But that didn’t erase my failure, or the price of our victory. While the soldiers of St. George cheered and pumped their fists in the air, I limped across the broken ground to where the two Adult dragons lay entwined together. Vance stared sightlessly upward, jaws parted and his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Even in death, he looked surprised, as if he couldn’t believe he had lost. Scarlett lay motionless beside him, eyes closed, her jaws still locked around his neck. She was still alive, though her breaths were labored and shallow, and the gaping wounds all over her body told me she wasn’t going to leave the island tonight. Or ever.
I swallowed the helpless anger and gently prodded her with a forepaw, careful not to touch any torn flesh or broken scales. “Scarlett,” I said quietly, and her eyes opened, gazing blearily up at me. “You can let go now,” I said, my voice coming out slightly choked. “We won. Vance is dead.”
A look of triumph passed through her eyes, and she released her death grip on her foe, smiling as she gazed up at the stars. “Worth it,” she said in a smug, quiet voice, reminding me of yet another crimson dragon who would’ve likely done the exact same thing if she had the chance. “You’ll take care of them, right?” she added before I could say anything else. I swallowed hard and nodded.
“Yeah,” I husked out. “I’ll take them as far from this place as I can. They’ll never have to live under Talon again, I promise.”
She relaxed. “Good,” she said, though her voice was barely audible. “I’m glad I came back. They deserve a chance… to be free.”
She didn’t move again.
Numb, I stepped back and looked around. The soldiers were still celebrating their victory, clustered around the pair of bodies in the center of the yard. For a moment, I felt a stab of anger. St. George didn’t understand the sacrifice that had just happened, what the cost of this victory really was. All they saw was two dead dragons, and for them, that was reason enough to celebrate.
All except for one, who knelt at the side of a small red dragon a few yards away.
Ember. Guiltily, I trotted up, ignoring the soldiers who smiled and grinned and slapped each other on the back for killing a dragon. Ember was struggling to her feet as I approached, her jaws clenched in pain and her pupils razor-thin slits against the green of her eyes. Her right wing still hung at an awkward angle, making my stomach curl at the sight of it.
“Riley,” she panted as St. George put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. Her gaze traveled past me to the bodies in the center of the yard. A pained look crossed her face, and she glanced back at me, hopeful. “Scarlett?”
I shook my head. Ember sighed, slumping into St. George, who took her weight without pause. “Dammit,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “I didn’t want… I was hoping there wouldn’t be any casualties, but I guess that was too much to ask.”
“What about the rest of them?” St. George asked, turning to me without letting go of the red dragon. “Did the other breeders make it out?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Mist was able to lead them away and get them over the wall. They should be heading to the beach now. Give me a second—I’ll change back and tell her to wait for us.”
A shout came from the center of the yard. I turned to see the other officer, Lieutenant Ward, stride forward to yell at the soldiers, ordering them to stop standing around congratulating themselves and to secure the rest of the buildings. With hasty “yes, sirs,” the soldiers complied, heading toward the apartments and medical building behind us. Glancing around, Ward spotted us, and a stony expression settled over his features. Setting his jaw, he came toward us.
I tensed, subtly moving in front of Ember as the officer marched up, his back stiff and his stride rigid. He wasn’t looking at me or St. George, his gaze fixed on the red dragon between us.
For a moment, he appeared to teeter on the verge of saying something; his jaw clenched and unclenched, as if he were unwilling or unable to voice what he was thinking. Ember gazed calmly at the lieutenant, seemingly aware of what was going on, though it was confusing the hell out of me. Finally, the human gave up. With a scowl, he wrenched his gaze from Ember and looked at St. George, ignoring me and the fact that I had been glaring at him ever since he’d begun stomping toward us.
“Sebastian,” he said briskly. “Contact Lieutenant Martin and let him know that we have secured the facilities. Inform him that all hostiles have been eliminated, and that we will be joining him as soon as we clean up here.” His gaze flickered to me, then at the empty buildings behind us, his lip curling slightly. “I take it the target lizards were evacuated safely?”
“Yes, sir,” St. George answered, ignoring the demeaning term for us. “What should we do with the workers who survived?”
“Don’t kill them,” I growled, remembering Dr. Miles and the way Scarlett had spoken of him. Yes, they worked for Talon and they were part of this whole hateful facility, but I still didn’t like the thought of St. George gunning down unarmed, unresisting doctors and scientists. “They’re unarmed, and some of them are just doing their jobs. They don’t deserve to be slaughtered in cold blood.”
Ward’s eyes glittered. It was clear he didn’t appreciate being given orders by a “lizard,” and his voice was cold as he answered. “They’re Talon minions who knowingly serve the organization. Our Code is clear—all who sell their souls to evil must be executed.”
“You’ve already broken your Code a dozen times tonight, Lieutenant,” Ember said, surprising us all. “Break it one more time. We’ve won. The mission is over. There’s no reason for more needless death.”
Ward stared at her, anger radiating from him. I tensed, and on Ember’s other side, I saw St. George do the same. But, shockingly, Ward nodded once and stepped back, his posture stiff.
“As you say, dragon. This once.” He turned on a heel, preparing to stride away but paused, adding over his shoulder, “Do not expect it to happen again.”
I turned on Ember as Ward marched off, calling orders to his soldiers. “Okay, what the hell was that about?”
She just smiled. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.” The relief in her voice was palpable as she leaned into the soldier, who gazed down at her with worried eyes. “You did it, Riley,” she murmured. “The facility, the breeders… you finally found them. And now we’re going to take them away from this awful place and make sure Talon never gets their claws into them again.”
“Yeah.” I took a quiet breath as the realization finally hit. “Not just me, though,” I told Ember, and gazed over my shoulder to where the soldiers of St. George were sweeping across the yard. I could never have done this alone. It had taken all of us, dragons and soldiers, to pull off something this huge. “The Order of St. George teaming up with dragons to rescue dragons,” I muttered, and it still sounded ludicrous. “The world is either a very funny place, or it’s about to end.”
Ember gave a painful chuckle. “Probably both,” she gritted out. “But this was a huge blow to Talon, you can be sure of it.” Raising her head, she observed the buildings and the soldiers moving between them, her gaze solemn and bright. “Now, the question is, how is Talon going to react, and what are they going to do next?”
DANTE
“Welcome back, sir.”
I nodded absently to the guard as I strode through the doors of Talon headquarters, both relieved and apprehensive to be home. I’d destroyed the letter from Ember’s mysterious friend long before I left China, but the words written on that page had haunted me the entire journey back to the States.
The Elder Wyrm intends to use Ember to extend her own life, to achieve immortality.
It couldn’t be true. I’d thought—I’d always assumed—that the Elder Wyrm would leave Talon to one or both of us when she finally left the world. I’d been working toward that ever since I discovered my true heritage, preparing for the day I would take over. It would obviously be me; Ember had no head for business or politics and no desire to manage a giant conglomerate of dragons. She would still be part of Talon, however, and I would make sure she was safe and taken care of.
But if the Elder Wyrm was trying to become immortal…