She shrugged. “I don’t know. Mylo got called away, and then the edges of my entire room went up in flames.”
“What happened after that?”
She choked her way through a quick summary and looked at me with a hopeful expression that I didn’t know what to do with—but I didn’t want to make it go away. “Perhaps you’re right,” I grumbled in the drekkan’s lowest tones. “We can stay in the forest tonight.”
She burst out laughing and slapped my wing playfully. “We cannot. But I love hearing you say that.”
A feral smile took over my face. It probably looked terrifying as it displayed my teeth and curled my lips, but it was a real, genuine smile. “I will say anything you like if it makes you thathappy.”
Her smile shrank, but it didn’t disappear. “We need to go back. There will be some people worried, especially if nobody saw us fly away.” Now her smile vanished. “And someone will be wondering if they succeeded.”
“Someone who wants to die.”
She turned to look at me, her bright blue eyes wide. “If we figure out who it is, you don’t really plan to kill them, right?”
“I most certainly do. They intended death. They will feel death.”
“But… then they won’t learn anything.”
That wild smile scrawled across my face again. “This is becoming a very familiar conversation.”
She folded her arms. “Then you should know the answer already.”
I folded my own arms. Just because I was a giant lizard didn’t mean I was wrong. “I will not leave a threat like this alive. They will try again. And I will not risk your life because you do not like violence. You do not need to watch.”
She bit her lip again. I made a good argument. Finally she sighed. “Then promise me you won’t kill them without overwhelming certainty that they are the right person. No hints or hunches or small amounts of evidence. You cannot have any doubt at all that you have the one responsible.”
“I will agree to that.” I wanted to eliminate a threat, not kill an innocent elf. “Now, can I carry you home?” I lifted a claw to pick her up.
A wry smile made her eyes twinkle. “You don’t have to use your claw. A dragon could be described as a giant, flying horse.”
I growled. “My dignity would never recover.”
Chapter 25: Callista
Aedan and I stood in the middle of my ash-blackened room. I wanted to scan for anything that had escaped the fire. He…
I did not know what he was doing.
Instead of finding anything familiar, horrible memories started to lunge from every corner. The bed that had combusted at the same time as the walls. The walls that had turned into a death trap. The entrance to the washroom I’d had to leap over. The smoke that drowned me…
Suddenly, the smoke and the flames were all I could see, all I could feel. The heat and suffocation blocked my throat and attacked my skin again. Part of me whispered it was a memory, but it felt so real.
But then—
A warm hand on mine interrupted the attack. Another hand touched my shoulder and Aedan’s voice came from right infront of me. “Firehawk,” he whispered, “you are stronger than whatever your mind is telling you. Open your eyes. You’ve already beat this.”
When had I closed my eyes? I opened them, and saw Aedan bent in front of me, his bright green eyes level with mine and etched with concern. “Are you with me?”
I nodded. The fire had been hours ago.
Aedan held my eyes. “There are only a few people capable of the targeted destruction that was unleashed here. When I figure out who it was, there will be no mercy.”
Pounding boots thundered in the hall. Aedan slowly straightened up and we turned to see Mylo run into the room with far less decorum than normal.
“Aedan! Callista!” He caught his breath and settled into a stiffer pose, but his face still showed enormous relief. “You’re alive. I was so sure that—”
Aedan interrupted. “What happened here?” As he spoke, his fingertips brushed against the back of my hand. I flipped my hand around and gripped his, grateful he’d put it close enough for me to reach easily.
