realm of Thieves

He pulls back and stares down at me, our noses brushing against each other, our breathing labored, and I feel myself pulled into thedepths of his eyes, noticing the way black and brown lines seem to radiate outward into the amber, like the rays of a black sun.

Is he going to kiss me?The thought flits across my mind.

It scares me.

Because I think I might want him to.

Then he looks away, in the direction of the dragon’s flight, breaking the spell.

And thank the gods, because the last thing I need to be thinking about right now is the fullness of Andor’s lips. I need to be thinking about the gigantic dragon that just flew overhead, nearly taking us out with his tail, and the fact that we can’t do anything until that dragon moves on. It’s a death wish otherwise.

“Shit,” Andor says quietly, and I follow his gaze. The deathdrage is heading right for the nests. “We might have competition.”

The both of us watch as it lets out a roar and the blooddrages that were sitting on their nests suddenly take flight, looking incredibly tiny compared to the beast. One of them isn’t so lucky and the deathdrage snaps it up in its jaws, its throat bobbing as it swallows it in one go.

The deathdrage lets out another loud roar and for a moment I fear that it might turn and come back around, potentially spotting us this time. But it flies on forward with great beats of its wings until it gets smaller and smaller.

We stay motionless, watching until the dragon disappears from our sight, swallowed up by the dark haze.

“We need to move fast,” he says, looking back down at me. His gaze flits over my face, focusing on my lips for a moment, his nostrils flaring. Then he suddenly pushes himself off me and gets to his feet in one smooth motion, pulling me up along with him. “The blooddrages are gone from the nests. Who knows how much time we have before they return.”

He starts running toward them, his bow and arrow out, and Ifollow, Lemi loping beside us. The nests are all wide open and I’m not sure where the bloodsuckers would have flown to, but I don’t think they would have gone far.

We approach the first nest, just a bunch of dried twigs and seaweed that’s been lined along the bottom of one of the cracks in the ground. This batch has five eggs lined up in a row, their shells gleaming in green and purple iridescence.

“Take those,” he says, running ahead to the next nest. “Might as well take advantage of the peace,” he adds over his shoulder.

I don’t have a suen extractor like he does, but blooddrage eggs are about the size of a chicken egg. I grab the ones I see, slipping them into my pouch while scanning the horizon for new intruders. My pain seems to have taken a back seat at the moment, the adrenaline making it dull while the rest of my senses are on full alert.

But perhaps the resin has dulled things more than I thought because suddenly Lemi barks just as I’m putting the last egg in, and two blooddrages appear from over the top of the cave cliffs.

“Andor!” I yell. “On your left!”

He looks up to watch them approach, swooping down like lizard hawks. Thank the gods these ones don’t breathe fire or we would be literal toast.

I make a run for them, swords out, Lemi at my side and barking. The blooddrages don’t seem all that interested in me, but Lemi shifts, appearing right behind them. He leaps up and snatches one of them by the tail, whipping the dragon around to the ground. The other one goes to attack him, but then Lemi shifts and appears beside me.

Now the blooddrage is coming right for me and I have my swords ready to swing. I’ll chop its head off if I have to. It cries out, needle teeth bared, and I’m staring it dead in its beady red eyes as it gets closer and closer.

Then it inhales and gives a loud squawk and shoots upward, out of my reach. It goes up high and then starts diving toward Andor.

“Coming at you!” I yell at Andor as I start running toward him, hoping I can put myself between him and the blooddrage in time.

He looks up from his crouched position and drops the extractor, grabbing his opal-glass dagger from his boot and throwing it at the dragon. I watch as the knife spins in several tight successions before it strikes the dragon right in the chest.

The dragon screams and drops to the ground, writhing in the dust, and the other dragon that Lemi threw to the ground is struggling to its feet, crying out for them while tossing around a broken tail.

Andor quickly picks up his bow and arrow and shoots the dragon through the top of the head, ending its suffering instantly. Then he gives me a dark look.

“You can’t be afraid to kill them,” he says gruffly.

I wasn’t afraid, I want to say. But what was I?

“I’ve never killed one before,” I tell him, looking back at their two lifeless bodies.

His brows rise and he gets to his feet, walking over to the dragons to yank out his dagger and his arrow. “How is it that you’ve never killed a dragon before?” he says incredulously.

“I haven’t had the need to,” I tell him.

---