Xander held his vial up. “You put dragon dandruff in this?”
“Just drink it,” Io said.
I put it to my lips and swallowed it down. “It burns,” I told her.
“Hopefully that means it’s working.” When Xander had finished his, she said, “Let’s test it.”
He took out the dagger he kept in the drawer of his side table. He cut his left palm and I braced myself for the impact.
But it never came.
“You did it!” I said. But there was no excitement behind my exclamation. It felt as if I had lost something. A special connection that I’d once had with him.
And now it was gone.
“Good,” he said gruffly. Would he miss our link, too? “We should get ready. We need to leave immediately.”
Io came over to hug me and I could feel her relief in her embrace. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about one of us dying and the other meeting the same fate. She hurried out of the room and promised she would meet us in the courtyard in a few minutes with the rest of our adelphia.
She closed the door behind her.
“I’ve sent a note to the council that I’m heading out to meet with a Thracian contingent,” he said. “Which isn’t necessary, because Thrax has already sent a message to his people and they’re on their way.”
“There’s no need for pretense with the council. You don’t have to come now,” I pointed out. “Io broke the link. You don’t have to watch over me and make sure that I don’t die, because now you’re safe.”
He stared at me for several heartbeats before saying, “Wife, I know that you are dangerously smart, but sometimes you say things that make me question it.”
Then he went into the washroom, slamming the door.
I was trying to avoid our feelings, and by doing so, all I seemed to do was upset him.
Luna pressed her front paws against my chest, as if to get my attention. I stroked her favorite spot, just behind her ears. She made a purring sound like a cat and I smiled.
“I’m leaving,” I told her. “I’ll be back in a few days. You need to stay here.”
No.
“Luna, it’s too dangerous. You can’t come.”
Yes.
She disappeared and immediately reappeared at the foot of the bed, watching me defiantly.
She had made her point. “I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted to, could I?”
No.
Stubborn tiny beast. I got up to get dressed. As I stood behind my screen and changed, I thought about how I had been ready to have sex with Xander last night in order to break the bond.
Not knowing that Io had figured out a way to do so with a potion.
How would I have felt? If we had gone through with it and then discovered that we hadn’t needed to?
I wasn’t sure that I would have regretted it, and that was a problem.
The trip to the Syrilline Mountains was surprisingly uneventful. Xander had left Thrax in Troas, bringing Rokh, Dolion, Stephanos, and my adelphia. I wished that Dolion had been the one selected to stay behind but didn’t say as much. He avoided me, refused to make eye contact. I wondered if anyone else would notice.
We initially headed north, as if to meet up with the Thracians, and then turned east. In case we were being watched. I wanted to ask Xander if he worried about leaving Thrax in the city while we went on a mission to meet his people. It would seem like he should be the obvious person to bring along. What if Pelias questioned why he wasn’t here?
