Page 38 of I Dream of Dragons

I clench them at my sides. “What now?”

“If you want to play the game, you have to ride a drak,” he finally says, teeth gritting against the pain.

“Yeah, Phaethon said so.”

“Phaethon is a bastard.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I know. I’ll ride behind you, as we did before.”

“No, that won’t work. You have to ride your own drak to win,” Jai says. “You got the key for it.”

I blink as his words sink in, even if I see the logic in that. “What? On my own? Are youcrazy?”

A laugh escapes him. “Yes. Then again, you knew that. Any more questions?”

“Yes! How am I supposed to get the others, let alone survive, if I can barely sit in the saddle on my own? I’ve never been on a drak before now. How am I even supposed to get a drak to come down and let me ride it?” Hysteria is bubbling up. “Jai?—”

“I’ll help you.” He takes a limping step toward me. Dammit, he’s still bleeding all over the place.

“The wound?—”

He winces. The shadows flare around him and more slide around his thigh. “I’ll be fine.”

I swallow hard. “Okay. And we get the others?—”

“No.”

“Jai—”

“No way. I don’t give a damn.”

“The others?—”

“There is no way,makhair. We are supposed to die, don’t you get it? Who else can ride draks other than me? And one drak can’t carry more than two people. The only reason it can carry you is because you’re too thin.”

“Wow, thank you.”

“You need to eat more, build your strength, and… Where are you going?”

I keep walking away from him. “To find a drak. Because there’s no way I’m leaving the other humans to die out there.”

He sighs. “Rae. Wait.”

“You’re not Jai,” I grumble, “you’re Phaethon. Jai wouldn’t let those people die.”

“IamJai, dammit, and I set your life above all others!”

“Why?”

“Are you really asking me this? Those other humans haven’t helped you. You owe them nothing.”

I stop and turn around to face him. “Oh, come on?—”

“I’m not here to save fucking humankind,makhair. I’m not a holy man. I thought I was put here by fate to take down the king and stop him from hurting more people, stop him from opening a gate and conquering another world, but now… I think I’m here to protect you.”

“You do realize that you carry Phaethon in you, the one who can help the king open the gates and conquer another world?”

He winces. “Yeah.”