“I still think we could have lied,” Jacques pointed out. “No one needed to know that you’d bitten Dani.
Tyrez shook his head. “I am—or rather was—Legion. I have to stand by the rules I uphold.”
“Well, you don’t anymore,” the Satyr pointed out. “You are embarking on an entirely different journey.”
It was true. From birth, his life had been guided along a certain path, and he’d accepted it without question. Become every inch the warrior his father had expected him to be.
But who, and what, was he now?
He’d need to find a home, and a job to support it. Build an entirely new life.
But first, he had to save Ash. A job made much more difficult now that he’d been cut out of the loop. He no longer had the Legion’s resources to help him find the Archmage.
If they used Dani as bait—there was no way he’d let that happen without him being there. His father had conceded that point, but he’d seen the look in Taran’s eyes.
It was a revelation that he didn’t trust his oldest brother. Not one bit.
Cara appeared on the path. “Why don’t you two come inside? I have lunch ready.”
“How is she?” Tyrez asked as he fell in behind her.
“She’s resting lighter, now,” the Watcher conceded. “With injuries that extensive, I normally wouldn’t expect her to wake this soon. But she is healing rapidly.”
Tyrez’s stride hitched. All shifters had enhanced healing ability. Cara worked on them often. “Faster than a Dire would?” he asked.
Her eyes met his, filled with understanding. “Oh, yes. Much faster. She had fractures to one arm, both legs, her ribs, spine, and skull. Internal injuries to her spleen, ribs pierced a lung. Bleeding in her brain.”
Jacques sighed. “And she is still alive?”
Tyrez closed his eyes for a moment. He’d heard some of this last night, but Cara hadn’t told him everything. Feeling numb, he followed her through the door and up the steps to the kitchen.
“I think it is safe to say Tyrez’s Dragon virus saved her life.” Cara answered the Satyr, and then waved to the table. In the center was a platter of sandwiches. “Tuna, ham, and roast beef for Tyrez. Cucumber and cheese for Jacques. Kumquats for Sparkle.”
The Phoenix uttered a pleased chortling sound and flew to her dish of fruit while Tyrez cautiously lowered himself into a chair. Cara’s were nearly antiques, and he was never sure they’d hold him. But he was hungry enough to eat that entire platter.
It gave him pause. Shouldn’t he lack an appetite, considering he was now homeless? Why did he feel this odd sense of relief?
He’d always been fiercely proud of being a Legion soldier. Of being charged with keeping the empire safe. So why did he not mourn its loss?
Perhaps he was merely in shock.
Jacques’s eyes widened as the Dragon inhaled all six meat-stuffed sandwiches. Cara rose to make him another.
“No, really, it is okay. I have had enough.”
“I can read energy better than you, Dragon. You need to build up your reserves. You are seriously depleted.” She pulled a container off the shelf and plunked it in front of him.
“Take as much of that as you can stomach,” she ordered.
Tyrez opened the container. Energy pulsed through him as soon as he did so.
Crystal dust.
He picked up a spoon and dug in.
Jacques finished his mouthful of cucumber and cheese and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. The Satyr was a surprisingly tidy eater. His dark eyes rose to meet the Dragon’s.
“So. Now what?”
