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"That I let myself be led to certain death?" he muttered "Yeah, me too"

"No, that you so easily accepted my explanation" She studied his unreasonably beautiful face "Most de my years in the pits I was locked in the cataco a clan chief" His s what a person will reveal when they face death on a nightly basis"

Nefri gave a slow nod Clan chiefs were strongly discouraged fro the trials they endured, even with each other No doubt in an atte a chief

But there were always exceptions Including Nefri, who didn’t hesitate to question chiefs on their own experiences

"Ah, he revealed the secrets of the battles of Durotriges"

"Only save a lift of his shoulder "He claion"

"It’s my hypothesis that the creature was a half-breed Which ant surroundings

"That there must be a full breed around somewhere," he easily followed her implication

"One who could enter this world," she said "At least, that was the hypothesis"

"Your hypotheses tend to have an uncanny habit of being proven right"

She wrinkled her nose During her battle with the strange lizardlike creature with leathery wings who’d nearly barbecued her during her last trial, she’d become convinced there had to be soons Unfortunately, the folklore of the beast had become so twisted over the centuries it was almost impossible to discover as truth and as myth

"This one was more difficult than others to prove one way or another There’s very little inforons"

"What about other clan chiefs?" he deons if they had to fight them?"

"From the few chiefs ould discuss their trials, I learned that the battles are never the same for any of us" That was an understatement The trials were so wildly different for each combatant that Nefri had wondered if they actually were sent to different places Then, she’d become convinced they all went to the same place only at different times She couldn’t prove her theory, of course, but the idea that the battlegrounds floated in a different space-ti that made sense

"I have only heard of one other clan chief who claions existed Unfortunately he disappeared before I could discover if his belief caes or from some other source"

"Perhaps he was my unfortunate roommate"

"It’s possible"

"So what did you do?"

"I searched through the ancient texts," she said "Then after I learned all that ritten about the mysterious creatures, I used my medallion to search for a doorway It took several centuries, but eventually I discovered this place"

"So you did"

The low voice filled the air as the double doors to the right of the throne flew open to reveal the creature of ly, Baine’s huht be expected for alizard with a forty-foot wingspan and an elongated body that weighed in at over a ton In the past, the Lu deon since it shared the sa snout and mouthful of razor teeth; not to ic But the Lu was half the size of the ons and they couldn’t shape-shift

This particular dragon had chosen a leanly muscular human male body with a narrow face that had delicate, Asian features His straight black hair fell just short of his shoulders and he earing nothingview of the nuloith a ht of the chandelier More unnerving, the strange syed colors as they crawled over his pale, perfect skin

Al And so distracting that it was all too easy to forget just how lethal this creature truly was

At least until you looked into the al with an aic to scorch the world

"Por dios," Santiago growled, and Nefri instinctively stepped between hion