Chapter 1

Liam

THE DAY BEFORE KAIYA'S CAPTURE

Several dozen dragon eyes watched me hungrily, and I braced myself to run. I could outrun them … probably.

"You're not fast enough!" Mirrim yelled.

I ignored her and pulled the pail back.

"Come and get it!" I yelled, swinging it forward, launching silver fish across the stone floor of the nursery cave.

Spinning, I took off at a run, but the dragonlings were too fast, hurtling from the sleeping nooks lining the walls and roof to go after the food.

Their little bodies pummeled into me as they passed, and I struggled to dodge the brood of hungry baby dragons.

Finally, I escaped the living storm to findMirrim watching me from the doorway, her green eyes crinkled with laughter.

"I told you," she said, shaking her head. "Being the village leader made you slow and soft."

"Whatever," I said, brushing off my sleeves, turning to watch the dragonlings tumble over each other for the fish — all long necks, gawky legs, and slender wings. A few had started to sprout their horns, but most were new hatchlings from the previous spring. "I wasn't even trying to race them."

"Liar."

I glared down at my sister, black braid resting on her shoulder as she shot me a smug grin.

"Are you enjoying this? Watching me suffer the humiliation of being demoted from village leader to glorified nursemaid?"

She made a tsking sound and passed me a tall pitchfork. "Maybe I like seeing my brother breathing easy for once. I saw you almost crack a smile back there. Perhaps I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, if you stay up here, I'll get my goofy, fun-loving brother back."

"Ha. Right …" I rolled my eyes, taking the tool.

"I'm serious. Mother and Father wouldn't want to see you miserable, pretending to be someone you're not. You know that, right?"

I clenched my jaw, trying to ignore the ache in my chest as I watched the final dragonlings get their fill.

There wasn't a fish wasted, or a dragon left hungry. Itwas a perfect feeding.

Why wasn't leading the stronghold this natural, easy, and fun?

"I failed, Mirrim," I said, voice soft. "Everyone I was supposed to help … "Kaiya, my parents, the villagers, the Rogues, the dragons … I failed them all.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. You're supposed to be the older sibling. Remember? Welearnfrom our mistakes, idiot — we don't dwell on them. So, what did all that leader mess teach you?"

"I — I don't know." I lifted a pile of hay and dropped it into the cart. "I'm shit at leading?"

She sighed, then shook her head and propped her hand on her hip.

Gods, she looked so much like Mother.

"No! Well, yes, you were shit. But, even more, you weremiserable.You didn't want to be there, so you ignored your own instincts and just did what you thought Mother and Father would have done. Gods! If you'd listened to your gut, I bet things would have ended up much differently!"

Ha! I wish.ButI wasn't some charismatic Fae prince like Jaiel.

"Let's just drop it. Okay?"

"No," she snapped. "No moping. We let you do that once and look how it turned out. Gram always says everything has its place. You just need to find yours. Maybe you should go on a trip. Take some time for yourself. Figure out what you want out of life. You know Gram and the others have it covered here."

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