Luca’s eyes were like the ocean. I stared so long into them that I thought the irises moved like waves.
Crinkles formed at the corner of his eyes, lips turning up in a smile. “I don’t think you’ve blinked, little dragon.”
I straightened up on the bed, his bed this time. We were in his room, and he was laying his head on my lap while I ran my fingers through his short hair, petting him like a cat. I didn’t want to let this man go now that he was awake.
“You just woke up. I need to make sure you’re okay.”
He turned his head and kissed my tunic-covered stomach, sending butterflies a light in my core. “I’ve been up for three days now.”
“Yeah, after being unconscious for four days!”
I’d been out for two of those days, but that wasn’t the point. He’d scared me. The hole these men would leave in my life after such a short time, I could not understand.
I sighed and leaned my back against a pillow. My time was coming to an end. I had to go home. We all knew it, but no one said a word. I could feel the wariness in each man now that we were all connected. It plagued them to wait for the moment when I would push for us to return to the court and ask for permission to return home. With Nigel dead, the banishment hold wouldn’t be a problem. During the battle, we’d captured a leader and took out even more of the Nodoorian enemies. We’d held up our end of the deal, and now the court would grant me access to the portal so I could go home.
I had wanted this from the start. Yet almost two fae months later, it brought a heaviness in the pit of my stomach. Still, I had a duty to my people, and I wouldn’t let those who cared about me think I was gone forever. Possibly dead.
Luca sat up, stretching his arms over his upper body. “I smell food. I think dinner is ready.”
I playfully huffed. The dragon was an eating machine. “You care more about food than me.”
Luca cracked a smile, wiggling his brows. “Is there something else I should be eating?”
I jumped out of the bed. “Of course, but you need your strength first.”
We made our way to the dining room, where Xander, Yosef, and Melina were sitting. Zelda and another male, a helper under Zelda named Bernard, helped to bring food to the table. We sat down, and the group of us began to eat and chat as we had been doing for the past few days. Although Melina was not part of the pack, she’d aided us with her potions to heal Luca and myself.
I stabbed at my food, feeling a hollowness in my core. This would be our last meal. Did they know? Could they sense it? I’d done a crap job of trying to block my mind.
During dessert, a cake that I had made, I decided I would finally announce my departure. I put my fork down slowly. “I have something to say.”
I heard a growl from my left. Xander. “No.”
“Xander,” Yosef said in a warning tone from my right at the head of the rectangular table. I looked over to him, his eyes cool, avoiding my own. He knew this was the moment I was going to say something. I could feel the heartbreak, although his face betrayed nothing.
Tears pricked the back of my eyes, but I held on as best I could. “I have to go home. Tomorrow. There’s a spy in our midst, and I know my friends are worried.”
Luca nodded, sitting across from me next to Melina, in understanding. “Can you go and come back?”
Yosef let out a sigh. “No. The portal’s been closed. We only got special permission for Lila to leave if we captured or killed a Nodoorian leader. Opening the portal risks more outsiders, specifically our enemies, getting in or out. This would be a one-way trip for her until we win the battle with the Nodoorians.”
“Then I’ll go with her.”
Yosef shook his head. “You won’t get that permission.”
Xander pounded the table, and I looked back to him, startled. His face was twisted in a mask of rage and hurt. I felt like shit looking at that pained face. “We don’t know when we’ll finish this. We still need to find their other base, and none of their people we’ve captured are talking.”
“I don’t understand,” Luca began, looking thoroughly confused. “Why can’t they allow her to go, do what she needs to, and come right back.”
Yosef rubbed his forehead, eyes weary. “It’s not that easy.”
He was taking the brunt of this on my behalf, but it wasn’t his job. “He’s right, I can’t just go and come right back, even if the court were to allow it, and I doubt they would. I have a business, and a life back home. I don’t want to abandon it. I was never meant to stay here.”
Luca dropped his shoulders, looking almost like a hurt child despite his massive size. “I thought you liked it here with us.”
Stab, right in the heart. I felt like the air was straining in my throat. I blinked several times, forcing the rising tears away. “I do. I care so much about all of you. I just don’t know how this all could work out. It’s more than a long-distance relationship we’re talking about.”
Melina cleared her throat, looking over to Yosef and then back to me with careful eyes. “How would the bonds work? If you go to the human realm and don’t come back, won’t it make you sick?”
