"Since always. We're very stabilizing."
Alar snorted. "You're chaos in human form."
"I know." She batted her eyelashes at him. "That's why I'm never boring."
He arched a brow. "Are you trying to imply that I am?"
She shrugged.
The familiar banter further eased the tension that had been coiled in my chest since Nyxath's summons. My friends kept me grounded.
"We should get back," I said eventually, though I made no move to leave.
"Let's stay for a little bit longer." Alar's arm tightened around me. "You are still shaken."
I hadn't realized that my hands were trembling until he'd said that. The stress of the summons and then being in Nyxath's presence had depleted my meager reserves of energy.
"Okay." I smiled up at him. "Nyxath didn't specify the length of my special dispensation, so I guess I don't need to rush." Ididn't plan on going to sleep anytime soon anyway because I had plans for Alar.
I had missed making love to him.
"So," Shovia said. "Ready to hear some updates on our discussion regarding the killer dragons?"
I welcomed the change of subject. "Any new theories?"
"Several," Codric said. "We're thinking they might be looking for specific traits in their riders, and the ones who died didn't have them, but Odinah does."
"What kind of traits?" I asked.
"That's where we're stuck," Shovia admitted. "It's not weakness because Odinah's as strong-willed as they come. Not evil either, despite Morek's opinion of her."
"Alar thinks it might be political," Codric added. "Maybe they're looking for riders who oppose the current system."
I considered this. "But why would dragons care about human politics?"
"Their lives are intertwined with ours," Alar pointed out. "If some think that Elucians are not doing everything they can to protect their eggs, they might have an issue with that."
"That's true." I thought about my conversations with Onyx, how perceptive he was about human nature. "They definitely have their own opinions about things."
"The problem is," Shovia said, "that we don't know enough about politics to guess what position Odinah might hold. Or what the dragons might be looking for."
"We need someone who actually pays attention to that stuff." I looked at Alar. "Someone who reads newspapers and knows the players."
"I'm not knowledgeable about Elucian politics," he admitted. "Not much gets out of Elucia and is reported in Elurian newspapers."
"My best idea so far is the librarian," Shovia said. "Hadrick seems like the type who knows everything, and I'm good with getting old people to talk. They love me."
"Since when?" Codric asked.
"Since always. I'm very charming to the elderly."
"We'll need to get permission to go to the library." Alar pushed to his feet and offered me a hand up. "So, your charm would be better served on one of our instructors who can grant it."
Shovia laughed. "That should be Kailin's job. She's all chummy with Commander Ravel."
14
ALAR
