Julie Kagawa - Inferno - the thrilling final novel in the Talon saga from New York Times bestselling author Julie Kagawa

Garret

“It’s late,” Tristan muttered. “That’s not a good sign.”

I glanced at him. There were four of us, sitting on or around an old black jeep, about two hundred yards from the tracks. Me, Tristan, Ember and Riley: two soldiers of St. George and two dragons waiting side by side. I could feel the subtle tension in the soldiers around me, both dragon and human; both sides uncomfortable with having the other so close. Riley and Tristan, in particular, seemed especially agitated. Probably because the first part of the mission involved dropping onto the train from dragonback, and to say neither seemed thrilled with that idea was a gross understatement. But as much as they might hate it, and each other, they would carry the mission through. Tristan because Martin had ordered it, and Riley because he knew we had to secure the Order’s help to reach the facility. I just hoped we could get through this night with no incidents. Missions were difficult enough when your team liked and respected each other; forcing two lifelong enemies to work together was a much riskier operation.

Beside me, Ember was quiet, watching the tracks as we waited on the passenger’s side of the jeep. Like me, she was dressed in black: black sweater, pants and a dark ski cap pulled over her bright red hair. Though for her part, she wouldn’t need them much longer. She seemed calm, far calmer than Riley or even Tristan, though my ex-partner hid his anxiousness well. I could feel the subtle heat of her body next to mine, tempting me to pull her close, but I stifled those urges for now. The mission took priority. I could feel Tristan watching us sometimes, stealing a glance when he thought I wasn’t looking, his expression caught between confusion and doubt. Like he was trying to puzzle something out, and neither of us were giving him the answers he expected.

Abruptly, Tristan’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and held it to his ear, then muttered a short “Roger that” a moment later. Lowering his arm, he glanced at me. “Ryan just gave the heads-up. Train’s on its way now. We’re about ten minutes from go time.”

Ember took a deep breath and looked at Riley. “Guess that’s our cue.”

Riley gave a curt nod, and the two dragons moved into the shadows, ducking behind the copse of trees at our backs and vanishing from sight. Tristan let out a furtive breath and glanced at my side of the Jeep.

“This is crazy. You realize that, right?”

Apparently, his enthusiasm for the heist had dulled when he’d realized he had to be part of it. “Yeah. I know.”

“We’re robbing a train—a freaking train—on dragonback. Two soldiers of St. George, flying in on dragons , to pull off a train heist in the middle of nowhere. I mean, stop for a second and really think about how ludicrous that sounds.”

I gave a half smile. “My whole year has sort of been like that.” Pushing myself off the car door, I walked forward a few steps and gazed down the tracks, looking for the telltale glimmer of the train. Briefly, I thought of all the things that had happened to me since I’d fled the Order in the company of dragons. Meeting the rogues. Being kidnapped by an ancient Eastern dragon. Discovering Talon’s clone army. Going to Brazil to meet the most powerful rogue in the world and the second-oldest dragon in existence. Any one of those things might give a normal soldier of St. George a nervous breakdown. All because I’d committed the strangest crime of all: falling in love with the enemy. “Actually, this is pretty far down the weirdness scale for me,” I told Tristan, who arched his brows. “I’m so desensitized to it now I don’t think I can be surprised anymore.”

Tristan shook his head. “Damn, Sebastian,” he muttered. “I don’t even want to know what you’ve been doing the past few months. Living with the lizards.” He snorted. “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“They’re not that different from us,” I told him. For a moment, a small, tired part of me wondered if I was wasting my breath, but I stomped on that voice. Convincing the Order was not going to be done overnight. We had made an amazing amount of progress already; I couldn’t expect Tristan to start trusting dragons after twenty-two years of trying to eliminate their entire race. “It’s not like I was living with robots or wild dogs,” I went on.

“You’ve said that before,” Tristan muttered.

“And I’m even more certain now.” I turned, narrowing my eyes at him. “I’ve lived with these dragons for months,” I said, holding his gaze. “I’ve fought beside them, argued with them, rescued a few from Talon and the Order and had my own ass saved a few times. I’ve spent more hours with these dragons than anyone else in the history of St. George ever has. I think I should know them, and their intentions, by now.”

“Easy, tiger.” Tristan held up his hands. “I’m not disagreeing with you. And...holy shit.”

I glanced calmly over my shoulder as two long, scaly forms prowled out of the shadows under the trees, their eyes glowing yellow and green in the darkness. They appeared without noise or warning, silent despite their relatively large size, wings and claws making no sound as they glided over the dirt. Tristan straightened, one hand dropping to his sidearm, making Cobalt curl a lip at him.

“Don’t be stupid, St. George,” the rogue growled, breaking the silence. With a snort, he stalked around the other side of the jeep, subtly putting the vehicle between himself and the soldier. “I’m already hating this enough as it is.”

My ex-partner blinked, probably from hearing the sarcastic voice and tone coming out of a dragon’s mouth. Another reminder that Riley and the dragon were the same—same creature, same personality—just wearing different forms.

Ember padded up behind me and laid her chin on my shoulder as she gazed at the tracks. Her scales were warm, not heavy or uncomfortable, and I could see the reflection of her glowing dragon eyes in the corner of my own gaze. I felt Tristan staring at us again, and wondered what he thought about having a dragon’s fire-breathing jaws and lethal fangs a breath away from your throat. I could almost hear him squirming uncomfortably against the jeep, thinking I was tempting fate. I felt nothing. Nothing but the calm stillness before a mission. If anything, the steady breathing of the dragon beside me, her dark wings casting us in even more shadow, only made me certain of our success. She knew what she had to do. This wasn’t anything new or strange. We’d been through so many crazy circumstances together that having a large crimson dragon leaning against me felt perfectly normal. Ember the dragon was no different than Ember the human. I trusted her with my life.

Now, if Tristan and Cobalt could tolerate each other long enough to get this done, and not kill each other on the way, things would be perfect.

“There it is,” Ember murmured.

My senses sharpened, and I raised my head, followed her gaze. A distant spotlight was cutting through the darkness, winking in and out through the trees. I could hear it, suddenly, the clank of metal on iron tracks, the rattle of dozens of cars, and I breathed slowly to control my heartbeat.

“All right,” Cobalt growled, and took a breath, as if he was psyching himself up to do something horribly unpleasant, like plunge his head into a bucket of spiders. “I guess it’s time. Let’s get this circus show on the road.”

I double-checked to make certain I had everything I needed as Ember stepped forward and lowered her wings, crouching slightly as she did. Careful to avoid her spines, I swung onto her back, settling in front of her wing joints. For a moment, I felt a weird sense of déjà vu. The last time I’d done this was the night Ember and Cobalt had broken me out of the Western Chapterhouse hours before my execution could’ve taken place. This was a very different scenario. So much had changed.