Inwardly, I shrieked gleefully that I was intimidating.
Outwardly, I was a stone-cold killer.
“You can question me,” I said. “I don’t blame you for that. You don’t know me. Not like others do. And maybe I’ve made mistakes in the past. I’m not perfect. But if any of you can say differently about yourselves, then by all means, go ahead. If any of you are willing to step forward and go to the desert dragon, then do it now before I’ve had enough of you wasting my time.”
A murmur went through the crowd, but no one spoke against me. I could see the ire on some of their faces, and the fear, but there was awe there too. I was young, and most likely foolish, but I was sure news of our exploits had reached the desert. Couple that with whatever Vadoma had told her people about me—especially as the grandson of the phuro—I thought that maybe I could strike a chord with them. I was still only an apprentice. I was still only twenty-one years old. But I could do things that no one else could do. And even though I was sure all the stories spoken about me weren’t true, it would hopefully add to whatever legend of me they’d built in their heads. Morgan had taught me it was better to have people fear you a little than be indifferent toward you. I had never really understood what he’d meant until that moment.
“He is strong,” Vadoma announced, eyes on me. Her people turned to look back at her. “Rough around the edges, but strong. Listen to Vadoma. We have waited for this moment, for the blood of the gypsies to pulse around the heart of Verania. Be proud, because he is one of us, and he will rise against the Dark.”
There was her angle. And it was smart one. Gypsies weren’t looked down upon, not in the way people from the slums were. But they certainly weren’t revered. It was more out of sight, out of mind. And when they were thought upon, it was with a disdain for mystics and fortune-tellers, something of which I’d been guilty of myself. But by relating me to them and my position in Verania, it would help them align themselves with me. The will of the people was the strongest thing one could have.
And then she opened her mouth and ruined everything.
“It will also help us in the long run that Ruv, the Wolf of Bari Lavuta, is his cornerstone. The one who will help Sam of Wilds build his magic so that he may defeat this man in shadows.” The smile she gave was beatific and grandmotherly, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
The crowd gasped dramatically.
“Bitch say whaaaa?” Gary exclaimed as his eyes narrowed, glitter beginning to sprinkle from his body. “Is Gary gonna have to cut someone up in here?”
“Ah hells nah,” Tiggy said, cracking his knuckles.
“What the fudge?” Ryan growled. “What the heck did she just say?”
I almost had a mind to compliment him on the restraint of his language, but I was a little too shell-shocked to even formulate a proper response. I glanced at Ruv, but his expression was blank. I didn’t know him well enough to see through it, to figure out if he’d known this was coming. If he did, then he’d certainly played me for a fool. If he didn’t, then he was just as much a pawn in this as I was, and Vadoma was an asshole for doing that to the both of us.
I took a step forward, meaning to give her a piece of my mind, to make sure everyone within hearing distance knew who my true cornerstone was when Kevin spoke behind me and everything else just stopped.
“Sam,” he said in a voice I’d never heard before. It was dreamy and soft and filled with such wonder that it clenched at my heart. I didn’t know why. “Sam,” he said again.
I turned to look up at him.
And took a step back.
For the dragon Kevin stood above me, wings spread, the tips scraping against buildings on either side. Little tendrils of smoke curled up from his nostrils, and I could feel the heat from the fires that burned inside of him. It struck me as odd that this was probably the most I’d ever seen him actually look like a dragon since the first time he’d crawled over that hill, chasing after sheep before he’d knocked me through an equipment shed and kidnapped Justin. I knew him now, knew what made him tick, knew how his mind worked, crazy though it was. Kevin wasn’t just a dragon. He was my friend.
But this wasn’t my friend. Not now. Now he was a beast, far larger than anything I’d faced in the past.
His eyes were glowing like starlight. They’d never been that color before. They’d never glowed before. That probably wasn’t a very good sign.
“Kevin?” Gary asked, sounding unsure. “Are you okay?”
“He has awoken,” Kevin said, eyes flashing like a storm in summer. He never looked away from me. I could see his tail twitching dangerously behind him. “My brother. Deep in the earth. He wakes. I can feel him. In my head. In my blood. It vibrates. Sam of Wilds, he is calling for me. He is calling for you. He’s—oh gods. I can feel the—”
“Look!” someone in the crowd shouted, and whatever it was caused the others to mutter quietly in their native tongue, words dropping like music notes, spoken almost in veneration, like they were praying.
“Holy shit,” Gary said.
I didn’t take my eyes off Kevin. “What is it?”
“David’s Dragon,” Ryan said, sounding awed. “It’s so bright.”
I took a chance.
I looked away from the dragon toward the heavens.
A chill ran down my spine.
For it seemed all the other stars in the sky had faded into almost nothing, consumed by the light of David’s Dragon. The constellation was so vivid, so real, that it knocked the breath from my chest. I’d never seen it like that before.