“Do you know how many dragon shifters die in the Trials?” My mother sounded exasperated as she turned to me, her mouth tight with exasperation. “Why would I send you?”
“You’ve never been to the Trials! Why do we even do it if it’s killing dragon shifters? We obviously need them!”
I didn’t give her the chance to respond. It wasn’t like she was going to give me any answers anyway. I made my way back toward the cottage.
“Well, I made the decisions I made,” my mother called behind me, her voice infuriatingly calm. “And it’s too late to undo them.”
I felt so furious that she wouldn’t tell me anything. She’d made these huge decisions for me, hiding my mark.
Could the Trials really be that bad if you face them with your clan? With friends like I’d just seen?
But she was right, and that was why she was so calm. I couldn’t go offer myself up now. I was too old, it was too late to train.
When I set my basket of berries on the table just inside the house to keep them safe from the critters, Tay and Lidi were laughing about something.
They called to me, but I felt a sudden rise of panic at the thought of joining them and smiling when I had no answers. I pretended that I didn’t hear and closed the door behind me.
My feet carried me toward the village as I fretted.
Our mother was going to take Lidi’s magic away.
I would never choose Lidi’s magic over Tay’s life. If it came down to a choice between the two, there was no question. But there had to be another way.
I’d never left our village to go to the cities where the Fae cured mortals. I’d never been to the Night Market, where far more charms were sold than in Orx’s Shop in the village.
If I were a dragon shifter, I would have the proximity of power to cure Tay.
And if I worked for a Fae, if I’d left this little village and gone overthe mountains myself like Lidi jumped to do, I might at least know where to find a cure. Where to steal one.
If I returned to the village with a cure after working for the Fae, at least I’d have a story.
Surely the dragon shifters would be able to connect me with work. If Tay had enough time…that was the fear that haunted me. His health had faltered and then improved again over and over; my brother was a fighter in his own way. The dreadful possibility that this was the time he didn’t turn back toward health clung to me like heavy clothes in the lake, dragging me down.
If I had a plan—even though I would leave out the part where I stole from the godlike creatures who could kill us easily—maybe, as long as Tay’s health held and he wasn’t at any risk, my mother would agree to wait a little longer.
If I showed up at Fieran’s lodging, people would notice. People would think that I had a crush on him.
At this point, everyone in this village, regardless of gender and orientation, had a crush on Fieran. I rolled my eyes at the thought of me feeling self-conscious about it. Absolutely no one would be stunned that I wanted Fieran.
But that wasn’t why I was going.
When I knocked on the door of the only lodging house, the door swung open to Auntie Louise’s beautiful round face as she beamed at me in delight. Rarely did anyone in this village offer me such an unrestrained greeting, and I wondered what Fieran had said about me.
“Well, Cara, it’s so nice to see you,” she said, not sounding surprised at all. The delicious scents of freshly baked bread and roasted meat hung in the air. “Why don’t you come in and eat with them?”
I didn’t have to ask who she meant. She didn’t ask why I was there.
I stopped in the doorway of the dining room. It was just the five of them, but still, it felt strangely hard to breathe around them.
“There you are,” Fieran told me. “We were beginning to wonder if you’d be on time.”
Dairen patted an empty seat between him and Fieran, and I felt my jaw unhinge at the realization that there was a sixth setting at the table.
My gaze rose to meet Fieran’s. “A little bit cocky, aren’t you?”
“A little bit here, aren’t you?” Fieran responded.
His point was hard to counter.
