Even the embracing warmth Coquina’s home cave provided couldn't chase away the cold shadows that had seeped between her scales. She spoke little of the day’s events to her Mator. Enough to chase away her concern, bring forth even a spark of pride at the task, but nothing more.

Though she tried to hide it, Coquina was sure that her Mator had sensed her discontentment. After bringing her up, Evin had sharp eyes and a speedy gaze that could pounce on every sliver of emotion her eldest juvenile let slip. Coquina had always held her thoughts closer to her heart, rather than letting them spill out on her expression and latch onto her words like Dior did, but that didn’t put her at any sort of advantage when it came to their Mator.

Still, it was also the middle of the night, and so Coquina was spared from a round of questioning in favour of much-needed sleep. Not that she could get any grasp on sleep. Even now, curled so that her tail rested beside Dior’s and the heated rock soothed her scales, her mind refused to quiet.

If anything, she wished that her Mator would drag her out and check what was wrong. It might have helped her more. But she also knew that her Mator was tired, and so was she, if she’d let herself be.

With a disgruntled sigh, Coquina shifted yet again, careful not to nudge Dior as she rolled onto her other side. Her left wing splayed out against the wall. She pulled it in, then let it sprawl once more, comfortable in neither position.

It was nothing physical that prevented her from sleeping. It was the nag of her thoughts as they raced in circles, punctuated by sparks of fire and shards of ice.

I do not want to have a Proeliar in my clan that I cannot trust to complete a job for me.

There came the echo of Latriis’ voice, the coldest of all. Even now, they made Coquina shiver and press her sides against the stone of the cave. With them came the stormy seas of their speaker’s eyes, staring on endlessly from the depths of her mind, filled with freezing scorn.

If you cannot, then you are of no use to me or this clan.

Each word was a beat, and between them came its echo, soft but sharp, like the tip of a Celïsora spike tapping steadily at her heart.

Reicio.

Latriis would cast her out and label her Reicio without a second thought. With every thump of her heart, that fact became clearer to Coquina, until it was the only thing that filled her mind.

It would solve problems for her, really. No more complaints of a strange white dragon. No more watching the scales painted by demons, waiting for them to summon disasters.

Instead, they would all be cast away, and instead a wandering outcast would be called demon. The first dragon she saw would kill her out of fear, suspecting they’d seen some Selen-induced ghost of moonlight. They might only realise later that she was real, when her blood coated their weapons in the same scarlet as their own, when it was too late for regret or second thoughts.

Coquina had to prove her worth, and if murder was the sole way to do that, then she would have to.

Rising to provide an alternative idea, the broken body of the guard rose to her mind’s surface. Green scales stained red. Eyes forever extinguished. A desperate flame of alarm that would never emerge.

Hissing softly to herself, Coquina squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to compress the image until it became only dust. It remained.

She thrutched again, tossing herself sideways, and her tail whipped into Dior’s side. Cracking an eye open, she retracted it slowly, but her brother didn’t even flinch. She snorted a laugh. If only she could sleep as deeply as he did.

When she closed her eyes again, this time relaxing them as she reached for sleep, the red dragon loomed out from between her thoughts. For once, she welcomed his appearance. She focused on the bright amber of his eyes, and the ruby colour that rimmed his wings, and the sparks of fire he released as he exhaled. His presence was warm, uncomfortably so, but he at least helped to thaw the cold and the ice.

Letting herself sink into the stone, she watched him closer. He did nothing more than stare at her. As she focused, she saw herself in the vision again, looking back at him with the same amazement that filled her now.

She frowned. Her claws were stained with scarlet, as if his scales had leaped from his back and wrapped themselves around their tips. Her tail was, too - an even richer red, more like the colour of the horns on his head.

But before she could begin to fathom what it was, the scene shifted, and they were both gone. Two more dragons stood in their place. They were a little out of focus, as if viewed from the air at a great distance, but she could make out their outlines and enough splashes of colour to work out what they were.

One was a Dâstri, with scales the pale gold-tinged yellow of desert sands and slitted green eyes. The other, from the webs between his talons and the fins that stretched across his blue-scaled back, was a Flūvio, with eyes the dark brown of muddied earth.

It was an odd combination. The likelihood of a river dweller and a dragon of the desert meeting for more than a flashing visit was rather low. Yet Coquina sensed that these two knew each other.

No, more than that. They cared for each other. They enjoyed one another’s company.

An unrealistic idea, but then so was a dragon with red scales. But all three of them let calm finally settle over Coquina.

Perhaps they were just a distraction from more disturbing thoughts. Perhaps they provided a sort of company. Now she was alone and afraid, with only herself to share thoughts with, they cared to give her solace.

Crazy. Everything about the thought was crazy. But it worked.

For the first time since she’d touched down in the Peak Circle and first set eyes on Latriis, a real, genuine smile curved Coquina’s snout.