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He sighs and lifts a page up for me to see. “Inventory counts. I have to sign them and send them back to the General. They’ve been really adamant on ensuring nothing goes unaccounted for. If the counts are off, they’ll have my head.”

“They’d execute you just because you might have misplaced some bandages?”

“No...I would likely have a warning or two before any disciplinary action. But it’s just one of those nuances of being in my position. They’re really serious about keeping track.” He sets down the paper and grabs a new one. “I also have to send a report of events from the last month. I’ve been hesitant to mention my sister joined the squad. Let alone I didn’t ask forpermission before I granted you a position. I’m worried they might audit me under such circumstances.”

We both stare at his letter for a few still moments.

“Then tell them,” I murmur.

He turns in his chair to regard me. Our faces dangerously close. So much so, his breath tickles my cheek. It’s a bad move since we aren’t supposed to be kissing. My gaze instinctively darts down to his lips, and I’m oddly aware of his hitched breath.

His gaze flicks back and forth between my eyes and mouth. “It makes me….nervous.”

I’m not quite sure if we are still talking about the same thing. But I play the game. “It won’t matter, if we’re already in the Dragon Lands, right?”

Cole blows out a breath, averting his attention to the letters. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking, and the best chance at getting through undetected is to wait for a moonless night. No moon, no light. Daeja’s scales are so dark, it would be easier to hide her in the shadows. But the next moonless night isn’t for a few more weeks.”

He taps against the letter he’s scrawled several sentences onto. “I’m hoping the General will approve my request for a map of the northern outposts and borders. Perhaps even detailing Dragon’s Back Ridge. It’ll likely take a few weeks for us to receive it.”

“You don’t think we could make it without the map, just take a straight shot north?” I ask.

“No because I’m not familiar with where the rebel camps are. I’ve heard rumors of them sprinkled throughout Dragon’s Back Ridge to protect their borders, but I’m not certain. Running into a rebel’s outpost could be catastrophic. Especially given you’d be outnumbered. Do you think you’d be able to wait here a few weeks until we have the map?”

My stomach churns. I’m uncertain if it’s the thought of staying here that long or the dangerous path to get to the Dragon Lands. But I nod my head anyway. “I...I think so.”

“The start of Dragon’s Back Ridge is about a few days’ trek from here. Maybe more if we have to move slowly. I’ll have a better idea once I have the map.”

I lean in and press my lips to his cheek. “Thank you.”

His jaws tightens into a smile, and I pull back to look him in the eyes. Our noses brush, and his eyes heat. This close up, my heartbeat must sound like a war drum to him. I find myself completely entranced by the smoldering amber of his eyes. The way I gravitate toward the curve of his soft lips–

“Three weeks,” he interrupts my observations, ripping his gaze away from mine.

It takes me a few seconds to shake myself out of my stupor. “What…about Marge?”

“What about her?”

“She said she wouldn’t turn us in. She wants to go to the Dragon Lands…”

He raises an eyebrow. “And you want her to come with us?”

“I...”Don’t know.

My mother’s words ring in my head.Trust no one but Cole.Did that also apply to Marge?

But the more I think of my mother and all the things she’s ever told me, the more my mind whirls. At the end of the day, could I even trust her and her sanity? I wasn’t even sure if I could trust the words of my own father, someone I had never met before. Someone who had been a rebel, for that matter. But something lingered within my gut, just a touch out of my grasp for me to fully understand it.

My voice drops to a whisper. “I’ve been thinking about the journal, and...what if we’re on the wrong side?”

“Of course we aren’t on the wrong side. The rebels have been slaughtering towns of innocent people—”

“But what if it wasn’t the rebels? What if it was someone else?” I shift uncomfortably at the possibility.

He levels a look at me. “And who else would it possibly be?”

“I…don’t know.” I avert my eyes down to my fidgety hands. “But my father’s journal mentioned the King executed all of the dragons when he came into rule.”

“Well, dragons can be dangerous. He was only doing it to protect his people.”