“So do I.”
There was a knock at our door and I heard Io calling out my name.
“Oh no,” I said. I moved myself forcefully away from him, back over to my side of the bed.
“What are you doing?” He sounded both confused and amused. “My sister has both seen and heard us doing worse.”
“I told Io that I would stay away from you.”
“Why?”
“She’s afraid that I’m going to hurt you. Because if I survive—”
He interrupted me to say, “Whenyou survive.”
“WhenI survive,” I said, just to placate him, “then I have to return to Locris and stay there.”
“What?” This was apparently new information for him.
“I promised the goddess that I would reinstitute her worship and reopen the temple in Locris.”
He looked down. “Does it have to be you?”
I couldn’t tell him everything about my dream where the goddess had given me the eye, but I could share enough. “I saw it. In a dream. I am the one who is supposed to save Locris. The responsibility is mine.”
He nodded and his jaw clenched briefly before his gaze returned to mine. His expression went neutral, disguising whatever he was actually feeling. “That has always been the plan, hasn’t it? It’s what you’ve said from the beginning. Our contract ends and you return to Locris.”
“Yes. And Io thinks ...” I couldn’t tell him what exactly his sister was worried about. He and I steered clear of saying anything about our feelings.
“I can take care of myself,” he said.
“I know. And I don’t want to hurt her, either.”
“You know that I can hear your mumbling voices, right?” Io called out. “I know you’re awake!”
“Come in!” I said as I moved to the edge of the bed to stand up.
Io entered the room with an eager smile. She had Luna with her, and Luna ran around in circles, frisky and excited. Her wings were fully out, and they looked strong and sturdy.
She bounded over to me, and to my astonishment, she used her wings to fly up and land on the bed.
“You clever girl!” I said as I sat down next to her. She looked immensely pleased with herself.
“She’s been practicing all morning,” Io said fondly. “She can fly short distances. She suddenly appeared in my room and tried to eat Priam. I told her that we do not eat my pets. She disappeared and came back with some blood on her mouth, so I’m assuming she found something else.”
I saw Io try to suppress her shudder.
“Are you an aether dragon?” I asked Luna.
Yes.
Not that I needed the confirmation, but it was nice to have. “She says yes,” I told the others.
“I still think the blinking is a coincidence,” Xander said as he sat up in bed, rubbing his face.
“She’s talking,” I insisted.
“Luna’s the reason I have this new formulation to break your link,” Io said. She handed each of us a vial. “I knew I was missing something but I wasn’t sure what. But given that aether and dragons are so important to the goddess, I started thinking that if fire dragon’s blood burns and poisons, what would an aether dragon do? My instinct is that it heals. So I added aether to the mixture.”
