asked the voice.“It’s … ” She licked her lips, trying to form the words in her head but still having to whisper them aloud. “It feels like too much. Too … loud.” She pressed her hands over her ears and crouched on the floor of a shadowy version of the Ironwood, keeping as low as she could, somehow figuring that might protect her. It was pure instinct to make herself small against the sheer power of that voice. A voice that belonged to a creature as old as the stars.“Is that better?”The voice still vibrated through her body, making her bones ache, but her ears no longer felt like they were going to start bleeding.She peeked out from behind her hair and gave a tentative thumbs-up. “Better.”The dragon—oh god, the dragon—took a gliding step toward her. It moved with the fluidity of water, its wings iridescent in the dawn light and its sinuous body reminding her of a giant snake. Where its tail flicked back and forth, trees fell and small animals ran for new cover.
