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“If you’re not gonna drink that,” Austri asked with a hopeful smile.

“I sure as hell am.” Madigan chugged her own pint and then took a more demure sip of the second drink. “What do ya think of our local meeting place?” Madigan asked. “Pretty ugly, eh?”

“Hey, you’re talking about my home-sweet-home,” Austri quipped.

“It’s just as I pictured it.” My gaze landed on the brightly painted sunflowers. “Although, in my imaginings, I did not see cheery floral wall art.”

The others looked in the direction I was smiling.

“Yeah, they put that there years ago as a memorial to our lost lion’s bane crops,” Madigan explained.

I looked at her. “Lion’s bane?”

“Remember, the plants that keep the dragons in tip-top shape,” Lyric said.

“Those damn Solamites and Regnas couldn’t stand us winning every battle, so they burned our crops to the ground.” Austri lifted his tankard and drained it. “Bloody bastards.”

Austri continued opining about the Regnas and Solamites till I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “Wait. Those painted wooden flowers on that wall are lion’s bane?”

“Sure are,” Madigan said. “Only memory we have of them.”

“So, lion’s bane are tall flowers with big brown faces that get full of small gray and white seeds?”

“And tiny yellow petals all around the face,” Lyric added. “Like a lion’s mane. The seeds are pretty good for snacking, too.”

“Yes, yes, they are. I know this because they are sold in every store in the human world. So, the seeds would make the dragons fit and healthy again?” I was so giddy I could hardly stay seated on the hard, unforgiving bench.

The trio all looked at me warily. “Something up, Rafi?” Austri asked.

“Yes, and soon I hope the dragons will be, too. I need to go. I’ll explain later.” I hurried out the door and paused to enjoy the fresh air, then ran up the path to Revel’s farm. He was wearing a white shirt, untied at the neck and exposing his sweat-glistened throat and chest. The loose sleeves were rolled up, showing off the lines of muscle in his forearms as he plowed his axe through the air and into a stump of wood. Omni was on the edge of his roof. The bird made a grumbly sound when he spotted me. Revel dropped the axe blade down to the ground and rested the handle against the stump. He wiped his forehead with the back of his forearm. His long hair was pulled back and tied off in a strand of leather.

“Be still my heart,” I muttered and moved closer.

“What are ya up to on this fine day, Whisper?” The nickname should have irritated me; instead, it felt intimate, something only he called me. Hearing it sent a swirl of heat through me, as if the word came with a caress.

It took me a second to find my tongue, then I remembered the exciting reason I was there.

“I know where to find lion’s bane. A lot of it. Enough to bring the dragons back to health and enough to start crops growing on every farm.”

His mouth tilted up in a wry smile. “The Regnas and Solamites saw to it that all the crops and seeds were destroyed.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard, but I’m talking about the lion’s bane I have growing in my garden.”

His brow creased in confusion. “Raina doesn’t have any growing in her garden.”

“Not that garden.” I walked closer and stood up straighter. “I’m talking about my garden in the human world. I was growing lion’s bane, or sunflowers, as we call them, on the other side of the cliffs. I just need to go back.”

Revel shook his head. “Too dangerous.”

“Well, I’m not planning to go alone.” I smiled sweetly up at him.

“Shit.” He picked up the axe. It made a whirring sound as it arced through the air and came down so hard onto the stump, wood splintered in every direction.

Nineteen

“Now you’re sure about this?” Raina had been rubbing her hands together nervously. She was never nervous, so it made the handwringing gesture even more concerning.

I hugged her. “I’ll be fine, Raina. I’m with Revel.” We’d considered asking Madigan or Austri along, but in the end, we decided we were going to need a wagon to carry back the sunflower plants. We borrowed Revel’s neighbor’s wagon. He had two donkeys to drive it, and those little guys were going to have enough hardship dragging the massive Valian warrior behind them, let alone extra passengers. A wagon would make the trip faster, too. Austri and Revel felt sure the boneweavers would still be in coronation and celebration mode, so we’d be safe from them. Just in case, Revel stuck two torches onto the wagon, one on each side, and placed two extra in the back, alongside the pile of burlap sacks we would use for the sunflowers.