“But you said?—”
“I’ve bought you time, Asha. Time is what you need. But first, so is sleep. You must be strong for what lies ahead.”
I’m about to demand answers, but her legs buckle, and I find myself catching her instead.
She feels lighter than air. Nearly insubstantial. Her pale hair falls across my arm, and her eyes rise to mine.
“I have no strength during the day,” she whispers. “Please. Help me out of the sun. Accept your need to sleep. Tonight, you will forge your medallion.”
“I’ll… what?”
I can’t see how I can possibly forge anything when I don’t have crimson coal or any metal I could use, but her attention has already turned to the Vargo, who watches us with a grim expression.
“Vargo Vanem,” she says, her voice increasingly weak, “please speak with Graviter Rex. Tell him what you have seen. He will know what must be done.” Her expression hardens despite her apparent exhaustion. “Warn him that if he comes here with rage in his heart, he will only invite his own death. The dragons must come in peace.”
Vargo gives her a solemn nod. “I will do as you ask.”
He immediately rises into the air, the wind from his enormous wings bending the nearby trees and knocking me back a step.
I bump into Erik’s chest. His arms close around me, strong and warm. Somehow, he caught me while also holding on to Galeia. She’s still sound asleep, her head nestled in the crook of his neck.
“Exhaustion only leads to mistakes,” he murmurs, his voice solemn. “The world must be spinning around you right now, Asha. You need to rest before it will stop.”
My eyes burn with his assessment.
In the last day, I found out about Galeia. I learned why Lysander Rex died. I survived the blight—but only because Cailey came for me and…bright saints… I don’t know who or what she is, except that she seems able to demand respect from all supernaturals. If my experiences have taught me anything, it’s that I must question everything. I could be making a terrible mistake by trusting Cailey so easily, and yet…
I have no fear that she will hurt me.
Neither must Erik, or he wouldn’t be supportive of her suggestion that we rest.
I give him a tired nod. “Let’s find a place to sleep.”
The forest is full of trees with such wide trunks that they must be hundreds of years old. Within an hour, we’ve not only found a shaded place to sleep with a thick layer of moss to lie on, but also a fresh water source in the form of a nearby stream.
My stomach grumbles, but my hunger isn’t too bad since I ate before I left Thaden’s village.
I curl up in the shade with Galeia nestled against my chest and Erik at my back, his arm curled around me.
Cailey has already slid to the ground only two paces away, curled up in a bed of moss, and closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling deeply.
Within moments, I’m asleep.
I wake to darkness, jolting upright before I place myself.
I’m still in the clearing beneath the giant trees. Everything is quiet and still. Soft moonlight filters through the gaps in the canopy of leaves overhead, telling me I slept all day.
Galeia is still fast asleep, but she appears to have gravitated toward Cailey. Or maybe Cailey gravitated toward her. Either way, Galeia is now snuggled against Cailey’s side.
I relax a little. She wouldn’t do that if she didn’t trust Cailey.
For a moment, I take them both in. Galeia with her black hair, such a tiny form capable of such destruction, and Cailey, who looks no more than ten years old, with her white hair, also capable of immense power.
They both look so young and so old at the same time.
I reach back before I realize Erik isn’t lying behind me.
A new fear strikes through me before I catch sight of him through the trees.
