Father ordered me to be devoured before dawn. It would be best, he thought, to perform my sacrifice while the city still slept. I agreed on the condition that I deliver myself alone into the Dragon’s clutches – no armed escorts, no wall sentries watching from above. Our city had seen enough death, and Baal in heaven knew the Dragon wouldn’t give up a chance to s*******r more men.
Would he stop with me? I wondered.
Would he stop with me?My wrists shivered in their manacles against a gust of morning air. The glow of his camp rose in the distant gloom, breakfast fires sparking between tents. I shut my eyes to steady my thumping pulse. I didn’t want to be afraid. It was my choice to follow through with the lottery, my submission to Fortune’s will. If the Dragon were honest as he was cruel th
