“The Dragon virus is pretty virulent,” Vali said. “Not many are truly resistant. There are some that just gain strength. My father used those species, sometimes, as mine workers.”
She sounded so nonchalant about it, but it was enough to label her father as a true underlord—not worried about the lives of others, so long as they benefited him in some way.
Cara pulled out a large jar filled with a white powder, and offered it to me with a small scoop.
“Only one for now. This is quite pure.”
I obediently took one scoopful. It tingled its way down as she settled across from me and grabbed one of her braids, holding the crystal woven into it aloft.
“Okay,” the Watcher said. “Here we go.”
“No chicken noises,” I warned her.
“What’s a chicken?” Kiko asked.
“A rather silly-looking bird that can be ultra-fierce,” I said. “And they make ridiculous clucking sounds.”
Cara snorted. “I make no promises.” And she started to swing the crystal.
It sparkled in the late afternoon light, and I clutched Rafael’s crystal in my fist, struggling to keep my mind focused on him. After a few minutes, my eyes drifted closed.
The first thing I became aware of was the sound of wind moving through the trees.
As I glanced up, the rustling leaves softened and then died off altogether. The trees weren’t familiar. This wasn’t the forest around the academy.
The trunks stood like pillars holding up the night sky, unfettered by smaller bushes from their crowns to the roots flaring into the ground. The moonlight, dappled by leaves, penetrated straight down.
I walked through the woods and arrived at a house.
It was less a house and more a cabin, small but sturdy, with flat stones set into the overgrown grass to create a path. The entire place had an air of abandonment, from the tall scraggly weeds growing up against the foundation, to the cracked windowpanes.
I wandered around it, wondering why it had found its way into my dream. Glancing up through the branches, I saw three moons. The clouds scudded across two of them, but the third shone bright as day. And my heart accelerated.
Behind the house, I found him.
He was on his knees, with his back to me. A lean form with broad shoulders, dressed in a loose tunic and what looked like breeches. From behind, the most prominent thing about him was his hair. It was long, at least as long as Havoc’s, down to his butt. Even at night, it blended with all the earthy tones of the forest, muted reds and browns and golds that shimmered in the moonlight as though it had metallic flecks running through it.
Kiko’s hair, although I’d never seen hers loose. Part of his Satyr heritage.
“Rafael.”
He stiffened, and then shot to his feet, smoothly rotating until he faced me.Graceful, was my first thought. His power contained, much the same way his muscles hugged his bones. Not overly tall, but perfectly proportioned, with long legs that looked built to run.
My eyes searched for horns that were not there. I looked up into a narrow face with high cheekbones and a determined set to his jaw. A face almost as beautiful as it was handsome. Yet not a surprise. Somehow, I’d known he’d look like this.
One look into his eyes, and my world spun to a halt. They shone, one gold, one a pale silvery blue, but it was the pain in them that seized hold. His skin might be whole, but his soul was in pieces.
This was him. The final piece to a quad already in shambles.
Somehow, he knew me. “Riley,” he breathed.
He knew who I was? My mouth opened, and said something totally inane. “Where have you been all my life, handsome?”
He had the most expressive mouth, wide, with lips perfectly formed, not too full, or too thin. And now, one corner quirked upward. “Nowhere good,” he admitted.
I reached for him, but he flinched away. And then took a step back.
No. Not him, too. I couldn’t bear it.
