Lila swept upward and planted a kiss on his snout. “That will never happen, Pret. But thank you. You’re a good friend.”
He rumbled, and I had the impression it was the dragon equivalent of purring. “Lila, I will never forget you looking out for me after my parents were killed by the White Raven.”
She ducked her head and flew back to me, landing on my shoulder. “You should go now, Pret. I don’t want you to get caught being nice to interlopers.”
He bobbed his head, turned, and made his way north along the boundary line. “Good luck finding that which you seek.”
I watched him go, his body blending into the forest, and only because I knew where he’d been could I pick out the shifting in the scene.
“Lila, what did you tell him?”
Her claws tightened on my shoulder. “That we were going to take the jewel from my father. That we were going to take dragons back to the noble and honorable creatures we once were.”
“Lila, we’re here for Bryce,” I whispered. “With Steve gone, we don’t need to get the stone.”
“And we’re here to make the world better, aren’t we?” She swiveled around. “Otherwise, what’s the point of saving anyone if we can’t make it better?”
The weight of all those lives, of all those who depended on us, was heavier than I wanted to acknowledge.
“Okay. We find Bryce. Then we find the stone.”
Why did I get the feeling those words were going to come back to haunt me?
Chapter 18
The first hundred feet or so of walking into the forest of Dragon’s Ground was damn near peaceful, which should have been warning enough. I walked next to Balder, one hand on his saddle to help keep myself upright.
“Why are you not letting him carry you?” Lila asked.
“Because my legs need to get their shit together,” I said. “I’m no good if I’m falling down.”
Maks snorted. “Then let yourself rest.”
I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew my body. The more I got the blood flowing, the better. Much as I would have liked to ride along inside his coat again.
I smiled to myself and Lila caught the edge of it. “What are you grinning about?”
“I’m alive, and my leg is still attached. That is enough to be happy about, isn’t it?”
Maks slid off Batman and moved to walk beside me. “Maybe. But you seem—”
“Do you regret it now that Ish isn’t hanging onto you, manipulating you?” I asked before I could stop myself. I had to know how he felt because the longer he was near me, the more I wanted him to stay at my side.
If I had to let him go, then I had to do it now before my heart got any more tangled up in this mess with him.
Lila squeaked and clapped her wings together. “Yes, I want to know the answer to that question too.”
Maks cleared his throat. “This is going to be complicated, Zam. You can’t possibly think that it’s as simple an answer as yes I regret, or no I don’t.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Actually yes, I do think it’s that simple.”
He grabbed both my arms and dragged me close, catching me off guard. “I am a Jinn, Zam. This, whatever it is between us, can never be, no matter what either of us wants. Do I regret? No. But I wish nothing had ever happened because what is between us is growing with each passing minute, and I know there will come a point when we’ll have to choose.”
I stared up at him, feeling the truth of his words and hating every syllable. “You don’t know that.”
“I do. You would be used against me, Zam. They will kill you just because. . . because I care about you,” he said, and the sadness in those pretty blue eyes tugged me closer.
Electricity seemed to dance between us and I welcomed the feeling on my skin, the draw to Maks stronger than ever before. “They would kill me, anyway.”
“Not like they would if they knew how I feel.” His hands tightened in a most pleasant way on my arms, reminding me that he could easily throw me down and have his way with me. Not that I would have fought him.
“I don’t want to walk away from this, Maks.”
“Then I will. For both of us.” He pushed me away, but his hands lingered, as if they had a mind of their own. He took a step back, then reached over to his saddle and pulled the flail down. “Here, you might need this.”
I took it. And then he bent and pulled a kukri blade—my blades—from each boot. “And these.”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
“No, this can’t be how it ends.” Lila shot between us. “This is not a Romeo and Juliet story. Your two families might hate each other but they don’t give two figs about either of you. So, do what you want. Make cute little cubs I can play with.”
“Lila, don’t.” I closed my eyes as if that would stop what I was seeing inside my head. Because the image was all too strong. A life with Maks? I could see it, easier than I wanted to admit. In the time I’d known him, he’d shown himself to be true to a fault, strong, even though the blood coursing through his veins would make him a monster to me.
He blew out a breath. “We need to find your brother.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “We do.” I turned away from him, hurt more than I thought possible, because I knew he was right. But I needed to find Bryce now. That was what I had to focus on.
I lifted my head and drew in a deep breath, searching for a scent that would pull us forward. I caught the smells of a typical forest in winter, things decaying, small mouse nests, the sharp bite of the wind up my nose.
“Lila, I don’t suppose Pret had any indication of where Bryce might have come through?” I asked.
She snorted and flicked her tail at me and then Maks. I could see she didn’t want us changing the subject quite so easily, but I was done with that discussion.
“What a pair of idiots,” she said.
A half-grin turned up my lips. “Agreed. Now, where should we start looking for Bryce?”
Lila flew up to the tree branches ahead of us. “That’s up to you. My job is to let you know about the booby traps before they hit us.”
Again, she was right. I suddenly had an urge for a bottle of țuică, wishing I could drown myself in the rich plum liquor.
If I dared shift back to my smaller form, I’d heighten my sense of smell. That could be a huge help, but I wasn’t sure I could even shift if my life depended on it.
My father had always known where every lion in his pride was, at any moment in time, and if they were well, sick, hurt, or hale and hearty. It had been a gift of his, a sixth sense if you will. And occasionally, we’d been able to reciprocate with him, connecting our energies with his. He’d made it a game when I’d been a little cub, like a form of hide and seek. But it had been years since I’d thought of it, and years longer since I’d done anything like it. If there was any time I needed the lessons of my father to stick, it was now. “Let me try something.” I stopped where I was and closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?” whispered Maks so close, my heart skipped a beat.
“Searching for Bryce,” I whispered back.
Maks’s presence was too distracting. I turned and handed him Balder’s reins. “Stay here. I need to be alone to do this.”
Lila snickered from ahead. “Idiots. Both of you.”
I clenched my mouth shut to keep from telling her off, because she was right in some ways, wrong in others.
I walked about thirty feet from Maks and the horses to a large evergreen tree. The base had to have been fifty feet around and in between the roots were several depressions that would make perfect seats.
I settled myself into one of the groves and put my hands on my thighs. The trick, as Dad had always said, was to allow the flow of the world to guide you, to find the ripples that showed another’s passing.
I felt as though I sunk deeper into the earth though I knew it was just my mind opening to the flow of the world. The lines of passage began to flicker, teasing two of my senses. I could “see” them with both my eyes and my nose. A rabbit, a fox, a dragon the night before, birds and small rodents. The lines lit up in front of my closed eyelids all different colors against the blackness. Carefully I opened my eyes.