Never again.
All that hiking up and down the mountain has been good for something, because I’m not even out of breath as I tell him, “Youare the one who decides that. You couldtryto have more days, instead of showing me what we could have and then setting it on fire at the first sign of trouble. And don’t you dare,” I finish in a low voice, “ask mehow.”
He doesn’t have an answer for that.
Of course he doesn’t.
For someone I want so desperately, I’m doing a bang-up job of being a person no one will want to be around, just like always.
But thisisme.
He wanted to respect my boundaries? That’s true even when it isn’t convenient.
And the contingent of priests on the narrow strip of land approaching the island is extremely not convenient.
Kovan puts on a burst of speed to beat me to the mouth of the island. I glare at him, but he can’t see me—he’s blocking their view of me.
Still trying to keep me safe.
But this is different than what he was doing in Crystal Hollow. There, he was trying to get them to see me differently, and yes it was like being in a bizarro world, but here he’s trying to hide me.
No amount of hiding has ever made me safe.
I peek around him, not willing to step aside for a better view in case I’ll be too far to yank Kovan back from doing something stupid.
He’s only had days to undo a lifetime of learning. I wish I had more time to be patient with him about it, but if I need to bop him on the nose for a while until he gets his sacrificial urges out of his system, I’ll do it.
If Kovan wants to choose me, I’ll do a lot more than that.
Darkness claws inside of me.
He maynotchoose me—actual me, rather than what he thinks is best.
I’ll be devastated forever, but I wouldn’t blame him.
Learned Muka is at the front, and honestly she still looks terrible—they didn’t give her much time to recover.
Or perhaps she didn’t allow herself time, because she needed to prove her resolve to save her own skin.
The rest of the priests look a little strained, but nothing serious yet.
Damn, we should have let them step on the island to weaken them, I think as they and Kovan greet each other tensely. Too late now.
“The dragon—” Learned Muka starts.
“There is no dragon here for you,” Kovan says.
Easily. Casually.
I do not say things I do not mean.
Ohhh shit.
The Learned eyes Kovan sadly. “Is that how it is, then?” she asks softly.
In unison, every priest behind her shifts into the same stance.
I don’t know enough about magic to know what it means, other than the obvious, which is that they’re about to fight.
