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She shifted, turning to look at me behind her. There was a light that I was too scared to diminish in those golden eyes of hers.

Just for a second.

Thinking of Aurelia made me think of the sorcerer Tybalt. What were his plans with Aurelia? Why didhewant Scalebornes?

She was different, and there was something about her. There was life in her that I craved. It was as if she understood me, and didn’t judge me. She was stupid for trusting so easily, but it was refreshing.

Her smile lit a spark inside of me that made me want to cower. I didn’t want tofeelanything. I couldn’t feel anything when I had to send her to her death.

We neared the edge of the mountain as it descended back into the Forbidden Forest, hiding us from being seen by anyone else. The dragon, flapping its wings, stooped downward, landing us in a clear patch between the blackened trees, further along in our journey, closer to the edge of the forest that led toward Evler.

Its wings slowly flapped downward, my heart sinking into my stomach as we descended to the ground. The dragon's talons stirred up dirt, while its wings shook perspiration from the sky.

Sliding off the dragon, Aurelia asked, “How was it? Did you hate it as much as you thought?”

I forced myself to look away, struggling to suppress the smile that threatened to curve my lips. “I thought so!” she shouted, excited to prove me wrong.

Following Aurelia’s movements, I also slid off the dragon. My feet collided against the dirt floor. I followed after her, watching her perfect pink hair swish from side to side.

She really liked to make me work to always catch up to her, didn’t she?

Making my way, following behind her footsteps, the dragon striding by her side, I heard the same small beats of wings I had heard earlier. The ones of a smaller bird. Pausing in my tracks, I glanced across the sky, peering through the trees, trying to find the bird.

The black raven came to view, its small wings flapping slightly in my direction. A piece of parchment gleamed in the sun as it was wrapped around a string along its neck. The bird perched on a branch near me. Its beady eyes stared at me as it cocked its head to one side. I quickly plucked the parchment from the string, the black bird cawed and flew away, not giving me a chance to write a response.

Tybalt didn’t need a response.

The parchment resisted as I delicately unfurled it from its scroll, the texture rough against my fingertips. As I read the words etched across its surface, a heavy weight settled in the pit of my stomach, dragging my heart down with it.

“I changed my mind. I want the Scaleborne that you are with to be killed in three days. Don’t forget the body.”

Chapter twenty-five

AURELIA

“Good girl,” I said to Belle. “I want you to join us.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You really think that we are going to take her kind with us?” Damian shouted. He was dragging behind, distracted by something. However, I noticed he said ‘we’, as if this wasourjourney together. The thought of ‘we’ instantly disappeared as he said ‘her kind’, putting down the dragon species.

I realized that maybe I should’ve told her that inside our minds, but it was too late. I didn’t think that he would make a big deal about it. I was half-dragon. She was like family to me, and no one could possibly understand how lonely it felt to be half of something that was sought after to be killed.

Belle's claw scratched against the ground, a clear sign of her displeasure at Damian's words. Her demeanor was brimming with attitude, and I loved it.

“She needs us! And we need her. She saved our lives, you know,” I reminded him.

“She can’t fly us anywhere in the cities, though! She will get shot out of the sky without hesitation!” he exclaimed. He had a good point, but I wasn’t planning on her flying us everywhere.

“Belle, can you walk on your hurt foot?”

“I can’t walk long, but I can fly really low.”

“That works.”

“She’s coming whether you like it or not,” I said out loud. I wasn’t about to bargain or fight on this one. My mind was made up, and there was nothing he could say that would change it.

He walked ahead of us, not looking back. “Well, we better get going. It’s getting late.” He was right. The sun lowered in the sky, sprinkling what light would penetrate through the trees into a dull yellow, showing that the night was coming. It would be best to get as close to a village as possible to escape the Forbidden Forest. It was definitely not a place that we would want to stay in during another night. Who knew what else we would encounter out here?

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