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She nodded.

Thinking of the people she'd known who'd died because of a betrayal, she had to agree.

He locked eyes with her. "Never forget that to trust someone -- anyone -- is to invite death. In our world, only the wary survive long."

"I wish you were wrong."

"Me too Kendra. Me too."

Her mind drifted back to Luminar Kossel's prediction. He had said that Illuminar had given him a message for her. He said someone would kill her and then save her life twice; that this person would be her best chance to have a true friend. Someone she could trust and with whom she could be completely open and honest. It sounded too good to be true, which experience told her meant that it probably was.

She put that out of her mind to focus on more pressing concerns.

She had a dragon to kill.

* * *

Ethan hefted his new war hammer as he waited for The Arena portcullis to open.

Well, it wasn't entirely new.

The handle was the original one Alana had made, though she'd originally mated it to a plain steel head