He told himself that to flee would be cowardly. He braced himself and turned around, faced them head-on. He swallowed the bitter bile in his mouth, felt it burn down his throat into his stomach.

The young half-dragon female advanced. Her human face was lovely. Her brown eyes were large and wide open to the world. The bone structure of her face and body was delicate, yet strong. Her long, glistening hair fell to the small of her back and stirred about her like a shimmering curtain when she walked. She moved with grace and elegance that was fluid and sinuous like a reptile and proud like a human, her human shoulders back and squared. Her iridescent wings quivered. The hand she held out to him was covered in scales that sparkled blue, like his own. Her hand ended in five small talons.

She wore no clothes, as did some of the half-dragons, those who were more human than dragon. Her scales covered her body, which had a human torso and thighs and slender dragon legs with clawed feet, like Ven’s. The scales ran up her stomach to cup around her bare human breasts.

Ven saw all this in a single, swift glance. Then he kept his eyes fixed on her face, because his stomach turned when he looked at the rest of her. He tried to keep his face rigid, to keep the disgust he felt from showing, but the young woman must have seen it, for she stopped walking. The hand she held out to him dropped to her side.

“I’m not a spy,” he said, the only thing he could think of to say.

The young female’s eyes softened. “No, of course you are not a spy. You are our brother. The eldest among us. We were told you had arrived in the city, and we were hoping that our father would introduce us. We were just discussing the ceremony we were planning to welcome you. As it is”—she blushed slightly, smiling— “you caught us unprepared. We apologize, Brother. We have looked forward to this meeting for a long, long time. You are welcome among us. Very welcome.”

Twenty pairs of eyes, of every color known to humankind, stared out from faces, some of which were human, some dragon. They regarded him with admiration, with respect.

They don’t see a monster, Ven realized. Looking into the eyes of the young female half-dragon, he saw pride, pride in herself. I’m the only one who sees monsters.

He was suddenly ashamed, for she was seeing in his eyes what he saw in the eyes of other humans when they looked at him: fear, disgust.