He does not know of what he speaks. The rage is brought on by mating lust.

So he’s wrong? About everything?

Not…everything. The words he is saying sound familiar. My people are controlled by his—the Salorians. I am remembering more now. I do not like him. Or his people.

I understand. “So you use them because they berserk,” I say, focusing on Azar in front of me. “You can’t do it? Salorians can’t?”

His brows go up. “So you know what I am.”

“I know a little,” I tell him. “But my dragon doesn’t remember much.”

“Not a surprise. This place eats at their minds.” He sniffs and picks at one of his pancakes. “Perhaps if I switched to battle form, I would be as affected as the others are in this foul land. I will not risk it, though.”

“Is…is that why you know so much? Why you remember and the other dragons don’t? Why you’re sane?”

Azar nods slowly. He taps his brow. “When the Rift opened up and pulled us through, I was on the back of a drakoni warrior, leading my troops to protect our borders. My people—the Salorians,” he clarifies, giving me a pointed look. “Do not change to battle form. It is considered, how do you say in your language…ill bred.” He shrugs. “When we were pulled through, my mount lost control. He crashed to the ground, knocking me from his back, and left me stranded while he flailed about like a mad thing. I thought it was just him at first, but when I looked up, I saw others falling from the sky to this place, and none could respond to my orders. It was chaos.”

I listen without interruption. I want to hear more of this, to understand. Even Dakh is silent in my mind. I think he does, too.

“I was broken and abandoned when the disaster struck, and I went into hiding as my troops went mad, destroying everything in their path. No orders worked on them. Their minds were gone. As time passed, I realized that if I were to blend in with the humans here, I would need to learn their language. To look like them. I rid myself of my horns and my claws. I filed my teeth down to these ineffective squares. “He bares them at me in a half-snarl. “And I learned to mimic humans. It has served me well all this time, but I grow weary of these games, and this place.”

“Is that where I come in?” I cross my arms over my chest, ignoring the food in front of me. “What is it you want?”

“Your dragon, of course.” His smile is thin. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Uh huh.” I wait.

He just smiles enigmatically.

When he doesn’t go on, I start to get irritated. “You already have a dragon, buddy.”

Azar’s brows go up, and I have to admit, it feels good to take him down a peg. “Someone’s been spreading rumors it seems,” he murmurs. “I have a dragon, yes, but he suffers from the same madness as they all do, so he’s no good to me right now. Yours, however…” His eyes gleam, and he leans forward. “Yours is perfect.”

I resist the urge to shiver at the quiet menace in his gaze. “You can’t have mine.”

“I figured you were talking to him when he did not come charging in to rescue you, as I expected.” He shakes a finger at me, and his little smile returns. “That was when I knew, this one had potential. This one could hold back instead of going mad. This one could do the trick. And since I have his mate, I assume he’ll want to do as I say.”

I force myself to show no expression, no alarm. “What is it you want?”

“I want him to go through the Rift, of course. I want to see if it’s even possible.” He gives me a fake benevolent smile. “That’s all that I ask—that he fly to it and see if he can pass through.”

“You can turn into a dragon. You have a battle form. You do it.”

“And risk turning into a mad, frothing creature like the rest of them?” Azar chuckles. “I think not. It’s far too dangerous for me to contemplate. Until I know that it’s safe to switch forms, I am stuck as a ‘human.’” He says the word with obvious distaste and picks at his food once more. “That is why I am interested in your friend. He can fly up there and try to go through.”

“Is that safe?”

He shrugs. “All the more reason to have someone else test it other than me.”

If it were easy, would we not have already tried it? The Rift is very high up. I do not know if I can make it without injuring myself.

I don’t even want you to try, I send back to him quickly. Azar’s attitude is freaking me out. Easy to be casual when you’re not the one risking your neck.

I can attempt it, Dakh tells me.

And what if you go through and can’t come back? I panic at the thought. I don’t want you to leave me here alone. Just the thought terrifies me. You can’t leave me, Dakh. Not when we’ve just found each other. The thought of spending the rest of my life without him seems…unbearable.

“You are discussing it, I can tell,” Azar says smoothly. “What are your thoughts?”

“We’re going to decline,” I tell him. “There is zero incentive for my dragon to risk himself trying to fly back through.” I shake my head. “We don’t know that he’d be able to make it back.”

“Ah, but you are his mate. If there is a chance to come back, he would take it to be at your side.” He gives me another one of those strange smiles. “It is yet another reason that your dragon is far more optimal than my own. He has a reason to return.”

“No. Just no.”

He picks up a piece of pancake that he’s shredded with his fingers. “Perhaps I’m not expressing myself well. It is so difficult to do so with spoken words instead of thoughts.” His eyes narrow at me. “You can tell your dragon that if he does not fly to the Rift and report back, I am going to kill his mate. Horribly.”

I stare at him, shocked.

“I’m afraid I grow tired of playing nice.” His little smile is polite despite his awful words. “I know you think to outsmart me, my dear, so let me, as you humans say, put all the cards out on the table. I know you are holding your dragon back.”

I say nothing.

He arches an eyebrow at me. “Come, I know your little game. I know drakoni instinct. I know he should have charged in here, breathing fire, looking to rescue his sweet little mate from our clutches. And when that didn’t happen, I figured you were either stupid or bargaining with him. So I had my men free you. Give you information about this place, just in case you were too dull-witted to figure things out on your own. Still no dragon, which tells me that you think you can beat me at my own game.” The look he gives me is scornful. “I am Salorian. Why do you think your precious drakoni serve us? It is because we are far more intelligent than them. They cannot hope to beat us in games of wit or skill. They are our brute force. And humans are certainly no match for us.”