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Helian angled his head toward me. “You did an excellent job of protecting me this time.” He had the nerve to wink at me. “You found me a green witch, after all.”
Radnor craned his long neck to look down at me, turning up his snout like I was no more significant than the stag carcass he’d crushed beneath his paws.Hurry up, witch. Caldaria awaits.
I gave Helian a look, seeing if he’d honor his word to take me someplace safer.
Cursing, he turned his gaze to the sky. “Change of plans.”
Radnor’s eyes narrowed, smoke streams pouring from his snout as he turned back toward his rider, his neck twisting like a serpent slithering sideways through sand.What do you mean?
Helian cut Radnor a dark look. “We go to Thesan.”
Thesan? I’d heard of the island that was far enough from the continent to require a boat, but close enough for their strange emissaries to travel to the coast every spring for trade. Thorin had told me that foreigners weren’t allowed at Thesan, and even if they tried, their ships would get lost in the mist and end up in watery graves while trying to navigate the treacherous rocks surrounding the island. It was a foreign land with sprites as small as fingers, gnomes who robbed people while they slept, and sirens who swam up rivers and feasted on those foolish enough to wander too close to the waters. That’s where he was taking me?
Radnor arched back as if he’d been slapped.It will take a fortnight by air.
“I know.” Helian gave me a grim look as he crossed over to me. No way was I letting him go back on his word, even if Thesan was considered the wilds of the magical realm. At least they didn’t have any berchtas. Not that I was aware of, anyway.
Radnor let out a growl so deep, hell’s fires reflecting in his eyes, I fought the urge to crawl beneath my skin and hide. Gone was the affectionate, loyal drake. In his place was a leviathan with a grudge as big as his balls.Are you telling me I’m to carry that miserable witch and her rodent on my back all the way to Thesan?
I grumbled at that, sick and tired of my familiar being referred to as a rodent. Demon thumped in my bag as if to emphasize his displeasure.
“That’s what I’m telling you, unless you’d rather dump her in the Caldarian countryside and have Malvolia’s spies get their hands on her.”
Malvolia had spies in Caldaria? I thought all of Caldaria was ruled by the cruel Fae, King Fachnan.
Radnor ruffled his wings.What do I care?
Jutting hands on my hips, I turned my glare from the drake to Helian. “You both speak of me as if I’m not standing right here.”
“You will care when Malvolia unlocks the full might of her magic. I was on the brink of death.” Helian stepped up to his dragon, wagging a finger in his face. “How many green witches do you know with that kind of healing skill? Don’t tell me you don’t sense her powers.”
I waved my hands in their faces. “Hello!” I wanted to slap him silly and tell him Malvolia would have no use for a second-rate witch, despite the foreboding feeling that threatened to crush my chest.
Why not bring her to your father?
He hopped onto the dragon’s back with the ease of a knight swinging onto a horse. “My father will use her worse than Malvolia.”
The look of pity Helian gave me as he settled between the crook of Radnor’s wings made me grind my teeth in anger. I felt like a voyeur staring out of someone else’s eyes as I gaped up at him. Who was his father and what would his father and some ancient witch need from me? And how would his father use me?
And you’ll be back in his good graces.
Helian snorted. “What care I for his good graces?”
A warm bed, a full belly, all the wine and whores you could ask for.
I wasn’t sure why, but a blade of jealousy twisted in my heart. I silently berated myself. Let the whores have him. I had no use for such a vain brute.
“Enough.” Helian waved his dragon away while adjusting the straps on a charred leather saddle that was attached between two thick scales. My gut churned at the realization that he had only one saddle. Was I supposed to share that small seat with him? Yes, my bones were small, but the dragon rider with his thick, muscular thighs—not that I’d been looking—would need every inch of that saddle.
And a warm nest for me, or do you not care for my comfort?
I rolled my eyes at the dragon.
Helian threw up his hands, cursing. “Radnor, you’re being unfair.”
And you’re being unreasonable.He craned his neck to look at the rider on his back. Arabella isn’t so bad.
“Then you marry her!” Helian looked down at me with a scowl. “Get on.”
