Glowing dragon eyes peered at me, wary and mistrustful. I spoke as gently as I could, opening the doors a bit wider so that the light spilled into the truck. “Come on,” I urged. “Everyone follow me. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. Don’t worry about being seen—we’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. You’re safe here, I promise.”
Slowly, the pile of dragons uncurled. Cautiously, they edged out of the truck, then gazed around in wonder, eyes wide as they took everything in. I reminded myself that they hadn’t left the island in years, perhaps decades. The tight confines of the facility was all they knew, so the outside world was probably very strange and exciting. Ember watched them from a few feet away, her expression shadowed with sympathy and understanding. Perhaps she saw herself in them, wide-eyed and eager, from very long ago. Before her world was consumed with fighting and war, blood and death. Before she was forced to leave that ordinary girl and ordinary life behind and become a soldier.
“This way,” I told the group, and they followed us across the yard to the barn sitting at the edge of the pasture. Shoving the doors open, I led the small group of dragons into the cool barn. The individual stalls had already been prepared, and fresh straw, water and blankets lay in each of them.
Upon seeing the inside of the barn, the dragonells relaxed. Without any prompting, they each took a stall and began rooting around in the hay, as if making a nest. Nothing was said about the lack of proper accommodations, of being forced to stay in a barn. I suddenly had the feeling that such housings were normal for them, as normal as a room with a bed. I saw Ember clench her fists at her sides, anger radiating from her skin.
“Last time,” she whispered, as if making a promise. “This is the last time you’ll have to do this, I swear it.”
A shadow fell across the doorway a moment before Jade entered the barn. The dragonells jerked up, their eyes going wide with fear and awe, recognizing a much older, vastly powerful Adult. The small Asian woman gazed back at them serenely and inclined her head.
“Don’t be afraid,” she said, her soothing voice flowing over them like water. “You have nothing to fear from me, or any of the dragons in this circle. We will do our best to protect all of you, so rest easy. You are safe here.”
Once again, the dragonells relaxed, sinking back into the straw, though they still kept an eye on the Eastern dragon as she turned to face me and Ember. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she told us, returning Ember’s smile. “And that the mission was a success. I only regret that I was not there to aid you. The loss of any life is a heavy burden. I would have shared it with you if I could.”
Ember’s face darkened, probably remembering Scarlett, as I thought back to the other soldiers who hadn’t made it off the island. Nine men had been killed in the assault when the monstrous green dragon showed itself. Nine soldiers we had to leave behind. Three of them had been from the Western Chapterhouse, men I had known and fought beside. It was a relatively small number, but now with the Order so scattered and broken, the loss of every soldier was devastating.
“Thanks for staying here, Jade,” Ember said. “And for looking after the rest of them. Any trouble with Talon?”
“No. The organization has been unnaturally quiet the past few days. It is worrisome.” The Eastern dragon furrowed her brow. “I believe this is what you call the calm before the storm.”
I had the dark, ominous feeling she was right.
DANTE
“The Elder Wyrm has called for you, sir.”
I barely heard the voice coming through my speaker. I was numb. Nothing felt real anymore as I stared at the words on my computer.
True. It was all true. The experiments, the start of the vessel program, everything the letter hinted at. Ember and I were clones of the Elder Wyrm. But it was worse than that. According to the scientist’s notes, Ember was the one they’d wanted to create: a near-perfect replica of the Elder Wyrm. I was an afterthought, a backup plan. Something that was allowed to exist only to give my twin a better chance at life. Because Ember was the vessel intended for the Elder Wyrm to achieve immortality. Or at least another thousand years.
“Sir? Sir, are you there?”
I shook myself out of my daze, answering the call out of habit. “Thank you, Ms. Brooks. Please inform the Elder Wyrm that I am on my way.”
Slumping back, I stared at the file for a few seconds longer, then deleted the entire thing. No point in keeping such incriminating evidence sitting on my computer, and I had confirmed what I’d set out to find. It was too late to unsee the file, to return to blissful ignorance. I could never unlearn what I knew.
Ember was the Elder Wyrm’s vessel.
I felt my feet carrying me from my office, trekking the familiar path to the elevators, as I’d done countless times before. A senior executive, Mr. Roth, I thought, met me as he left the elevator box and asked a question. I answered without thinking, smiling, not even hearing what I told him. He nodded in return and continued down the hall.
Alone in the elevator, I stared at my reflection in the mirrored surface, still trying to process all that I’d learned. My sister and I were clones, created in a lab, just like the vessels. I was the heir of Talon, but only a fail-safe. Ember was the indispensable one. Now I knew why the Elder Wyrm was so determined to get her back.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. In a daze, I walked past the front desk, turned the handle of the double doors and stepped into the Elder Wyrm’s office.
“Hello, Dante.” The Elder Wyrm’s voice, brittle and cold, snapped me out of my trance. For a moment, I was certain she knew about the file and my conversation with Dr. Olsen. Her expression was hard, her eyes terrifyingly blank as she rose from her desk and came forward.
“We have a situation,” she stated as I wondered, perhaps illogically, if she was going to kill me then and there. I forced myself to breathe, to appear casual, though a cold sweat had broken out on the back of my neck and my legs were trembling. Thankfully, the Elder Wyrm didn’t seem to notice.
“Cobalt has struck again,” the CEO went on, her voice filled with bridled rage. “I received word a few hours ago that he and a small regiment of soldiers stormed the breeder facilities, killed most of the guards there and escaped with the resident females. Director Vance was slain in the battle, as well as the oldest breeder, a pregnant female named Scarlett. We have lost the facility.”
Stunned, I had to put a hand on the sofa back to steady myself. I knew what the facility was: a place where Talon’s females could live and lay eggs without fear of discovery, but I hadn’t known where it was located. Very few dragons did.
“How?” I asked. “How did they find it? And manage to defeat the security?”
“Reports are vague,” the Elder Wyrm said. “It was chaos on the island that night, but there are accounts of several human soldiers aiding the outlaws, as well. It appears that Cobalt has recruited the help of a few rogue soldiers of St. George.”
“What?” I gasped, appalled and horrified. “That’s impossible. We destroyed them all. And the Order would never agree to help our kind. It goes against everything they’ve been taught.”