“Yes.”
We both stand there awkwardly for a minute, not looking at each other.
...Maybe not so great.
Zan shakes his head to clear it. “Let’s go to Crystal Hollow to get what we’re going to need here.”
Everything is moving too fast. “Now?”
That was a little squeakier than I’d have preferred.
“My cheese and jam supply is not unlimited and has taken some damage,” Zan says dryly.
I let out a breath. I guess I’m just going to have to adjust, to things happening.
At least he knows how to motivate a girl.
“Yora.”
He’s looking directly at me again.
Not hungry this time, or keen exactly, but... I don’t know what this is. Like his bright blue eyes are pools that go on forever.
Like I could fall into him and never reach the end of him.
“You need to move, to decide what you want,” Zan says. “You haven’t seen the world, but now you can. Shall we start with some more food?”
My chest tightens, and I swallow over a sudden lump in my throat.
Then I smile, and I find it’s real.
Zan’s gaze blazes back at me.
An opportunity, he called it.
A second chance.
The priests may come for me, but they’re not herenow.
Zan is.
And me, too.
“Yes,” I tell the dragon, and the glow of his eyes brightens.
Chapter 4
Zanfindsapairof slippers for me in my bedroom. They won’t hold up well to hiking through a forest, but he assures me we can acquire boots in Crystal Hollow for the return trip.
But Zan pauses after closing the door behind us, considering it with a frown. “I think you—wewill need a lock,” he finally says. “It was never a problem before, since almost no one could come up here. And it was a signal that anyone who could was welcome. But now...”
Now, anyone can come up here.
Now, there’s no safe places for sages.
“Not a sanctuary anymore,” I murmur.
Zan looks at me sharply. “For now, it can beyoursanctuary. We’ll just put up a boundary that you don’t have to actively maintain.”
