No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers, #3)

by Rachel Aaron

I volunteered for this, and I think I just proved that I’m not some weak human who’s going to bring you down. Even Justin gets that. Why can’t you?” “Hey!” Justin yelled. “What do you mean ‘even Justin?’”

I’ve always felt humanity had to be taken as individuals rather than a whole. Herds of humans invariably sink to their lowest common denominator, but I’ve met thousands, perhaps millions of individual humans who possessed amazing levels of sophistication, intelligence, and maturity considering how brief your lives are.

The whole thing was enough to stir up old childhood dreams of heroism. Dreams Marci promptly squashed. Heroes did stupid things like get themselves killed selflessly. She was a mage pushing the boundaries of magic. If she was going to do something as dangerous and reckless as sneaking into the DFZ on a quest to become the power that could finally unseat Algonquin, then she was damn well going to get something out of it for herself and Ghost.

You stood your ground and demanded that we listen, not because you were bigger or stronger, but because you were right.