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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Rachel Aaron
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December 8 - December 14, 2024
Chapter 2 “So let me make sure I’ve got this right,” Marci said slowly. “I’m dead.” “Correct,” her father said. “That’s what I was afraid of,” she muttered, tilting her head back to look up at the endless dark.
Humans have always created their own monsters. Excluding dragons, of course. We’re imports.”
Bethesda slumped back against her console. “I don’t know if you’re pathetic or accidentally brilliant,” she said, shaking her head.
Why bother conquering us at all if he isn’t going to get anything out of it? Why is he being so nice?” “If I were less depressed, the hypocrisy of hearing you say that would make my day,”
Algonquin scoffed. “What you call politics is nothing but apes dancing in front of fires, marveling at the shadows they cast.
I’m afraid your precious golden treasure has already fallen into the well-meaning clutches of my youngest brother, and those are very hard to escape.” “Then I will kill him,” the empress said. “Such is the common refrain of Heartstriker Mountain,” the seer replied with a chuckle. “But Julius is harder to kill than he looks.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing.” I don’t, she confessed. I can’t. We’re in brand-new territory here. There is no knowing. We’ll just have to give it a shot.
She looked pleadingly at Julius. “I’ve learned the hard way not to underestimate your ability to think outside the box, but there is no box this time. No matter how clever you get, there’s no win-win solution to a binary problem.
We’re up against the wall either way, so why not go for the solution that would actually make things better?
“How do you always do this?” she muttered. “How do you always convince me to go along with things I know are suicidally stupid?”
“‘Nothing much,’ he says,” Chelsie grumbled, giving him a sideways glare. “You know, for a dragon who claims not to be greedy, you sure do have a habit of asking for the moon.”
“But it can only be you,” Shiro said firmly. “The seal is Merlin magic, and you’re the Merlin. You are the only one who can change the spellwork of this place. Even I’m just a talking part of the scenery.”
Myron heaved a long-suffering sigh. Then, slowly, he leaned down over the seal. “For the record,” he said. “I’m only doing this because I’m terrified of what you’d do in ignorance without me.
Julius stared at him in confusion. “How do you know what the Black Reach told me?” “The door was very thin,” Fredrick said with a shrug. “You eavesdropped on me?” “How am I supposed to serve you if I don’t know what’s going on?” Fredrick snapped. “Of course I listened. Better than you did, apparently,
“What was that about?” “A trap would be my guess,” Fredrick said, looking up the open stairwell. “But at this point, what isn’t?”
It was just so unfair. Hard work and sacrifice were supposed to be rewarded. The good guys were supposed to win, not end like this. Not with nothing.
We’re talking about all of humanity’s collective idea of dragons gathered in one place. Do you know how many stories there are about us? We’re practically a genre.”
“I know,” the spirit said tiredly. “It’s one of humanity’s worst traits. Good intentions justify all kinds of terrible behavior.”
Marci supposed that made sense, but she was too busy dry heaving to appreciate his cleverness. “I can’t believe you used blood magic on me.” “That’s a fine thank-you for a miracle,” Raven said, turning up his beak. “And for the record, it’s only blood magic if all parties involved are human. If I’d been a mortal mage like you, then it would be necromancy, but seeing as I’m a spirit using dragons he didn’t even kill, it’s all aboveboard.” Technically, but… “You used corpses!” “I’m a scavenger!” Raven cried. “I’m not going to leave perfectly good power lying on the ground when I can use it, and
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Still, after her miraculous rise from the dead, complaining about losing a Kosmolabe was like criticizing the color scheme of your winning lottery ticket,
Too happy to do anything except cling to him for dear life, which was fitting since he had, in fact, just saved hers. I would have caught you, Ghost grumbled. “Don’t ruin this for me,” Marci hissed, shooting a warning look at her spirit over Julius’s wings.
His sister blew out a frustrated huff of smoke. “What is it with you? Why do you never run from danger like a sensible dragon?” Julius clenched his jaw. “Because I—” “That was rhetorical,”
“She’s in the Pit.” He shuddered, his feathered body shaking under hers. “Of course she’d be there. Why would we ever go somewhere nice?”
Amelia snorted out a ring of smoke. “You need to trust your brother,” she scolded. “We’re all pieces on his board, even me. I’m cool with that, though, because Bob always wins. That’s his superpower. He takes an impossible situation, and he makes it his.
“Mad at you?” she asked, crossing her makeshift arms over her makeshift chest. “You abused your position, sided with the enemy, ripped my body apart, and used it to launch yourself to power. Now I’m stuck in this rusted-out hodgepodge made from whatever bits Raven could scavenge out of the Pit. I’m furious at you, Myron, but we don’t have time for that now. We’re on a mission here, people.”
“And I’m admitting you were right,” Myron snapped. “I don’t like it, but anyone who can’t change his mind in the face of evidence is an irrational fool, and for all my other flaws, I’ve never been one of those.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Julius said nervously. “But I don’t know how I’m going to stop—” “Don’t think,” the bird said, giving him a push with his claws. “Just do. Now shoo. We don’t have much time left.”
