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“But you didn’t. And it worked. If you remained stuck in that temple, we wouldn’t know what could have happened. So I’ll use it to save you, just to be sure. Your life is valuable.”
He sighed. “Every life is valuable. I lost friends. I lost a dear cousin. He was the most beautiful of all the Ancients, with dark black hair and black horns.” He looked at Naia. “Gone.”
“I’m sorry for that. I don’t mean to minimize your pain, but I lost my mother. My blood father. I would have liked to have met them, to have had a mother’s touch.”
“My mother died too. She died so I could live.” He chuckled. “I don’t think my father thought it was a fair exchange. Maybe it wasn’t.”
“No. A mother should live to see her children, but fate sometimes has other plans.”
He snorted. “Fate.”
“Do you hate your life that much?”
“I hate many of the choices I made. Many, many. But I’m happy we’re here together. I’ve been in love with you from the moment I first saw you, in that dragon temple. And now we’re here.”
“Yes, and yet you want me not to go to that temple and perhaps puff you out of existence.”
“I don’t want that, I just didn’t want to be selfish.”
“I’m selfish, River, and I’ll use this thing to save you. It’smywish.”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Fair.”
“You need to rest.”
“I can’t rest with you here. Humans think sleeping together means doing things together, and I can’t do it under your father’s roof if we’re not married.”
“He’s not my father.”
“Your guardian, counts as the same.”
“Are you always this annoying with your stupid fae rules?”
He chuckled. “Isn’t River Annoying one of my names? I agree the rules are stupid, Naia, but they were made to appease human sensibilities, what I am going to do?”
“Must I remind you that we’ve lived together and slept together before? In the literal sense of sleep, of course.”
“Must I remind you that I just humiliated myself like I had never done before, regretting all that?”
She did recall it, and it warmed her heart. “Thank you. I can’t believe you turned my father around.”
“I made it easier for you two to get along again. I knew you needed that. I know how important a father’s approval is.” There was a tinge of sadness in his words. It was the approval he’d never gotten.
“You’re part of the family now. Your future father-in-law approves of you.”
He chuckled. “Surprising, right?”
And yet, this was no laughing matter. Suddenly his insistence on not offending her father made a lot more sense.
“I’ll go,” she said. “You need to rest.”
She was at the door when it hit her. She turned to River. “Did you feel that?”
* * *
Azir sat in his office,trying to process everything. He hadn’t asked much, perceiving how tired everyone was. Ursiana sat at a corner, a new, strange distance between them. And silence. The silence was killing him. So many unsaid words, so many questions.
He decided to break the silence. Most conversations started with stupid words. “Dragons?” He chuckled. “Can you believe it?”
