Puzzled, I turned to her. She wasn’t looking at either of us but stared at her hands on the tabletop, her eyes dark and conflicted. Concerned, I brushed her leg, which made her close her eyes. “Ember? Are you all right?”
“Garret...” She took a quiet breath, opened her eyes and turned to face me. There was something new in her gaze now, a somber determination that almost overshadowed the fear and reluctance. “You should go with him,” she said, making my stomach drop. “Go back to the Order and tell them about us, about the rogues and the dragons outside of Talon. They’ll listen to you.”
“No.” Desperation flickered, and I shook my head. “What about Riley and everyone else? Talon is coming for them, too.”
“We’ll join you,” Ember replied firmly. “I’ll go back and convince Riley that we need to face Talon together. All of us. Rogues and St. George alike, fighting as one. It’s the only way we can stand against that army.”
Ember gripped my arm, her gaze intense. “So you have to go back and tell them we’re coming, Garret. Make sure they know we’re there to help. And I’ll try to gather as many on our side as I can. Provided St. George doesn’t kill us on the spot.” She looked up at Martin. “If a group of dragons arrives at the gates of the Western chapterhouse to join you in fighting off Talon, can you promise your soldiers won’t shoot them full of holes as soon as they see them?”
Martin looked stunned. “Dragons helping the Order?” he repeated, as if the very idea was impossible. “It would never stand. The rest of St. George—”
“Is going to be attacked by Talon soon,” Ember interrupted. “Along with every dragon not aligned with the organization. We’re not helping you—we’re joining forces so that both our sides aren’t completely wiped out.” She shook her head. “Don’t tell me you don’t need our help. You’re alone, Lieutenant. St. George has been broken. You need allies, otherwise Talon is going to win.”
“Ember...” I began, and she turned on me, her gaze intent.
“No, Garret,” she said firmly. “We have to do this. We can’t hide anymore. Talon is just going to keep coming. If they destroy the Order, the rest of us will be next.”
“I know,” I said, taking her hand. “I’m not arguing. I’ll go back to St. George, and I’ll tell them everything I know. Everything I’ve learned while I’ve been with you and the rogues. And hopefully, they’ll listen to me this time. But...” I trapped her hand in both of mine, gazing into her eyes. “I don’t know if you can get Riley to agree. Think of what you’re asking him to do. If our plan is to fight that army, not all of us are going to make it, Ember. Some of us are going to be killed. You have to accept that.” Her face tightened, and I squeezed her hand. “You can be sure Riley knows that. And you’ve seen how protective he is when it comes to his underground. What if you can’t convince him to let the hatchlings fight? We can’t force any of them into battle, and they’ve all been hunted by St. George, or have seen friends die. Like Kain. What if they refuse to help the Order?”
“Then I’ll come alone,” Ember replied. “And I’ll help you fight. I’m not leaving you, Garret.” She held my gaze, green eyes flashing. “I won’t let you face Talon without me. Even if no one else comes, you’ll have at least one dragon fighting at your side, I promise.”
Martin cleared his throat, sounding uncomfortable. “If we’re going to leave, Sebastian, we should go now,” he said. “It seems as though there is not much time, and we have a lot of work to do.”
“Yes, sir,” I answered automatically, but when he stepped away, added, “I just need a moment.”
He frowned and seemed about to say something, perhaps to reprimand a soldier for contradicting his officer, something I had never done while I was in St. George, only to remember that I wasn’t one of his any longer. “Very well,” he said, nodding. “I’ll be outside.”
With one final glance at Ember, he spun on a heel and strode away. I waited until he was truly out of sight before turning to the dragon beside me.
She gave me a sad smile. “Well, that certainly didn’t go how we expected, did it?”
I shook my head. “I was hoping we would leave together for once.”
“I know.” With a sigh, she leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. “We can’t seem to catch a break, can we? Since the moment we met, it seems that all we’ve done is been forced apart for one reason or another. It would be nice to have one uninterrupted block of time together, like normal people.”
“We’re not exactly normal, are we?”
“No,” she whispered back, and turned her face into my shoulder, closing her eyes. “I hate to do this, Garret,” she murmured. “Every time we leave, I’m terrified that I might not ever see you again. What if I don’t make it back in time? What if the Night of Fang and Fire comes tonight, and by the time we get there, the Order has been completely destroyed?” She paused, her next words barely audible. “I just figured out this whole being-in-love thing,” she murmured into my shirt, making my heart turn over. “I can’t lose you now.”
“We’re soldiers,” I told her softly. “It doesn’t matter which side we’re on. As long as the war continues, we have to fight. Or watch everything around us burn.” She pressed closer, the heat of her body pulsing against my side as I reached down and took her hand. “Someday,” I murmured, lacing our fingers together. “Someday the war will end, and the fighting will stop. That’s why we’re doing this. To make St. George understand that not all dragons are monsters. They’re starting to listen, Ember. A year ago, even a month ago, Martin would never have considered meeting with a dragon and an ex-soldier like this. We’re changing things.” I gently squeezed her hand. “You’re changing things. Just by being here, being willing to talk to St. George, you’re challenging everything they know.” Like you did with me.
“What about Talon?” Ember wondered darkly. “And the Elder Wyrm? The Order believes dragons are ruthless creatures who want to take over the world. She’s certainly not doing anything to change their minds. And after they see the clones...” She shivered. “No one can look at those things and not think ‘soulless monster.’”
I winced. She was right; seeing that army of vicious, mindless dragon clones would not help our cause to convince St. George that the creatures they were fighting didn’t deserve to die. “One step at a time,” I muttered. “We’ll take care of the Order first, and then we’ll worry about Talon.”
She nodded, falling silent. And for a few heartbeats, we sat quietly against each other, lost in our own dark thoughts, yet unwilling to move. Realizing this could be the last time we saw each other. Again. As Ember had said, it seemed that we were forever being forced apart, by the war, by our enemies, even by each other. Reluctance battled a weary sense of resignation. It would always be like this, I realized. Fearing for each other’s lives, knowing that each moment together could be our final one.
“You have to go, don’t you?” Ember murmured at last. I nodded.
“Yeah,” I husked out, reluctant to pull away, knowing I had to. “Martin is waiting for me. He’ll be impatient to get back.” Back to St. George. Back to the Order and the brothers I had betrayed. If I didn’t know Martin so well, I might think he was setting me up, attempting to trap me behind enemy lines. But Gabriel Martin, in all the time I had known him, had always been a man of his word, even when it came to his enemies. I wondered what the other soldiers would say, how they would react, when I came through those gates. Not as a prisoner or a hostage, but as a soldier once more. One who was loyal to dragons.
I guessed I would find out soon enough.
“If Riley doesn’t come,” I told Ember, “if he decides not to risk his underground, tell him I understand. And...tell him thank you. He’ll know what for.”
“I will.” Ember drew back, blinking rapidly. “And we’ll see each other again,” she said, her eyes shadowed but dete
rmined. “I’ll be there soon, with or without a rogue army.” She pressed a hand to my cheek, her gaze fierce, as if she was memorizing my face. “Just promise me you’ll stay alive until I can get there, soldier boy. If I’m going to die fighting Talon, I’m going to do it beside you.”
I gave a half smile. “That sounds tragically noble,” I joked, trying to ease some of the shadows in her eyes. To fool myself into thinking this wasn’t quite as serious as I knew it was. That it wouldn’t end as I suspected. “The soldier of St. George and the dragon, killed together on the field of battle.”
“Fighting on the other side of the war,” Ember added. “Even though they’re supposed to be mortal enemies who hate each other. Like the Montagues and Capulets.”
“If Romeo didn’t die from poison,” I finished. “And Juliet was a fire-breathing dragon.”
She chuckled, tilting her head. “That’s an interesting thought,” she mused. “If she was, do you think the story would’ve ended like it did?”
I gave a weary smile. “I think we’re going to find out,” I murmured, and kissed her. She leaned close, one hand gripping the front of my shirt, the other sliding into my hair. I closed my eyes and breathed her in, searing this moment into my brain, in case it really was the final one.
Ember pulled back very slightly, her gaze finding mine. “I love you, soldier boy,” she whispered. “I know you’ve heard it before, but I’m going to keep saying it...just in case I don’t get another chance. And I wish we had more time. We didn’t have a lot to begin with.” A shadow of anguish crossed her face before she blinked it away. “But I’ll take whatever we have. And Martin is probably getting impatient. So go on.” She gave my chest a little push, drawing back. “Before this gets any harder. I’ll find you again, I promise.” Though her eyes remained dark, she gave a tiny, wicked smile. “Don’t start the fight without me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Leaning forward, I kissed her once more. “I love you, too, Ember,” I murmured. “We’ll see each other soon.” And, even though it was one of the hardest things I’d ever made myself do, I slid out of the booth and walked away. Out of the bar, and into the dimly lit parking lot.
Martin was waiting for me outside the door in the flickering light of a broken streetlamp. His arms were crossed, and his gaze was scrutinizing as I approached. “That took longer than I thought it would,” he said as I stopped in front of him. “The Sebastian I knew once could barely hold a conversation with a civilian, let alone a girl.” His eyes narrowed. “What were you and that dragon talking about that was so interesting? You know what...never mind.” He held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. Do you have everything you need with you?”
Everything except the girl in question. “Yes, sir,” I replied simply.
“You are armed, I take it?”
“Yes, sir,” I said again.
He nodded, unsurprised. “All right. Before we go, let me make one thing clear, Sebastian,” he said gravely. “The only reason I’m even considering this is because the Order is so fractured, and the hierarchy within St. George is nearly nonexistent. If what you say is true, then my duty is to defend my chapterhouse and the soldiers who live there at all costs. That said, I would watch your back when we get there. I can protect you from the soldiers when we arrive, but don’t think you’re going to be welcomed back with open arms. You’re still a traitor and a dragonlover, and everyone in St. George knows what you’ve done. This is a temporary truce at best. And if your dragon friends do show up, I won’t order them shot on sight, but they should stay as far away from the soldiers as they can. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied once more. It wasn’t ideal; I knew my former brothers despised me just as much as the dragons they fought. I knew I was still a traitor, still the enemy in their eyes. Much like Kain, there were several soldiers I could think of who would want retribution and might try to take it out of me themselves. Those same soldiers would be enraged if a group of dragons showed up at the chapterhouse, even ones who were supposed to be allies. I would have to be careful, to protect both myself and my “scaly friends” from my former brothers. If they hurt Ember, or any hatchling in Riley’s network, I would never forgive myself.
Still, though I would have to be cautious and tread very lightly, it was a huge first step. Martin had listened to us. He’d spoken to Ember without trying to kill her. And for the first time in history, a group of dragons would be allowed inside St. George. This would change everything.
If Riley decided to show, that was. And any of us were still alive after the Night of Fang and Fire.
Martin nodded and gestured to a black jeep a few spaces down. “All right,” he said grimly. “Let’s move out.”
As I followed him into the vehicle and closed the door, I was struck by a vague sense of déjà vu. I’d been in this jeep with Martin only once before, but I remembered it as clearly as if had been yesterday. Six years ago, when he’d picked me up from the Academy of St. George, and we’d driven to attend Lucas Benedict’s funeral.
Martin didn’t look at me, but I wondered if he remembered, too.
As he pulled out of the parking lot, I caught a glimpse of a red-haired girl in the rearview mirror, watching us drive away, and my stomach twisted. I would see her again, I told myself. Riley detested the Order and was dangerously protective of his underground. He would be understandably appalled at the very notion of helping the people who had killed so many of his kind. The hatchlings weren’t soldiers; they were teens who had been persecuted by Talon and the Order and had every right to fear and hate them both. But if anyone could convince them to come out of hiding and stand with their ancient enemies, it would be Ember. Once she put her mind to something, there was very little that could stop her. She had changed so much from the girl I’d met in Crescent Beach; she had become a true soldier who understood what was at stake and was willing to make sacrifices for what had to be done.
I just prayed that, when this was over, the sacrifices were ones we could live with.
RILEY
“Well, that’s everything,” Wes muttered. “All the safe houses have been evacuated. And all communications have been severed. The network is officially dead.”
“Good,” I said shortly. “That should make us harder to track down. And when Talon comes for the safe houses, there’ll be nothing left for them to find.” I stood in the small bedroom Wes and I shared, the human sitting at the desk with his open computer, myself standing behind him. A pair of twin beds sat on opposite ends of the wall behind us, but I hadn’t so much as lain down since we’d arrived. Every moment of my time had been spent securing my underground, making sure the hatchlings were settled in, going over emergency escape plans with Wes should an army of soulless dragon clones appear in the middle of the night.
“Everyone accounted for?” I asked.
“As far as I can tell.” Wes leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. He, too, was exhausted, having worked all night tracking everyone in the underground, contacting all our people, shutting down networks and communications behind them. “We lost several this year, Riley,” he muttered, shaking his head. “More than we’ve ever lost in the past. The Order has been bloody relentless.”
I nodded wearily. Seventeen hatchlings had made it. Seventeen, out of what had been twenty-five a year ago. It made me sick. I remembered their names, their faces, their stories and backgrounds. I knew each and every death, and it ate at me like a cancer, making me furious with myself. I was supposed to keep them safe. They’d come to me for protection, and I had let them down.
No more. I couldn’t let any more die. There were still seventeen dragons down there who were counting on me, who looked to me to defend them from Talon and the Order. I was still the leader of this underground, and I couldn’t let past failures or personal shortcomings stop me from what I had to do.
Eve
n though, in the darkest, blackest corners of my soul, a tiny part of me didn’t care what happened next. Let everyone die, it whispered. Let the world burn and everything be charred to ashes by dragonfire. What do we care, now that she’s gone?
“Cobalt.”
I turned almost guiltily. Mist stood in the door frame peering in at us, long silvery hair glowing softly in the dim light. I hadn’t seen the ex–Talon agent much since we’d arrived, having been distracted with Wes, the hatchlings, the underground...and Ember. Truthfully I had almost forgotten about Mist. But it occurred to me that I had no idea what she had been doing since we got here, and that was a little disconcerting. She had been a Basilisk, and she had worked for Talon. Both were reasons to treat her with caution, to watch her closely.
“I need to speak with you,” she announced in her calm, pragmatic voice. “Can we talk?”
I shrugged. “I’m not stopping you.”
Mist frowned. “Alone.”
Wes gave a snort and hunched his shoulders, staring down at the laptop. “Oh, please, don’t let me stop you,” he muttered. “I’m just the other half of this bloody operation, no one special.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wait here,” I told Wes, stepping around the chair. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be right back.” I gestured at Mist, and she backed silently out of the room.
The farmhouse was dark as I closed the door behind me and stepped into the hall with the other dragon. Most of the hatchlings were asleep, exhausted from travel and the stress of getting here. Though I did have to enforce a strict “lights out” rule to prevent a few of the older ones from keeping everyone else up. That, too, was part of the talk I’d had to give once everyone arrived, laying out ground rules and the things you absolutely could not do while on the farm, Shifting, fighting and wandering off alone being the top three. I didn’t like being so strict, but with seventeen young dragons under one roof and only three helpers to manage them, including Jess, the woman who took care of this place, I had to maintain some semblance of order or things would quickly spiral out of control. Fortunately, everyone here recognized and respected Cobalt, almost to the point of reverence. Except for the one incident with Kain, there hadn’t been any problems.