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I send Edie hut to hut, gathering straw and explaining to the villagers what is going to happen. She’s promising them good things—a better home, and a better life. I hope I can deliver. I hope I can give them everything they deserve. I hope I can do the same for Val and Edie.
Dart and the unicorns circle around me as I explain what we’re going to do; some of the unicorns stamp furiously, their nostrils flaring at the smell of smoke as Edie begins to light torches. She hasn’t fully transformed yet. Only her dragon wings are on display, and her fire breath, as she ignites the torches. She comes over to us, handing off torches to me, Val and Hermes.
Girl fire smells of dragon breath.
“Yes,” Edie says, and falls to one knee, as if begging for clemency. “I ate some of you in the past, bu
