“I don’t think you’d enjoy that very much.”
“I would not,” he agreed.
That made me laugh, and then I sighed. “I miss seeing you. I’m very grateful for everything you’ve taught me. It’s why I’m still here.”
“I am an excellent teacher.”
“Yes, you are. I wish you were here in Ilion to help with this fight. I was going to send you a letter about it, but you never respond. No one in my family responds.”
“I’ve never received a letter from you.”
The battlefield in front of us cleared—everything disappearing instantly. I heard growls and watched as terawolves suddenly appeared at the far end of the field, coming out from the tree line.
“Finally, a worthy opponent,” Demaratus said. He put his wineskin down and pulled out his sword.
“You’re going to fight them?” I asked. He didn’t know what he was signing up for.
He pointed at the largest wolf in front. “There’s something the ancients used to do. They would decide their wars with one-on-one combat between two great warriors. But since we don’t do that anymore, concentrate on taking out their leader. If that one falls, the others will scatter.”
They were a pack; I doubted that was true. “I hate terawolves.”
He gave me a half smile. “Battles are won because you love who is behind you more than you hate who waits in front of you. It’s why you’ll win your war.”
Then he let out a roar as he ran into the empty field. The terawolves barreled toward him. I reached for my xiphos, ready to help.
I woke up to my face pressed against the cold floor. Xander had gone and I was freezing. I climbed up into our bed and covered myself with blankets so that I could warm up again.
Then I realized that my husband hadn’t left—I could hear him in the washroom. I liked having him nearby. I tucked the blankets in around me while I thought about my dream.
Why was that what I needed to see? While I had been glad to spend time with Demaratus again, it didn’t answer my questions.
Stupid girl, are you sure?
Shock slammed into me. I sat straight up and threw off the covers. I ran next door and woke everyone up, which I felt bad about because of how much Io needed her rest.
“Terawolves!” I exclaimed.
“Where?” Ahyana grumbled at me.
“No, terawolves are part aether dragon. If we could capture one ...”
Io’s eyes went wide. “Then we’d have the last element!”
“Your husband is never going to let you go out and hunt terawolves,” Zalira pointed out. He was annoyingly overprotective. And he’d become more so ever since we’d discovered our physical link.
“We have magic. It will be different this time.” If I had to sneak out, then I would. This was too important.
“How did you think of this?” Io asked.
“I invoked the night-walking aspect and spoke to my former battle master, and terawolves appeared. Before I fell asleep I asked to see what I needed to, and the terawolves are the answer to our problem! And I think that this means that I can control the dreams; I’ll have to work on it. But the dream magic doesn’t feel anything like when I call on fury.What the rest of you feel when you do magic. This ... just happened. It didn’t cost me anything. I wasn’t in pain, I didn’t have to turn it off.”
Again we were in a position where even though we had more answers, the questions continued to pile up.
We all heard Xander moving around next door.
“I thought he was going out with his phratry brothers today,” Ahyana said. She would be the one who best knew their schedule. I wondered if Rokh had returned yet.
Thinking of the phratry brought Dolion back into my mind, and I tried not to shudder. I considered telling my sisters about him and what he had done, but I wanted to pretend the entire thing away. If I didn’t speak of it, I wouldn’t have to relive it.
