I clenched my jaw, trying not to let the rage show. “The facility” was Talon’s term for the place they sent dragonells to become breeder females, whose only job was to produce eggs for the rest of their life. Talon liked to start their breeder females young, because, like everything else in a dragon’s life, producing offspring took a long time. Nearly two years to lay the egg after the dragonell had been mated, and another year for the egg to hatch. When I’d still been part of Talon, there had been dark rumors circling the organization that the number of fertile eggs was in sharp decline. An alarming one in three eggs simply never hatched, and no one could figure out why. What happened to the “dud” eggs was also a mystery; they disappeared, sent off to places unknown. I didn’t know what the real story was, or where the eggs vanished to, but one of my bigger goals was to find the facility, free all the dragonells there and burn the place to the ground.

Later, I told myself, as rage heated my lungs, making the air taste like smoke. Someday, you’ll be able to save them all, but not tonight. Don’t get distracted.

“How did you know about me?” I asked the hatchlings.

“Everyone in the organization knows about you,” Ava said. “The executives try to deny it, but we’ve all heard rumors of a rogue dragon who helps those wanting to leave Talon. You just have to find him—or hope that he finds you—
before the Vipers catch up.”

Ember blinked. “Wow, look at that,” she said, grinning at me. “You’re famous, or at least infamous. A real-life Robin Hood.”

I stifled the urge to rub my eyes. My defiant little Firebrand might think it was great news, sticking it to the organization, but I did not want that much attention from Talon. That they talked about me meant they were thinking about me, which was never a good thing. I’d always been careful to lie low, especially after getting a hatchling out. We’d survived this long because I knew how to disappear, to vanish into obscurity without a trace. Talon was far too big to challenge head-on. As much as I hated them and would love to see them brought down, I knew that my tiny, ragtag underground could never stand against the massive force that was Talon. Right now, I was an annoyance at best. I did not want to reach the point where the organization brought its full might against me and my network, because we likely would not survive.

Faith’s dark gaze abruptly shifted to my companions. “Who are they?” she whispered.

“I’m Ember.” Ember stepped forward before I could say anything. “I just got out of Talon, too. You can trust Riley, uh…Cobalt. He knows what he’s doing. He’ll keep you away from them.”