“Ah. Explains your dour mood,” he drones, his entire body waftingagainst the glass. Like he’s desperate to seep through the barrier and glean a better look.
Nosy fucker.
He’d ask me to pelt his bottle directly into Siharna’s room if he thought I’d consider it.
“Well, something to brighten you.” He peels free and swishes around, boasting a smile so gaping it’s like someone punched a hole in his face and ripped out a fistful of fog. “My brothers spotted a moonshard.”
Being struck by lightning would jolt less.
“That’s very good news,” I rasp, working to tame the rapid beat of my heart.
I wonder which part it is …
How big …
I set the bottle down, hands clasped as I rest my elbows on my knees and lean forward. “Anything on Kyzari, Veya, or Grihm, my second-in-command? He set off to Gondragh to claim an egg.”
“I’ll check.” Borg wafts closer, like he’s swaying to a tune, foggy fingers splayed to inspect his tapered nails. Perfectly aware that he has me by the balls. “Anything else, My King?”
I chew on the words I want to release, wondering if I should take Raeve’s advice across the board and leave this be. Cork the urge to dig up the past.
My hungry compulsion wins out.
“I’d like to know if any of your brothers witnessed Elluin Neván being escorted back to Arithia almost one hundred and twenty-five phases ago, just prior to her binding ceremony with Tyroth. I’m curious to know if she was bound or if she fought against the ones who carried her.”
Borg glares at me for such a long moment I realize I forgot my manners.
“Please.”
“One hundred and twenty-five phases ago …”
The dryness of his tone is woefully unappreciated.
“As I said.”
“What happened to ‘no more seeking information about Elluin Nev—’”
“I changed my mind,” I grit out.
Borg makes an odd clicking sound and gets back to inspecting his nails. “Anything else? My misty heart on a plate, perhaps?”
“That’s all.”
He mimics my words, melting into a foggy puddle that drifts across the ground.
I grasp my hands behind the back of my neck and squeeze my eyes shut. Weather another two aching screams while fear billows in my chest like a torched forest. Begging for this not to be the last time I hear Siharna’s voice; pitched with savage determination not to fail her little one.
To bring him into this world unharmed.
Hard not to imagine Raeve making those same sounds back when she went by a different name. Before she was taken to the sky, entombed within the bundled corpse of her beloved dragon—
“Miraculously, a brother recalls seeing the traveling party that escorted Elluin back to Arithia.”
My eyes snap open, finding Borg at his full size, gusting about the room as he inspects Mah’s wares.
“They stopped on the Ergor Plains while their dragons hunted.”
A shiver moves through me.
