Mikal gives Teo a more assessing glance. “She has always had the power to annoy everyone who spends more than three seconds with her.”
I groan. “Gods. I spentmonthstrying to save you, and that’s one of the first things you say?”
He laughs, and then grunts in pain.
Teo smiles. “How does eating sound?”
I like how he directs the question to both of us.
“I’m fine,” I say just as my stomach growls.
Teo scowls.
“Let me change.” I look back to Mikal. “You’re coming,” I say, pushing a finger into his chest.
He smiles but still needs my help standing. I pick out his clothes as he walks carefully.
I don’t know if it is a blessing or a curse that his memories are more faded than mine, but I hope, for his sake, that it is for the best.
The next morning,Mikal wants a tour of the caves. Teo comes, holding the enormous baby, which I’ve given the nicknamePeque, or small one.
Mikal keeps glancing over him, and I nudge him slightly.
“What’s wrong?” I ask finally. Mikal looks at me with his large yellow eyes and smiles.
“I just keep thinking about how that child could be… my half nephew,” he says.
I blink. “He is your literal nephew,” I say after a few more moments.
Mikal nods, and we walk to the Ardorflame.
We are once again stopped by no fewer than a hundred curious eyes. They greet Mikal, bowing to him as if he were royalty.
It’s rewarding to see how he takes each step in stride, looking around the cave like a blind man seeing light for the first time. As we approach the temple, he reaches out and touches it.
Then he smiles. “I like this light. Does it come from the lava below?”
Teo perks up and furrows his brows. “Perhaps it is a part of the same magic, but no, it isn’t lava.”
Mikal asks another question I don’t hear as the patter of little feet sound behind me. I turn just in time for Rila to launch into my arms.
Worry splashes over my skin, for the Ardorflame is near the edge of a very large cavern.
“Mi vida,be careful,” I chide.
The young Enduar girl doesn’t listen, her hair coating my face as she looks over my shoulder at my brother.
“Who are you?” she says in perfect common tongue.
I smile, somehow already missing her broken attempts from earlier.
Miki comes over and holds out his hand. “I am Este’s brother.”
Rila grabs his hand. “Rila.”
I turn just in time to see Mikal smile, and I set the girl down. She reaches into the pocket of her tunic and pulls out one stone the size of her fist.
“For you,” she says to Mikal and then disappears.
