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“He says he will leave with you,” our guide says.

“He can’t,” I tell him. “He isn't safe anywhere else.”

“Yes, I know,” the man says.

I press my forehead to Fitz’s chest. Take a deep breath.

“There is an answer,” the man says. But then, like he doesn't want me to know what the answer is, he switches back to Fitz's language. He explains something to Fitz, and Fitz's eyes go wide. He nods, says a bunch of things I'm assuming are an affirmative, and then takes my face in his hands, nodding again, smiling.

“What is it?” I ask the man without taking my eyes off Fitz. I feel reassured by the look on his face, but I wish there was an easier way to have this conversation.

“There are some humans who are allowed inside the sanctuary…”

“Okay…” I say.

“The mates of those who are not human.”

It takes my mind a minute to process exactly what he's saying. To process the fact that Fitz is looking at me like he just discovered fire.

“But we are mates. I mean, we’ve…” I don’t really want to get into our sexual relationship with this stranger, but if that’s all it takes then it’s already done. Hope blossoms in my chest.

“It’ll need to be a bit more formal than that, I’m afraid. Most of the species here in the sanctuary have official mating practices that make things more… let’s say permanent.” He nods toward Fitz, who still hasn’t taken his bright eyes off of me. “His kind don’t have any such practices.” The man’s eyes land on me. “But yours do.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’ll need to get married, the human way.”

“Oh. And then I can stay?”

“Yes,” the man says.

My eyes flicker over Fitz, something sweet swirling in my stomach. “Is that what he wants?”

The man asks Fitz a question, and I try not to be embarrassed by it, knowing that he's asking Fitz if he wants to marry me.

But then the embarrassment fades when Fitz grins and nods triumphantly, speaking loudly and quickly.

“He would very much like to marry you,” the man says. “But he doesn't want you to do it if you don't want to. He says he'll understand if you want to go.”

Do I want to go?

I look up at Fitz. Everything is moving at a breakneck pace. We just met a few days ago. And yeah, we've been through a lot in those few days. I think about leaving him, walking away from him right now. The thought burns my heart. I don't want to leave him behind. I want to go where he goes. I want to be where he is. And if I'm planning on going into this sanctuary and not leaving it, then why shouldn't I marry him? Why shouldn't I tie myself to him forever? To have a home. To have a community. To have a future. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. And on top of all of it, I get to have Fitz.

“Okay,” I say, and nod so that Fitz knows exactly what's going on.

His eyes go wide. I'm surprised at the burst of joy inside me. He wants to marry me. He didn't even hesitate.

“What do we do now?” I ask the man.

“You come into the sanctuary and we get you married.”

12

We don't get to see much of the sanctuary before we're whisked off, but I certainly see enough to know that we’ve stepped into a whole new world. When Elizabeth told us about the sanctuary, I imagined a forest but maybe with tents or treehouses or cabins or even more cave-homes like what Fitz was living in.

But when we pass through the wards, we find ourselves in a compound. A veritable city with dirt roads and tall buildings and people walking to and fro. This place is not new. It has clearly been here for decades, possibly centuries.

There are people here and there that look just like Fitz, with hairy bodies and bat-like wings, but there are so many different kinds of other creatures, some with scales, some with multiple eyes and arms, some that have shifting bodies that take different shapes.