Violet Stormwing's Arc

Chapter 3 of 46

Violet spread her maps across the barracks floor at dawn. Thirty days. She had marked every ridge and cave where a dragon might nest. None told her where the last wild one slept. She dragged a finger over the highlands and found nothing but guesses. Guesses would eat her clock. She needed a fact. Theo Fairweather leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, watching her fail. He was the lord's man, sent to trail her and report each move. His easy smile made her trust him less, not more. He had given her the collar once. She had not forgotten that he served Kael first. "You're searching the wrong hills," he said softly. He crossed the room and crouched beside her maps. "I sold trinkets to the old hunters up north for years. They talk when the ale runs. They said the last wild one guards a cave full of light." "A cave of light means nothing," Violet said. "It means crystals." He tapped the highest ridge. "One cavern up there glows day and night. The hunters won't go near it. A dragon claimed it." He tilted his head. "I could keep this for my report. I'm telling you instead." She studied his face for the trap. She found only the smile. Whatever his game, the fact was a fact, and she had none of her own. She rolled the maps and saddled her black dragon before the sun cleared the wall. They flew north for two days. On the third, the ridge opened below them. Light spilled from a cave mouth. Crystals lined the rock in reds, greens, and violets, throwing color across the stone. Violet landed her black dragon on the ledge and slid down. The cavern breathed warm air. She stepped inside, one hand on the collar's bell. Then she saw the nest. Scorched bones ringed a hollow of packed ash. In the center rested a smooth blue stone, veined with silver, polished by long handling. A dragon's treasure. Only a dragon that lived here would guard a gem like that. "This is it," she breathed. "The wild one's nest." Theo stood at the entrance, no longer smiling. He was staring past her. Violet turned. Deep in the cavern, two eyes opened in the dark, wide and yellow and fixed on them. A low growl rolled through the crystals. The wild dragon was home. It rose from the shadow, larger than her black, scales scarred white along the flank. It had let no rider live near it. Now it stood between them and the only exit. Violet had her nest. She had wasted no days. But she had walked straight into the beast's den with a spy at her back and no plan to leave alive. The bell hung cold in her hand. Thirty days meant nothing if the next thirty seconds killed her.