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when you wake up and you know you should get out of bed, but mostly, you just want to roll back over and bury yourself under the warm covers.” Dearra stepped closer to Darius and rested her head against his chest. “I’m so tired, Darius.”
    Darius lowered his head and rested his cheek against her hair as he used to do, before scooping her into his arms. He lowered himself onto one of the benches.
    “I’d like to let you rest, Dearra, but it’s past time to be making plans.” Daniel set a hand on her shoulder.
    “What do you want me to do, Daniel?”
    “We need to send someone to King Jaymes. He needs to be told of Hugh’s death.”
    Dearra visibly flinched. She leaned into Darius, who wrapped a protective arm around her.
    “I’m sorry, Dearra. I’m not trying to hurt you. The king also needs to be told about the Breken’s plan to attack. The people of Mirin Tor have been idle for a long time, and they won’t be ready for what’s coming. The army is only a shadow of what it once was, and the king will need to gather as many as he can from the villages outside the capital. They will need to be trained and prepared. We will be no match for the skilled warriors coming for us, but if we have the numbers, there may be a chance.”
    “Gather everyone, Daniel. Darius and I will be in the Great Hall in an hour.” She snuggled tighter to Darius’s chest.
    Daniel was worried about Dearra, but at least she was finally taking an interest. He wanted to let her rest, but he was afraid that she might slip back into her deep depression. If she was willing, then it was best to do as she said. He nodded and left the room without another word.
    Dearra listened to the calming thump of Darius’s heart, and closed her eyes as he smoothed the hair away from her face.
    You’re doing just fine, Dearra. You have taken the first step. It will get easier, now. It’s never easy to lose someone you care about.
    “It must have been hard for you when Cyrus died,” Dearra said in response to Brin. “You didn’t have anyone else, did you?” Dearra asked.
    No, but I could hear the others on the island, and the fact that they grieved with me, even though they didn’t know about me, helped. That wasn’t the time I was thinking about, though. When Oke died, that was probably the lowest time in my life.
    “Oke? I don’t think I remember you ever mentioning anyone named Oke,” Darius said, shaking his head.
    I don’t suppose I have. It was so very long ago…

Chapter 4
     
    I don’t know much about my history. Next to nothing, really. My mother was killed before my hatching day. Oke told me that another dragon was responsible for her death and had almost succeeded in eliminating me as well, but he had intervened. I asked him often what he meant by intervened , but he would only smile and say that he couldn’t tell me all of his secrets.
    He was like that, a bit mysterious, I mean. He was very old, but I couldn’t say how old, only that he appeared to be ancient, even in my earliest memories, and we were together several hundred years after that.
    He looked like an ordinary man of average height and build. He wore robes of earthen brown. His eyes were odd, some days they were brown, others green, and still others blue. When he was feeling especially happy or pleased, they might even be two different colors. When he was angry, they were completely black, with no whites visible at all. I didn’t see him angry often, I am relieved to say. Those black eyes terrified me. He did not seem like himself at all when his eyes were like that.
    “Terrified? You, Brin? You’re a dragon. What could possibly harm you ?” Dearra asked.
    You would be surprised. Dragon’s aren’t indestructible, you know, but I wasn’t worried that he would hurt me . He was my friend, my teacher, and the closest thing to a parent I was ever going to have. I was more afraid of what he was capable of. He knew very old magic, not like the fairies, or the