Page 38 of Red Dragon’s Flame

They didn’t get it. How could they?

Devon said, “My spinal cord was damaged in the accident, up near my cervical vertebrae. I couldn’t move, or even breathe right because I was paralyzed. I still am. The tattoo’s magic somehow bridges the connections between the damaged nerves. It’s literally keeping me breathing.”

There was a moment of silence while they all digested her words.

Trish said skeptically, “You’re saying that an aging sorceress had the power to do that?”

Devon shook her head. “It wasn’t Auntie May. She found me after the accident and took me away, but it was the fire that fixed me. It’s—it’s alive, somehow. And in the days after the accident, it somehow manifested as this tattoo. As I got bigger, so did it. But now—”

“Now, what?”

“Now it’s sort of going crazy. It always tended to break out a little when I was scared or upset—another reason we stayed away from people. But now, whenever I’m anxious or threatened, it practically explodes. And when the Allohim and the other man broke into my hideout, it—”

“It burned them to a crisp,” Brock finished. “This tattoo also explains what happened when I scanned her for spinal damage, back in her hideout. I kept getting two different readings—that her spine was badly damaged, and that it wasn’t.”

“Which were both true,” Emon said slowly. “But it’s not a shifter animal?”

Brock shook his head. “It may or may not be alive or sentient,” he said, “but it’s not a shifter animal.”

Emon sat down again, and Devon turned back around to face front, gratefully sliding the jacket back on to cover her back.

“So, to recap,” Emon said. “These Allohim have been hunting you and possibly your family all your life, but no one told you what they are or why they want you—or what their powers are.”

“I don’t think Auntie May knew,” Devon said.

Emon tilted his head in a Maybe, maybe not gesture. He went on, “And you have some kind of fire magic tattoo that appears sentient and protects you and keeps you alive, but you don’t know how it works or even how you got it.”

Devon nodded. “That pretty much sums it up.”

Zakerek said, “Well, this is fucked.”

Emon said, “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Damn. Devon had known that a safe place where people weren’t scared by magical fire was too good to be true, but she still felt her hopes crashing.

She said, “I understand. You can’t keep me. There’s too many unknown threats.”

Mikah spoke up. “Emon, come on. We can’t just kick her out. She’s a lot safer here than on earth.”

That was probably true, but the question he had to answer was whether his kingdom was safer with her or without her. And the answer to that was obvious.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I’ll go.”

She started to stand up, but Mikah’s hand kept her in her seat. “Emon—”

The king waved him into silence. “We’re not kicking her out, for fuck’s sake. I’d say I’m not a monster—”

“Except you are,” Zakerek said.

“—except I am. However, I’m not a heartless monster. We have friends who can do some research and see if anyone anywhere has heard of these Allohim, or knows what they want. In the meantime, you might as well stay, because if you don’t, Mikah will just misappropriate my earth corporate security forces to look after you.”

“Damn right,” Mikah said.

“Wait.” Devon looked around the room, unable to assimilate the roller coaster ride from hope to despair and back to hope. “It’s okay if I stay?”

“Why not?” Emon said with a resigned shake of his head. “We were running short of deadly danger around here anyway.” He looked around the room. “Now get the hell out of my office. I have fucking paperwork to finish.”

But before they left, he had a soft conversation with Mikah, clapping his shoulder affectionately before sending them on their way.