I'd been angry at him for a lot longer than the past few minutes. For the first time in a nearly a year, I felt the rage slide away, out of reach.
"It's been a little less than a year," I said, answering his earlier question.
He must have read something in my voice, because he took up a more casual pose, relaxing on the mountainside. "I am surprised, really. I'd have thought it would take much longer."
"You're not a slave to this anymore, are you?" I asked, flashing the worn silver-colored ring.
He shook his head. "No."
There were things I wanted to say, but I was too much my father's son to be comfortable with most of them. So I asked for more information, just to hear his voice and know I hadn't made this all up.
"Are you the last of them, now?" I asked.
"There are other dragons, Ward, though they've always been rare. Now that the poison is gone from the magic, I expect some of them will return."
"You can do something for me," I said abruptly. "I've always wondered what a dragon looks like."
He grinned at me, suddenly, looking even more like Tosten than usual. Bouncing to his feet, he took several steps back and changed, the lines of his human form seeming to flow naturally into something much larger.
We'd both forgotten about Pansy, who stiffened and pulled until his reins just barely stayed where I'd dropped them. By the time I'd calmed him down, there was a dragon in Hurog once more.
He was easily twice as large as the stone dragon, and much more fantastical. His narrow muzzle was deep midnight blue as were his feet and sharp talons. Above the muzzle and its businesslike teeth, the scales lightened to violet, a lighter shade than his Hurog blue eyes, altered only in shape, which glittered against the darkness of his face. His wings, half folded, were edged in gold and black; the scaled skin connecting the fragile wing bones was lavender.
Like Pansy, I was frozen, but by his beauty, not by fear.
"I've never seen so many shades of purple," I said, and, gods deliver me, he preened, flexing the spikes that ran along his spine and spreading his wings to full extension.
The sudden movement was almost too much for Pansy, and he whistled a shrill challenge as he rose on his hind legs. Instantly, the dragon closed his wings and folded gently back into the Oreg I'd known.
"Sorry," he said. "I forgot I'd scare the horse."
Worriedly, Pansy huffed and snorted, making certain that the horse eater had gone and wouldn't bother his people.
"Siphern's oath, Oreg," I breathed, "that was the most glorious sight I've ever seen."
He hugged himself nervously. "Does that mean I can stay here?"
Bone deep, a feeling of great contentment fell over me, washing away the conflicting rage and joy I'd been torn between.
"You're my brother," I said, as I had to Tosten. "You'll always have a home here."
As we walked down the mountain trails, I asked, "Oreg, how is it that your human form looks so much like Tosten and most of the rest of the Hurogs I know?"
He grinned and peered up at me from under his eyelashes. "Ward, I thought you knew. Hurog means dragon."
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Dragon Bones h-1 Page 28