Page 138 of Under Restless Skies

I take a shaky, deep breath, my body still trembling as I recall the stench, the blood, the body parts.

“He eats them.”

“No.” Alayel covers his mouth with a hand. “And you saw it?”

My voice comes out with difficulty, my stomach churning at the memory—the stench, the blood. “I didn’t see him eating her, but I heard him, and saw scattered human remains. Nothing was burned.”

He holds me close against his chest. “By Vigorlu, that must have been horrible.”

“It was.”

His hands caress my hair, and I just want to collapse and cry again, cry in a place where I feel safe, protected, except that my eyes are still dry.

He kisses my cheek. “I’ll never let that happen to you.”

His words are sweet, and yet… “But that doesn’t solve the problem, does it?”

“Celine? I’m so sorry.”

I move away from him. “I mean everyone. I mean the fact that this academy brings in recruits just so we feed Auranius.”

He stares at me, then takes a deep breath. “I see what you’re saying, but at the same time… Think, Mayara. We got a monster to protect us, right? There must be a price. There’s obviously a price. If Auranius wants to eat the dead recruits, what difference does it make? You think burning them is much better? It isn’t. Have you ever smelled hair being burned? It would have been just as disturbing.”

“There are cows raised for Auranius. There is food for him.”

Alayel shrugs. “It might not be enough. He might have a preference.”

I scoff. “So it’s absolutely fine for you. Your colleagues might become dragon food and you see no issue with it.”

He grimaces. “It’s obviously distasteful, but not that much different from what everyone is told.”

I can’t believe him. “So if I die tomorrow, and then Auranius chomps at my body, you won’t care?”

“I’ll be more than devastated if you die, Mayara. That’s not the point.”

“If it was you, would you want that?”

He gives me a casual half-shrug. “I have no plans for my body after death.”

“Can’t you see? The academy, the Sky Guard, they’re organized in such a way that recruits and sentinels always die.”

His playful tone fades at once, and he frowns. “The attacks are real. You saw one of them.”

“We saw gliders crashing against each other. Do you think flying against dragons is really effective?”

He pauses. “Isn’t it supposed to disorient them? To be honest, I found it weird when I came to Dracolius, but I don’t think the kingdom would spend so much time and resources on something useless.”

“I’m not saying it’s useless, I’m saying it’s horrific. It’s to feed Auranius.”

“I don’t think they want sentinels to die, Mayara. Also, isn’t Auranius the only thing standing between us and certain destruction? If he doesn’t protect us, the riders will overtake us. Some choices are hard, but must be made. Of course, it doesn’t change your shock at seeing what happened to your friend. I’m so sorry.”

“You knew about it, didn’t you?” I mutter, no anger or accusation in my voice. “About what Auranius does with the dead recruits.”

“I didn’t. Believe it or not, they don’t share secrets with me. That said, this explanation makes much more sense than believing that a gigantic dragon who can do whatever he wants spends time working as a funeral pyre for humans. And when an explanation finally makes sense, it’s hard to dispute it.”

I don’t know why I’m disappointed with Alayel, why I thought he would be shocked, when I know that all he cares about is getting what he wants. I don’t know why this new wedge between us is pointing at my heart.

“They could at least tell us,” I say, my voice small.