Virelai’s glare burned into the back of Ren’s head.

  “Are you still angry about my entertainment comment?” he asked over his shoulder. It had been two days already. Surely she wasn’t still mad about that, but then, if it wasn’t the comment that had done it, he had no idea what else it could be. As far as he could remember, he’d been the perfect gentleman the entire time. He hadn’t even said anything when she’d dropped their dinner into the fire last night, and he’d had to fish it out and scrape off the burnt bits.

  Virelai didn’t answer his question, but at least she finally looked away, pretending to study the trees.

  A few moments passed before Ren once again felt the creeping sensation of someone staring at him.

  “What do you keep looking at? Is there a spider in my hair or something?” He pretended the pat the back of his head, searching for an invisible intruder.

  A breeze whistled through the trees, ruffling his hair. It disappeared as soon as it had come, and Ren had a good idea of who was the source of it.

  “Where else am I supposed to look when I am following you?” Virelai snapped. “You’re right in front of me.”

  They’d been riding single file for the last hour since the forest had thickened. She had a point, but that didn’t explain the other times he’d noticed her glancing sideways at him. Not all of them had been glares, but most of them were.

  “I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to burn holes in my head with your eyes. It makes me think there’s an enemy out there, but then I realize it’s only you.”

  “Who said I’m not your enemy?”

  “I’d thought we were allies.” Ren looked back at her, and she raised one brow.

  “I don’t recall agreeing to that,” she said.

  Another breeze ruffled his hair and pulled at his clothes. This one felt almost playful.

  Was she flirting with him? No, that couldn’t be right. Ren rubbed the bridge of his nose. It didn’t make any sense.

  “Look,” he said, “we should be almost there. I’m sorry for whatever it was I did that made you angry.”

  “I’m not! I may have been at first when we left the Seelie Court, but I’ve gotten over it.”

  If there had been enough room between the trees, he would have dropped back to ride beside her and have this conversation properly. “Then why have you been glaring at me this entire time? Is it the corpse smell? Are the faeries right, and you can’t bring yourself to tell me?”

  “What? No.”

  “So you do think I smell good.”

  The glare reappeared again. “I’m done talking to you,” she said, “and when we reach the dragons, I plan to offer you as a sacrifice, no matter what Wisteria said.”

  “Oh? You and Wisteria were talking about me, then?” He thought her cheeks had turned slightly pink, but it was hard to tell at this distance.

  “She asked me to be nice to you. That was all.”

  “I’ll have to tell her you are doing a terrible job of it.”

  “You won’t be able to tell her anything from the belly of a dragon,” Virelai shot back. “Such a tragic accident.”

  “I’m sure they will be full after they eat you for staring at them. It’s rude, you know.”

  “Oh, because you know so much about dragons.”

  “I think staring might be considered impolite to any creature,” he said.

  “Looking away shows fear,” Virelai countered.

  “So that’s the reason you’ve been staring at me then. You don’t want me to think you’re afraid of me?” The idea of her being afraid of him bothered him for some reason. It wouldn’t be the first time someone feared him, but it was usually because of the shadows or his ability to raise the dead.

  Virelai was silent. It stretched for so long that Ren pulled his horse to a stop, forcing hers to stop too.

  “Are you afraid of me?” he asked her again. He didn’t know why the answer mattered to him so much.

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  Virelai met his eyes with an annoyed look of her own. “No. Why would I be afraid of you?”

  “I can think of a few reasons. The usual suspects.”

  Virelai rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint. Now, either get moving or get out of my way.”

  The wind picked up again, this time feeling like a light caress meant to comfort.

  Ren faced forward and nudged his horse into motion. He was not the least bit disappointed.

  In the late afternoon, they reached the base of the mountain range where the dragons’ cave was located. Seraiah had only been able to guess at the best way to get up to the top since she’d taken a different route through the mountain. When he’d asked her about possibly doing the same, she’d insisted it would be much safer to stay aboveground.

  “I think we should go this way,” Ren said, pointing to a trail that ran off to the right.

  Virelai studied their options before looking up at the sky. From here, they couldn’t see much of anything besides the tops of the trees. “I think we should camp for the night, and then go that way.” She pointed to the path heading to the left.

  “If I had picked that one, would you have suggested the other just to be difficult?”

  “Of course not. This is clearly the path we should take. Look at how much bigger it is than the other one. The one you picked looks like an animal trail. This one looks like an actual path.”

  Ren looked back at the trails again. To be honest, they looked exactly the same to him.

  “Fine, we’ll go your way, but we aren’t camping yet. We’ve got plenty of daylight left.”

  Virelai scowled at him. From the way she had moved the other times they’d stopped, he guessed she was feeling the effects of the long hours of riding. He didn’t blame her for wanting to stop, but they needed to reach the dragons and get answers as fast as they could.

  Especially since he’d noticed the night before that the shadows had crept higher up his arm again. Tendrils of it now touched his biceps.

  “Ladies first,” he said.

  Virelai kicked her little mare forward without a word.

  The path wound its way slowly up the side of the mountain, growing narrower as they ascended. At first, Ren had thought it was his imagination, but then Virelai pulled her horse to a halt.

  “What is it?”

  “I think we went the wrong way,” she mumbled.

  “I’m sorry. What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

  “I said,” she whipped around on her horse, “I think we went the wrong way. The path is gone. We’ll have to turn around.”

  “And waste the last few hours? Can’t we make our own path?”

  She gestured ahead of her. “See for yourself.”

  Ren dismounted and walked around the side of Virelai’s mare, giving the horse a little pat as he went by.

  “Hmm. Yes, I see. That might be a problem.”

  In front of him, a large pile of boulders blocked the way. It looked like the result of a recent rock slide.

  “The only thing is,” he said, “I don’t think the path has disappeared. This might still be the right path.”

  “But we can’t cross it. Not with the horses, at least. We’ll have to go back and see if the other way will get us to the top.”

  “And when it doesn’t, are we going to waste more time coming back here again?”

  “No, because that won’t be a problem. Both ways can’t be blocked by rocks. If the other path disappears, we can still . . .”

  “We can still what?”

  “Look,” she hissed, pointing to the sky.

  Ren followed her finger. Above them, in the orange glow of the setting sun, a winged creature circled. It wasn’t a bird.

  “Perfect. Now we won’t need the path,” Ren said. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

  The dragon circled lower, and he waved his arms in the air.

  “What are you doing?” Virelai asked. Her horse danced beneath her as the large predator in the sky drew ever closer.

  Ren sidestepped the skittish mare and grabbed his own mount’s bridle before it could run off. “I’m finding us a way to the top of the mountain. We came here to see the dragons, and we found one.”

  The dragon was close enough now that Ren could see its brilliant blue scales, catching the last of the sunlight.

  “Do you know what that one’s name is?” he asked Virelai.

  “Riv,” Virelai said through what sounded like clenched teeth. She was struggling to keep her horse under control.

  His own horse was dancing around, eyes rolling.

  The dragon swooped lower, and now Ren could smell it—like rotten eggs. Seraiah had failed to mention that particular detail.

  Having had enough, his horse yanked its bridle out of Ren’s grip and took off back down the path. Virelai’s mare followed suit, dumping her on the ground and tearing off after him, almost trampling Ren in the process.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, offering a hand.

  “Never better,” Virelai grumbled.

  He thought she was going to ignore his help, but to his surprise, she actually placed her hand in his, and let him help her to her feet.

  She looked a little pale to him, but he didn’t dare tell her that.

  “You can explain to Wisteria how you lost her horse,” she said after she had finished brushing off the dirt.

  “Me? I wasn’t the one who scared them off.”

  “Yes, you were. You were the one waving your arms about and shouting. If you hadn’t attracted attention to us, we would still have our horses and supplies.”

  “But if I hadn’t—"

  “Are you two quite done arguing yet?” a deep voice interrupted him.

  The dragon had landed without either of them noticing and was now watching them with one golden eye. Twin streams of smoke curled lazily from its nostrils.

  “Uh, yes. Hello, Riv,” he greeted the dragon. “We have been sent to seek your counsel on something.” Ren couldn’t help but notice that Virelai had conveniently slipped behind him and was using him as a shield.

  “Is that so? And who would have sent you? Must be someone who knows I like tasty treats.”

  “Seraiah?”

  “Is that a question or a statement?” The dragon brought his snout closer, sending a wave of heat over them. If Ren hadn’t thought he would lose his arm, he would have reached out and touched it.

  “A statement. Seraiah sent us. She would have come herself, but she is seeing to other business at the Seelie Court.”

  “Those faeries still giving her trouble?” The dragon angled his head to the side.

  “Not exactly. I think they are helping in their own way.”

  “Hmmm,” the dragon rumbled. “I suppose if Seraiah sent you, you may come to our cave and ask your questions. However, it seems your transportation has run off. ”

  “Is there another way up the mountain?”

  The dragon’s lips lifted in a toothy grin that Ren wasn’t sure he liked.