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Another round of debris hit the dome. I cursed and lost my fire as I covered my head unnecessarily. When the final plink shook the dome above me, the dragon pressed his hand to the dirt, and the dome rolled away from us. Cool-ish air hit my lungs, tinged with ash and sulfur. The outline of a man appeared in the dark.
He picked up the fire priestess. “Come,” he said. “We’ll get you both to a healer.”
I shook my head and turned. I had to go back. There had been four more priestesses. And Tyson. Oh, fuck. I just left him. A vision of the ground opening under him filled my memory, and my breaths came out in short gasps. Real emotions or not, asshole or not, now that my charge was safe, I couldn’t leave Tyson. I liked the dickhead.
I told you so.
I didn’t make it two steps before something hard impacted the back of my head, and the world faded to black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
JAIYANA
Iwoke to pitch dark, lying on a stiff mattress. What felt like cotton bedding surrounded me. I didn’t hurt. Not even a little. I lifted my hand and put it so close to my face that it bonked my nose, but still didn’t see anything. The world spun, my brain struggling to orient myself. I strained to hear something, but only my increasing breathing echoed in the live space.
I forced myself to sit and crossed my legs, pressing my palms to the mattress. This had to be down.
“Close your eyes,” a recently familiar rich baritone said.
I slapped my hand across my eyes as light assaulted my vision. Slowly, I spread my fingers, adjusting to what was probably dim lighting but seemed to blaze like the sun. A small cave surrounded me. Wood furniture lined the edges. Several tables were covered in lumpy white cloth, clearly protecting whatever was under them. Each piece touched the other and cluttered the small space. Runes covering the walls drew my gaze.
It had to be years of work. The shapes for dark, silence, safety, warmth, and more swirled with artful lines all running left to right. It was incredible.
“Good morning, princess,” the baritone said again.
I rolled my eyes and moved my attention to the dragon shifter sitting across the cave. Runes, as I’d called him, the tattoo-covered exotic man from The Social sat across from me. A simple sleeveless Asian-styled button-down replaced his brown silk. Instead of an open smile, he watched me with wary curiosity.
Despite his guarded posture, the memory of his hug as he told me everything was going to be OK made me smile. I studied the runes on his arms, the connection to my magic, the answers I needed.
“Squeak,” I said, somehow still forgetting I couldn’t talk.
He cocked his head to the side before pointing behind me. I turned slightly, unwilling to let him entirely out of my sight. A massive glass of water and a pad of paper with a pencil sat on a bedside table.
I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until I saw the water. I snatched it up and chugged. He pulled a large bottle of water out of a stack and refilled my glass.
After the water was gone, I picked up the pad and paper. ‘We meet again.’
He tried not to smile, but his eyes still crinkled, and his mouth twitched. “I wasn’t sure you’d remembered me from our brief conversation. Even if you didn’t, this is a small island. Despite the elements not getting along, gossip is hot, social media is a thing, and all of it burns like wildfire.”
I cringed. ‘Wildfire’ had to be a dig. He’d found me with a fire priestess even though his last words to me praised Rehan. In his mind, I must have gone back to Tyson.
He probably thinks I’m a disloyal trollop.
No one uses the word trollop anymore.
Still…
And why do you care what he thinks?
I blinked a few times . Why did I care?
“Tyson’s fine,” the shifter said, probably seeing the panic in my eyes, though he didn’t know its source. “I saw him rampaging through the air, spitting fire not two hours ago.”
The pain I hadn’t realized had a hold of my heart released. Tyson was alive. A single tear slipped down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. I didn’t like him. I just didn’t want anyone to lose their life.
You are so full of shit.
“The fire priestesses are fine as far as I’m aware. The one you saved is back with her people.” He cracked his neck. “You’ve been asleep for about sixteen hours. It’s late morning. I think that covers the basics.”
