She fell silent as she sipped. The Anna I knew would never calmly agree to be drugged, and for a moment, my panic threatened to choke me. She kept clutching the now-dull horn.
I rose to shut the blinds.
“No! Leave them,” she said. When I shot her a look, her fingers tightened on her mug. “There’s been so much darkness.”
It was a comment guaranteed to get me right back beside her. I held her as she finished the tea, and her breathing steadied. When her head fell against me, I tucked her into the bed.
“She’s all yours,” I whispered to Trix, who blinked her blue eyes at me as I closed the door.
Cara was still sitting on the kitchen stool. She sipped tea from a mug, and pushed another to me along the counter. I ignored it and fixed her with a stare. I needed my wits about me right now. “When a fated mate dies, what happens to the other one?” I asked.
Her mouth pulled straight, but she answered. “I think you have seen that in action, have you not?”
Memories of my father only increased my panic. I gritted my teeth. “Am I enough to see her through this?”
Cara’s vivid-blue eyes rose to mine. “You are meant to be a quad, Matt.”
It was an answer, whether I wanted to hear it or not. I pushed the tea away. “How long will that keep her out?”
“I dosed her heavily,” Cara admitted. “You have five hours, probably.”
I rose and headed for the door. It would be enough. This would either work.
Or it wouldn’t.
47
Talakai
Haki and I stood on the cliff, and looked down upon the bodies.
We’d hauled the dead of Galeran’s army through the gate to this mountain realm and dumped them down a canyon. It had been a hard, disgusting task. But we couldn’t dispose of them in the virgin realm, especially as it had sufficient technology to discover that the remains didn’t belong to any known species. So every body, or remnant of one, had to be picked up and carted away.
We watched the Legion Dragons fly over the mass grave and open their jaws. Flames shot from them to engulf the bodies. Smoke began to rise.
I was covered in grime and gore, and Haki wasn’t in much better shape. He rubbed his face and grimaced at the flakes of dried blood that came away with it.
“I have to go,” he said.
I knew he did. He’d done enough. With Galeran licking his wounds and on the run, we might never find him. “Where is Kala?”
“She’s been staying with her parents. But with Xumi dead, it is time for us to go home.” He tilted his head. “I was going to invite you to come with me.”
“You were?”
He nodded. “But Kala says you have somewhere else to be.”
My heart accelerated, and I looked away. “I’m not ready.”
Haki snorted. “Who ever is? The only way forward is always through.”
I didn’t reply right away. “Thank you, my friend, for helping me.”
“Just like old times,” he said. “I’d hug you, but I’m gross. And so are you.”
He shot me a grin, but his face was already lengthening into his beast. “Don’ts bes a stranger, brother,” he said. “Ands Kala says, don’t bes stupid either.”
I snorted. “Be safe, Haki. Give my regards to Kala.”
