The Drae cleared his throat before speaking. “We are predators. We need to be able to protect ourselves once we transform. Your powers should come naturally—”
“Should?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“I’m unsure how your Phaetyn blood will affect some elements of your transition,” he admitted.
I nodded, gaze fixed on the golden box. So shiny. This was my greatest treasure. I’d put it in a great spot. The thought halted me. No, it had to go in a secret spot, somewhere no one would find it. My eyes slid to Tyrrik. Would he try to steal it back? I’d need to be careful. No one stole my horde. Even knowing I was being irrational, I couldn’t talk myself out of my obsession with treasure. “I’m going inside now.”
“Okay,” Tyrrik answered.
His tone was odd, and I peered back at him as he drew another object from deep within his aketon. The golden pill box was nothing in comparison to the huge ruby he held.
My chest rose and fell as I fixated on it. “Where’d you get that?”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” he said. “Although, I’ll give it to you if you stay for another lesson.”
The ruby was a real treasure. I’d put it in the secret spot, too. I’d take extra, extra care no one found it.
“Just one more lesson?” I asked. My feet were already walking back toward him.
“Just one more,” he agreed with a smile.
7
“One more time,” Tyrrik said, rubbing his chin. “Then we’ll stop.”
I rolled my eyes. One more attempt would only make me feel like a bigger failure. A Drae-loser. Totally incompetent.
He’d had me shift from my human form to my Drae form and back at least a dozen times, or rather, attempt to shift. I could easily go from Drae to Phaetyn, but the Phaetyn to Drae had been impossible on my own. If Tyrrik touched me? Boom. No problem at all. And now I was seeing webs of black and blue color again. “I’m tired. Let’s just try again later.”
“Come on, Ryn.” He patted his aketon and pulled out the ruby. “One more time, and it’s yours.”
I looked at the gem with mixed feelings. When Tyrrik first showed it to me, I practically salivated, but now the stone represented what I couldn’t do on my own. Disgusted with myself, I waved my hand in dismissal. “Keep it,” I said, turning back toward the cave. “I don’t want it anymore.”
My words weren’t exactly a lie, but they weren’t the full truth, either. I did want the sparkling gem, but we’d set the terms for winning the ruby already, and I had yet to master the current lesson.
So much for it coming naturally.
Khosana, he called. Don’t quit.
I’m not quitting forever. I threw the thought back without looking his way. You said it wasn’t a weakness to call a halt. I’m tired. I’m not progressing. Let me sleep. I’ll try again in the morning. It had been a challenging day after an even more challenging night.
He sighed, and I shrugged it off. Why did he care so much? It wasn’t like it was his fault I couldn’t shift on my own.
The darkness swallowed me whole as I trudged into the cave. My eyes adjusted with a blink, and I scanned for a good place for my golden trinket. I pulled it from my pocket and studied the shiny treasure with a smile I knew was pretty crazy.
I strode through the main chamber, past the pool of nectar, and stopped. I glanced around the space but couldn’t find the goblet Tyrrik used last night. He probably hid it, not that I blamed him. If I remembered correctly, it was gold and encrusted with gems, the perfect chalice for nectar. A perfect addition to, what would be, a glorious horde.
I knelt, feeling the weariness in my body. I dipped my hand into the cool liquid, thinking of how he’d held me in the pool of nectar during my transformation. If I was this tired, Tyrrik must be tired, too. He couldn’t have rested that much in the last two days, and he had expended a lot of energy on my behalf. If I knew how, I’d do something nice for him. Bringing my hand to my mouth, I slurped the sweet goodness eagerly and choked in surprise, sputtering as my taste buds identified water instead of nectar. I was certain I drank several cups full of nectar from the pool last night, and Tyrrik brought me some earlier today. There wasn’t another pool, was there?
I stood and glanced around the chamber, but there was no other pool in sight. Perplexed, I called out for my only source of information. “Tyrrik?”
I turned back toward the front of the cave as he stepped into the darkness. My gaze went to the stemmed goblet in his hand. The bejeweled golden goblet, the cup of my dreams. If I got him to hand it over, I wondered if he’d let me keep it. Or maybe I could steal it while he slept. Would he notice? My covetous thoughts made me stop. What the hay is wrong with me? I’d never been envious of people’s wealth before. I’d never been a thief either.
But he kind of owes me.
“Do you need a drink?” he asked, his voice rumbling through the darkness.
“Do you have any nectar?” I asked. “Somehow the pool turned to water. I swear it was nectar before.” Not that I minded water, but I’d much rather have nectar.
If I hadn’t been watching Tyrrik, I would’ve missed his eyes widening as he inhaled.
“Has it never done that to you before? Did I mess something up?” Drak. “Was it my Phaetyn powers?”
That would be just my luck. I was bad at shifting, and now I’d messed with the nectar in the cave.
Tyrrik shook his head, another dubious non-answer. He went to the pool, dipped the cup in, and then took a sip. After swallowing, he asked, “Did you put your hand in there?”
How would that matter? Last night we’d both been lying in it. Or was he implying he was the magic behind the cave nectar, and I’d messed it up by putting my hand in the water? “Yes,” I said, drawing the single syllable out. “Because you had the only cup . . .”
He took another drink, tilting it up until it was almost gone.
“Hey,” I complained, “I want some. Why are you drinking it all?”
He finished his gluttonous chugging of the fluid and said nothing as he dipped the cup back into the pool and brought it to me.
I took a sip and narrowed my eyes at the lingering sweetness on my tongue. “It was water before,” I insisted before draining the goblet. I held the beautiful treasure, but my gaze went to the pool. “If I go over there and dip this in, am I going to ruin it again?”
Tyrrik studied me with pursed lips.
We were back to that again. “You know, I’m pretty much over the whole let’s-keep-secrets-from-Ryn thing. In fact, I think I was really clear yesterday.” Was that only yesterday? “About how I felt. We had a good day today, as far as trust goes, up until now—”
Tyrrik took the goblet from my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. With a gentle tug, he led me to the pool. “It has to do with our kind. How our males and females balance each other’s powers. I can’t make vy?iva, what you call nectar, for myself; no Drae can. This pool is water until one of us makes nectar for the other.”