Dragon Joined by Rebecca Royce

reluctance showing in their slow movements. He wished he could
make it all happen immediately but he couldn’t. Sunset. It had to be then.
    “Dean.” Zane’s eyes glazed over. “My stomach. My bones. I
feel as if I’m burning from the inside out.”
    Verve joined Dean as he crossed to Zane. He’d never cured
anyone of an illness except for the time Steven had gotten the stomach bug. Then
he hadn’t so much cured him as waited it out by his side.
    He placed his hand on the other man’s forehead. “You feel
hot.”
    “I’m burning,” Zane screamed, his throat gone hoarse. He
pulled away from Dean, slamming into the counter and knocking off the pot that
simmered on the stove. The contents poured out onto the floor. Zane flapped
around, his arms and legs unsteady messes as he screamed “I’m burning” over and
over again.
    Verve grabbed Zane. He called out to Dean. “What’s
happening?”
    “I don’t know. Lie him down over there.” Dean pointed to the
table on the other side of the room. Striding over, he stared at his feet as he
crossed over the mess Zane had made when he’d hit the cooking pot. Corn,
potatoes, carrots and celery had been dumped onto the tile. He stopped moving
and stared down at the spilled food.
    “Zane.” His feet couldn’t go fast enough to the other man’s
side. “Did you eat from that food? The stuff you’re cooking. Did you eat it?”
    “Burning.” Zane could barely speak.
    “I’m sure he did.” Verve stared at Dean with wide eyes. “He
tastes as he goes.”
    Dean had checked the food supply earlier in the day when
he’d encountered Princess. He’d sniffed all of it. None of it had caused him to
sneeze, the only telltale sign that the vegetables had been given a dose of the
poison the warriors from New Strauss had brought with them to kill the dragons.
Nothing had been tampered with.
    “Does the food come from the storage room where the dragons’
food comes from?” It had never occurred to him to ask that question before. One
room for food containment. His heart beat fast against his ribs. But maybe not.
    Verve shook his head. “No. Our food gets stored here. Why?
Do you think there’s something wrong with it?”
    Dean didn’t want to answer until he knew for sure. “Show me
where it’s kept.”
    Zane pointed to a closet. “That’s a pantry. All the way at
the back.”
    Dean got to the door faster than he’d ever moved before.
Swinging it open, he looked inside. He hadn’t even reached the vegetables when
he started to sneeze. His eyes burned. He backed up to take a deep breath. Hell,
they’d have thought it was the onions and not given it a second thought.
    He walked to Zane, his footsteps the only noise in the room
besides the other man’s whimpering.
    “Zane.” He didn’t want to speak, didn’t wish to utter a
different word. Yet the whole responsibility for this tragedy fell on his
shoulders. He had to speak the truth, had to own it. “You’ve been poisoned.”
    “What?” Verve’s voice came out high pitched and shaky. For
the moment, Dean ignored him. Zane deserved his total attention.
    “Am I going to die?” His eyes were clear as he asked his
question.
    Dean had never lied to a warrior on a battlefield. He
wouldn’t now. “Yes, you are.”
    “Why?” One lone tear escaped Zane’s eye. Dean swallowed
through the lump in his throat. Zane had come so close to gaining freedom from
the dragons that he must have been able to taste it. Now, instead, he’d die.
    “A mistake. My people tried to poison the dragons.
Unfortunately it came to you instead. This is on me. They were following
orders.”
    Zane opened his mouth to speak but instead let out a soft
groan. His eyes turned to the gaze of the unseeing.
    Dean felt Zane’s death as if someone had stabbed him
repeatedly in the stomach. He stared down at the fallen human who had lived
under the rule of the dragons for longer than Dean could imagine. “I’m so
sorry.” He placed his hand