“Carrot soup,” she mutters.
“What?” I reply.
“At lunch today, I couldn’t even choose what I wanted, so I let Neeve decide for me. She chose carrot soup.” A laugh breaks outof her, but it turns into a sob before she can swallow it. “I don’t even like carrots.”
“Ezzy—” Dropping down beside her, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and find she’s stone cold beneath my touch.
“I can’t decide anything anymore, Lyra.” She folds forward like the words have taken the last of her strength. “I don’t know who I am without it. The Innerlands. The Citadel. The rules. The orders. It’s all I’ve ever known.” Dragging in a shaky inhale, she finally looks at me, and the pain in her face is so real it steals whatever I was about to say. “So I let them decide,” she whispers. “I let the dragons decide for me.”
“It’s okay.” I tighten my arm around her. “You’re okay. You’re still here.”
“No.” She shakes her head as her focus drifts past me. “No, it’s not.”
Following her gaze, every part of me recoils when I see what she’s been staring at.
There, perched on my bed, claws sunk into my blanket, is a tiny, very round, furious-looking red dragon.
“Ezzy...” I murmur cautiously, as his eyes narrow on mine. “What the fuck is Dave doing here?”
“He's... he’s my dragon.” Ezzy's voice barely makes it out. “But I think he was supposed to be Neeve’s?—”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Dave’s eyes never leave mine as I pull Ezzy a little closer. He seems content enough sitting on my bed, almost harmless, but I know better. Too many memories of our previous encounters sitting far too close to the surface.
“I, uh, I don’t think it works like that…” I tell her, watching his nostrils flare as he sniffs through my blankets, my pillow, every inch of my bed like it belongs to him. “You can’t just take someone else’s dragon.”
“But he’s red,” she stammers. “Neeve was dreaming of a red dragon… and now he’s here and she’s still up there. Waiting.”
The words hit like a punch, knocking the air from my lungs. Oh god, she doesn't know. She doesn't know Neeve never made it?—
“Bloom, we need to go!” Ezzy and I both jump as Lucien pulls back the canvas and sticks his head inside.
“Uh…” I hesitate as my gaze flicks between them.
“Go, please,” Ezzy insists quietly. “I actually really need to be alone right now.”
“Are you sure?” I want to stay, to tell her Ahria left me, that Neeve’s not coming back, but she looks like she’s still caught in a trance and, hell, maybe I am too.
She nods and turns back to Dave, who has now found Reya’s food stash and is happily tearing into a strip of dried beef she obviously hadn’t hidden well enough, so before he decides to start hunting for more, I grab my pack, shove in a few clothes on top of the journals, and follow Lucien outside.
“Talenand I will be back in about an hour,” Lucien's tone is flat as I slide off JC and drop the last foot into the empty campsite. He doesn’t offer me a hand, doesn’t even look at me properly. “We need to meet with some people about the evac tomorrow, so just make yourself at home until then.”
My pulse continues to pound against my temples, but my stomach gives one last churn and settles enough for me to look around the dark space. Bare scrubland stretches out on every side, broken only by a few trees, two tents, and a small cooking setup over the remains of an old fire.
“What is this place?”
“The Moorsend outpost,” he replies, not bothering to hide the frustration laced through his voice. “We use it as a base.”
His eyes narrow on mine, so I look away before he can say whatever else is sitting on his tongue, dragging my gaze up toward the sky instead.
Twenty-four hours. That’s how long Magda says it can take for the bond to seal. I just need to stay here, keep calm and wait for Ahria to come back. I already lost my shit once, and I can’t risk doing it again.
But still, waiting feels wrong. She’s out there somewhere, and every second I spend here trying not to break even further apartover Neeve is another second she could decide I’m not worth coming back for.
“Take the bigger one.” Lucien mutters and I glance back over at him as he tilts his head toward the tents. “I assume you'll be bunking with Goldie?”
Heat climbs my cheeks as I nod and his eyes roll in response, but he catches and corrects himself quickly.
