Page 111 of The Last Dragon
“So wait,” Eryca says. “That time with the faulty bolts, that was female?”
I nod.
“Are you f—How did we miss that?” Eryca’s voice booms through the room.
I glance at Nida. Her jaw tightens, shoulders lifting slightly as if weighing whether to speak. After a long breath, she exhales.
“A book I have,” Nida says calmly. “It’s older than the ones we are using. There’s information about Redsnout behavior and how it differs from female to male.”
“Why’s this something we don’t know?” Eryca asks, confused. Everyone stays silent. There’s no proper answer to this. And we know it.
“The books have changed—the information, everything.” Nida lowers her head.
Eryca sinks into the chair, rubbing her temples in slow, tense circles. Her fingers linger there for a moment before she freezes, shoulders stiffening. Then her head tilts toward me, eyes narrowing slightly, as if a thought just clicked—or a suspicion formed.
“Zel,” she says, swallowing hard like she’s afraid of me, or of what she’s about to say. “I’m going to ask you something. You might not have the answer—I don’t care. I just need to hear it.” Her eyes lock on mine. “Why is Morton dead?”
When I open my mouth, I expect words to come out—but nothing does. It’s like a door slamming shut in my mind, leaving only a hollow space where the answer should be. Everything I thought I knew vanishes. I just stand there, gaping, before shaking my head—a headache rising. Eryca turns to the others.
“Doesn’t anyone know why he’s dead?” Now her voice is trembling, irritation seeping through it like she’s about to explode in a fit of rage. Nobody answers.
“Why can nobody remember why he’s dead?” Nida asks.
“I don’t remember him being on an expedition,” Sam replies.
“When was the last time anyone saw him?” Ilian asks.
I try to remember—when was it? The more I force myself, the further it slips. I can’t pin down where, when, or how…but I know I’ve spoken to him. I catch one detail, and blurt it out before it dissolves like smoke.
“Three weeks,” I gulp. “—before I met Nida.”
Eryca nods. “Yeah—Yeah, me too.” Her tight curls sway as she turns her head to Ilian.
“Three weeks,” he repeats with a sigh.
“Do you think he knew?” Eryca presses, leaning forward. “Do you think he knew there was more than one dragon?”
My stomach twists. “I think all of us did.”
“How come everyone saw him exactly three weeks before Division Day, but nobody remembers anything after that?” Nida says.
Sam clears his throat, the sound cutting through the quiet as he steps forward. “I have a theory.” His voice is steady, just loud enough to reach us. The candlelight dances across his face, catching in the curls of his blond hair and the sharp green of his eyes. For a moment, he hesitates, his attention shifting between us as if weighing whether to speak the words at all.
“Sam?” I say, to encourage him to keep going.
He clears his throat again. “Disciplinary,” he says, head low. “I think—I think it—fuckswith us.”
Everyone’s eyes grow wide as we process Sam’s words.
“I never thought I’d hear you say that,” Ilian comments, his body stiffening. I agree.
Sam stares and Ilian. “I didn’t think I’d… say it either.”
“Sam, how can you tell?” Nida asks.
Sam looks at Nida, then tugs at the corner of his collar. “We all have this,” he mutters, fingers tugging at the loose strings of hiswhite, lace-up shirt. The fabric parts as he pulls it down along his collarbone. There, a small black dot is branded into his skin. “I noticed it a few weeks before Zel returned to our unit. I don’t remember having it there before that.”
Everyone else checks each other’s necks. My fingers are tracing my own.
