Tanis laughed at the question he asked in her head. “That would be an interesting thing, wouldn’t it?”
“No. It’d be horrifying.”
“What are you two discussing?” Keegan asked.
“Nothing,” Tanis said quickly. “Will she fit in their temple?”
“She should. But to be sure, I could make her smaller.”
“Just don’t make me human.” Keegan blushed as if she realized how horrible that sounded.
Tanis patted her foot. “I’m not offended. Might be if I was actually human, but I understand.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.” Before she finished speaking, she shrank down to just under half her size.
Keegan’s eyes widened. “Oh, I don’t like this. Not at all. You can put me back, right?”
Dash sucked his teeth. “Well, I think so.”
Tanis smacked him playfully on the arm. “Don’t tease her like that. She’s scared.”
He finally smiled. “Yes, Keegan, I promise I can put you right back.”
She let out a relived breath so deep that it was punctuated by a cloud of smoke. “This is why I don’t hang out with unicorns. They’re inherently mean.”
Tanis laughed. “No more so than most of your guard. And at least he won’t put you to the hazard.”
Keegan screwed her face up. “That was pretty terrible.”
“Hazard?” Dash asked.
“A series of tasks and trials that all dragons are subjected to when they’re trained for war. The more prestigious their rank and assignment, the worse the hazard.”
He stopped walking to pin a concerned stare on Tanis. “You weren’t put to a hazard, were you?”
His angry concern warmed her. “No. I wasn’t allowed to join.”
That only made him angrier. “Because of your captivity?”
It took her a second to realize just how furious he was on her behalf. She could sense his bloodlust.
Wanting to calm him, she took his hand, then tucked his arm under hers and pulled him forward. “We don’t talk about that, remember? And it doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me when you’re not treated with the respect you deserve.”
Leaning against him, she treasured those words. “So, you would rather they have beat me?”
He shook his head at her. “You know what I mean.”
“I do know, and I appreciate your anger on my behalf.”
Tanis fell silent as they neared the steps of the elfin temple. It was a beautiful structure made of glass and stone. Much smaller than the palace, it reminded her of a tree the way it reached up toward the sky. Murals of elves and nature were painted all around it.
Truthfully, she knew very little about their religion. She’d never really interacted with elves until the last few days. They’d been almost mythological to her. Like Stonemen and fairies. If any had ever come to Indara, she’d never seen them.
During her captivity, she’d only known the one unicorn, humans and a few other species who hadn’t spent a lot of time conversing with her.
Most of the ones who’d been held for games had been oni, ogres or trolls. For the matches against them, Baracus had turned her into a dragon and then returned her to human form once it ended. Mostly because he hadn’t wanted to pay to feed a dragon or find a place large enough to keep her.
