Dragon Blood

Bonus Chapter 1

Hi Readers,

This bonus chapter is something I wrote after a really weird night and I was originally planning on stuffing it into chapter 50. However, it just made things too long and there has already been a lot of fluff between major plot points in this monster, so here it is separate and on it's own. There may be a few more bonus chapters at the end as well. There are a few more really sweet character moments that just don't fit into the main story. 

I also wanted to express my true and honest gratitude to anyone and everyone who has ever given this book a chance. At the time of posting this, Dragon Blood has nearly reached 5000 reads, over 1000 votes, and almost 1000 comments. I never once thought I would ever reach this point when I started back in November 2020. This has gone from a way to deal with stress to a passion project and I have never been so excited.

So thank you. All of you. I would not have reached this point if it weren't for all the support you have given me. I love and appreciate every single one of you.

~

Zesstra chewed gently on her bottom lip and tugged gently at the ends of her hair. She blinked at the books in front of her and realized she hadn't read a single word. She reached out with her spare hand to touch the page and focus her attention.

A second later, her mind began to wander again. It wandered straight the shifter outside the door on the phone. The shifter representing her people on the Counsel. Atticus Shaw. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably, and her eyes lowered to half mast. Her teeth sunk deeper into her lip and twisted her hair even tighter around her finger.

She physically shook her head, trying to shake him from her mind. She had to concentrate. She needed to find something to help Rhia and Nolan and... She wouldn't think his name again. He was too much of a distraction. She never struggled like this with her books before. She had always loved to study, it was the one thing she knew she was good at... so why couldn't she think straight?

A small cat that glowed with pure white light hopped onto the table and pressed her face into Zesstra's hand, purring loudly. When she tried to shoo her away, she sprawled across the pages on her back and swatted at her master's fingers. "You are not helping." Zesstra scolded the familiar and poked her nose.

She mewed and stretched out, further obscuring the pages. Zesstra leaned back away from the table and frowned at the cat. Eos was, as all familiars were, an extension of her consciousness and magic. Her pitch-black eyes peered up at Zesstra as if to remind her that this physical distraction might as well be her own fault. Because if she kept looking, there was a good chance she would find something. And if she found something she might have to face him. Her brother.

Zenith.

Okay, half brother, but they were still family in the most traditional sense of the word. To a lot of the other elven clans, blood ties were stronger than any magic or personal experience. At least, that's what they said. The elves said a lot. It was a maze of politics that she was still trying to navigate.

But Zenith had nothing to do with politics. He wasn't a political issue to her or her clan. It was a matter of self-preservation. Her brother was insane. The way he had been raised within the warrior caste, the way practiced his radiance, the magic special to the Shadowblade's, and the magic itself... it had all eaten away at his rational mind. He craved war and destruction. It was now all he knew.

It was why, for so long, the Tenebrarum didn't have a home territory. Their 'ancestral' homeland had been abandoned and paved over by humans millennia ago. She would have to consult books so old they might as well contain nothing but legends to remember where they were supposed to be. They travelled from land to land as sell-swords and private armies, sticking close to any culture that mass-produced conflict.