Exactly the answer Sam had expected. What he hadn’t anticipated was the undertone in the Dragon’s emotional broadcast. Hunger. His knees felt weak; he hadn’t thought about being eaten. He felt his resolve waver, then he remembered Hanae and Begay. They were good people whose lives had been cut short at the whim of this beast. He knew very little about the others who had been killed that night in the Tir, but it still added up to too many deaths at Haessuch’s orders. Tonight would be the end. Sam straightened to his full height, craning his neck to stare into the face of the Dragon. Haesslich’s fangs glittered in the moonlight.