The little dragon shook, his scales clattering as he did. He winged off the bed, falling to the floor with a soft thud, and trotted straight to the door, where he raked his talons up and down, gouging the wood.
She hopped off the bed and snatched him away. “Stop that. I am not letting you out.”
Blaze snorted and turned his amber eyes on her. His eyes glowed pathetic…in a reptilian way. He missed Faldon and so did she, even though the old sage had turned his loyalties to Navar and tried to kill Dylan’s grandmother and Leo. Kera still remembered the kind teacher, mentor, and friend he had been before he had fallen into Navar’s trap.
There was no telling what was going on in Teag. Now that Navar was dead, she had to believe her father and those like him had been able to reason with the firsts. She hadn’t wanted to leave, but her father had insisted, and now the guilt, the not knowing, was eating her alive. If her friends and those with mixed blood were suffering…
She wouldn’t allow herself to think about it. She’d made the right decision by obeying her father and following Dylan. Not that it wasn’t exactly what she had wanted to do all along, but thinking about Signe tinged her decision with doubt. She’d promised her friend she would stay.
Kera held Blaze tighter and fell back onto the bed. “Because of you, I lied to Dylan.”
It was a depressing thought, and no amount of justification made her feel better. She blinked back a sudden rush of emotion and sniffed, filling her nose with a mix of earthy odors. She should change her clothes. Wash the dirt away. But she was so tired. Blaze snuggled onto her chest, and she ran her finger from the protruding knobs atop his head to the spiny tip of his tail. “Was no one willing to befriend you?”
The dragon snorted a puff of acrid smoke as if insulted by the idea. He flopped into the space between her arm and her body and tucked his head beneath her arm. He was better than a warming pan on a cold winter night, and all too soon, Kera dozed off.
Sometime during the night, the bed creaked. It wasn’t a normal creak; it warned of someone heavy sitting down. At the sound, Kera was instantly awake. She lay on her bed, fully dressed, having passed out without changing. Even her shoes were still on. A heavy lump shifted by her feet and the bed creaked again. No one, not even Dylan, would have come into her room without knocking first. With eyes still closed and her breathing steady, she inched her hand toward her dagger.
Her fingers slipped around the hilt and eased it into her palm. The body heat from whoever was on her bed grew. It took all her willpower to stay calm.
She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and bolted upright, throwing the covers away and holding the dagger in front of her, ready to defend herself from whoever was in her room. A deep rumble of alarm sounded. The boards supporting the mattress suddenly gave way and the mattress bumped to the floor. Kera rolled backward and landed against the headboard, her body weight the only thing keeping it from crashing forward.
Wide-eyed, she stared at the end of her bed. The sheets she’d tossed off covered a shifting bulk. It shook like a dog discharging water from its fur, and the sheets fell away revealing Blaze, crouched at the foot of her now-destroyed bed. During the night, he’d grown three times his size.
“You’re…huge.”
Stating the obvious didn’t make her feel less panicked. Someone had to have heard the bed collapse. Kera scrambled over to Blaze and ordered him off. The stubborn dragon only blinked his amber-eyed stare.
“I’m serious. Off.” She pushed.
He snapped at her hand.
She smacked his nose.
He glared and his chest started to expand.
“Do not dare spit fire at me,” she said, pointing her finger at him. “If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.”
The dragon’s chest slowly deflated and he gingerly moved off the mattress, bumping into the dresser as he struggled to find room to move. Kera ignored him and concentrated on the bed. Drawing on her new powers, she waved her hand and the bed shuffled back together, as good as new.
A knock sounded on the door, and Dylan’s grandmother’s voice called out softly, “Kera? Is everything all right? We heard a loud noise.”
A deep rumble rolled out of Blaze. Kera launched across the room and put her hand on his muzzle to quiet him. “I’m terribly sorry. I fell.”
She grew up lying to everyone around her on a daily basis, so why was she so surprised when the lie slipped out so easily? “Off the bed. I was dreaming. I’m fine now. Just a little bump. Really.” She winced, frustrated at her babbling.
From the other side of the door, she heard Dylan’s muffled voice and then his Grandma whisper, “I don’t know.”
“Someone’s in there with her.”
How could he possibly know that? That he sounded so positive caused a rush of guilt to flush her cheeks.
Dylan’s knock was quick and loud. “Kera? Let me in.”
“I’m fine, Dylan. I promise.”
“Then open the door.”
“I’m not presentable.” Which was true. If she opened the door dressed like she was, he’d know something was up.
The knob rattled. She could feel his frustration climb. Dylan wasn’t used to being denied.
“Dylan, she says she’s fine,” his grandma said.
Kera let out a sigh. As long as his grandmother was there, he’d stay out.
“She’s not fine. I can feel her stress.”
He wasn’t wrong there. Hiding Blaze would take a miracle.
He knocked harder. “Open the door. Now, Kera.”
“Thinking you will barge in is causing me stress. I’m fine.” Kera took a deep breath, enclosing her feelings the way she had learned to do when she was a child.
“You want me to believe you? Open the door.”
“Let me get my robe.” She quickly kicked off her shoes, yanked her legs free of her pants, and shrugged out of her shirt. She scurried past Blaze to the closet, where she found her robe. As she slipped it on, she nudged Blaze toward the window. “Listen to me,” she whispered urgently to the dragon as she threw the window open. “Outside. Now.”
Dylan jiggled the doorknob. “Come on, Kera. Stop messing around. You’ve been acting strange lately. What’s going on?”
“Please, one moment longer,” she yelled over her shoulder.
“Out,” she hissed to the dragon as she loaded his front feet onto the windowsill.
The window was wide, but Blaze’s shoulders caught on the edges. No matter how hard she pushed, Blaze wouldn’t fit. Blaze gurgled unpleasantly in his throat just as Dylan banged on the door again.
She held out her glowing hand and the opening widened. Blaze slipped free, clambering up the side of the house and onto the roof, surprisingly light on his feet for a dragon.
“Kera! I’m not kidding.” He pounded so hard, it sounded like his fist would punch through the door.
Kera readjusted the window and shoved it closed. Fanning her hot face, she rushed to the door. After taking a deep breath, she unlocked it and threw it open, her hands settling on her hips and anger in her voice. “Why are you so insistent on seeing me? I told you I was well.”
Grandma peered around them for a quick peek. “Gracious, Dylan. You had me thinking…well, I don’t know what.” She laid her hand on Kera’s arm and squeezed lightly. “’Night, sweetie.” She passed a stern look over Dylan. “Say your good-nights and get back to bed.”
“Good night,” Kera sweetly said after the woman’s retreating form.
Dylan moved closer. “Don’t play with me. I felt your fear.” He glared behind her, his suspicions growing by the second. “You’ve been hiding something from me and I want to know what it is.”