"Maybe."
"The letter." The pieces were falling into place, clicking together with terrible clarity. "Your mother's letter. She asked you to come home. Perhaps that's how she saves you." I grabbed his hands, squeezing tight. "You need to go home, Alar. That's what changes your fate."
"You don't know that."
"I do. I can feel it." I pressed my palm against my chest. "The dream was showing me how to save you. Your mother, the woman in crimson and gold robes, calls you home, andthat changes everything. The future where you die becomes impossible because you're not here. You're in Catonia."
Alar's expression was agonized. "Kailin, I can't?—"
"You have to go home." The words tumbled out in a rush.
"The bonding is tomorrow morning." His voice cracked. "In a few hours. There's no time."
"There has to be time. We'll talk to Saphir, explain?—"
"Explain what? That you had a dream?" He pulled his hands free, running them through his hair. "Even if he takes it seriously, which he might because of your dream about Podana, I will not ask him to let me go before the bonding. I'm not leaving. Not now. Not when I'm so close."
"Alar, listen to me?—"
"No, you listen." He turned to face me, and I saw the determination in his eyes. "I've spent my entire life being pulled in directions I didn't choose. My father, my brothers, the expectations of the crown, all pushing me toward a future I never wanted. Coming here, joining the pilgrimage, becoming a rider was my choice, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I'm not leaving you. I'm not quitting the Dragon Force either. Not because of my father and not because of some vague dream that felt prophetic to you. This is my life, and my choice, and I choose to stay."
"What if this choice kills you?"
"Then at least I'll die having lived the life I wanted."
"That's not good enough!" My voice rose, sharp and desperate. "I won't lose you, Alar. I can't. If there's any chance that going home saves you, then you have to take it."
"No."
"Yes. I would rather have you alive in Catonia than dead in my arms." The words hurt to say, but I meant them.
Alar stared at me for a long moment. Then his shoulders slumped, and he looked away.
"There's something I haven't told you."
My stomach clenched. "What?"
"Another letter came early this morning, before the flight tests." He took a shaky breath. "This time, my mother used the royal seal. They're not hiding my identity anymore. She said my father's condition has worsened and asked me to come home immediately. There are matters at court that affect my future."
The world tilted beneath me. "Your father is dying?"
"Maybe. I don't know." His voice was hollow. "It might all be one big manipulation. She never said how serious his condition was, only that it worsened and that he asked for me, and the timing seems too convenient. The day before bonding, they send a letter designed to pull me away at the worst possible moment."
"There has to be a connection between the letter and my dream."
He chuckled, but it was humorless. "Perhaps she hired a Sitorian black magician to send that dream to you. Or perhaps the letters and the dreams are the work of Sitorians trying to lure me away from here."
I didn't dismiss his idea offhand. After the converts that had been hiding in the Citadel right under our noses, I was willing to suspend disbelief.
"So, you are just going to ignore the letters?"
He nodded. "I've already asked Saphir if I could go after the bonding. He said that they wouldn't let me leave unless Catonia sent an official demand for my release."
"When did you ask him?"
"During the evaluation. If they send an official request, I'll know that it's real and not something my family cooked up to manipulate me or some Sitorian magicians plotting to get me."
"But you recognized your mother's handwriting, and this letter had the royal seal."
