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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

‘Fish. Dried out, but they should do.’

He knelt back on his heels, bringing the hatchling away from the water and closer to his chest, nestled there on one hand. He took a little dried fish from Winter’s outstretched hand and held it near the dragon’s mouth.

Ren sniffed, a little haughty, then snapped and swal­lowed the dried fish in one gulp. Then she stood up properly, strength growing. She stretched her whole body, seeming longer every second – how could she have fitted in that egg? Then she shivered and her wings sprang open: astonishingly wide, smooth and strong, the skin stretched tight between the delicate bones. Joe could see the tiny veins carrying blood to each part of her wing.

Ren flapped a few times, raising a draught, then folded her wings back and mewed for more food. Joe laughed and fetched another fish, glancing over to see he had left enough for Winter’s hatchling, when it came.

He peered over. Winter hung over the pool, her face pinched and desperate.

Joe knew better than to ask. There was no sign of life from the green egg.

177

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Joe held his hatchling against his neck so Ren could be warmed by his bare skin and he could feel her wrig­gling body and know she was all right. Inside, his thoughts swished in opposite directions: relief at Ren’s arrival; concern for Winter and her egg.

Winter hunched over the pool at the eastern edge of the large cave, tension in every inch of her body. She was still dressed in the dragonrider blues Milla had lent her – a dragonrider with no dragon.

Yet.

But as he watched, something changed. She straightened up, lifted by an invisible string.

‘It moved,’ she said softly. ‘I saw it. It cracked.’

Joe peered down, praying it wasn’t just the flowing water nudging the egg. No, there it was, an unmistakeable zigzag fissure across the ridges of the green egg. It was just harder to see because of the stripy markings.

‘It’s hatching!’ Expressions flickered over Winter’s face, 178hope and fear and grief and love, like a stormy sky split by shafts of sunshine.

Joe could only guess how hard this was for her, with all the echoes of the past. ‘It’s coming!’ he said. ‘Your dragon will be here soon. Come on,’ he urged it.

He felt Ren notice it too. She lifted her head and chattered encouragement, and he caught sight of her tiny sharp teeth again. Joe cupped his hands and she hopped down onto them, leaning forwards to see what was happening below the water.

Then, all at once, Ren dived off Joe’s hands and back into the pool, vanishing under the flowing water.

‘Ren!’ He swore. Where was she? Would she be swept away by the current? He couldn’t see anything in the dark flowing water. ‘Ren!’ Had he come all this way, only to lose her now? ‘Where are you?’