scrabbled against the tower, not caring if she fell. Falling would be better than being eaten alive.
But when the lizard came up underneath her, nearly half the size of Error, it lifted her up with its scaled head, dropping her off on the roof of the tower. She sprawled, shaking. Excalibur was still stuck in the stone, out of reach, as the taneen started sniffing her. Admittedly she didn’t remember much about Ketch, but she was certain these creatures weren’t supposed to be this big… or inside the city.
A primal fear took over. The kind that wasn’t organized and complicated like her fear of Mercer. It was bold and raw. A pounding, resounding, Oh, holy shit.
Taneens were only dangerous when they were hungry; that’s what her father had always promised. She glanced along the harsh, platelike scales folded into a hard ridge down its back, ending in a long, alarming tail. The large triangular head made its way to her face, huffing dry, hot breath into her hair. Its eyes were a bluish red that blazed purple when the sun lit on them.
The taneen backed off, cowering oddly before it shook like it was ridding itself of rain. Ari watched with a sort of horror as Morgana seeped out of its scales, shaking her bluish body, straightening her ethereal dress. “What a creature,” she whispered, seemingly enamored. “Powerful, savage, like the wolves of Earth. Hard to convince. She very much needs to eat you.”
“Were you… inside of it? Controlling it?” Ari asked, still breathing hard.
Morgana held her palms up. “You asked for my help. Are you, or are you not still dangling from the ledge of certain death?”
Ari scrambled to her feet, backing toward a doorway as the taneen regained its sense of self. Its scales lifted high, a hissing breath making it bare fine, sharp teeth.
“She’s in a mood, desperate to mate. Only there aren’t many of her kind left. She’s rather lonely, truth be told. Her last few hatchlings have died of hunger.”
“While that’s fascinating, Morgana, right now she looks pissed.”
“Not pissed. Starving.”
“Why didn’t you take her out of the city before you let go of her? She’s going to attack me any second!”
“Because you need to prove yourself. I’m not Merlin, who’ll give you chance after chance to fail on your way to success. With me, you lose once, and then it’s game over.” She laughed as if she’d finally, in all her long years, started to have fun. “Go on, Ari, King of Your Own Fate. Slay a dragon. Let’s see it.”
Ari gaped. This was like training with Merlin, only completely bonkers and deadly. “What do I get if I win?”
Morgana ticked her answers off on her fingers. “One, you survive. Two, you earn my help, and three, I’ll give you all the truths you crave. Every detail. All the foul answers and dark paths of your predecessors that Merlin is too scared to reveal.”
The taneen was taking Ari in, tasting the air with a forked tongue.
“Deal.” Ari searched out Excalibur, finding the blade lodged in a notch on the stone balcony—on the other side of the dragon. Because, holy shit, Kay was right; taneens were totally dragons. Ari called for help again and rattled the doorknob, but it was locked tight. Where is everyone? Did they go into hiding when I broke the barrier? Is Mercer on its way?
Ari made the terrible choice to glance at the sky. The taneen shot toward her and snapped its powerful jaws at her left leg. She jolted sideways, leaping onto the rim of the tower edge, only to reel backward from vertigo. Jumping down, the taneen twisted around itself in the tight space, trying to reach her, and she used its momentarily knotted limbs to climb over its back and dive for Excalibur.
She grabbed the handle and tugged—and nothing happened.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! You don’t budge now?” Ari yelled, yanking harder. The taneen took that moment to bite her shoulder. Luckily, it was the shoulder bearing the pauldron. The leather held back the sting of sharp teeth, but not the immense pressure of those powerful jaws. Ari howled with pain as Excalibur released from the stone.
She whipped the sword around with one hand, smacking the taneen on the large plated head. The top scale cracked, and the dragon gave a loud howling moan. She backed up, shaking her long neck while blood seeped out from the crack and down her wide face. Backing up, the creature