Cara sat down at the table. “I thought so, at first. But now I’m not exactly sure what his talent is,” she confessed. “I will be working with him at the academy to explore it further. But it already has come in handy a few times.”
“It saved us, too,” Dani stated. “That fire would have had us.”
The Matriarch stepped into the room. “I have many to thank for rescuing my family.”
Cara rose and went to her. “If you are not going to rest, at least eat something.” She gestured to a chair.
Eriana refused to sit. “I heard that everyone will be leaving, and I wanted to thank you all before you did so.” She let her gaze travel among us. “Words cannot express how grateful I am. If there is any way I can repay you, I most certainly will.”
“I have much to atone for,” Rafael said quietly. “And I am honored to be of help.” He rose, sending a cloud of scent my way that tightened every fiber of me. “At the moment, however, I would love a bath.” He waggled his brows at Riley.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “Satyrs,” he complained.
“I’m only half Satyr. And you’ll be singing a different tune in ten minutes.” Rafael snorted a laugh.
“Take the first path,” Cara said. “When it forks, the right one leads to the showers. The other goes to the heated pool.”
Riley’s eyes were flashing like mad as she stood, and her face had taken on an intense red hue. “Um… that sounds wonderful.”
I got the feeling she wasn’t talking about the directions. They filed out with something less than casual decorum, and I grabbed one last meatroll, giving them a bit of space before I followed.
The Matriarch stepped closer to me. “Was it really the Fire Drake that started the blaze?” When I nodded, my gut twisting into a knot, she continued. “Was he alone?”
I heard the dread in her voice. “He was with his own pinions,” I answered truthfully.
Her eyes were dark with pain. “Did you know them, then? Are you sure they were underworld Dragons?”
I told her what she needed to know, without admitting that they’d been my friends. “Yes. I knew them. They were from his underworld empire.”
She closed her eyes. “I know their presence in that time and place—there had to be a connection to my son. But knowing it, and accepting it, are two different things.”
Driven by her pain, I offered, “Victor could have staged such a coup to weaken the Empire…”
She nodded, but I didn’t think she believed it. And a part of me didn’t want to think that Victor was acting alone.
Caliel agreed with me.In this case—I don’t think he was.
Cara guided the Matriarch to a chair, and I slipped out the door. By the time I got down there, Riggs would likely be done with the shower. And I really did want to get the smoke stench off me. The sooner I could put the memory of that fire—and Vic’s part in it—behind me, the better.
Caliel was quick to pounce.He has become a monster. And he has connections that threaten the realms’ stability.
I didn’t want to think of Vic as a monster. But then, he was now a different being. I no longer saw any signs of the Centaur I’d known.
I think Brock is alive and well inside him.
I hesitated. Did I really believe that?
Caliel seemed satisfied with my lack of immediate denial, because he subsided. I pushed the thoughts away as I took the stairs down to the ground level.
The air was redolent with the aftermath of Rafael’s passage, and the scent remained powerful enough to boost my awareness of everything around me. As I stepped out into the new day, every sound was beautiful, each color more vibrant, and the slight breeze drifted over my sensitized skin like a lover’s touch.
When I took the right fork, a groan echoed through the forest, deep and low. It was coming from the other path, and it reverberated straight through me. It was followed by splashing, and a growl, as if someone was being teased beyond an acceptable level…
I experienced a brief tingle of envy. Riley and her guys seemed so happy. They belonged to each other.
I’d left my family behind.
Or maybe, they’d left me.
