Page 116 of Taste of Thorns

“This is true?” I say, fucking flabbergasted.

“Yes,” Thorne says from across the room.

“You knew about this?” He nods. “How long have you known?”

“I was there when the dragon hatched several weeks ago.”

I whip my head around to Dray. “Did you know too? Am I the only one in the fucking dark?”

“Me?” Dray says, bouncing on his toes and chewing on his lip. “I don’t know if this is one giant wind up, if you’re all trying to prank me…”

He trails off. Thorne doesn’t prank around and his face is even more serious than the professor’s.

“Why exactly would I make something like this up?” Briony says, looking as irritated as I feel.

“Why exactly would you keep something like a fucking dragon a secret from us?”

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

“Who else knows?” I say, my irritation growing.

“Fly and Clare.”

“Anyone else? The Titan twins perhaps? Maybe that girl you once sat next to at lunch?”

I glare at her. She’s chosen to tell her friends but not her own fated mates. That hurts, more than I care to admit.

Dray’s eyes grow impossibly wide in his head. “Damn – that’s that fucking weird smell in the forest, isn’t it?”

“Smells like lizard?” Tudor asks.

“Yeah – lizard.”

I puff air out of my nostrils, pacing to the window and then back towards our thrall. “Wait,” I jab a finger at her, “a dragon? How is that even possible? Where the fuck did a dragon come from?”

She tells me some incredible story about a stone – a firestone – calling to her from a forest out in Slate Quarter. It’s a story I’d find impossible to believe if light wasn’t dancing across her palm at this very moment.

“And this dragon is just out there in the forest right now fluttering about?” Dray says, still looking hella confused.

Briony nods and the next thing we know our shifter friend is bounding towards the door.

“Well, come on,” he beckons over his shoulder, “I wanna see it.”

“Because all five of us trudging across the field towards the forest together isn’t going to rouse suspicions,” Tudor says with sarcasm.

“Fine, then,” Dray growls out between his teeth, “seeing as you and Thorne have already met the scaly dude, you can both stay here, while Briony introduces us to this dragon.”

“We need to talk more about the plan, about how exactly we can trap Bardin,” Briony insists.

But Dray’s not having any of that, he hooks his arm around her waist and man-handles her towards the door, grabbing her a coat as he does. I follow after them, pausing in the doorway and peering back at our silent bond brother.

“We’ll talk more about this later,” I say.

Briony’s been keeping secrets from us ever since we met. I’m not surprised she has yet another one – even if it’s just as incredible and mind-blowing as the last revelation. But Thorne? I didn’t think we kept secrets from each other. We’ve been there for him through everything – waiting patiently for those dark moments to pass, fighting by his side when we’ve faced the demons. And yet, he’s kept something like this from us for weeks and weeks.

We reach the cover of the forest in a matter of minutes, careful to avoid anyone out on the paths and on the lookout for anyone who may be watching us, Dray’s nose twitching for any unusual scents on the breeze.

A few yards into the forest, Dray stops and sniffs at the air aggressively.