Page 16 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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KATALENA

I strode into what I’d come to think of as the kitchen and pinned Gleym with a stare. “I want clothes.”

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.”

Varí coughed 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 I know . 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. Varí rushed 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 from Varí where he sat on my shoulder.

“And what would that be?”

“Getting them back.”

I threw another dart while she was focused on me, using the same target a second time. It hit the center, and I blew out a breath. Throwing these every day for weeks had made me improve more than I thought possible.

Varí chirped and growled softly.

“He says he’ll retrieve them for you.”

I whipped around to look at her. “No.”

“Why not?”

Holding out my hand to him, I let Varí climb along my arm until he perched like a bird of prey, and watched him.

“I’m training to use these in circumstances that are dangerous.

Beyond dangerous. If I’m throwing these at someone trying to kill me, I am not sending you toward the threat to collect them. ”

Smoke puffed out of his nostrils and his scales darkened to a deep, rusty red that reminded me of the moment I first met him.

He growled again. “It’s not because I don’t think you can.

It’s that I don’t want you hurt.” Without looking away, I directed my words towards Gleym.

“Do you think there’s any way I could retrieve them without putting him in danger? Or that I could make more?”

“No. I’m sure your mates could make more. It is a small magic. As long as there is a source.”

Small magic. I blinked.

Dragons had their specific powers, but they could also do other things. Those things might look different, depending on where their power flowed from, but it made sense. Like when Sirrus marked Soza with the traitor’s mark. That wasn’t wind, though he had used the air to create the power.

“So only use them when absolutely necessary.”

“Let that teach you restraint and the value of perfect aim,” Gleym said. “But do not concern yourself with it now. I haven’t spent time trying to keep you alive only to thrust you into the world defenseless.”

Hard not to worry about it. All I had time to do was worry. “All right.”

Varí still clung to my arm, the red in his scales having faded into purple while he sulked and stared at me.

“Go start the third potion.”

I set the darts down and obeyed. The last few days I had not put up any fight. Because I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and the only way to do it was to follow her orders.

“You’re angry with me,” I said to Varí .

He flew off my arm as soon as we entered the brewing room and sat on the table, facing away. His little pouch sat between his wings. It was still the one that matched my destroyed dress, worn and dirty as it was now.

“I want you safe,” I said. “I want you to help me, and I know you will. But I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

Tilting his head back, a stream of fire blew into the air. Like he was showing me exactly what he could do.

“ Varí .”

He didn’t turn around.

“You were there when I made the vow.”

His head tilted, though he still did not turn.

“I can’t—” my words choked with emotion. “They’re already gone because of me. Please don’t ask me to risk you too.”

Vari’s tail flicked back and forth, and he huffed out a breath before turning to me, scales flowing through multiple colors before settling on a faded green. Coming closer, he pushed his head into my waiting hand gently .

“You’ll be able to help,” I whispered. “I promise. I just don’t want to throw you directly into danger without reason.”

He huffed a final breath, but he didn’t disagree more, instead moving to the edge of the table nearest the cauldron—where he normally sat and helped while I brewed every concoction under the sun.

The third potion in the book was a potion that could paralyze temporarily. I would need to be very, very careful.

“Ready?” I asked him.

He tilted his head, and I started reading the ingredients for him to fetch.