Persuading the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons 9)

However, he couldn't help but blurt, "The only one hurting innocents is your former friends, the Knights, as well as the fucking dragon hunters. Who targets children? Oh, you and your kind. You're the monster, not me."

She opened her mouth but closed it. Zain focused on his massage for a few minutes—working his way up her wrist, her forearm, and eventually her bicep—and was about to go to her other arm when her voice filled the room again. "The targeting of children is why I left."

His gaze shot to hers. "What?"

She didn't look away from his eyes. He wasn't sure if he was impressed or annoyed that she kept them free of emotion. "I didn't mind silencing inner dragons. I thought that might help the children lead normal lives. But I had no idea about some of the brutal experiments and torture. Once I discovered that was happening, I knew I had to leave. And since anyone who challenged the decisions made by the higher-ups—unless it was to further hurt dragon-shifters—ended up mysteriously missing, I escaped the Knights and went to hide with my brother."

He had to remind himself not to give her any information about his kind, so Zain didn't mention how losing an inner dragon was nearly as bad as torture for some individuals. "So you only approved certain levels of bigotry and villainy. Good to know."

"You act all self-righteous, but I've seen some of the women down south who were purposely impregnated. And afterward, the dragons stole their babies before tossing the women aside, no matter if they wanted to stay with their children or not. How do you explain that?"

Zain had never heard of those rumors. True, Clan Skyhunter down south had only recently acquired some decent clan co-leaders. Before them, a bastard who'd ended up burying murdered humans on his land had ruled.

It was entirely possible that Marcus King, the former Skyhunter leader, had done as Ivy said. He'd have to ask the other clan about it later.

However, rather than argue, Zain decided to deflect. "I can only speak for my clan, and we never terrorize or hurt humans unless they attack or seek to harm us first."

She paused a second before asking, "What about those villages in Yorkshire and Cumbria? Let me guess—you didn't burn them down or kill babies for sport? Some other creature did it? Ghosts, perhaps? Or demons?"

Ivy was talking about the damn propaganda videos. "First, there aren't any bloody demons or ghosts. And second, everything in those videos was faked. And before you say of course I'd plead innocent, why were the place names never mentioned? Even a little-known village has a name. No, it's always some nameless place in the middle of fucking nowhere. How convenient."

The human opened her mouth and promptly closed it. Thinking she would shut up for a bit, he finished massaging her arms and moved back to her legs.

However, before he could explain what he intended to do next, Ivy blurted, "But how could everything burn so fast? It was hellish dragon fire that left everything so mangled."

He snorted. "For someone supposedly so clever, you can be bloody stupid. Dragon-shifters can't breathe fire. It's get-to-know-a-dragon-shifter 101."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're lying."

He raised his brows. "Am I? Do you want me to bring some of the others in here and show them how thick you are? Because I'll gladly do it. To be honest, it would make my day."

She growled. "You're an arsehole."

He tilted his head. "Says the female who thought it was okay to pump our children full of drugs."

A machine attached to Ivy beeped a few times, and Zain tried to figure out which one. He hadn't intended to rile up the human. But he hadn't been able to help himself.

Dr. Trahern Lewis walked in, glanced at the machines

, and pushed Zain back. "Leave. You're putting her health in danger."

Zain looked past the doctor, straight at Ivy. "If you want to confirm the truth, ask Trahern about the fire. You seem to like him best, after all."

He turned and walked out of the room before the human could say anything else.

As he quickly headed toward the exit so he could avoid a scolding from Dr. Sid, he started analyzing what Ivy had shared.

Could it really be true that members of the Dragon Knights thought dragon-shifters breathed fire and burned people alive for entertainment?

His dragon finally woke up. I wish we could breathe fire.

I don't. It's one less thing the DDA can restrict, not to mention one less thing for the humans to fear about us.

Still, her words are just further proof of how the Dragon Knights mess with the minds of their recruits. More than us, she needs Serafina's help.

Serafina's still doing some research. Besides, we didn't get the name of the leader, not that Ivy seemed to know it. She just gave us some bloody password to pass on to the others.

Which we need to do as soon as possible. There could be something important behind that protected data.