Page 24 of Dragons & Dumplings
“What?” I blinked, confused, half my senses straining to detect the sound of claws on cobblestones.
“You’re keeping things from me. You don’t trust me, not fully.” Her pupils were slitted, guarded.
All of my attention crashed onto her. The worst part was that she was right, and we both knew it. But was it still wrong of me if keeping this secret could keep her safe?
Safe for now, at least.
The only true way to keep her safe was if I moved on. They always found me if I stayed in one place too long. The last couple of times, I had just barely managed to slip away. But there was no crowd to slip into or alley to duck down here.
It looked like my luck had finally run out.
“I wish I could,” I said around the lump in my throat.
She hugged herself, as if she were cold. I had to resist the urge to offer her my coat again. “I wish you could, too.”
I watched as she turned and disappeared inside her house. But I couldn’t let my heart crack now. Not when a sudden blast of icy wind announced the arrival of the ice dragon behind me.
I wished he would have waited just a little longer. I would have to draw him away from her house myself.
Without warning, I bolted to the left, towards the edge of the forest. But before I had made it two houses down, a wall of ice surged up in front of me, blocking my escape.
With a defeated sigh, I gripped the straps of my bag and slowly turned to face the angry man stalking towards me. His snow-white hair was longer than mine, and his slitted eyes were a deeper blue. But where I was average height and on the lean side, he was tall and broad, with knuckles as hard as diamond and twice as painful.
“Care to explain yourself,” he growled. “Little brother?”
Chapter eleven
Frostbite & Firelight
Mei
Igasped,coveringmymouth.
The dragon that had been tailing us tonight was Yuri’s older brother? If that was the case, then why did Yuri look so afraid?
I was suddenly glad I had slipped out the back door to follow him—not that he’d gotten very far. But why had Yuri lied, and tried to keep me away from his family?
When Yuri didn’t immediately answer, his brother began advancing on him. “I tracked you all the way across this overgrown sauna on Father’s orders. But imagine my surprise when I saw the failure of our proud fleet fraternizing with our most ancient enemy!”
Yuri flinched, holding his hands up. “Mikhail, it wasn’t what it looked like. I can explain!”
I scowled at Yuri from my hiding place behind a huge bush one house down from the ice wall.
“What could possibly explain you kissing that disgusting firewyrm? And tonight wasn’t the first time—I’ve been watching you for days.” Mikhail advanced until he stood glaring down at Yuri.
I stilled. Those times I’d thought I’d seen a flash of white, or felt like someone was watching me…that must have been Mikhail! But if they were brothers, why had he been following Yuri? Unless…had Mikhail been stalkingme?
I could see defensive scales start to creep across Yuri’s skin, and by the sneer on Mikhail’s face, he had noticed them, too. When Mikhail raised his fist as if to hit him, Yuri flinched.
“I’ve just—I’ve been using her!” Yuri rushed to say.
My heart sank.What?!
“Oh?” Mikhail paused, his cold expression guarded. “Go on.”
“I’ve been using her to…to gain her trust. But now that I’ve confirmed our Great Patriarch Glacius once stayed here on his northern journey, I have no use for her. I was planning to report her and her fleet here to Father.” Yuri’s voice trembled under his older brother’s scrutiny.
Every word sent a blast of ice into my heart. Was that true? Had Yuri just been using me? But what about the way he looked at me tonight? What about the way he had protected me in the cave?
