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“He’s going to get us killed. Just stay. Go to the Luminaries. Be with Loric.”
I can’t. Asmo’s tracker runs on blood magic. Who knows how much of ours the king has on hand. He’s going to find me if I stay here and going to the Luminaries is just going to help him find out about Loric and his friends, and could possibly get everyone there killed.
“Well, you better find something to rub on you. Make yourself not so tasty or your worst fear is going to come true.”
Don’t remind me.
When I turn around to ask Jesper what to expect, I jolt, smacking a hand over my eyes as skin–so much skin–enters my line of sight. “Oh my gods, you're naked.”
“Uh, ya. That's an important part of it. What? Do you think our clothes magically nestled in our dragon butt crack or something?” He smacks my elbow, making me drop my hand.
I look away anyway. “I didn't think that far.”
“Well, now you know. And honestly, as the girl who ran around town practically naked last night, you'd think you'd be a little more comfortable with this.”
“I get your point, butno. Nothingcould've prepared me for any of this.” I shake my head as Mira and Brenn approach, petting the kitten curled in my arm like a baby. Its little arms rest straight down by its sides, a soft purr leaving it when I curl a finger against its belly.
“Faelor and Vik send their luck,” Mira says, taking off her shirt. “Ready to do this?”
“Partially,” Jesper says, looking at Loric. “I was going to give them a moment to work their shit out before we go. I doubt it'll hurt anything, and at the rate we're going it might be me she rides in.”
Mira nods at me, before the three of them move toward the pile of our stuff Jesper chucked onto the ground. They keep busy consolidating things for the flight.
Loric fingers the bag draped over his shoulders, gnawing at his lip. His eyes stare at the waves, crashing and rippling out from the shore, but his mind is elsewhere.
“Was biting me that bad?” I say, my brow flattening as I shake my head, trying to understand it.
“No. The opposite.” His voice is quiet but it's a response at least.
“Then why do you look like someone died?”
His lips twist as he turns to me with a thoughtful look in his eyes. “Because I feel like someone did. I just don't know if it's going to be you or me.”
“I don't understand…” I close the space between us, looking up at him, waiting to see some semblance of a hint but finding nothing.
“You have to leave. You can't stay here. Had I not agreed to stay an extra day, had you not seen Asmodeus, we might've hadmore time. I could've taught you to shift. We wouldn't be trying something that we've never done successfully before.”
That’s really helping me cling to hope…
“And we might've been blindsided by the king’s shadow shrouds. You could've died, your friends, possibly everyone in the outer realm if they tracked me there. My father would’ve found a way to break the treaty.”
“He's not your father…” Loric's silver eyes raise just enough to peer at me from beneath his dark lashes. “I didn't alter that in Asmodeus’s head. He and Meg brought you into the world and he loved you, still loves you very much.”
My breath hitches and a long silence passes between us, my eyes falling and zoning out on the ground. In a way, I already knew. And even if he wasn't my father biologically, he earned the title in my mind.
Yet, I should feelsomethingright? Anything at all… “Regardless, none of this is your fault.”
“Then explain my mark on your throat.” There's grit to his words, charging them as he steps closer, making me crane my neck back to hold his silver eyes.
“You did it to help me get control before everyone and everything you loved was laid on the line. I don't hold it against you.”
“You should.” His glare softens. “I wanted you to stay… I knew when I saw Asmodeus in that bar that things were about to go south. I saw an opportunity to keep you here, a way for me to not beg you to stay with me, despite what staying could bring to everyone I know and love. I did it. And the sad part is I'd probably do it again.”
I reach up, cradling his cheek. Loric leans into my touch with glassy eyes. “I can't. I won't. Neither of us would forgive ourselves if the king took his hatred for me out on your friends.”
“Then we can go somewhere else. Anywhere else. It doesn't have to be the dragon realm.”
My lips form a line as I attempt to stay strong, to push forward as my heart shatters with his. “Where would we go? The rest of the realms besides the moons and this one are ruled by Asmo’s father. Asmo was banished here because they feared him. How do you think they're going to look at me? We'd be trading one king problem for another.”
