I felt Tyrrik’s laughter as our connection faded, and I huffed at Lani but didn’t bother denying anything. What was the point? Instead, I pushed past her to our bags and guzzled a waterskin of nectar before packing everything up.
Lani said nothing as she packed her stuff and ate breakfast. “I’ll be right back,” she said after she finished. “I need to go to the new and improved bathroom.”
Huh? It was then that I noticed the scraggly spot we’d used for our toilet last night was no longer scraggly or small.
A verdant copse of evergreens rose high into the sky. Bright purple blackberries hung heavy on thick stalks of the thorny plants. The grassy undergrowth was almost waist-high, and several bushes filled the spaces between the trees. The lush growth melted into the surrounding area, and I stared in awe at what would surely be a beacon from the sky. We were so lucky that hadn’t sprouted during Draedyn’s fly by.
My mouth dropped open, and as Lani marched toward the area, I pointed at the thick growth. “Did you do that?”
I was used to seeing some change in growth at the places Tyrrik, Dyter, and I had stopped at on our way to Gemond—let’s just say all Phaetyn fluids did the trick—but nothing like this. The trees were huge, like at least thirty or more feet into the air. And those blackberries were the size of Lani’s fist. “Is everything still growing? What’s in your pee?”
Lani said nothing as she marched into the copse of trees and foliage. A few minutes later, she returned, stopping to pick a blackberry that, yep, was way bigger than her fist. She took a bite, and its purple juice dripped down her chin.
“Your turn,” she said cheerily.
She was eating her pee blackberries. Yuck. “Is that because of you? Or is that because there are double powers here?” My mouth hung ajar as I scanned the bounty before me, torn between disturbed and amazed. “Holy Pancakes, I can’t believe—”
Lani started with a giggle, but the small chortle quickly turned to big guffaws, too much for her frame to handle. She shook as tears streamed down her face.
“You set me up?” I asked, incredulous. “You set me up! You sent power into the ground. Jeez! I thought we had some super magical pee going on.”
She was seriously twisted. But then I thought about my ginormous pumpkin. Maybe there was something wrong with the Phaetyn who had ancestral powers. Did we all get a kick out of big? Maybe we were all really competitive.
“You’re sick,” I said as I walked into the trees. I couldn’t help the grin.
“Yeah, you too.”
A few minutes later, with our bellies full of fruit, I took off with Lani on my back for the Zivost Forest.
Did you fly all day and stay up all night? Tyrrik asked, interrupting my thoughts.
What? I asked. I’d flexed my Phaetyn mojo on and off all morning, alternately talking with Tyrrik.
You’re still tired. Normally, your Phaetyn side heals you, but I can feel your exhaustion. He paused a moment before continuing. Is the barrier that difficult to hold? I thought if you had the ancestral powers, it was supposed to be easy.
You're not telling me anything I haven’t already thought. I asked Lani about it, and she said it was like a muscle. Apparently, I don’t do enough Phaetyn mojo sit ups.
Tyrrik chuckled, and I sensed him sitting against the stone wall in our room.
Where are you? How much farther do you have?
Tyrrik’s questions drew me away from my musings. I calculated how much time we’d flown and the number of hours Lani had said at the outset. Another hour. Maybe two. Why?
Just wondering. I love you, Ryn. The council is sending me to get you now that we know Draedyn is hunting you. I’ll leave tomorrow at first light, and when we get back from dealing with the pointy-ears, I want to show you what love feels like.
Whhaa—? My attention snapped to my mate, and I blushed, grateful for the cloak of Drae scales, but I still had to right myself in the air.
“Stop talking to him,” Lani yelled from my back.
Instead, I altered the course of our conversation slightly. I’d like that if we ever have time to just be together. Everything gets in the way.
You’re being pulled in a lot of directions, Khosana, but you need to remember to take the time for the things that matter most and do what it takes to protect them. I want you to know you’re the most important person to me. The most important thing in my life. I want to show you that too.
My stomach flipped harder than pancakes made of rocks, and I couldn’t help the slow smile tugging at my lips. I was giddy and immensely grateful to have found Tyrrik—or to have been found by him. A deep, glowing warmth for my mate unfurled in my chest. You’re pretty al’right yourself.
He chuckled again. I forgot to tell you, I found the most beautiful vein of lapis lazuli yesterday with Zakai’s men. I had them pull a piece out so I could polish it for you tomorrow.
I forced my emotional attention to my mate while keeping both eyes on the sky. You know . . . you never told me how big your hoard of treasure is. And where you keep it. Is it in your lair in Verald?
Our hoard, he corrected. And I promise no Drae has ever had one as big.
My heart sputtered, and I dipped in the air again. I couldn’t help the satisfaction that pulsed through me with that bit of information. Where is it?
I won’t tell you where. I want to show it to you. He laughed, and the emotion pulsed to me through the bond. It’s a package deal, Ryn, me and my treasure. But I’ll tell you this; you could hide in the mound of treasure, in your Drae form, and be completely covered.
My mouth dropped, and I plunged downward.
“Stop doing that,” Lani shouted, pounding me with her fists.
7
By the time the sun was a quarter of the way through the sky, I landed in the familiar clearing outside of the Zivost forest. I took a deep breath as I surveyed the rock spikes I knew were covered in Phaetyn blood. The early morning sun bathed the rocky valley in golden light, and it seemed like an omen of the golden barrier that would soon follow.
I jolted as the stone spikes surrounding Zivost shifted. The ground seemed to liquify as the jutting rocks sunk into the dirt, disappearing from view.
“Ryn,” Kamoi yelled, waving at me from the other side, just outside the tree line. His face was alight with excitement, and he grinned when our gazes locked.
Other Phaetyn were there with the prince, but I couldn’t spot Kamini. The group edged farther out of the trees, their eager expressions filled with hope as they looked to the young woman with me.
Yikes. I still hadn’t told the queen the name of her kingdom. “Uh, Lani? Remember how I called this place Phaetynville?”
She didn’t deign to look my way, her gaze riveted on her people. “I know it’s not called Phaetynville.”
I sagged with relief. “Who told you?”
“Dyter,” she whispered, her attention still on the dozens of Phaetyn before her.
Of course he did. I studied Lani’s face, empathy for the Phaetyn queen spreading through my chest. I would never truly understand how she felt seeing her people for the first time, knowing that she wasn’t alone anymore. I’d felt some awe the first time I’d been here, too, but at that point I’d known what I was for three months, not fifty years. I’d had my mum and Arnik and Dyter before that. What I’d felt must be a mere shadow of what Lani was going through right now.
I took Lani’s hand and squeezed it tight before tugging her toward the forest.
The crowd surged as we did so, and Kamoi raced out, his lavender eyes bright with joy. He didn’t slow as we met in the middle but crashed into me and crushed my body to his. Drak, he was excited. I froze as he stroked my hair, and then he lowered his face.
“Whoa—” I said, pulling back before he could kiss me. Hot indignation pulsed through me, and I raised my hand to slap his face.
Only I didn’t. I couldn’t. I needed the Phaetyn to accept Lani, and if I pissed them off now, I might ruin that.