Page 25 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Amaya

“Go away.” I stuffed an entire muffin into my mouth. It would have tasted delicious if I hadn’t been sobbing too hard to taste anything. I really shouldn’t have been wasting the muffins like this. I should have been eating them slowly, savoring every last crumb as a way of honoring the old woman’s memory. I didn’t even know her name. How did I not know her name? What the fuck was wrong with me?

“Are you okay?” Celestina asked as she crouched down next to me.

I was huddled inside a cavity of an ancient tree. For as long as I could remember, this had been where I’d go when I didn’t want anyone to find me. I should have figured Celestina would be the first one to find my hiding place.

“I’m eating breakfast.” I stuffed another muffin into my mouth. It was either do that or blast fire at the too-perfect-for-words moonlight dragon. I hated her.

But trying to roast the village heroine would only get me locked up in my room again.

“I see.” She sat on the ground, which she would regret because she was getting mud all over her pretty pink skirt. She crossed her dainty ankles and stared at me with those brightly colored mismatched eyes of hers that only made her look that much more unusual and perfect. “Do you usually leave a trail of uprooted ground wherever you go?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the small mountain range of overturned dirt. Plants, trees, fences had all toppled over thanks to my rage. “I was upset,” it didn’t hurt to admit.

“What happened?” Celestina asked, but quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me. I know we’re not friends.”

“We’re more like quarrelsome sisters.” I handed her a muffin. “A ghost baked this.”

“There are ghosts in the village?” Her eyes grew impossibly wide. “I shouldn’t be surprised,” she muttered under her breath.

“Apparently there are now.” I sniffled. “She bakes the best muffins despite being human. Someone should enjoy them.”

“You don’t like how they taste?” She studied the muffin.

“I’m grieving.” As if she couldn’t already tell that by the tears falling from my stupid leaky eyes.

Celestina nibbled the muffin, sighed loudly, and then took a big bite. “These are the best muffins I’ve ever tasted.” But then she frowned. “You’re grieving the ghost? Who was a human? But I thought the clan didn’t allow outsiders to enter the village.”

“She was an old woman who’d lost her way during a storm. I gave her shelter. It’s our way to be hospitable to those in need.” I told her all about the old woman, how she wouldn’t tell us her name, how she’d given me advice and warnings. “She was a seer.”

Celestina’s shoulders hunched at that news. “Seers are charlatans. I had one call me a monster. And she tried to have me killed more than once.”

“To humans, you are a monster.”

She thought about that for a moment and nodded. “I’m sorry your friend died,” she said after a long span of silence that, oddly, didn’t feel awkward at all.

“Anther killed her. He did it soon after that awful man, the one who was Cullen’s friend, abducted me.” I hugged myself and rocked a little. “We are monsters,” I whispered.

Celestina pressed a hand to her mouth. Clearly, I’d shocked her. She’d lived in a human world with human royalty. She must have felt like she’d been dropped into a pit of vipers when I brought her here. No wonder she’d been plotting her escape back to the vampires. Even those bloodsuckers had to feel safer than living with a bunch of monsters who saw nothing wrong with killing a helpless old woman. And I was the worst of the worst? The most violent of our clan? Goddess, help me.

“She must have liked you very much to come back from the dead to bake muffins.”

“Cloudberry muffins are my favorites,” I admitted.

“I’ve never had a cloudberry before. I like the tart flavor.”

“They’re rare. And they’re not even in season. She shouldn’t have been able to get them, but I guess if you’re dead you have some leeway on how things get done.”

“More proof of how much she must have liked you.” A smile sneaked its way onto Celestina’s pretty face.

“At least someone does… did .” As soon as I’d said it, I recognized that it was a lie. Despite my prickly and (let’s face it) deadly nature, everyone in the village treated me with respect. I tilted my head back and stared up into the hollow center of the tree. The view always reminded me of a dark, swirling vortex. “Father says the nature of a dragon’s unique powers affects our individual personalities, and that’s why I’m, well, the way I am. Unfortunately.”

My heart was like the inside of this tree. An endless swirl of darkness.

Celestina punched me in the arm. Hard!

“What the hell?” I growled. “You want to start something with me? After everything that has already happened between us, you think coming at me is a good idea?”

The demented moonlight dragon was still smiling, like she thought this was funny. “I think you need someone to punch you every time you get down on yourself, Amaya. And since we’re sisters in a way, I’m appointing myself the one to do the job.”

“Until you leave,” I snarled, unable to simply accept that she was trying to be friendly.

She punched me again.

“Ow!” I rubbed my arm. “That one actually hurt.”

“Really? Sorry. Soren was training me to defend myself before…” She shrugged. “Anyway. Even if I do find a way off this plateau, you’ll still be my quarrelsome sister. There’s no changing that,” she said, throwing my own words back at me.

We sat in silence for a while longer. I liked being around someone who didn’t feel like she needed to natter on and on. But then she ruined things by starting to talk again.

“What Gregory told us last night about that prophecy, it’s—” she said and lifted her hands to her head and made an exploding sound while spreading her fingers as if her head were splattering.

“Now you understand why you’re so popular with everyone. ‘The lost heroine returned home.’ Dragons will sing ballads glorifying your accomplishments for a millennium or more.”

Celestina pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest. “Yeah.” She rocked a bit. “I don’t see how anything in the prophecy is going to happen. Queen Frieda has done a good job making sure I would never be a threat to anyone or anything. I’m not even a threat to these lizards that follow me around.” She brushed aside a green lizard that had crawled across her boot. I scrunched my nose as I watched the lizard scurry away. “I’m more human than anything else. And not a very accomplished human at that.”

I hadn’t really taken the time to consider how heavy a burden the prophecy must feel to her. The old woman had said she felt sorry for the moonlight dragon. “Look at us having our first pity party as if we were truly sisters.”

Celestina gave a little laugh. “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

I handed her another muffin and took one for myself. This time when I bit into it, I was able to enjoy the sweet and tart flavors.

“Things aren’t perfect in the village,” I said after I’d finished the muffin and licked any stray sugar off my fingers. “But you need to give us a chance, Moonglow. You did hatch here with me. We’d been held in stasis, waiting for the time when we’d both be needed. Apparently, you more than me. But that’s not the point. The prophecy says the clan needs you.”

“Prophecies aren’t always right.” Celestina backed up. This wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and she was getting ready to bolt.

“It’s not all about the prophecy. Even your precious vampires know that war is coming. Honestly, I’d be fine letting the vampires and humans battle it out. But we can’t. Because we hatched after an eon of waiting, it means this war that’s coming is one that will threaten the dragons. Look around you. This village is a fair-sized one, true. But this plateau is all we have. The days when flights of dragons would blot out the sun no longer exist. We’re the original species, and we’re on the verge of extinction. It’s disgraceful. Are you willing to let the dragons die out without giving us a chance to show you who we are? To show you who you are?”

Celestina started shaking her head. She’d back away from me even more. “Maybe I don’t have to be here on the plateau to help. Maybe I’m meant to be with the vampires, to convince them to leave the dragons alone.”

“The vampires have twisted up your thoughts, Moonglow. That’s what they do.”

“No. No. I love Soren, and he loves—”

“A vampire can’t love a dragon!” I don’t know why I shouted that, or why I felt like I’d been punched in the gut after I’d shouted it. “They just can’t,” I said, my voice softer. “I’m sorry. Soren was using you. One of my magical talents is the ability to connect with anyone who is thinking about me. I’ve connected with Prince Cullen several times and overheard conversations he was having with your general. I heard Soren say it himself. He needs to get you back so he can use your magical abilities against Queen Beatrice.”

“No.” She touched the heavy bandage on her neck. “He wanted to get the slave collar off me. He even went against his…”

“What?” I asked when she didn’t finish.

“He didn’t go against his father,” she muttered more to herself than to me. “That had been a lie. But he still traveled all the way from the Kingdom of Fein to the southern tip of the continent so I could question my adoptive parents. He’d been trying to help me get rid of that slave collar.”

“He doesn’t need you in the collar. He’s got you in a much more powerful way. He tricked you into falling in love with him.”

“It wasn’t a trick. And he didn’t know what I was until after we fell for each other. He loves me. I know he does.”

“Then where is your perfect vampire? They were in the forest two and a half weeks ago. Do you think a little dragon fire scared them away? Or was he scared away because your magical explosion nearly killed him? Maybe he went running home to break the bond he made with you.”

“It’s an unbreakable bond.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“They told you it was unbreakable. And you believe them. But how do you know that’s true?” I felt angry about this on her behalf. “The clan has been sending out extra patrols day and night, and no one has spotted humans or vampires or anything that shouldn’t be in the forests surrounding the plateau. Face it. Your vampires decided it was too dangerous to try and get to you. It’s not as if you can access your powers anyhow. I think they decided you aren’t as valuable to them as they once thought you’d be. And that’s why your precious Soren has given you up.”

Tears brightened Celestina’s eyes. She quickly blinked them away.

“Dammit. I’m sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t mean to—” I growled. “I stink when it comes to talking to others. It’s part of that destructive personality that comes with my destructive powers. I’m just trying to tell you that you have us. We want you here. We need you here. There’s a war that will threaten us. We need you to help us defend ourselves against both the human and vampire armies.”

“Yeah, well…” She cleared her throat. “I’m not going to fight anyone, especially not the Fein. I-I-I won’t fight—” She jumped to her feet and ran off as if a nest of vampires were chasing her. The haunted look in her eyes worried me more than her words.

“I thought I told you to stay away from her.” Trace crouched down and peered into my tree-cavity hideaway.

“She came to me. What did you want me to do? Send her running away crying. Well, I did that. I doubt she’ll willingly talk to me again.” The thought of losing her made the muffins in my belly sit like a lump of paste.

Trace stood and walked away from the tree. But then he abruptly turned back around. “Did she say why she was upset?”

“Something I said upset her, as usual. You already know I destroy everything I get near.”

He tugged at his neatly combed brown hair, tangling it. “No, it’s not you that has her like this. Not this time.” He started to pace. “Celestina has been living like a shadow. She barely involves herself with village life. She spends most of her day reading history books and spends her nights wandering along the cliffside. I follow her wherever she goes to make sure she stays safe. Most nights, she stays out all night, Amaya. I won’t lie to you, I’m tired. I have a full schedule of work to do in addition to keeping an eye on her. Plus, I’m trying to set up the weaving shop. And then when I desperately need to rest, she heads outside. She won’t talk to me. Whenever I ask her what’s wrong, she tells me she’s fine. But she’s anything but fine. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

“You can’t fix this. She’s lovesick and desperate to get back to her vampire general.”

Trace closed his hands into fists at his side. His eyes turned feral, and his teeth went all pointy as he growled. “I’ll never let that bastard touch her again. Never.”