Dread gods, I thought.Let me never visit Tir.
I calmed down when I realised the vines were staying well away from my throat. Callan pressed a few buttons and we rose smoothly into the air.
The ship clicked and growled; my translator took a few moments to register the language and translate.
Autopilot engaged. Destination: Peacekeeping Ship Number Seventeen-Hundred and Sixty-Three, TitleForest Souls.
If therewassomeone watching us, I wondered whether they’d think it odd that Callan and I were silent. I wondered what Cal was thinking, and whether the tension in his shoulders was my fault, or whether it was for what was to come. I wondered whether Anna was still asleep, and whether she’d gotten better or worse. I wondered whether she was still lying in the narrow bed, or whether she was cradled in Vesper’s arms.
I wondered why I didn’t feel jealous.
I wanted her. Not just so I could keep her safe, but forme. I wanted to be the one who kept her safe, who gave her whatever she needed, whatever she wished for. I wanted to breathe lungfuls of her fresh scent and feel the silk of her hair against my fingers.
When Callan had first brought Anna on board, I’d barely held back from snarling him away from her, from baring my teeth and showing my dominance and forcing him to leave the little human to me, and me alone. The notion of her cradled in Callan’s arms, or pressed against Vesper’s strong chest, should have made me fly into a rage. But that possessiveness seemed to have faded, even if my fixation with her hadn’t. Instead, Anna’s injury made megladthat she had two other protectors. Something might get through me, butnothingwould get through Callan. And if somethingdidmanage it, then I had no doubts that Vesper would make good on his threats and incinerate it without thinking twice.
Anna – our little springtime human, the female that smelled likehope– would be safe. And in the end, that was what mattered.
Cal isn’t the only one obsessed, I thought, fiddling with the sleeve of the Tirian uniform. The bark was uncomfortable, pressing against my scales beneath it. Roth didn’t need so manylayers. I wondered what it would be like to hold Anna without any layers between us, to feel her soft skin on mine, to lay herhand on my chest so she could feel how hard my heart was beating.
I wondered what it would be like if Callan was there with us, holding her just as close.
I pushed away the image. Whatever I was feeling, I had no right to expect its return – from either of them.
I would neverexpect, but I could still secretly hope, and dream in some dark corner of my heart that Anna would sayyes, not because she had to, but because shewantedto.
And Callan …
Don’t play with me, Prince.
I’d die before I hurt Callan even more than I had already done.
Which was allwithoutthe chaos that was Vesper thrown into the mix.
What a gods-damned mess, I thought.
Callan tensed. ‘There,’ he breathed, so softly I almost missed it.
The Tirian peacekeeping ship was made of two large rings, joined by their rectangular docking bay. One giant ring was glassed in, and even from a distance I could see the green of their famous on-ship Forest, the trees stretching taller than they had any business being. We didn’t have trees on Scytha, not anymore.
My body went tight with tension.
The ship made its way to the docking bay. My scales rippled their anxiety, causing odd, full-body shivers. They became worse the closer we got, resulting in a deep thrumming sound bursting from my chest as we followed the first pod-like craft into the dock’s airlock.
The craft settled gently onto the dock floor and powered down.
‘Remember, Prince,’ Callan said softly, his voice tight. ‘Get in, then get the doctor out. Nothing more. Leave me behind if you have to.’
‘Dread gods be with you, Cal.’
‘And with you, Prince.’ Callan paused. ‘And Cide?’
‘Yes?’ I murmured, tensing as the craft’s roof opened.
‘Remember why we’re doing this,’ he said, and climbed out.
I swallowed and clambered after him.
The dock was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Its floor was home to a number of different Tirian craft: the small pod-like ships, the larger landing vessels, and some craft that had definitely come from elsewhere, including a Roth scuttler that had seen better days. But the oddest thing was the walls: they were covered with some kind of moss, encasing the huge hanger in a dark, rich green.
