"The world is green," I said. "We'd be safe up there. I know we would."
"But we have to get out ofherefirst," Juness said, turning the mood sullen all over again. "And that means we have to live long enough to make it happen."
Fifteen
Ayla
There was a tension in the house lately that I didn't understand. It had started just before the last battle. Then the Moles hadn't shown up, and for the last week, Zasen, Rymar, and Kanik had spent a lot of time whispering to each other and sounding worried.
I did my best to ignore it. I could understand the concern, because I kept thinking about how I'd get my letter to Callah if I didn't see Tobias again. And without him, I couldn't get the code, so I wouldn't be able to open the door and get her out! As much as I hated to admit it, we needed them to attack again.
But we'd lost too many people last time.
I wanted to save Callah. I felt like Ihad to, but was it fair to risk so many lives to get one person out? I wanted to say yes, but I knew better. Sadly, I just didn't know what to do, so when Zasen announced he was going to remove Kanik's sutures and asked Rymar for help instead of me?
I didn't like this. I didn't like any of it, but I did understand. Still, Kanik was healthy enough to finally have his sutures removed, which meant he was going to be okay. The antibiotics had worked, and he didn't have an infection even after the filthin his wound, so I was going to focus on that. I also really wanted to throw something.
"Holly?" I asked my dog, pointing to the back door. "Want to play fetch?"
Immediately, she was up, running that way. I grabbed one of her balls from the floor and decided it would work today. I didn't want to hunt down sticks every time she chewed one in half, and she'd always bring back a ball.
But in Kanik's room, I could hear the men talking softly. For a moment, I debated checking on them, but I knew that if they'd wanted me, they would've yelled. None ofthemhad an issue with screaming in the house.
Outside, the sunlight made it better. It was still bright to my eyes, but manageable now after so many months here. Beside me, Holly kept trying to sit - her way of begging for me to throw the ball.
"Fetch!" I said, throwing it into the empty land beside the house rather than toward the hill behind it.
She tore off, running so hard she slid as she grabbed the ball. Then she came back with as much speed, dropping her rump to the ground before she was finished moving. I took the ball from her mouth and did it again - and it helped.
Throwing the ball felt like lashing out at the unfairness of all of this. Working with Holly reminded me why it was so good up here. I loved this dog so much. I'd never expected to feel this way about anything but a child, and yet I had never wanted one of those. Holly was so much better.
Somewhere in there, the back door creaked open. I turned, intending to ask how Kanik was doing, and my eyes landed on brown scales, lavender ones too, and a beautiful smile as Kanik gently made his way onto the grass. Behind him, Rymar and Zasen followed.
"Kanik!" I gasped, forgetting all about Holly to hurry over. "You're walking!"
"He's officially cleared for meandering around," Zasen said.
Rymar just nudged the man in the back.
So Kanik cleared his throat. "Um..." And he lifted up a large circle of gold. "Ayla..."
"What is that?" I asked.
"Let him finish," Rymar said. "Trust me, Ayla."
I nodded, so Kanik cleared his throat again. "So, do you remember what I said before I got hurt? The part about liking you?"
"Yeah. I can't forget that."
"Well," he said, offering me the golden circle. "Ayla, there's a thing Dragons do, and we know you don't know about it, but we'd like you to accept this as a token of our feelings for you. We've all marked our signs on it, and if you choose to accept it, all you have to do is put yours in the empty spot."
"I don't understand," I said softly, looking at the thing.
It was beautiful. Four colors of yellow metal were twisted around each other, but both ends were decorated to look like something I'd find in the forest. Each color ended in a circle of the same metal just big enough to hold a sign, and on the side with three, I saw one for each of the guys. Rymar's rose was at the top, Kanik's dragonfly was below it, and Zasen's wyvern rested on the lowest loop of the three.
On the other side, the bright gold circle was empty.
"Ayla, not all Dragons marry," Rymar explained. "We still give gifts to show a relationship is meant to be serious."
