“He’sfine.”
His eyes narrowed knowingly, as if he’d heard more than I meant to reveal. “Your presence is missed.”
My head snapped up. I studied him, confused. He’d sounded irritated by my presence a moment ago. Perhaps this was just Asrael, unreadable and cold.
“Stay,” he ordered. I wasn’t sure if he was addressing me, or Rees, or both of us equally.
He turned and disappeared into the back. I offered Reese the back of my hand to sniff, but he lunged happily past my fingers and butted his head into my thigh. I knelt and began to pet him.
Fear strode out of the back. He was bare to the waist, wearing fitted pants; he’d obviously come from training, since he glistened with sweat.
Unappealing. It was deeply unappealing, the way his skin shone over those chiseled muscles, the power of his arms across his chest, the ridges of his abs…and worst of all, the bright golden eyes in the cruelly handsome face.
That swell of joy seeing him was atraitor.
Fuck.
Despite everything…
I pushed the thought away.
“Come on in. The door’s always open to you.” Fieran held the door to the hall beyond the common room open, and as if he could decipher my unraveling thoughts about his cool reaction to my betrayal, he added, “Little traitor.”
“We’ve talked before about your terrible choice in nicknames.”
“You’re still my Never,” he promised me as I followed his broad, tattooed shoulders into his room.
Warmth lit in my chest, and fuck that. “I don’t have time to banter with you. I have to get downstairs for training.”
“Of course. Sit and tell me what you need.” Fear settled himself into the window seat and gave me a distinctly devilish look.
“I’m worried about Tay.”
He looked pointedly. I sighed and joined him, sitting on the edge nearest the room. The breeze coming in through the window teased my hair, lifting it wildly around my face. The thought of falling into thatwind, feeling my wings spread, and being buoyed up was both heady and terrifying.
Fieran leaned back against the other arched side of the window, looking comfortable, as if he owned the skies. I supposed he did. “What’s wrong with Tay?”
“I think he’s enchanted by the queen.”
He nodded. “She seeks to control you through him. It doesn’t surprise me that she has her hooks in him, in case you try to send him away.”
“We should have gotten him out of here the moment that she healed him?—”
“Do you think there was a moment when she had healed him but not yet enchanted him?” he asked.
I tucked my hair behind my ears, chewing my lower lip.
“Not every turn of fortune or fate is somehow your fault.” He sounded weary, and I wasn’t sure if he meant the words for himself just as much as me. “You’ve done the best you could. You saved his life. That was your wish.”
The memory of the wishflower flared to mind.Save my brother’s life and my sister’s magic.“Is his life truly saved if he’s in the queen’s clutches?”
“We are all in the queen’s clutches,” he reminded me. “You saved him. You saved yourself, surviving the Trials?—”
“We’ll see if I’m claimed.”
“I have no doubt a dragon will be drawn to your bright flame. Mortal though you might be.”
I scoffed at the flattery. “I’ve been through the book of Clan Amber dragons. There are all these stories of bravery and fighting from the First Wars through now. But I’ve seen no reference to a mortal.”
