He would gladly welcome her to his home, but it would break her heart.
She was a dragon and he saw the sadness in her eyes whenever she spoke of it. Saw how much she’d enjoyed being in her real body, if only for a few minutes earlier today.
No, he had to set her free. It was the only decent thing for an indecent unicorn to do.
Chapter 22
Dash woke up to the sound of something pecking against his window. At first, he thought he was imagining it.
Until he heard the distinct pattern of the pecking.
Ronan.
Sliding away from Tanis so as not to awaken her, he pulled his pants on, then went to the window to push it open.
Sure enough, Ronan was there in that hawk form that he normally used whenever he had to travel fast.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were waiting for us in Licordia.”
Ronan craned his bird neck to look inside. “You alone?”
Dash used his body to block Ronan’s curious gaze so that he couldn’t see Tanis who was naked in the bed except for the furs she had wrapped around her. “No. And I know that’s not why you’re here.”
Even though he was a hawk, Ronan managed to give him an irritated smirk. It was quite impressive. “Aderyn wanted to update you.”
That didn’t bode well. “On?”
“Meara has heavily reinforced her army. She knows you’re coming in through the elfin portal and that you have Ferox in custody.”
Dash ground his teeth in aggravation. Hell of way to start the morning. Granted, he’d figured most of that was the case, but even so those plans told him something that just really stuck in his craw. “Who’s her spy?”
“No idea, but they seem to know a lot about your plans.”
Yes, they did. It infuriated him that the spy was able to hide so effectively among their group.
Not that they had to. Most of what Ronan told him was common knowledge. Baldur had given their plans over to his generals, who’d no doubt passed it along to their troops.
As for Ferox, everyone had seen him when they’d dragged him to his cage.
Ronan ruffled his feathers. “And not to pile shit onto you, but you do realize what happens in two more days?”
It would be time to cast the spell to trap his soul and kill him. “I do. I was trying not to think about it. Thanks for the reminder, Ro.”
“Sorry, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have to find Renata’s wand, and all we know about it is that it’s in the hands of some human’s imp partner.”
Dash frowned. “Human?” His ears honed right in on that single word. Was that the same human who’d killed his sister?
Ronan bobbed his bird head. “Like a fool, the human went to Meara and confessed it, thinking she’d reward him.”
“I’m sure she did. Is he still alive? Or did she gut him on the spot?”
“Last our spies said, he’s still screaming in her dungeon.”
That gave him a degree of hope. All they had to do was get to him before Meara had him killed. “Good. I need you to pull him out and protect him until I get home.”
“What about the trap?”
“I’m not going to walk into something I know exists.”
