He gripped the paper tighter in his hand. Placing his cup into the receptacle, he left the building and started to run.
The first day, he didn’t even make it off palace grounds. He had to stop at the gate to catch his breath. The guard in the booth came out to ask if he needed help, and Marius lied, actually invented an excuse that he was surveying the wards for the queen to save himself the embarrassment of having to explain that a five-mile run—an easy jog for a dragon—had almost made his heart explode. He ended up walking back to the palace and collapsing on his bed for an hour.
The next day was better. He started before practice and made it to the gate and back at a run. But the effort left him unable to hold his own against Colin. His brother slammed him into the stones over and over again. He couldn’t even accuse his brother of being overly aggressive. On the contrary, his intuition suggested Colin was holding back. To his brother’s credit, when at last they bowed and went their separate ways, there was no judgment, disappointment, or condescension in the dragon’s parting words. Those gray eyes held nothing but the same challenge and encouragement they had the day before.
He kept going, farther every day, until he’d almost reached Hobble Glen before he had to turn around. Only he wasn’t strong enough to run all the way back, and when he finally reached the practice arena, he was late. Colin wasn’t there. Someone else was, though, and it was the last person he’d expected to see. Avery.
At the center of the ring, the queen’s sister wielded a sword that looked far too big and heavy for her petite frame. Somehow the iron danced for her, though, carving patterns through the air as she executed perfect footwork and battled an imaginary opponent. She stopped and sheathed her weapon as soon as she noticed he was there.
“Hi,” she said, thrusting her chin in his direction. “Colin had to go. He asked me to hang around to tell you he’d see you back here tomorrow. Oh, and also, don’t be late again. He’s too busy and will drop you from his schedule. Honestly, I’d get your ass here. He looked pissed.”
Marius wiped a hand over his face, his skin still slicked with sweat. “It was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Dude, what happened to you? You look like you’ve spent the morning fighting for your life. Do you need me to fetch a healer? Or I can help you back to the infirmary. Maiara can help.”
He shook his head. “Not sick,” he said breathlessly. He walked around her and folded onto the observation bench, his backside slapping hard as his legs gave out. He couldn’t have popped back up if he tried. “Just badly out of shape.”
Her brows furrowed, and she stared at him for a moment. “Fuck. I didn’t know it was possible for a dragon to look like he was having a heart attack, but you do, Marius. You really do!”
He raised an eyebrow in her direction. “Thanks for the tip. Turns out being dead for three hundred years is hazardous to your level of fitness.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to fetch Maiara?”
“No. I don’t need a healer. Just a moment to catch my breath.” He glanced away from her, loathing the heat that blazed toward his ears. If he had even an ounce of energy, he’d excuse himself and make a hasty retreat to his room. No one should see him like this.
She chewed her lip. “Hey, sorry I brought it up. Just… as the only mortal in this place, it’s surprising to see someone else with any vulnerabilities.”
He looked back in her direction and had to pause at her contrite expression. Being married to Xavier, she must realize that dragons didn’t love to have their weaknesses pointed out. His stomach contracted with a laugh meant to put her at ease. “I’m glad something good has come from my pain.” He grinned and patted the bench beside him. “Your penance is to keep me company until I’m rested enough to make it off this bench.”
With a good-natured laugh, Avery took the seat beside him and stared across the empty arena. He didn’t know the woman well, although their encounters had always been positive. Her mate, Xavier, was the toughest of warriors, even when they were children, and was spending his days helping Colin train the Guard.
“When do you and Xavier go back to Earth?”
“At the end of the month… I mean moon cycle. I can’t get used to your terminology.” Avery leaned back and stared up at the overcast sky.
“Soon, then.”
“Soon.” She pushed up the arms of her training sweater.
Marius couldn’t miss the red-and-black spiral tattoo there. It matched one that appeared on various places along his torso. He nodded toward it. “Do you feel that anymore?”
She glanced at him and then down at the tattoo, seeming to piece together what he was talking about. “I thought I might ask you the same thing eventually. I didn’t want to be insensitive, but—”
“But we are the only ones to have them,” Marius finished.
“We’re the only ones who’ve been brought back from the dead.” She seemed to catch herself because she shook her head. “Actually, that’s not true. Raven brought Gabriel back from the dead, and he doesn’t have one.”
“What do you think they mean? What’s different about us?”
She raised her brows and scoffed. “I have no idea. Raven doesn’t even know, and she has the entire golden grimoire in her head.”
He stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankle. “Charlie told me you’ve been having nightmares.”
“Charlie’s a precocious little peanut, isn’t she?” Avery raised a brow. “I wouldn’t call what I’m having nightmares, but they are strange. I think I’m seeing where I was when I was… gone.”
He cracked his neck. “That’s what I’m seeing.” He lowered his voice. “I remember.”
She ran her thumb over the symbol. “I’m immune to magic, so it can’t be the symbol that’s causing the dreams, at least not in me. I asked Raven to try to remove it. If she can’t do it with magic, I think I’m going to try the human way and have it lasered off.”
