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Contents ( 50)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. EPILOGUE
  48. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  49. Also by Liz Flanagan:
  50. COPYRIGHT

Winter’s face crumpled, and she jumped to her feet and fled, leaving Joe to curse himself yet again.

Joe ran after her – earning a glare from Susanna as he thrust the precious book at her, mouthing thank you – but Winter was faster than him.

Outside, in the cool night air, he watched her disappear into the shadows, heading for the stables and the secret door to the tunnels.

Should he follow or not? He decided that Winter prob­ably needed to be alone, without his clumsy attempts to apologise.

Instead, he used the cover of darkness to go somewhere he knew he shouldn’t. He began sneaking through the palace gardens, listening out for the guards’ footsteps.

Three times he heard the guards approaching; three times he hid. It wasn’t hard to avoid them. His sister was usually more strict with her patrols than that. Was the island’s army growing careless? Today it suited him, but Joe worried what it meant for Tarya. Was her pregnancy stopping her from working, or had Rosa taken over already? Either way, things were different.

Without admitting to himself where he was going, Joe tip­toed closer and closer towards the dragonschool of Arcosi, 105its tall wooden buildings looming in the darkness. Each was home to a clutch of dragons. Each clutch and their people shared a special bond, like a family. He wondered which one Winter and her dragon Jin had lived in.

The nearest dragonhall had its doors ajar and Joe peeked inside. A large brick stove burned in the centre of the room, casting a blaze of heat. A metal perch curved round the stove and Joe counted five small dragons basking there. He almost missed one, because Maric and Ariel were so tightly coiled together, a bundle of scaly purple limbs and tails. There was the green one, the creamy one, and finally, Noah’s dragon. It raised its yellow head and growled in Joe’s direction.

Typical.

‘What’s wrong, Della?’ Noah asked.

Joe flattened himself against the outside of the dragon­hall and held his breath, blood pulsing in his ears.

106

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

No one came out of the dragonhall to see what the disturbance was, and soon Joe dared to peep back in. He needed to see what he was missing. It was like picking at a scab – he knew it would be painful, but he couldn’t resist.

The five new dragonbonded children were finishing their meal at a table behind the stove. Then they pushed their chairs back and went to collect their dragons, greeting them tenderly.

Noah’s yellow dragon nuzzled herself against his hand, and hissed, showing tiny sharp teeth.

They all settled down on large cushions near the stove, speaking sometimes to the dragons, sometimes to each other.

Joe listened, without moving. They were discussing a lesson from Isak earlier that day.

‘Why is he working us so hard?’ Noah was grumbling.

‘There’s a lot to learn,’ Conor said mildly. 107