‘You’d be dead if you had done that,’ Logan said into my mind and I froze.
“Okay! Eva, I need that spell that keeps Logan out of my head,” I interrupted, giving my mate a look that could cut glass. He just smiled and gazed at me with his gorgeous green twinkling eyes.
Grrr. Stupid gorgeous man.
Eva blew air through her teeth; the exhaustion was showing on her features. “Step into my office.” She gestured to the front of the bus, where the mini triage center had been set up. I stepped over to the camping chair, while Logan went with Keegan to talk with the others.
Eva reached up and yanked a piece of my hair out. “Ow!” I rubbed the spot where it burned.
She gave me an eye roll mixed with a good-natured smile. She placed the hair in a mortar and pestle, and began grinding it with some other herbs.
“So … mates,” Eva said. Since Logan and I had kissed and had our little light-up show, we hadn’t spoken about it much with everything going on.
“Yeah. Who knew?” I shrugged, smiling.
Eva grinned. “I had a pretty good idea.”
My mouth popped open. “Thanks for telling me!”
She smirked. “Some things are better to find out on your own.” She winked without looking up from her spell craft, adding a few flower petals to her mixture and grinding them up.
True.
“So … Isaac.” I left that open, not really sure what to say about the quirky druid.
Eva looked the direction we had just walked, where we had met with Isaac. “Isaac is a good person. You can trust him. He only wants peace for the Earth and all of her inhabitants.”
I nodded my head in agreement. “I sensed that. He seems to be against what the other druids want.”
Eva poured the contents of the bowl into her palm, and the second it hit her hand it burst into purple flames. I jumped back, but she called me forward with a flick of her wrist. Hesitantly, I stepped forward, and she threw the purple fire at my chest. I yelped, but when the fire hit my skin, a cool buzz seeped into my bones, causing a brief euphoric feeling to settle there.
“Now you two can talk in each other’s minds but no picking up on random stuff.”
I barely registered what she was saying. I was too busy staring at the place on my chest where the fire had died down. She could have warned me. Geeze. “I wish I was half sorcerer,” I told her. Because that was scary but cool as hell.
She gave me a tired smile and smoothed my hair, which I had come to understand as her motherly gesture of love. “Sloane, you are perfect the way you are. Just be you.”
I don’t know why that statement hit me so hard, but it did. My chest tightened with emotion. I realized I had been feeling bad about being half druid. I felt evil or dirty, but at her words a different perspective sprang up inside of me. I was born this way and there was nothing I could do about it. Isaac was proof not all druids were bad. So maybe it was okay.
“Thanks for everything, Eva,” I told her, and she pulled me in for a tight hug.
“You’re welcome, dear,” she whispered. “I’ll be gone in the morning, but I want you to know I’m never far away if you guys need me.”
I pulled back from the hug. “You’re going back? But they know who you are? Jeanine and Steven—”
“I’m not going back to Flagstaff. If there are more skyborn, then I must find them, unite them. Protect them. It’s my entire purpose in life, dear, protecting people like you and Logan.” Her voice was soft and I gathered that she didn’t want the others knowing her plan.
“But … we should go together.” I fought for the right thing to say. How would she even know where to start looking?
Eva shook her head. “You must train to control your dragon. Harness your druid magic properly. Stay safe. I will send word when I have any leads.”
“Eva…” It didn’t feel right, or safe, for her to be going off on her own like that.
“Shh. That’s enough. I’ve decided, and once I decide something, no one can talk me out of it. I’m the most stubborn woman you will ever meet,” she assured me with one raised well-manicured eyebrow.
I gave her a wan smile. “Will you tell Logan you’re leaving?” Sure, he and I were new at this mate thing, but it felt wrong to keep him in the dark.
Eva tucked a dark strand of long hair behind her ear and stared at the ground. “For decades I told Logan he was the only one. I did countless spells to reveal if there were any more skyborn, and only his black scales were available in the underground market. So we just assumed. He lived an isolated life these past twenty years because I assured him that there were no others of his kind. He’s lived with so much pressure and loneliness … I need to make this up to him.”
I reached out for her arm but she recoiled. “Eva, he doesn’t blame you.” I didn’t actually know that for sure, but I knew Logan loved her, and that he would never pin this on any one person. He was hurt she had kept information of Isaac from him, but it stopped there.
Eva shook her head. “I’ll be in touch. Stay safe, sweetheart.” Then she turned on her heels and walked in the direction of our fire-pit, seemingly to meet with the happy druid.
“Hey, roomie.” Nadine popped up behind me and I jumped a little, startled.
“Hey. Wait, what?” I asked her, confused. My mind was still reeling from what Eva said, wondering if I should tell anyone. I mean, she was a grown woman...
Nadine pulled her long black hair over one shoulder. “Well, there are five houses and everyone was matching up, but then your name came up and Logan got awkward, so I claimed you.”
I smiled, thinking of Logan getting all flustered over the topic of sharing a place with me. I was glad Nadine spoke on my behalf. I wanted to try to take things slow with Logan. Pretend we were a normal couple dating, and not two dragons meant to spend the rest of their immortal lives together. Suddenly, I realized the sun was coming up, and the full weight of exhaustion hit me hard. My limbs felt like they each weighed a hundred pounds, and my eyelids were hard to keep open.
Without another word, Nadine led the way to the cluster of mud huts. Everyone else seemed to have gone inside except for Logan. He stood outside of his door with Mittens clutched firmly to his chest. Nadine gave me a rakish grin and stepped inside the hut next to Logan’s, leaving the door slightly ajar for me.
“Get your mind speak thing all worked out?” He twirled his finger near his ear, making it look like I was crazy.