Mei’s hand splays against his chest. “You promise?”
“I promise on every drop of water in the Black Death Oceans, I will find you. This isn’t the end.”
She stands on her tiptoes, fusing their lips together. Reed picks her up and carries her into the house while I stay outside, staring up at the blue, blue sky. I almost wish it would rain.
Ronit, Lirin, and Brio move towards me. Leaf is watching from just inside. His eyes dark and full of some kind of determined pain.
Why is leaving him as hard as leaving her?
“Reed’s wrong to promise that,” Lirin whispers.
“Is he, though? Will we ever stop fighting?” I stand up and walk towards Leaf, but before I can make it three steps, he whirls and disappears.
“He’s angry with us,” Brio murmurs. “He doesn’t like that we’re going back there.”
“It’s his ocean,” I murmur.
Kit appears with a pop of displaced air and lets out a meow.
“Hello, Kit. Perhaps you can pass messages back and forth. Though I hope you don’t come after us.”
Leaf surges into the space, shoving me up against a wall. “What does that mean?”
I grab his wrist, staring up at him, but I don’t fear him. I did once, when he seemed more animal than man, but this is Leaf. This is the monster who chose to be human for Mei.
“It means I hope you look after Mei and have a good life. That you don’t come looking for us. That you make her happy. I wish you happiness,” I murmur. “Because I love you, and I want you to stop fighting and have fun.”
Leaf snarls, but I yank his head down and kiss him. I claim him in a way I should have done years ago.
“Leviathan,” I murmur. “The oceans are yours. Protect our omega.”
He snarls, but it’s lost its bite. Instead, he looks wounded, and I remember a time long ago when I saw him and thought how lonely he was, stuck in the space between worlds, roaming an endless ocean with none of his kind.
I don’t want him to be alone anymore.
“You stay with her. Make sure she’s safe, Leaf. She’s going to need you.”
The inky marking on my skin burns, and I rip my hand from the dragon lest he be infected by it.
I glance down at it, seeing the skull has turned chalk white. I exhale roughly.
“Almost time. It’s almost gone.”
Lirin drops to a crouch and puts his head in his hands.
“Come on,” I murmur, and I lead the way into the house. I turn on the coffee machine, then pull out a frying pan and some eggs. I smile one of those non-humorous smiles because there is solittle to be happy about. Twelve months. We had twelve months, and we failed. I can’t cook much, but I was learning. I wanted to make her breakfast. Such a small thing.
I just wanted to take care of her.
Reed stalks out and lets out a frustrated and mournful sound. “She’ll be out in a minute. What are we going to do about these?” He holds up his wrist, displaying the black and white tattoo.
“We can’t do much.”
“We should have found out who it was. We should never have made the deal. In five days, we’ll be slaves. Again.”
I exhale roughly, trying not to let the ache in my chest take over. Compartmentalize. Shove it away.
“We shouldn’t have made the deal, no, but we did. We thought it was an honourable deal. It wasn’t. Time is almost up. But Reed's right, we’re not going to give up.”
