of the cold glint of steel as it moved toward her throat. Pain sliced under her chin, and magic slammed out of her.
Lucas yelled. The knife fell out of his hand, burning red. It clattered onto the ground, and Aurora kicked it, one arm outstretched to shove him away, the other reaching for her own dagger. Light flickered between them, illuminating Lucas’s panicked face.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
“I had to,” he said. “If you understood—”
“Had to what? Try to kill me?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t let you go down there.”
“Why?” she spat. “Because it’s too dangerous?”
Her fist tightened around the dagger. She stepped forward, forcing Lucas back against the wall. “Why did you attack me?” she said.
“You don’t understand.” He glanced down the tunnel. His whole body shook now. “You’re fools, you and Finnegan both. The dragons already destroyed most of the kingdom. Who knows what they’ll do if you interfere with them? What if you make them cross the water? I can’t let you do that.’”
Farther down the tunnel, a dragon screamed.
“So you came all the way here to kill me?” Her hand shook around the dagger. “Why not stab me on the docks and be done with it?”
“I hoped you’d turn back,” Lucas said. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”
“But you tore off my necklace,” she said. “You thought it would stop us; you knew it would upset the dragon. This is your fault. You got Finnegan hurt.”
“No,” he said. He did not flinch. “You did.”
But she would not back down now. She had to do this. “Go,” she said. She gestured down into the tunnel with her dagger. “You can lead the way.”
TWENTY-FIVE
THE PATH FLATTENED OUT, BECOMING SO NARROW that no more than three people could have walked side by side. Now she understood why they had only encountered one dragon while climbing down here. Most of the creatures would not fit. There must have been many similar tunnels, a hundred paths into the heart of the mountain, vast entryways where dragons flew.
They turned a corner, and Lucas stopped so suddenly that Aurora almost slammed into him. She had to drop her hand at the last moment, her dagger narrowly missing his back.
The tunnel ended in a huge cavern, a dome of heat and stone. The walls gleamed with jewels, and the ceiling was so high that Aurora could barely see it, except for the points where dragons skimmed it with their burning wings. Their shrieks echoed from wall to wall, magnified a hundred times.
For a moment, all she could do was stare, taking in every inch of it. There were so many dragons. So much fire.
She began to walk to the center of the cavern, weaving around stalagmites that glistened as though magic had been caught in the stone. She ran her hand along one, almost expecting it to scorch her palm. It was cool and rough to the touch, tugging on her skin.
She craned her neck, watching the shadows swoop around the stalactites.
Come, she thought.
The air swelled with heat, and Aurora’s magic pounded in response, making her dizzy. Come here, she thought again, and this time she sent out magic, too, a ball of flame that darted around her.
Behind her, a dragon roared. Aurora turned as it thudded to the ground, its neck writhing, eyes gleaming.
Aurora took one shaky step forward. It would not hurt her, she knew. They were alike, fire and blood and Celestine’s magic pounding through their veins. The dragons would not hurt her.
She stretched out her hand, palm turned upward. Heat sank into her skin.
She glanced at the dragon’s chest, searching for a weakness, for some hint of how to take its heart. But she could not harm a creature that was so fearsome, so awe-striking as this. She could not pull out its heart and place it under her thrall.
The dragon continued to watch her.
But neither of them was watching Lucas. He snatched Aurora’s wrist, twisting it until the dagger fell from her hand. She yelped, magic sparking within her, but Lucas had already grabbed the weapon. He slashed at her side as she jerked away. The tip of the knife sliced her skin. Blood stained her tunic red.
Lucas lurched forward with the dagger again, and she scrambled away. The dragon rose onto its hind legs. Its scream shook every stone in the cavern. It twisted its head, nostrils flaring, eyes staring at the wound at Aurora’s side. Its head snapped to Lucas. He stumbled backward,