Scaleshifter: The Black Dragon by Law Shelby Hailstone

Author:Law, Shelby Hailstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13: Memories of Home

Kaal and Ziya had to leave the cave to find anything like privacy. With Rikaa’s family and two red dragons as well as Aonai and Ziya all crowding each other, no one could possibly find any space for quiet conversations. Everyone was sleeping in one shared area—except for the kids, who, as adolescents, slept longer and harder and more violently and were therefore banished to the farthest side of the cave. Kaal and Ziya also slept farther off from the others, close enough to each other that Ziya knew Rikaa was only biting back his teasing because he knew Kaal and Ziya were trying to focus on the mission at hand.

But Ziya had been fifteen when Alan took her, and Kaal wasn’t much younger. So, they, like Iuan’s sons, slept longer and harder than the adult dragons in their midst; that was why they kept off to the sides. No other reason.

Still, the fact that Ziya and Kaal were sneaking off to find privacy had Rikaa chuckling deep in his belly as they passed. Ziya didn’t know how to take his teasing, since she didn’t know him as well as Kaal did, but judging by the way Kaal drew himself in every time Rikaa did something like that, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the teasing either.

Considering how easygoing he had been with Rikaa’s teasing about nearly everything else in his life, Ziya found herself purposefully pushing down the idea that Kaal was so bothered because there was a grain of truth to Rikaa’s teasing. She could think of other explanations that didn’t come uncomfortably close to Elena’s plans for Ziya. For all she knew, Rikaa played matchmaker all the time and Kaal wasn’t ready for that kind of thing.

Besides, she was trying to work alongside Kaal as an ally, even though the very idea filled her with an unspeakable dread because it reminded her of the way things had gone wrong the last time they teamed up. The last thing she needed to do was complicate matters. She had only just started to think of him as an ally; anything more seemed ridiculous.

Still, her chest was swelling with hot fire as the two of them slipped into the mountains together. She imagined Kaal felt the same way, especially when he seemed as unwilling to break the silence as she was. They were too young to react to that particular kind of teasing in any other way.

“So,” she said at last, clearing her throat to break up the awkwardness that had fallen between them. “You said you turn into a human when you get relaxed. So, relax.”

Kaal shook his head. “It’s not that simple,” he said. “I turn into a human when I’m so relaxed that I feel like my old self. But I also enjoy being Kaal, so relaxing as a dragon doesn’t actually do anything to change me.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“It’s the truth.”

“I know.” Ziya sighed and shook her head, pacing a small path. If she

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