Page 147 of I Dream of Dragons
No, you’re right. I’m not.
Hearing him inside my head doesn’t feel so weird anymore. He stalks to the fireplace and I join him, sinking to my knees on the rug.
He shifts closer to me, clicking scales and rustling leathery wings. His teeth are bared, and though he’s a small dragon, they glint like blades. Small or not, he’s an impressive presence beside me, the flames bathing his pale form in gold.
I dare stroke a hand down his scaly back and he goes still.
Why did you choose me, Remi? Jai said you wanted to meet me when he first called you down.
“I don’t know.”
Don’t toy with me.
“I’m not, I swear. I saw you and felt… close to you. Don’t you feel that with other people sometimes?”
You’re notpeople.
“I am a person. I think and speak and feel. Does my shape matter so much?”
He has a point.
He shifts a little closer and lays his snout on my shoulder. I freeze but he only stays like that. Dragon breath isn’t pleasant, especially that of a fish-eating dragon, and I gag a little, but he also smells of salty water and open skies and… and innocence.
I’m frowning at this last thought when he rumbles inside my mind.
“Do you think the dead can return?”
I flinch.I… don’t know, Remi. Why do you ask?
“The thought has been eating at you. I feel it.”
I was under the impression you only heard my thoughts when I directed them at you. Are you rummaging inside my head?
He hisses out a stinky breath.“No. But some emotions filter through.”
Alarmed, I shift and he raises his heavy snout off my shoulder.Filter through… to everyone?
“Who iseveryone?”
You, Keres, Jai…
“That’s everyone?”He infuses the word with enough aloofness to ease my mind.“Nah. If we focus on you, perhaps.”
You were focusing on me?
“I was wondering if you were okay.”
Touched, I lift a hand to stroke his neck and smile.You are sweet.
A purr comes off him, so deep I feel it in my teeth and bones. He arches his neck against my touch. Then he moves back.“I’m not a cat, you know.”
You sure act like one sometimes.
He settles down on his haunches, his front clawed legs crossed, his elongated head resting on them. The flames play in his blue eyes.“The third trial is coming up.”
I blink at the complete change of topic.Yeah.
“Trial of water. I’m not sure I can help you with this one.”
