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“Maybe I should tell him the story of the Goddess coming down from the moon to the world.” I smiled. “Especially the story of Laren, Her human mate.”

To my surprise, Serak burst into laughter. “Do that.”

I spoke with Serak and Edan until my voice gave out, sharing all I’d learned as a priest and much of what I’d lived through serving my mistress. Serak shared some of his life, though it was obvious he had a horrifying collection of memories to pick through to find ones to share aloud.

I made the mistake of sharing a riddle with Edan at some point in the endless dark. He was as enthralled as any child and demanded more. I plumbed my memories for every one I could recall. Edan’s sanity came and went, his clear speech sometimes devolving into mutters of rage and confusion, but when he was aware, he was an avid listener with a childlike sense of wonder.

At some point, I realized I was smiling so widely, my face hurt.

“I’m ashamed, Alexios,” Serak admitted after the seventh basket had been delivered. I’d asked who was sending the food. Edan had answered, “One of my siblings’ lost priests,” but not given any more details.

“Ashamed of what?”

“That I allowed Edan in,” he whispered. “I had a choice. Not at first. He was killing all his Alpha priests, funneling their energy into me as his avatar. He’d promised to use me to breed Rada. Somehow, I found the courage to step into the lava. I thought I would die. I wanted to… but not enough. That gave Edan all he needed, one moment before I died, to take control of my body. He poured his power into me, and tied us together.”

I swallowed. “Are you immortal now?”

“Yes.” The word fell into the small space, taking up far too much room.

“You turned into a dragon.”

“That was terrifying,” he admitted, then told me about the battle with Skadi.

“Edan seems different,” I whispered, sometime after he was done.

“He’s changed. He’s still not sane. But I think sharing a mind and a heart with me has had far more of an impact than he imagined it could. I’m not certain what he’ll do now, but I don’t think he’ll tear the world apart. I’ll do whatever I can to keep him from becoming what he was before.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re good for him.” I took a shallow breath, my lungs heavy, like ash had half-filled them. “I wish we’d had the chance to know each other before, Serak. If you ever see Mina again, tell her for me.”

“Mina?”

“Vermina ta Goran, that’s what she told me her name was when we met.”

“Vermina… Ratter. That fits.”

“More than you know. Mina means trouble in my language.” We both breathed for a moment. “Tell Mina I think you’re worth stabbing.”

“Worth stabbing?”

“She does that… to all her mates. Even Skadi.”

“How did a god allow a woman to stab him?”

If I had the energy to laugh, I would have. “It’s one of the ways she says I love you,” I murmured.

“I hope so. She stabbed me before she ever kissed me.”

When he finally spoke again, it was Edan’s deep voice. “Did she truly stab my brother?”

“Yes.” I told him the story of her meeting Skadi, and the hairpin, and how the prickly ice god had thawed until he was every bit as enamored with my perfect, poisoning mistress.

“I knew she was not an ordinary human,” Edan muttered. “Her father was a priest of my brother. He was all but a dragon, that one.”

“Perun?”

“Yes. Perhaps he was a dragon. He lived for much longer than any human should.”

I’d had that thought more than once, that Rada might have been descended from a dragon. Her cloak was always filled with poisons and herbs, and her boots with knives and other sharp-edged implements.