“I need some kind of spell that’ll diminish fae magic all over Drayke while they’re here. At least give people a fighting chance of seeing through their trickery until the fae leave again.”
“That’ll take a lot of power.” She looks skeptical.
“That’s why I need to talk to Stuart. To see if it can even be done.”
She nods. “I’ll tell him.”
I nod back, as satisfied as ever with this capable woman whose kindness and potential jumped out at me from her very first days inside Drayke Mountain. It saddens me to know I can’t save her from the fate that takes all my favorite humans away.
I climb back up the stairs, going through greetings and questions again with any residents and staff I encounter, but stop halfway up the mountain where the Elite Wing lives. I linger in the hallway leading to their quarters, not wanting to bother Idallia if she’s sleeping again, but not willing to let the whole day go by without seeing with my own eyes that she’s out of that terrifying state of dormancy.
I don’t know if she could get any direct sunlight through her perpetually open window. It would’ve helped.
I stand outside her door, still debating like an indecisive fool instead of a king with nearly six hundred years under my scales. A squawk and a spurt of laughter eventually confirm that she’s awake and so are her birds. I don’t hear any other voices and lift my hand to knock, hoping to all the stars that Kellan isn’t inside making her laugh.
If he is, I might not be able to resist the burning desire I’ve had to throw him out a window ever since he carried Idallia home.
CHAPTER SEVEN
IDALLIA
My head snaps around. Another knock can only be Bale. Everyone from the Elite Wing has already stopped by. Sybil was here when I woke up. Stuart might come back with her later, but they’d wait until after his workday is over. Unless…
My stomach drops.
Unless it’s Kellan again.
I nervously chew my lip. He came by earlier with a bucket of late-season wild blueberries he must’ve picked in the valley we found together ages ago. He knows they’re my favorite.
But they didn’t come for free. They came with a conversation that made the blueberries curdle one by one in my stomach.
“You know we could finally leave the Elite Wing together. Build a life.”
My heart suddenly pounding, I shake my head at him. “I don’t want to leave the team. I like it here.”
His blue eyes flick up, meeting mine. “Maybe just think about it?”
My jaw slowly drops. “Kellan, we’re not even together anymore. I don’t know why you’re bringing this up.”
He stares at me for so long that I itch to fill the silence, but I don’t have anything else to say. I’m afraid even confirming that I care about him, about our friendship, will just keep this discussion going for another thirty years.
“I hated seeing you hurt,” he eventually says. “It made me realize…” He trails off, and my chest cinches tight. I’m grateful that he cares about me, but he needs to care differently now. Things have changed, and I’m not going back. “Do you love someone else?” he asks quietly.
I huff an instant denial, but amber eyes and a deadly spiral abruptly fill my mind. The remembered wash of weretiger blood is so real that I can feel the wet heat all over me again. “No.”
His hard, sad smile stabs right through me. “I’m glad you’re awake.” He stands to leave. “I’ll see you at training, I guess.”
I nod. “Yeah. See you around.”
The knock sounds again, a little louder this time, and I gingerly sit up in bed, making sure I’m decently covered. The nightgown Sybil put me in after getting rid of my bloody clothes is loose at the top, and the thin straps keep sliding down my shoulders.
“Come in,” I call out. I’m awake but frankly not motivated to get out of bed, especially if it’s Kellan again.
The door swings open to reveal Bale Cinderheart in the hallway. Awareness ripples over me, and I quietly steady my breathing. He looks grim and stiff, but maybe that’s because the only times he ever seeks me out in my chambers are after I’ve been seriously injured.
“Fyrestar told us the good news. It took you long enough to wake up,” he says sternly.
“So sorry my self-healing skills aren’t up to dragon shifter standards,” I shoot back acerbically.
