From the edge of the ground, Chelsea, Rosa, Matilda, and Margeret watched with expressions ranging from wonder to quiet fear. Chelsea's hand had gone to her mouth, her eyes shining. Rosa stood straighter, her face growing from shock to a smiling face. She had stopped getting surprised when it came to Jake.
Matilda's voluptuous figure seemed small in comparison now, but her gaze held a deep, personal warmth. Margeret clung to her mother's arm, her young eyes round with amazement.
Jake—no longer fully human in form, yet still himself in mind and spirit—lowered his great head slightly, his serpentine eyes meeting Raani's.
The transformation had not erased his thoughts or his bonds; if anything, it sharpened them, the dragon blood singing in harmony with the man he had been.
He let out a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the ground, a sound that was part greeting, part promise.
Raani stepped forward and dropped to one knee before Jake.
