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Chapters (46)
  1. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. EPILOGUE

Brother Leopold found himself staring at a huge clawed foot. His gaze shifted to a scale-encrusted belly that seemed to have engorged a house, for it held within it floor, room, fireplace, table, chairs, and the slumbering humans.

The monk fell back a step. His gaze lifted from the belly and the clawed feet to the arched neck and the lowering head of the dragon, whose scales gleamed burnished red and whose eyes sparked blaze orange. The dragon lifted a front foreclaw and held it suspended over the monk’s head.

Leopold was a soldier, one of the elite of the dragon army. He’d been trained to fight from the day he was old enough to understand how to kill a man with his magic. He’d been trained to fight men, not dragons—or so Draconas reasoned.

Leopold was no coward. He did not turn tail and run. He turned his back deliberately on the monster that loomed over him. His hand steady, he opened the door and walked out into the empty and silent street.

Pausing, Leopold looked back at the dragon.

“Grald told me about you—the one they call the Walker. He told me you would side with the humans. It won’t matter, you know—even if Grald is dead. The humans cannot stop us. And neither can you.”

Leopold departed, heading in the direction of the Abbey.

Draconas abandoned the illusion and collapsed back down into that of the little girl. He stared gloomily after the monk’s retreating figure. He thought it quite likely that the monk was right. He couldn’t stop them.

He looked back at Anton and Rosa, asleep in their chairs. They would sleep until dawn, when they would wake to find the child they had taken into their homes and their hearts gone. They would think the monk had taken her. They would seek her, ask discreet questions, but they would never find out what had become of her and they would grieve her loss. Once again, Draconas had been forced to use humans. Once again, he’d been forced to hurt them.

He heard wings beating. The shadow of Maristara grew large in his mind. The little girl went over to Rosa and kissed her careworn cheek and placed the darned socks in her hands. Draca kissed Anton and, bringing a blanket, draped it around his shoulders.

Then Draconas left the house. He walked out into the street, reached up to the stars, and launched himself into the night.

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