Legend's Awakening by Jensine Odom

Author:Jensine Odom [Odom, Jensine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-14T22:00:00+00:00

The Cost of Our Actions

Istand at the edge of the small canyon we’ve been following, staring out over the dry streambed while we take a short break, watching small eddies kick up the loose sand into short-lived wraiths that dance between light and shadows.

We’ve inadvertently adopted the three younglings; they’ve been following us since our encounter. It makes us easily visible, but Baldure, and surprisingly Caedryn, convinced me to let them stay. Apparently, by imprinting with them, I have some semblance of command over them, kind of like an alpha, and they’ll do just about anything I ask.

They have no names, or if they ever did, they’ve since forgotten them, the memories gone along with their humanity, so Caedryn has named the older female Stormwing, and Baldure named the male Irontooth; I named the youngest Petrie.

Sitrian has decided to join us full time now and sits with everyone else among the bits of shade, tossing rocks for Petrie to chase. Stormwing and Irontooth lay in the sun just at the edge of the group, acting as giant, winged guard dogs.

A large butterfly flits by, and Stormwing growls menacingly at it, but the insect is undeterred in its search for the bright pink cactus blooms that have begun to pop up. For the first time since ending the Beast’s suffering, I laugh, my heart lightening at how seriously the young dragons take their new job.

The sound of my laughter catches Caedryn’s attention, and he smiles happily, walking over to join me.

“I’m glad to see you happy once more,” he says, taking me in his arms and lightly kissing my head.

I take a deep breath of the warm desert air and lean into him. “It feels good.”

The butterfly makes a second pass, and Petrie chases it for a moment, until she smells the jerky Mary’s eating. Immediately distracted, she stops dead in her tracks and tries to steal the whole bag. Mary snatches it away with a speed I didn’t expect and reprimands Petrie, getting her to sit calmly before she gives her a small strip.

“We’ll need to hunt more now,” I observe, watching as Stormwing and Irontooth perk up to see what their little sister’s getting and swarm Mary for their own treat. “And on that note, let’s get going. The mountains are close, and I can’t wait to be in the shade of the trees.” I over-dramatically pant.

Caedryn laughs, giving me a quick kiss before walking back to the tree he was beneath, and I watch our rapidly growing group for another moment. Before I can join them, though, the ground rumbles, shaking a little.

Caedryn looks back at me, worry creasing his brow as he meets my eyes. The dirt beneath my feet shifts, and I tumble backwards down the steep slope into the canyon below. I hit the sandy bottom and roll for a couple more yards, then just lay there, letting my heart rate return to normal as the last of the temblor dies out and my vision stops spinning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.