The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2), Dan Michaelson [best books to read all time .txt] 📗

me, but flames stretched between the other fingers, arcing from one hand to the next. Surprisingly, there was no pain or heat coming from them. There was only the awareness of the fire.

Natalie leaned close, watching, as if she were studying some aspect of the flames, trying to understand what it was that I did.

I could feel the power coursing through my thumbs. The flames were stretching from one hand to the next, but not with nearly as much power as before.

I started trying to suppress the rest of the power, pushing it down deep inside of me. When I did, I noticed that the flames shifting between my fingers began to twist, changing a little bit.

“What did you do different?” Natalie asked.

“I’m not exactly sure,” I said. “I tried to gain a better control over the power within me, holding on to it.” As I did, I could feel the way that it was rolling through me, held there for a moment, before it began to ease out.

I decided to try one more thing. I separated my thumbs.

Flames exploded, coursing through my hands, arcing from one to the next.

I fought to keep my hands from spreading out wide and spraying the flames all over. It required I tamp more and more power down into that deep center of myself where the heat was located. When I did, I could slow the flames.

Gradually, heat became a trickle, jumping from one hand to the next, arcing.

“You did it,” Natalie said.

“I did,” I said. I couldn't believe that I had done it, considering the way that the flames jumped, but I had done it. Success. Something that I could never have believed was possible for myself, something that I had never believed that I would have been able to do, but here it was. My own power. “Although I know others who control the power differently than me.”

“I’ve seen some almost creating whips made of flames,” she said.

“Whips?”

She shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. The nature of how other dragon mages use their power is not widely known. I’ve just seen how that power explodes outward, and I’ve seen the way they use it.”

I glanced over to her, still trying to hold on to the power. There was something in the way she said it that told me a little bit more about Natalie.

“You’ve seen dragon mages attacking before, haven’t you?”

She looked over at me, frowning. “Most who have spent any time within the kingdom have seen dragon mages.”

The only dragon mage I’d ever really seen had been Elaine.

And she’d betrayed the kingdom.

Power continued to drift through me. I needed to separate it. I couldn’t continue to hold on to the dragon power, and I worried that if I did, I would eventually drain the dragon of energy. I looked over to the green dragon, finding him in the middle of the pen yard, and nodded to him. That was all that I needed. Nothing more.

Gradually, the power and the connection between us began to fade, easing.

Eventually, I wanted to know how Thomas had shifted his connection from dragon to dragon, and I wondered if in doing so he managed to call upon even more power. Dragon magic couldn’t be unlimited, so it would make sense for him to need to shift between dragons in order to maintain that power and control.

“I should get going,” Natalie said. “And you look like you need to keep working.”

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I should,” I said.

She flashed a smile at me, then started to walk away.

I watched her go before finally turning my attention back to the dragon. He remained curled up, and yet I smiled. I needed to practice, to improve, to be ready for whatever else I might be able to do. How could I not be?

I needed to master what had just happened.

I focused on the dragon heat. It was a strange thing for me to be aware of, but that heat and energy remained around me, near enough that I could feel it, something that bubbled up from some place deep within me. What I needed more than anything was to find a way to tap into that heat and energy, and to draw upon it in a way that would grant me something more.

I could feel the heat around me. I could feel something that was there, and I could feel that I needed to keep working. Shadows moved, and I spun, looking toward the forest.

"Manuel?"

He strode forward, the dappled mesahn trailing him, looking as if it were ready to attack at any moment. I could feel something from the mesahn, though I wasn’t sure what I detected. Whatever it was left me uncomfortable.

He stopped for a moment. "What are you doing?"

I looked over at the dragon pen, hesitating for a moment. "I have been practicing.”

"Interesting."

I looked over to the forest. "What are you doing out there so close to the edge of the forest?"

"There have been . . ." He trailed off and shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not supposed to say anything."

"You can say something," I said.

He breathed out. "Dragons have gone missing."

Ames had mentioned the red dragon that hadn’t returned. Could it be related? Donathar didn’t seem to think there was anything to be concerned about, but he had been willing to investigate. Maybe there was more to it than I realized.

“How do dragons go missing?"

Manuel shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't know. But the king tasked his Hunters with searching for the dragons and asked us to use every bit of our talents to track them down."

I looked to the trees. "In the forest?" I frowned. "The dragons wouldn't wander there, would they?

"Not unless guided," he said.

"Who would guide them?" He held my gaze for a moment, and I shook my head. "Not the Djarn."

"They might," he said.

"But the Djarn . . ." I held off, waiting for a moment. The Djarn had been in the trees, and I had