A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania 2)

And I wanted nothing more than to find it.

We shuffled our way forward. For the most part, the path was straight. There were times when we veered slightly right or left, and how Ruv knew to do that, I didn’t know. Either he’d walked this path many times before or the so-called trial and error had been ingrained into him. Either way, I was thankful for it.

It wasn’t until we were halfway to the island that things went to shit.

Because it was pulling me more now.

And I could see where it was pulling me to.

Through the ruins, through the remains of what had once obviously been a castle of old, stood the dome, crumbling and cracked. There was a large stone archway at the bottom. I didn’t know what it’d been, what purpose it’d served, but it was where we needed to go. I was sure of it. We needed to—

I took a lurching step forward.

I bumped into Ruv.

He glanced back at me, a questioning look on his face. “What’s—” His eyes widened. “Uh, Sam?”

“Yeah?” I said, distracted. We needed to hurry. I knew that much. Something was happening on the island, and I needed to get there.

“Do your eyes normally glow red?”

That got my attention. “What?”

“Your eyes are glowing red.”

“Sam?” Ryan asked, sounding concerned. “Sam, look at me.”

I did, and his rough hands came up to cup my face. Everything was awash in colors, shifting brighter than it’d been before, seen through a haze. The magic was leaking out of me, and the only other time I had to compare it to was that day years before with the bird in the forest. That had been unintentional. This was too.

“Sam,” Ryan snapped, as if he’d been saying my name repeatedly.

“I can feel it,” I said, voice slightly slurred. “Ryan, I can feel it.”

“Did this happen before?” Ruv asked him. “With the other dragon?”

“No,” Ryan said, thumbs rubbing over my cheeks. “It wasn’t like this.”

“Then why is it happening now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Figure it out,” Ruv said. “If this keeps going, we might as well just jump in the sand.”

“You worry about getting us there,” Ryan snapped. “I’ll take care of Sam.” He looked back at me. “What is it?”

“It’s….” I frowned. “I think it’s in my head. The dragon. It’s waking. I think it knows we’re here.”

“Shit,” Ryan breathed.

“I gotta get to it,” I said, trying to pull away. “Let me go. Ryan, you gotta let me go.”

“Never. You hear me? Never. Sam, I am never letting you go. We do this together, you get me?”

I did, and it was enough to push through the haze of magic. It was slightly startling in its clarity, and for a brief moment, I could see sharper than I ever had before. I blinked. “Ryan?”

“Hey,” he said. “There you are.”

“We have to hurry.”