Ember (The Dragao 1)

But I told myself to woman-up and call out for my friend, who was more like a sister to me, and who I needed to get out of here.

“Tilly,” I whispered and hoped it was loud enough that she heard but quiet enough others hadn’t.

She glanced around but didn’t turn in my direction.

“Tilly,” I said a little louder, terrified of being caught.

She looked over at me, and it took her a moment before her gaze landed on mine. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. She snapped her head in the direction of the closest field workers, and when she was confident they hadn’t heard or noticed, she made her way slowly to me.

She stopped every few steps to act like she was working, and when she was only a few feet from where I hid behind the boulder, she stopped. She kept her back to me as she kept working.

“Oh gods, Emma. I thought you were dead.”

“No… far from it.” I felt my face heat as I remembered what Azar and I had done just the night before, and all the other things we’d done before that.

I should’ve felt guilty that Tilly had been here worrying about me, and a part of me did, but I’d been in this euphoric bubble because for the first time in my life I felt like I was truly happy and safe.

And then that in itself made me feel guilt too. It was this never-ending, vicious cycle.

“What happened?” she whispered and glanced over her shoulder at me. “Everyone said you’d been taken by a dragon. They said you were dead, food for the beast that actually blew fire out of its mouth.” She eyed me up and down and then looked behind me, her eyes widening and a squeak of fear leaving her. I realized she’d just seen Azar.

I held up my hands and shook my head. “No, he’s not here to hurt you. He’s here to protect me… to protect you. There’s nothing to fear from Azar.”

Her brows pulled low, and she looked unconvinced, but she wasn’t running or trying to pull me away from Azar because she feared for me.

After a second she nodded but glanced at Azar hesitantly. “You don’t look scared or hurt, so I believe you, but good gods, Emma… he’s massive! And those teeth.” She whispered the last part, her eyes wide, and her hands gripped tightly around the field tool she still held.

Tilly looked forward again, and her chest moved up and down as she exhaled roughly, then went back to pretending she was busy working.

“I’m glad you’re safe. I was so worried. I’ve done nothing but cry when they told me what happened, and although I didn’t want to believe the dragon killed you…” She shrugged. “It’s not like I could believe anything else.”

My chest lurched at the emptiness in her voice. “I want to take you from here,” I said instead of going into all the details about Azar and his kind, the Draco, the Cord, and all the other things I’d learned about in the short time with my dragon. There was plenty of time for that later, when we were safe on the mountain.

Tilly turned around sharply. Clearly my words shocked her more than the fact that I had a dragon standing behind me.

“W-What?” Her eyes were wide, her mouth moving as if she were trying to tell me something more but was at a loss for words.

“I want to take you away from here. We can go to where Azar lives, a cave within the mountain. It’s high and far away and will be safe. We’ll be safe with the Scorch coming, and no one will ever hurt us again.”

She was shaking her head, but I didn’t think it was because she was declining. I think she was just stunned by the offer, that there was finally a way for us to leave the tyrannical hold of the Pit. We’d certainly fantasized and talked about it enough.

“Leave?” She looked at Azar again, and I saw the way her throat moved as she swallowed. “Escape?”

I nodded, not daring to speak right now as everything settled into her.

She might be acting strong right now, but she was still afraid. “And then what? It would just be you and me and… that? Him? What about everybody else? What if they come for us?”

Now it was my turn to shake my head before she even finished speaking. “They won’t find us. Isn’t this what we’ve always wanted? Isn’t this what we’ve talked about? Leaving?” In the few days I’d been gone from the Pit and the controlling regime of the elders and the council, I’d realized what true happiness was. I took a step toward Tilly, and I sensed Azar moving closer—always my protector. “Being here, living in the Pit, it’s not true happiness.” I slowly shook my head and held my hand out to her. “It’s not true living. Come with me, and we can finally start living, Tilly.”