Page 31 of Exquisite Monster

She looked me up and down. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a naked human, and correct me if I am wrong, but you are not one.”

Varícoughed suspiciously on my shoulder. I glared at him before continuing.

“You know as well as I do that these are not clothes I can wear on the surface. And training in clothes I cannot wear does not help me at all.”

Gleym watched me, her purple eyes searching for something. Maybe for the portion of me she saw last night? Finally, she nodded once. “A fair point. I will take care of it.”

Since we were already on the subject…

“I need to leave soon.”

“You’re not ready.”

Anger rose hard and fast. “Maybe I’m not, but I cannot stay here.”

“You’d rather die?”

I turned away, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth. How did I explain this? How did I make her see? “Everything in me tells me that I need to leave,” I said quietly. “It’s not that I wish for death or that I think that I’m ready. But Iknow. And the feeling isn’t mine. I need to leave.”

Gleym remained silent so long I finally turned back. She observed me carefully, face giving absolutely nothing away. Then she stood and left the room.

Shaking my head, I served myself some food and sat, unable to consider the possibility that she wouldn’t let me go.

A book hit the table next to me, making me jump.Varírushed over to examine it. It was thinner than most of the books I’d been working with while I was here. Smaller, too. Not much bigger than one of my hands. “What is that?”

“The last thing you need to learn.”

I glanced at her before picking up the book. Her face was still unreadable. The pages were old and worn. Faded nearly beyond readability. But I could make it out.

I recognized all the elements now. The potions I had worked to master could be used in a variety of ways. Combat and destruction,but also creation and healing. More than that, I knew the basics I could shift and mold to my needs.

But these? These were different. These were… lethal.

Poison. Something that rendered a person unconscious until you revived them. Paralysis.

Scalefire. The recipe was so decimated it could not be read.

“You want me to learn this?”

“I think you will die if you do not.”

“I took a vow not to harm a dragon.”

She ignored me and strode toward the door to the rest of the carved caves. “You are not a human anymore, Katalena. Your body might be human, but you are the mate of dragons. Your time in their world is over. And as for the other, you know as well as I that you are in just as much danger from your own kind. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can survive what is coming without killing.”

My mouth went dry, and the food in front of me no longer held any appeal. “What is coming?”

“When you can brew them,” she said, “I will let you leave.”

Then she was gone, and she didn’t tell me what she thought was coming.

The dart hit the wall and stuck. It wasn’t in the center of Gleym’s target—which she now moved every time I hit the wall—but it was at least inside the circle.

“There is one problem with these,” I said, taking another one fromVaríwhere he sat on my shoulder.

“And what would that be?”

“Getting them back.”