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“I don’t know about the title,” I said. “But I do not want to use my powers for war and death. I am tired of that. My soul hurts from the killing. I want to heal the damage the One Dragon’s absence allowed. I want to give you the chance to make peace. Because I will not allow you to die.”

Tallu’s eyes crinkled and he rose from the bed, pouring a pitcher of water into a washbasin. He wet a cloth and brought it back to bed. The water was cool, nearly cold against my still-flushed skin, but his touch was so gentle as he wiped away the come on my stomach and between my legs. I let him move me, let him take charge.

“So what do you want to do that is not killing?” Tallu asked, pressing a kiss to my belly button until I laughed and wiggled away from the tickle.

“Have you ever been to Forsaith?” I asked. But when I looked at him, there was a streak of blood under his nose and he wiped at it quickly, only smearing it across his lip.

“Tallu?” I asked sharply. “Come here, let me heal you.”

“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m fine, Airón. What is there for us in Forsaith?”

“Let me heal you,” I insisted, but he shook his head and I knew I couldn’t force him, couldn’t insist, because if I did then he would only get further away, withdrawing from me until we were too far apart to touch again. I wrapped my hands around each other, wishing that it was Tallu I was holding. “Soon, my love. Soon we can unite the continent by peace and this will be a memory.”

He took another clean cloth, wiping away the blood. “What is there in Forsaith for us?”

“The first step on our journey.” I tried to smile, but couldn’t focus on anything but the slight tremble in his hands when he put down the cloth, the way he braced a hand against the counter to steady himself before turning back to bed.

Thirty-Nine

Of course we could not leave for Forsaith right away. Tallu needed to finish his work with the goblins, and I needed to convince Naî that she could fly us to the burned nation.

No, Naî said. I won’t go.

Even after being refreshed by her time in the animalia realm, Naî still looked unhealthy. Our final battle against Bemishu had worn her out. She needed cooler temperatures.

“We won’t be gone for long. And if things work out how I expect, then I can take you back to the Northern Kingdom.” I put my hand under her body, lifting her and cradling her in my arms. She had shrunk to the size of a small house cat, and turned her head away from me in annoyance.

Shouldn’t you be with Tallu? she asked archly. Isn’t he meeting with the goblins?

“Yes,” I said. “But he doesn’t need me there.”

Even with my new role, even knowing what I was, I understood that my place was not in the center of politics. I would never have the fluency that Tallu or Koque did with it. I had grown up for one purpose, and I had been able to adapt, to change myself to fit into the Imperium’s court, but that did not mean I belonged there. I put my hand on Naî’s back, rubbing my thumb along her crest.

“You aren’t even going to ask why we need to go to Forsaith?” I asked.

When have I ever asked anything about what we’re doing? Naî sounded annoyed, but also worried. It is some new enemy, isn’t it? There is some new threat and we must stop it before it destroys the world.

I smiled down at her, feeling immeasurably fond. She would help us, even when she claimed she wouldn’t. She would help us because that was who she was, just as I was finding out who I was.

“No,” I said. Naî whipped her head around, glaring at me. Even in dragon form, she looked incredulous.

No?

“No. When I was with the animalia, I found out why I was able to use so many powers.” I pinched at her crest, resisting the urge to pick her up as a mother cat might and shake her. “You knew.”

Naî jumped off my lap, moving away from me and shifting into her human form. She was naked, and I stood, grabbing one of Tallu’s shirts for her. She put it on, and I rolled up the sleeves so they didn’t hang over her hands.

“You have powers that the world has not seen since the One Dragon was killed,” Naî said. “You have powers that have only ever belonged to one creature before you.”

She bit her lip, hunching her shoulders forward. I finished with her sleeves and sat back on my heels. In her child form, she was still taller than I was when I crouched. Her pale white hair fell over her face, but I could see hints of her iridescent opal eyes through the curtain of it.

“Do you want me to say it?” I asked.

“I have the memories of my mother and my grandmother,” Naî said. “Both of them knew the One Dragon. Both of them mourned her when she was killed.”

“Yes. I wish I could say I remember them, too, but I don’t. I have no memories from the One Dragon. Hints, maybe. I remember how much she loved Ox, how amused she was by Fox. How much she grieved when Centipede went too far and needed to be stopped. But it’s not a real memory. It’s a mix of all the myths my mother told me and vague feelings.” Even Tallu had not asked me what I remembered, simply trusted me more than he should.

“The truth is, I have the soul of the One Dragon. I know I have the magic of her. But I am not the One Dragon.” I looked down, breathing deeply, trying to keep the words from flowing out.