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“True, true. I’ve done that more than once.”
“I’m happy that Lady Isavelle andMa’lenare getting to know one another, which is something his father never bothered to do with his mate.”
I feel saddened, remembering what Zabriel told me the other night at dinner. “Did they not even love one another?”
Fiala hesitates. “Zabriel’s family is complicated, and I wouldn’t like to speak out of turn.”
“Absolutely not,” Dusan says mournfully. “I can’t take shoveling any more wyvern shit.”
So his parents barely knew each other. I think about all the times we’ve talked and tried to understand each other better. The times we’ve shared laughter. Kisses. Sad memories. Perhaps Zabriel and I don’t have the worst Alpha and Omega relationship that Maledin has ever witnessed.
We head over to the part of the city where Odanna lives, and I find her perched on the back of an unhitched cart, enjoying the sunny morning.
“Isavelle!” Her face breaks into a bright smile as she waves me over, patting the empty space next to her. “How have you been?”
I sit down and tell her the latest news about my family, which is nothing because I haven’t found them, but at least I know they’re not in Grendu.
Odanna fills me in on what she’s been doing down in the city. Tending to travelers’ horses. Mucking out stables. Helping the refugees as much as she can and speaking with the castle soldiers. It occurs to me that I don’t know whether Odanna is human or Maledinni, or both. It doesn’t matter either way, but it would be nice to share designations with her. Like me, she’s not very tall, so perhaps she’s an Omega as well.
“Have you noticed anyone acting strangely around you because of the way you smell?”
Odanna holds her sleeve over her face and sniffs and checks the bottom of her shoe. “Do I stink? Have I stepped in something?”
“No, your scent. The natural way you smell. It’s how Maledinni court each other and choose their partners.”
Odanna grins at me, her lively eyes dancing. “No man has ever followed me around because of the way I smell.”
My friend is beautiful, so I can imagine that plenty of men follow her around for that reason alone.
“Is your scent why the king sends his dragon after you and sits you on his lap?” She leans closer and gives me a sniff. “You smell normal to me. It’s probably more because he thinks you’re charming and adorable.”
“Charming and adorable? I don’t think so. To him, I smell like honeysuckle and other things.”
“What does he smell like to you?”
I kick my legs back and forth and think about this for a moment. “Most of the time, not much. Nothing more than what a man should smell like. Cotton and leather. Sweat if he’s been sparring. Smoke if he’s been riding Scourge. Nice scents, but I’m sure there’s something I’m missing. Every now and then it’s like I can smell more, but then it slips through my fingers. Or rather, my nose.” I sigh and shake my head. “Or I’m only imagining it. Sometimes I think I’m crazy.”
“I’m sure you’re not.”
“Well, apparently I’m a witch, which is the same thing where I’m from,” I grumble, and then bite my lip. I wasn’t going to bring that up in case Odanna ran away screaming. Witches had a reputation for eating children and killing cows before the war, and they probably still do.
All Odanna says is, “My granny was a witch. She had to hide it, but all the family knew. She would have premonitions and the things she said would come to pass, did come to pass.”
I must be staring at Odanna with an expression of shock on my face as she adds, “There’s no reason I shouldn’t say it. The Brethren can’t hurt us anymore.”
I let out a slow breath. They can’t, can they? I won’t be beaten for touching intimate parts of myself or for having explicit thoughts about a man. I won’t be executed for seeing things I shouldn’t. It’s difficult to get used to this new normal.
“I think I’m like your granny. I see things that are going to happen or are happening. I’m not sure which.” I explain the vision I had about Tish and Damla.
“One of those creatures were killed like that, and her rider too? That’s terrible,” Odanna exclaims. “Dragons still terrify me, but I feel about them like I do about storms. Powerful, frightening, but beautiful.”
A dragon like Scourge is certainly all those things, but I’m starting to realize he’s not as wild and dangerous as I first thought. He protected me when the Brethren attacked, and he protected Esmeral when she was suffering through her false heat.
“There’s so much to understand about New Maledin,” I murmur.
Odanna has to get back to her work, and she hugs me when we say goodbye and makes me promise to come back and see her again soon.
“You’re welcome to come and visit me up at the castle,” I tell her. “Any of the guards will be able to find out where I am.”
