Cyrus
At some point, I must have fallen from the sky because now I’m lying on the ground, looking up at the stars. I should move to check my wings for damage, but I’m unable to even lift an arm, let alone get up. A shiver rolls through me like a wave, another one right behind it. Over and over.
I turn my head—the only thing I can do at the moment—and see stone walls, ivy growing over an old well with a broken bucket, and a row of arches within a time-worn structure. I’m at the ruins outside Leafshire Cove.
It’s fitting that I die here, I suppose.
“At least, I have you to keep me company, cousin,” I say weakly to the ghost. Whether he is here or not, I don’t know.
Every beat of my heart sounds like her name.Kaya. Kaya. Kaya.
A light shimmers above me and finally takes form as the ghostly dragon shifter who showed me the map.
“Ah, hello,” I croak out. I feel like part of the cold ground at this point. Like I’m already dead. “Might be joining you shortly. Can I get a room with a view? I’d like to look down on her from time to time if possible.”
The ghost studies my face, his expression unreadable. He disappears, and I’m alone again with nothing but the pain and the love I have for my true mate.
Before the darkness eats me up, I hear an odd sound. Something that doesn’t belong with the hoot of the owls and the chirp of the night’s insects. It sounds like a cat’s meow…
Chapter 30
Kaya
“Leave her alone, Sio!” Tully whips out her wand and points it at him.
“Tully. No.” My voice is a whisper even though I’m trying to yell.
Laini bends down to put her face level with Sio’s. “What is it? I promise, she isn’t going to die from this.”
“You sure?” I rasp out.
“Positive,” Tully and Laini say in unison.
Argos is across the room, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. He’s making notes in that journal of his, his quill bobbing.
I roll to my side, and the effort makes me lightheaded. “Athanasios, what do you need? Can you speak again to help us understand?” I whisper.
Sio meows. “Follow me, witch,” he says. “We need to go to the ruins.”
We all trade looks of surprise.
“Why the ruins?” I ask.
But Sio doesn’t reply; he trots out of the room and I hear his paws padding down the steps.
Tully shrugs. “I guess I need to follow. Is that all right, Kaya? I doubt he is wasting our time. He’s a wise, if not completely annoying, familiar.”
I smile and lie back, shutting my eyes because it takes too much effort to keep them open.
“Go, Tully. Thank you.”
Argos eyes me from across the room. “What would Sio want at the ruins?”
Laini frowns. “No idea. Maybe there’s an herb that only grows there that can help Kaya. I’ll go ask Delixian.”
She leaves, and I fall into an uneasy sleep full of more Cyrus dreams. His hands on me. His breath on my skin. The connection I always feel when he is around.
Chapter 31
