Tristan stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Aye, you could. Broc would be willing to help, I’m sure of it. Shall I contact him?”
Kiril shook his head, his gaze on Rhys. “Shara is a survivor. I’ll search for her once Rhys is once more himself.”
“And if Balladyn has her?”
“He doesna.” At least Kiril prayed he didn’t. “If he did, Balladyn would’ve let me know to rub it in.”
Rhys moved, a rumble of a moan coming from him. Kiril looked at his scales to see the yellow wasn’t as bright as before.
“It’s been hours,” Tristan said. “He should’ve healed by now.”
“You’ve no’ had to fight other Dragon Kings so you doona know how deadly one blast of our magic can be. We’re powerful creatures, and it’s why only another Dragon King can kill us.”
“And it takes longer to heal from such a wound?”
Kiril placed a hand on Rhys’s shoulder near his large dragon head. “Aye.”
He removed his hand and began to turn away when Tristan stopped him with a firm grip on his arm.
“Look,” Tristan said as his gaze focused on Rhys.
Kiril followed his gaze to Rhys’s wound. He frowned as he saw it heal a fraction. Kiril touched Rhys again, and to his surprise, the wound healed once more.
He dropped his hand and told Tristan, “You try it.”
Tristan put his hand on Rhys, and a moment later the injury shrank.
“I’ll be damned,” Kiril mumbled. He looked at Tristan. “Find as many of us as you can.”
Tristan ran off as Kiril put his hand on Rhys. “Come on, old friend. It’s time you woke.”
“What’s going on?” Con asked as he entered with the others.
Tristan returned to Kiril’s side and put his hands on Rhys. Hal, Guy, Kellan, Banan, and Laith did the same.
Con stopped on Kiril’s other side. “Kiril?”
“We touched Rhys and he healed,” he explained.
Kellan’s forehead creased. “We’ve never had to heal one of our own, but if it works, who are we to complain?”
“Since when can we heal our own?” Hal asked.
Kiril looked at each of them. “What does it matter? The past is the past. We’re dealing with enemies on every side. Let’s look to the future.”
“All right,” Con said and put his hand on Rhys. He leaned close to Kiril and whispered, “That was some speech.”
“Whatever works, aye?”
Kiril looked up and found Kellan staring at him from the other side of Rhys’s dragon form. Kellan’s celadon eyes were watchful, vigilant, but he had a feeling he wasn’t the one Kellan was watching. That it was Con.
“It’s working!” Guy yelled with a whoop.
Kiril forgot about Kellan and Con as he turned his focus to Rhys’s injury as they all watched it shrink and then disappear entirely. It was a heartbeat later that Rhys opened his orange dragon eyes and then shifted into human form. He braced one arm on the ground as he reclined and frowned up at all of them. “What the hell is everyone looking at?”
The cheer was deafening. Kiril held out his hand and helped Rhys to his feet as they slapped each other on the back.
“I was dying, Kiril,” Rhys whispered in his ear before he turned away with a too-bright smile for the others.
Kiril’s smile faded. It seemed their list of enemies just gotten longer and even more mysterious.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Two days later Shara was standing beside Usaeil on the edge of Dreagan land. The previous days had been spent at Usaeil’s side talking of Kiril, but also of the role she would have with the Light.
“The treaty says we can’t go onto Dreagan land,” Shara said anxiously.
Usaeil gave her a gentle push over the invisible boundary. “They offered you sanctuary and protection, Shara. They don’t go back on their word.”
“What if Kiril doesn’t want to see me?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder at the queen.
Usaeil’s smile made her eyes twinkle with merriment. “You won’t know that until you go to him. His room is on the second floor at the west corner of the manor. Good luck.”
Shara glanced away, and when she looked back, Usaeil was gone. “Wonderful. I get to do this alone.”
She rolled her eyes as she talked to herself. Not a good way to start things. Then again, was there a good way to approach a lover who thought you’d betrayed him? Shara could face her family and even Balladyn, but she didn’t think she would ever be ready for Kiril to turn away from her.
You don’t know that he will.
It was true, she didn’t, but there was a very good chance he would. She went over the speech she’d prepared the day before and repeated it countless times. It wasn’t really a speech so much as a detailed explanation.