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How could she tell him she hadn’t seen her home since she was a child, that she couldn’t return there even if she’d wanted to? “The other world is the only place I can ever be safe,” she said, holding his gaze until she knew he understood. Here she was, yet again, using his love for her as a tool to manipulate him. The only thing that made her feel a little less like an absolute monster was the certain knowledge that he’d be better off once she was out of his life for good.
“This is a lot to consider,” Queen Lana said thoughtfully in the uneasy silence that followed Inota’s request. “I’ll need some time to confer in private with my advisors, Kaya. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course.” She hesitated for a moment, wondering how much she could push the Queen. That charmingly frank, straightforward demeanor could very well be a trap—but time was absolutely a factor here. “I would offer the unfortunate observation, though, that the longer I remain on your insula, the more danger I put your kingdom in. When the Mage’s Guild send delegates, if they find me here, they’ll make the automatic assumption that the local authority has been actively complicit in hiding me.”
“She’s right,” Callan said reluctantly. “I’ve had the opportunity to study some of their charters—they operate under some very inflexible legislation.”
“The sooner you’re gone, the better, hm?” That was Cato, his eyebrow quirked and his light tone belying the grim expression on his face. “For what it’s worth, Queen Lana, I think it’s the best plan we’re going to find. If Kaya’s willing to leave home for good, that is, and we’re all willing to let the Mage’s Guild believe we were hoodwinked…”
“I worry about that reflecting poorly on us on the inter-insular stage,” Callan pointed out, but she could hear the uncertainty in his voice, knew he was grasping at straws. He didn’t want her to go, but that was hardly a compelling argument in this context, was it?
“It won’t,” Inota said quickly, turning to the Queen so she wouldn’t have to see the hurt in Callan’s eyes. “The Mage’s Guild consider all of their enemies incredibly dangerous and powerful—even the ones who aren’t,” she said with a grimace. “They certainly won’t consider it a weakness on your part to have been manipulated by their fugitive. And word is unlikely to spread beyond the Guild. I don’t need to remind you how fond they are of secrecy. We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t.”
“One last question,” Queen Lana said, her eyes shifting to Callan as she spoke. “Will Callan be going with you on this one-way journey?”
Inota blinked. “Of course not. I’d never ask that of him.”
She could tell as soon as the words had left her lips that it had been the wrong answer. Queen Lana exchanged a cryptic glance with the wolf beside her, and Inota did her best to ignore the swelling panic in her belly, the low murmuring of the listening audience. Dragons and their soulmates, she thought, hiding the sudden burst of anger in the pit of her stomach. They were so selfish. What was she supposed to say to a question like that?Yes, actually, I love this man so much that I want to rip him away from everything he knows and force him to give up the career he’s building here to come with me, someone who’s been lying to him since the second we met?
“I’ll confer with my advisors now,” Queen Lana said, that cool smile back on her pretty face as though nothing had happened. “For now, we can offer you guest lodgings here in the Palace.”
And so she was politely whisked away from the Throne Room and escorted down the long passageways of the Palace and into a luxuriously appointed guest room. But the decor was the last thing on Inota’s mind right now. Callan had remained behind with the Queen and her councilors, barely looking at her as she left. She’d been hoping he’d be her escort to her quarters, that she might get a chance to apologize for blindsiding him in front of the Queen. But she wasn’t alone there for long.
“It’s nice to see you again, Inota.”
She turned at the sound of a name she hadn’t heard in years, feeling her heart turn to solid rock as she did. Cato was smiling at her faintly from the doorway. For a moment, she considered pretending to be confused, but the certainty in his eyes killed the impulse. What would be the point? He had her.
“I suppose it was too much to hope you’d leave me be,” she said with a sigh, letting her shoulders drop.
“Excuse me? I played along in there like a champion. An award-winning performance, if I do say so myself.” He took a step closer. “Truly, though. How have you been? I haven’t seen you since—”
“Since you left us all for dead with Haspar, yeah, I remember,” she snapped, feeling a cold satisfaction at the way his cocky grin faded. “How have I been? You’re really going to ask me that? You of all people should know—”
“Fine. Fine. I’m sorry. I take it back.” He raised his hands like she was pointing a weapon at him, and she sighed, sitting down heavily in one of the room’s luxurious armchairs.
“Thank you,” she said reluctantly. “For not selling me out when you recognized me.”
“I’ll be honest, it took me a minute. And not just because you’re the best actress in this or any other world.” He was looking at her closely. “You’ve changed.”
“Very funny.” She managed half a smile, let her eyes flash half a dozen different colors.
“I mean it. Your magic.” He waved a hand, and she felt the currents in the air shift. “It’s him, isn’t it? Callan.”
Even his name made her feel a pang of guilt low in her belly. She ignored it. “What about him?”
“He’s your soulmate, right?”
Inota stared at him. “You remember I’m not a dragon, right? It hasn’t beenthatlong, Cato. Come on.”
“I’m not a dragon either. Acantha’s still my soulmate.”
“Sure.”
“Yes, sure. Why do you think I turned on Haspar? Just for fun?” His tone was light, but she could see it in his eyes that he was serious. “It’s real magic, Inota. Shifter or…”
“Human?” She narrowed her eyes, triumphant, as Cato faltered. “You’d forgotten?”
“No.” He exhaled. “That’s not the point. The point is—it was pretty obvious to everyone in that room what’s going on between you. Are you really willing to leave everything behind? All of us? Him too?”
