Gods, the pain when she’d told him she would go back to her shop as soon as she could still coiled through him. He’d known she would leave all along, so why did it hurt so much? He rubbed at his aching chest. This was why he had to protect himself. If he truly opened himself to her, if he made himself more vulnerable than he already had, and then lost her forever… he wouldn’t survive.
His beast muttered something, but he ignored it to focus on Izzy. She strode down the castle corridors beside him, chin upand shoulders straight. God of Chaos. She was determined to put herself in danger. Had she always?—
He slammed to a stop, tugging her to face him, as a new and horrendous thought occurred to him. “The Firebreather you were working on… where exactly did you get it from?”
Izzy bit her lip, her gaze was as direct as always but suddenly more wary.
“Where did you get it?” he asked again.
She sighed. “There’s a tavern near the Nabaspath. I heard from a patient about a friend of his who drank there. He had some that he was… ah, persuaded to sell me.”
A tavern near the Nabaspath. Luka shook his head. There was only…. Fuck. “Are you talking about the Spiral Ward?”
“Yes.”
His beast rumbled. Luka knew that tavern. It was so deeply embedded in the shadows and gloom of that side of the mountain that it never saw sunlight. Moss dripped from its rafters, mold grew on its warped wooden walls, and its patrons carried more weapons than half the guard put together.
“Where could you possibly have met this patient?” The clients of the Spiral Ward were extremely unlikely to have either the money or the inclination to visit a reputable clinic. They far preferred to avoid the guards, records, and well-meaning healers who might notice things they weren’t supposed to.
“I work at a clinic in Naos two mornings a week.”
“At the Healers Center between the market and the docks?” he asked dubiously. The clean, well-equipped infirmary didn’t seem like the kind of place a patron of the Spiral Ward would go.
“Not exactly….” She paused, as if waiting for him to say something. When he stayed silent, she said, “I work at the infirmary in the Temple of the Twins.”
The Temple of the Twins was deep in the shadow of the mountain, close to the Nabaspath, in the very worst part ofthe city. Maybe even the country. It called itself the Temple of the Twins, but the truth was that only one of the Twins was worshipped there: Chaos.
His beast flicked its tail.We should have flown her away years ago. We should have stayed with her. She could have died in there!
She must’ve seen the horror threading through him, because she immediately tried to reassure him. “Other physiks work there, too. Both Sarwin and Nolan spend some time there every week.”
“At the same time as you?”
“No, but it’s fine. Everyone is very grateful for the help.”
Luka concentrated on breathing evenly and not letting anything spill out of his mouth that he would regret. Finally, when he was sure his tone was under control, he asked the next question he was afraid he already knew the answer to. “But you took a guard with you to the tavern, of course?”
Izzy laughed roughly. “No one would have spoken to me if I took a guard, and anyway, a lot of the patrons know me. They weren’t going to hurt me.”
Heat climbed through his belly as his beast reached for his skin. The drake drove him to throw her over his shoulder and drag her off to the furthest, safest, most isolated place he could think of, and if he gave it an inch, it would take his skin and do it. But he couldn’t forget that she wanted to go back to her shop.
“Izabel,” he rasped, voice almost entirely beast. He took a breath and tried again. “Next time you need to go somewhere dangerous, could you tell me? Could you let me help?”
She stared at him, blinking, as if confused by his words.
Her hair was still loose, and he threaded his fingers between the silvery strands. “Please, Izzy. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.” He tucked the soft locks behind her ear and then untucked them again, liking how they layagainst her skin. He didn’t know the right words to explain how he felt. Perhaps there were none.
Or perhaps she heard them anyway. “Luka,” she replied softly, “do you remember promising to fly me away?”
Of course he remembered. He was trying not to sayfuck it alland fly her away right now. His beast uncoiled as Luka nodded slowly. Izzy would never run from the promise she’d made, and he had no idea where she was going with this.
“We have to be back in the morning,” Izzy said, “but do you think you could fly us somewhere, just for tonight?”
Gods. Just for tonight. He could have everything he wanted… and then it would be over. It was more than he’d dreamed was possible, and it was terrifying.
Rayan had died, and Luka had lost everyone he loved once before. He didn’t want to do that again. Hecouldn’tdo it again. And yet… she looked up at him, green eyes full of trust, her skin so soft under his rough hand. “Just for tonight?” he rasped. “And then we’ll come back?”
“Yes. We have to be back early.”
