Hidden (Book 1) (28 page)

The navy dragon backed up to an
area clear of debris, lowered his tail, and waited for Tressa to carefully
climb to the floor.

"Who
are you?" she asked him. He just looked at her, his brown eyes blinking
and silent.

"Tressa!"
Jarrett ran into the room. "What is wrong with you? Stealing my sword?
Riding a dragon's tail?"

The
navy dragon lowered his head between Tressa and Jarrett, snorting a warm stream
of air into Jarrett's face. He held up his hands and backed away.

“It’s
okay.” Tressa patted the dragon on the snout. “Jarrett is my friend.”

The dragon
huffed again, then slowly moved up. Jarrett ran under and took Tressa in his
arms. He spun her around. “You did it! I can’t believe it!”

She
laughed. Relaxed for the first time in months. Stacia was dead. The fog was
down. Everything she’d needed to accomplish was done.

“But
Henry…” Her voice trailed off as Jarrett set her down. “What will you tell his
mother?”

Jarrett
shook his head. “I’m not sure. She’ll have my head for this. I may consider
going into hiding. Perhaps I’ll take over my father’s profession. Do you think
I could pass for The Man of Stealth and Romance?” He shot her a bright smile.

Tressa
couldn’t help but laugh again. “You are so much like your father. I think you
just might pull it off. Or you could come with Bastian and me.” She looked
toward the hall. “After he’s well, we’ll be going…”

“Where?”
Jarrett asked.

“I
honestly don’t know. We haven’t had time to plan.”

“And
you’re sure you want to be with him?” Jarrett asked, his eyes shining with
sincere curiosity.

The
dragon interrupted them, blowing another batch of smoke in Jarrett’s face. He
laughed. “I think the dragon wants you for himself.”

Tressa
placed her hand on the dragon’s claw. “There is something familiar about him.”

The
dragon nuzzled her, his scaly skin scratching her arm.

Jarrett’s
eyes narrowed. “I know Stacia and her mother were the only dragons here until
recently. When did you say your friend was killed?”

“A
couple months ago.” Tressa shuddered, refusing to relive that horrible day in
her memory. She’d shut the door on it. Connor deserved to be remembered for
more than that.

“And
his body?” Jarrett wouldn’t stop pressing for answers.

“Taken.
By a set of dragon claws.”

Jarrett
walked closer to the dragon. It seemed more interested in him too. Jarrett held
out a hand toward it, steady and sure. “Can you change into human form?”

The
dragon’s head hung down, its eyes downcast.

“You
can’t, can you?”

The
dragon shook its head.

“Connor?”
Tressa asked. She wasn’t sure she could believe it or if she even wanted to
believe it.

The dragon
swung an eye toward her,
then
slowly nodded.

“Oh
gods, Connor!” She threw her arms around the dragon’s muzzle. Tears spilled
down her cheeks.

“He’s
in transition. It’s only been a few months, so he cannot control the changing
yet. Like Henry.” Jarrett rested a hand on Tressa’s back. “He will eventually
be able to control it, just like Stacia and all of the other
dragonlords
.”

“But
how?” Tressa asked, stumbling backward. She still left a hand on Connor’s
muzzle, not ready to let go yet. “Connor was never a dragon. He was as human as
me.”

“The
dragonlords
have their ways. They can take someone like you
or I, and change
them
. I don’t know all the secrets of
how it works, but I know it does. As an insider to the Yellow Throne I have
seen things.”

“And
the people stand for this?” She thought of the regular people out in the
streets, running their businesses, tending to their families. Their very lives
were in danger.

“They
don’t know. In fact, you are one of few people who know that dragons can switch
between human and dragon form.”

Tressa
staggered backward, letting go of Connor and distancing herself from Jarrett.
“But the dragons. The people know they exist.”

“They
believe the dragons are protectors of the
dragonlords
.
They do not know they are one and the same.”

Tressa
couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She knew she’d had to keep Henry a secret
from the others because of his mission to kill Stacia and take over the throne.
She hadn’t realized it was a secret she’d have to withhold from the rest of the
world.

“No one
can know. They fear the dragons, but the people love their leaders.”

Tressa
snorted. “No one here loved Stacia.”

“No,
but they loved her mother.”

“And
Connor will one day learn how to turn human again on his own?”

Jarrett
nodded.

“And he
will be the same man as before?”

Jarrett
stood still.

“Jarrett?”

“He
will be … different. How I cannot say. It is not the same for everyone.”

Tressa patted
Connor on the nose again. “If you are in there and you can understand me, I
want you to know that Bastian and I will find a way to help you. I promise.”

“That
is not all,” Jarrett said.

Tressa
turned to him. “What else is there?”

“Now
that the fog has fallen, the other
dragonlords
will prepare
for war.”

Her
shoulders tensed up. “Why?”

“Because
Hutton’s Bridge holds something they all desire.”

***

Tressa
laid
next to Bastian. She brushed his hair out of his eyes.
“The physic said you’ll be feeling better in a couple of weeks. You sustained some
serious injuries.”

“I’ll
be fine in a day or two.” He tried to sit up, but instead he winced in pain.

“No,
you’ll take the time to heal properly.” She pressed her body into his. “Everything
else will fall into place if you let yourself heal.”

“And
you? What will you do until then?”

Tressa
took a deep breath, preparing herself to give him an answer she knew he
wouldn’t like. “I have to go back to Hutton’s Bridge. There is some unfinished
business that can’t wait.”

“What?”

She
hesitated, knowing this answer would annoy him even more. “I can’t tell you.”

“It’s
Jarrett, isn’t it?” He closed his eyes.

“Yes,”
Tressa said. He’d explained to her about the danger awaiting her people –
one they weren’t aware of – if they didn’t get to Hutton’s Bridge before
the other
dragonlords
knew the fog was down.

“He wants
you.”

Tressa
didn’t immediately answer. She’d felt it was true as well. Jarrett knew she was
in love with Bastian, but it hadn’t stopped him from letting her know he had
feelings for her too. After Connor had flown out the window he’d destroyed with
Stacia’s
body, Jarrett and Tressa took Bastian to the
nearest physic.

While Bastian
was being evaluated, Jarrett explained the danger of opening up Hutton’s Bridge
to the rest of the
dragonlords
. He pressed Tressa to
travel with him back to her village. She’d told him about the dragon that had
landed in Hutton’s Bridge right before she, Bastian, and Connor left. She’d
teared
up thinking about Connor and then Jarrett had tried
to kiss her. For a second, she’d allowed it before pulling away.

She
gazed at Bastian. He didn’t need to know specifics, but she couldn’t lie to
him. “He might, but it doesn’t matter because we’re finally together.” He’d
told her
Vinya
was dead. While she didn’t celebrate
the demise of the woman, she couldn’t help but be relieved. It was one less
obstacle in their way. “I’m also going so I can get Farah and bring her to you.”

Bastian
smiled. “Thank you.”

“Sleep,
now.” She kissed him on the forehead and stood up.

“Tressa?”

“Yes?”
She turned back to him at the doorway. He looked terrible – bruises,
cuts, bandages everywhere.

“Be
careful.”

“I
will. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Tressa,
wait.”

She
looked back at Bastian, waiting for him to complete a yawn.

“Your
father –” His eyes fluttered to a close, followed by a quick snore.

She
smiled. She would see her father again before coming back into the city. And
maybe even
Nerak
.
First, Hutton’s
Bridge.
They needed the honey.

She
stepped out of the building and into the crowded city in the forest. Tressa
shook her head at her foolishness. She’d thought escaping the fog was the only
obstacle she had to overcome. Then it was killing Stacia. Every action she’d
taken opened up her village and the people she loved to more danger. It
occurred to her that she might never have a moment’s rest again.

Jarrett
stood not far away, leaning against a post for tying up horses. His dark skin
framed his pearly smile. He bowed. “Ready, my lady?”

Tressa
had changed into a dress provided by the wife of the physic. It was the first
time she’d worn one in a long time and she wasn’t sure she liked it. Tressa
smiled and Jarrett helped her mount a horse he had procured for her. It
pranced, kicking up dirt. Tressa’s heart fluttered. The horse trotted around
and she held on tight. There was a first time for everything.

She
pulled the skirt up, revealing a pair of riding breeches underneath.

Jarrett
laughed. “You’re always prepared, aren’t you?”

“No,
but that’s never stopped me before.”

They
rode out of the city, hoping no one would notice Stacia was dead before they
got back.

The wind caressed the underside
of his wings as he flew through the afternoon sky toward the northeast.
Away from the city.
Away from civilization
to the quiet of the forest near the mouth of a river.
It had whispered
its name to him. The Snake.

He
understood the name. From above he saw how it wound through the forest. It was
also dangerous and unforgiving. He’d nearly lost his most treasured possession
the first time he’d found it. The object he carried with him was too precious
to be swallowed by the river.

He’d
hidden it in the forest.

With
the others.

The
horde of dragon eggs he’d stolen, one by one, and spirited away in the night to
the nest he’d made for them in the hollow of an ancient tree.

Thirteen
eggs.

When
the change first happened, he thought he was dying. His skin burned like
flames. It stretched and tore until he thought some unseen force was ripping
him to shreds. It was more painful than the day the woman had killed him with
her braid.

The
bars disappeared for him, just as they did every time the woman visited and had
her way with him.

He’d
taken the egg in his mouth, for now that he was the same magical beast, he knew
it for what it was. His seed had contributed to its being. Caring for it was
all he knew.

The
dragon,
who
had once been a man, wandered the dark
cave, looking for others. All he found were dead men behind bars, their bodies wrapped
around the eggs. No more alive than the straw nests built around them.

One by
one, the navy dragon carried the eggs carefully between his jaws, away from the
tunnels under the castle. His only instinct was to save them. Last, he took his
egg to the hiding place in the forest. He would come back for them after he
killed the female dragon
who
had raped him. Ruined him.
Changed him.

Now she
was dead. He was free.

He lay
down next to the nest he’d built with twigs, leaves, and mud from the
riverbank. His tail wound around the pile of eggs and he closed his eyes to
sleep.

Until a
cracking noise disturbed the quiet, starry night.

The story continues with…

HUNTED

Dragonlands
, Book
Two

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