She gave him a look like he was an idiot and he laughed. “Right, you don’t know. Sorry.”
She made another little noise and he snickered again. “You know, I’m half convinced I’m like, in a coma or something. None of this is real and it’s all just some made up landscape so my body can heal while I’m lost in la-la-land skipping along merrily. I’d believe it if I didn’t hurt so damn badly even in my imagination. I mean, if my brain is strong enough to make up all this, you’d think it’d be strong enough to imagine away the pain.”
“Hmm. Perhaps.”
“That didn’t make me feel better. You’re supposed to say ‘No, dear boy, you’re not insane. You’re saving the world.’”
She snorted. Actually snorted and gave him another of her looks. “Tell me what you’ve been thinking, Sawyer.”
He stopped walking and turned to face the water. Even though it was in the middle of the night, the moonlight reflected off the waves as they crashed against the shore. Sawyer took a few steps forward and the water began to lap at his ankles. “I think that someone has been messing with the magic for a very long time.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Okay, so I was thinking about how the birth rates are all off. It’s a big deal, you know? That’s why Magdalen was so desperate. She hadn’t found her mate and she hadn’t had a child. But everyone seems to be affected, except dragons maybe? Which I need to think about and ask some questions about, but from what I understand from Draco, other dragons find their mates and have kids, but dragons don’t have a lot of kids anyway? I’m not sure. Like I said, I need to ask more questions.”
She nodded. “You’re correct, but go on.”
“So, if a bunch of the other clans are as desperate for mates and cubs as Magdalen was then that’s a lot of desperation. And it’s been going on for a long time, because from the pictures I saw hanging in Augustus’s house, griffin families used to have a bunch of kids. But Augustus and Francesca only had Eduard, and that was after years of being mated, right? Henry also said something about how none of his uncle’s pack was mated. None of them. I mean, most of the werewolves take a mate, but I guess it isn’t their one true mate? I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that one out, but Henry said that his dads were mates, but they weren’t fated? Maybe? So maybe anotherrealmate could come along? But that’s weird, right? Because they are real mates even if there wasn’t some super magical connection where the universe shouted mate at the top of its lungs, right?”
“Indeed.”
“It’s been happening for a long time, is all I’m saying. This isn’t something new. It’s like… you know how humans have fevers, right?”
“I’m familiar.”
Sawyer sighed and glanced over at her. “This isn’t a great analogy, but I remember one time I thought I had like this huge fever. I was burning up and sweating and miserable. I called Draco, and he went out and got a thermometer for me. When we took my temperature, it was only like ninety-nine point something. I’d have sworn I was at like a hundred and three and needed to go to the emergency room.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Yeah, not the greatest example, like I said, but I guess I mean that small changes make a big difference, especially when the changes aren’t numbered and you only feel them, you know? Okay, how about listening to music or the radio? It’s too loud, so you turn it from a ten to a nine. Doesn’t make a lot of difference, right? Especially not to the person whose ears are complaining.”
“Subtle changes, you mean?”
“Yeah. So like, what if someone was dialing it down over a long time. You’ve got a one hundred percent chance of finding your mate or having a kid. But then it’s ninety-nine. And then it becomes ninety-five. I mean, we’re talking a lot of years here, so now we’re down to next to no one finding their mates. I don’t know, is that even possible?”
She stared out over the water with him, and they stood silently for what felt like hours.
“It is possible,” she conceded.
“So, whoever is doing this is like super powerful. They’ve messed with fertility magic, which from what I read about Tiamat is really strong. If those guys had actually managed to kill me in that ritual? I don’t know what would have happened, but it wouldn’t have been good.”
“No, it would not have been good, Sawyer.”
“And, I’m not a hundred percent sure this is connected, but you know Henry was kidnapped as a kid, right? And his dads found him with his brothers and sisters? They never found out who took them. Not even Meshaq, right, who makes everybody shiver when they mention his name because he works directly for one of your daughters and is super powerful and scary, but he couldn’t find the person who took them. And Henry said he thought they were messing with his magic. But see, cubs are precious, and this was only like ten years ago, so for that many cubs to be found and no one was searching the ends of the earth for them? That’s weird, right? And they’re not all wolves, either. Ben’s a bear and Natasha is a fox. Plus Henry, who’s a seer and everyone says he’s super strong.”
Even thinking about what Henry had gone through as a child, how afraid he’d been stirred up Sawyer’s anger once more. He held out his arm for her, needing to move before he vibrated out of his skin, and she tucked her fingers against his elbow. No magic flowed between them this time, and he filed that detail away as he began walking down the beach once more.
“Much has been clouded from my sight, Sawyer. I’m sorry your mate was hurt as a child.”
“But see, shouldn’t you have known? Or at least your daughters? Someone had to know what was going on, right? Kids were being hurt. That’s just… someone had to know.”
She didn’t say anything else, so Sawyer continued his rant.
“So they’ve dialed down magic powers, and they were messing around with cubs no one knew existed. They have lots of power, and they know about ancient rituals. Saeward about had a coronary when he found out what they were trying to do to me. Thanks for that, by the way. For him. Helping me find him. Or him find me. Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“You’re quite welcome. Saeward is… special. You will be able to help him as much as he helps you.”
Sawyer had already figured as much. His new guardian had deep wounds that they needed to heal. Worse because they weren’t on the surface like the claw mark on Sawyer’s side. They were more to the bone, like the bruises on his feet. A deep unforgiving ache that hurt with every step. “I’ll help him.”
