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“Not tonight. I’m training some of the new warriors in the morning.” I handed him the cleaned dish. This time our fingers touched, and I could feel the heat of his touch all the way through my body.

We worked in silence for a few minutes until Raina’s soft snores broke the silence. She’d fallen fast asleep on the sofa. Enzo had curled up on her lap. “I don’t know how she does it,” I said. “She doesn’t ever stop to rest. I’m so thankful to be back with her. I’m thankful to be here … I think. I never felt like I belonged in the human world.” I had no idea why I decided to bare my soul to him. There was just something about him, something that felt … right. “You didn’t kill my mom. You saved her. You saved us. What I said back there at the river—” I turned my face up to him. “Might have gone a little overboard with the ‘hating you with every fiber of my body’ thing.”

His lopsided smile, a half-hearted but very sexy one, was by far my favorite. “What exactly does that mean, anyway? Every fiber of your body?”

I thought about it. “Hmm, good question. No idea, just a saying.” I energetically handed him the next dish, and our fingers overlapped. He gripped my fingers with his. His eyes looked smoky green in the candlelight. He removed the bowl with his free hand and took my hand. His Adam’s apple moved up and down with a deep swallow.

“I should have kissed you,” he said quietly. “In the hydra forest, I should have fucking kissed you.”

“Why didn’t you?” The words came out on a breath.

He pulled his gaze free and shook his head to break the static charged moment cleanly in two. “Because we live in a world with antiquated notions and ridiculous rules and … and because a kiss would only make me want you more.” He released my hand, and it felt like someone dunked me in an ice bath.

“Rules are meant to be broken,” I said.

“Not in Troikana.” He dried the last bowl. “Tell Raina thank you for me.”

“So, we’re just leaving it like that?” I asked. “The rules have been made, my fate decided and that’s all there is to it. You brought me here to protect me. I can just fade into oblivion here. The two princes never need to find me. I could change my name.”

“The mayor and the council thought that might be the case, that we could bring you back, let you slip easily into society and the rulers of Solamite and Regnamoor would be none the wiser. But you don’t fade. You’re the opposite.”

I held up a finger. “Not true. In the human world I faded just fine and with very little effort.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, Raphael.” He chuckled quietly and held my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “In fact, you might be the loudest whisper I’ve ever heard.” He moved closer, and my face warmed as he gazed at my lips.

Raina yawned. “Must have dozed off.”

Revel took a step back and turned toward the sofa. “Thank you for dinner, Raina.” He walked out the door. It felt as if he’d taken a big chunk of my heart with him.

Seventeen

“I’ve made a special cake,” Raina said as I walked in from a morning of gardening. “It’s for your ten-day anniversary. I used to love to bake cakes for your birthday. This one has currants and a sweet glaze.”

“I’m not sure if ten days is actually an anniversary, but I never say no to cake, or to a celebration for that matter. It has been a wonderful and adventurous ten days.” Raina and I had fallen into a quiet routine of gardening, reading and chatting over tea. I hadn’t seen Revel since he came for supper, and that was for the best. He’d made it more than clear that nothing, not even a kiss, would ever happen between us. I was sure he had plenty of women waiting to fill that void. And I tried hard not to think about that bleak fact. Lyric had been busy catching up with friends and family. She’d dropped by several times, and we hung out on the front stoop gossiping and talking, like we used to in my room, only this was so much better because Lyric could actually respond and laugh at my poor attempt at jokes. I sure could have used her during my introverted teen years.

I washed up and sat down to a thick slice of cake. It smelled and tasted spicy and sweet. “I don’t suppose there’s much chocolate in Norvale,” I said between bites.

“No, unfortunately. We used to get it from Holquin, but since they don’t export over the Blackforge Sea anymore, we don’t get any here. I do miss it though. Those chocolate chip cookies we made were so delicious.”

“I still dream about them.”

Raina winced as she sat down to the cake. She rubbed her knees. “Darn old bones. Starting to feel it more lately. I’ve got a poultice waiting for me at the healer’s shop. I just have to work up the energy to walk over there.”

I finished the bite I’d been working on. “I’ll go. I haven’t been to town in a few days. I need to stretch my legs.” My first walk to town had ended in such a nightmare, I found myself reluctant to repeat it. Paxton had constantly told me I needed to step out of my shell now and then and experience the world. He knew that I could easily talk myself out of venturing into the world, and I’d spent an inordinate amount of time at home. I needed to be like everyone else in town and ignore the threat of Krakatow devouring me in a watery grave. It would probably help if I didn’t constantly think of the ever-looming danger in such blatant terms, too.

“Are you sure?” Raina gave me a considering look. She knew me well, too, and knew that I had a tendency to hibernate. “I wouldn’t mind going myself, but my knees are very sore. I have a basket of peppers for Yarin, the healer. He uses them for a stomach tonic. Don’t ask me how, but it works.”

“Great. The weather isn’t fabulous, but I don’t think I’ll need a shawl. I’ll go just as soon as we’re done with the big anniversary celebration.”

Half an hour later, I stepped out under misty gray skies, a given here in Norvale thanks to its proximity to the sea and to the dragons and their unseemly habits. I had no books or online websites to consult about how to improve the health of our resident dragons, and I considered it a big failure on my part. I’d promised to help them, but I hadn’t figured out how yet. In the meantime, I’d been advised by Raina and Revel and even Madigan not to go near the dragons because my dragon caller power might set off reverberations that could lead to disaster, namely me being kidnapped or killed by the Regnas or Solamites. It was such a lovely, romantic notion, knowing that my two fated mates only had one reason to chase me down, and that reason had nothing to do with a wedding gown and bridal bouquet. I could only assume they each had their own wife in mind, which meant their true ball-and-chain, namely me, had to die first. As much as I was enjoying and feeling at home in Troikana, that whole part of it was truly twisted.

I reached the bridge and tried not to think about an angry and deadly black sea rushing beneath it. The leftover seaweed and debris from the last surge had been cleared away, and people bustled happily around town. If I hadn’t witnessed the whole nightmare with my own eyes, I would have a hard time believing it happened. I couldn’t decide if it was alarming or impressive that the village folk went about their day so blithely as if the virulent ocean and its menacing occupants were hardly a bother at all.

The basket of peppers swung wildly in my hand as I crossed quickly over the bridge, and even though I’d warned myself not to look down, I couldn’t stop. My focus was still on the deep gulley as I hurried across, hopped off the bridge and smacked right into a hard, unforgiving body—his hard, unforgiving body. The basket shot out of my hand and red and green peppers decorated the road like a Christmas tree.

I hadn’t seen him in a few days, and during that time I told myself I might have only imagined how damn spectacular he was, but nope, not my imagination.

Revel made no attempt to step back. I was still pressed against him from the initial crash. “Where ya off to in such a hurry, Whisper?”