Two years had passed since the brightest night. Two years since Burn had gone out of her way to destroy the SkyWing egg and ruin the prophecy. Two years since Burn made her first mistake.

She'd never meant to stumble upon an enemy army on her way home. She'd never meant to bump into the stray soldier. She'd never meant to see him again. After her mother's death and the start of the war, she'd sworn him off. He was an enemy now, she could have nothing to do with him. She should've had nothing to do with him in the first place.

But now she was stuck with the product of it.

Burn had stopped meeting with him almost a year earlier. She thought it was the end of everything, the end of being in love with an enemy, but she was horribly wrong.

The egg lay in a nest of blankets in front of her. Burn's tail lashed behind her as she stared at it. Her soldier backed away from her uncomfortably, his eyes following her tail.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?"

"No," Burn snapped, keeping her eyes fixed on her egg.

"Are you going to destroy it?" her soldier asked.

"No," Burn repeated. "Stop asking so many questions, Six-Claws."

"You asked for me to come assist you with making the decision," Six-Claws reminded her. "How am I supposed to do that without asking questions?"

Burn let out a frustrated growl and turned to face him. "At least try not to be so insufferable," she hissed. "Or else I'll decapitate you and put your head on display for the whole kingdom to see."

Six-Claws instantly backed off and clamped his mouth shut. Burn sighed and turned back to her egg. "I obviously can't keep it."

"Because of who the father is?" Six-Claws asked hesitantly.

"No," Burn replied. "Because there are some dragons who are still loyal to my mother. She refused to let us have dragonets. If any of those dragons find out, my dragonet's life will be in danger. I won't know who to trust." She let out a sad and irritated sigh. "Keeping it is a risk I cannot take."

Six-Claws stepped forward to stand beside Burn, keeping a few talon-lengths between them. "I'm sure there's plenty of dragons out there who'd love to care for it," he said. "I can think of a couple dragons, and they'd all be lovely parents. They'd give your dragonet the life you'd want for her."

"I don't trust it with anyone in the Kingdom of Sand," Burn admitted. "It cannot stay."

Six-Claws stared thoughtfully at the egg for a few moments.

"I know someone outside of the kingdom who can take it," he said after a little while. "He'll provide it wonderful care."

Burn shot him a look. "He? You're not giving it to someone who can serve as a mother?"

"I can look for someone else if you want me to," Six-Claws offered.

Burn was quiet for a heartbeat, then shook her head. "The longer it stays here, the more danger it's in. Bring it to him, just make sure it's safe."

Six-Claws reached out to grab the egg, then stopped and glanced over at the larger SandWing. "Are you sure about this?" he asked. "There's a chance you may never meet your dragonet. You may never see what it grows to be. Are you sure you want to lose that?"

"My decision has been made," Burn said, ignoring the heavy feeling in her chest. "Don't second-guess it."

"Very well," Six-Claws said, dipping his head. He scooped up the egg in his talons. "I'll get moving right away."

"Good," Burn said. "The sooner the better."

"Your dragonet will be safe," Six-Claws promised. "You can be sure of that."

"Go quickly," Burn said, turning away and flicking her wing.

Six-Claws hurried away and hopped onto the ledge of the window. He looked over his shoulder at Burn. Her back was turned to him. He considered saying something, then decided against it and took off into the night.

"You said you wanted to meet me here?"

Dune limped over to the dragon, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Yes," Morrowseer replied. "I met one of your old friends. He-"

"Who?" Dune demanded instantly, his gaze almost hopeful.

"He didn't say his name," Morrowseer growled, annoyed by the interruption. "He was an odd thing," he added. "He had more claws than I've ever seen a dragon have."

"Six-Claws!" Dune cried happily. "What did he say?"

"I was getting to that," Morrowseer snapped. He reached into the pouch he had wrapped around his neck and pulled out the delicate object. "He asked me to bring you this."

Dune's eyes widened. "An egg?" he said. "Where'd it come from?"

"Nobody you like," Morrowseer responded, passing the egg to Dune. "But don't let that change how you care for it."

"Where did it come from?" Dune repeated, his tone more demanding.

Morrowseer took off his pouch and passed that to Dune as well. He took the egg as Dune put it on. "Burn," he told him, handing the egg back to him.

Dune took it back and stared at it in shock. "Burn?" he repeated.

"Don't let word spread," Morrowseer said. "The whole reason you have that dragonet is so nobody knows Burn had an egg."

"She... agreed to this?" Dune asked after a moment. "She knows I have it?"

"No," Morrowseer told him. "Your friend didn't tell her. All he said was he knew a safe place for the egg, and she agreed to let him take it."

"She must trust Six-Claws a lot," Dune commented.

Morrowseer just huffed. Dune put the egg in the pouch Morrowseer had given him. "I'll bring it to the cave, though I'm not sure the others will be happy to have another dragonet to care for."

"The others will just have to deal with it," Morrowseer said. "This dragonet is extremely important."

"So are the dragonets of your prophecy," Dune pointed out.

The big NightWing leaned closer to him. "This dragonet is more important," he hissed. His breath stank of rotten prey. Dune had to force himself not to pull away.

Morrowseer stood at his full height again. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight. "I expect you'll care for it as you care for the others."

"I won't judge it based on its parents, no matter how much hatred I may feel toward its mother," Dune promised. "This dragonet is safe in the care of me and the other guardians."

"It better be," Morrowseer snarled. Without another word, he spread his massive star speckled wings and took off into the sky. Dune almost instantly lost sight of him as he blended into the night. He stared at the sky for a few moments, then made his way into the labyrinth of caves that lie underneath the cliffs.

"Keep the dragonets away," Kestrel demanded.

Rose, a light pink SkyWing and one of the kinder guardians, led the five dragonets aways from the cave. The curious little dragons peeked around her, but she quickly hurried them away.

"Come on," she said. "We can come back and see later."

Dune crouched down beside the hatching egg. Cracks spread across the shell, more appearing every couple of seconds.

Asha let out a cry of delight as she watched. "This moment always feels so precious to me," she said, her eyes shining.

Hvitur and Webs watched from a distance. Hvitur's eyes were unfocused, as if he was looking at something that was beyond the walls of the caves. He'd been a completely different dragon ever since Burn attacked him on the cliff ledge.

Webs looked a little uncertain as he watched, like he was having his doubts about the hatching dragonet.

Kestrel's gaze was unreadable as she watched.

Another crack spread across the eggshell. There was almost no part of the egg that wasn't cracked.

With a final crack, the egg split apart and a small dragonet tumbled out. Gasps echoed throughout the cave as they laid their eyes on the newborn dragon. Its scales had the light sandy colors of a SandWing, but its underbelly was light blue and it had the spikes of an IceWing.

"Burn's daughter is a hybrid," Webs breathed.

"It can't be!" Dune cried, pulling away a little. "Burn hates hybrids. She'd never have an egg with an IceWing."

"Or so you think," Kestrel said. "Did you ever think she'd have a dragonet in the first place?"

"No," Dune admitted slowly. "It's just... This is the last thing I expected from her."

Kestrel shrugged. "So Burn's not the dragon you expected her to be. You found this out when she tore your wing." She stepped toward the dragonet and crouched down beside Dune. "She needs a name."

Webs moved forward and stood beside them. Asha bounded to their sides, joy radiating off of her like a ray of sun.

"Frostdune might fit her," Webs said.

"No," Dune said instantly, standing up. "If Burn found out her dragonet has a name with my name in it, she'll be furious. Mine and Six-Claw's life might be put in danger."

"What about Hare?" Asha said.

"Hare," Kestrel repeated. "That's a lovely name."

Dune looked over at Hvitur, who hadn't moved from his spot. "What do you think?" he asked.

Hvitur glanced over at him, then huffed and stalked out of the cave. Dune watched him go. Once the IceWing was gone, he turned back to the little hybrid.

"I like Hare," Webs said approvingly.

"Hare it is then," Dune said.

The dragonet looked up at the bigger dragons, blinking her blue-ish gray eyes. She stumbled forward on her tiny talons and poked Kestrel's leg with one of her little white claws.

"Morrowseer said she's more important than the other dragonets," Dune said. "We must keep her safe at all costs."

"We will," Kestrel said, her eyes fixed on Hare.

"Nothing will happen to her," Asha promised, crouching down to look closer at Burn's daughter. "We'll make sure of that."