Page 34 of The Black Dragon
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After Justin’sbad experience with meditation, Ariel only wanted to leave Bell Rock. His panic attack frightenedher.
Not because she feared he would lash out at her, but it terrified her to imagine what her father had done to him in thebasement.
But Justin insistedon continuing the hike. They began to climb up the rock, Justin as sturdy on the slippery surface as a mountain goat. He pulled her upeasily.
At the end of the climb, they mingled with Skins who had summited. He glanced upward, not down. She shivered at the distance they’d climbed. Ariel drank from the water bottle, handing him a spare one. Fascinated, she watched his throat muscles workas he drank the entire bottle. Justin wiped his mouth with the back of hishand.
A network of thick scars ran along the inside of his arm. She traced one, her stomachturning.
“My father didthis.”
Rhetorical question. Justin gave a briefnod.
Her stomach clenched at the thought of the torture he’d endured. “No wonder you wantrevenge.”
“Justice. Not revenge.There’s a difference.” He tucked the empty bottle back into herpack.
She didn’t want to discuss it. “What now? Godown?”
“Up.”
She craned her neck. “You want to rockclimb?”
He shook hishead.
“What’s up there?” It made no sense. Justin could see the view from much higher in thesky.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Something I need to check out. Something…magical.”
A sense of excitement consumed her. Was it the rumored den of dragons her people had talked about for years? “Bell Rock is almost five thousand feet tall. Lots of Skins climb it, but not many reach the summit of the differenttowers.”
“We’re not headed to where Skins can climb.” He glanced down at her left foot. “Can you handleit?”
She’d crawl on hands and kneeson broken glass to see dragons, if that was where Justin headed. Arielnodded.
They waited until the Skins left and they were alone, and then Justin shifted and she climbed onto his back. Such trust in this black dragon. She sensed he would not hurt her, not intentionally. He’d fascinated her from the moment she’d seen him riding his motorcycle on thehighway.
Near the top of therock formation, far from the hiking trail Skins used, was a mini tower that made up part of the Bell Rock formation. A few Skins rock climbed up other towers, but not this one. Justin landed upon the red sandstone. Bits of green brush peppered the sandstone. Ariel climbed off his back. He shifted back into Skin as she glanceddownward.
“We’re reallyhigh!”
“Whoa.” He caught her arm.“Easy, sweetheart. That’s a long drop down and you can’tfly.”
“Won’t anyone seeus?”
“This section is warded with magick. Skins never come up here and they can’t see us, or anything elsemagick.”
“What’s uphere?”
“Dragon babies. Realdragons.”
Ariel could barely contain her excitement. So it was true. “I heard rumors about this! My father knew a community ofMages in the area and they said there are baby dragons that live in a cave in therock.”
Justin’s dark gaze searched her face. “They knew? Which Mages? Did they try to get to them? And what the hell did they want withthem?”
Cold dread snaked down her spine. Justin was a black dragon, and different. Dangerous. Her first loyalty was to her people. How many times had Leo taught herthat?
