Page 65 of A Kingdom Restored

Heath nodded. “I know you didn’t do it for me, but I must thank you again,” he told the older dragon seriously. “It hasn’t escaped my notice that you’re now as implicated in all this as Reka is.”

“More so,” Elddreki agreed placidly. “Unlike Rekavidur, I have now actually visited the underwater civilization, and know its precise location.”

He glanced at the two mermaids, perhaps sensing their sudden tension. His lips again stretched in that slightly unnerving dragon smile.

“But I will not betray your secrets. I will stand with Rekavidur’s decision.” He glanced at his son. “I mean the dragons of Wyvern Islands no harm, but I was not born of that colony. If there is to be conflict, my loyalty is first to Rekavidur, who carries within him my own lifeblood. If you knew the cost paid for his life—not only by me, but even by Heath’s own house—you would understand.”

With those words, the two dragons took to the sky.

“They’re…inscrutable creatures, aren’t they?” Sage said blankly.

Heath chuckled. “What do you mean? That was a dragon being incredibly expansive. I don’t think any dragon apart from Reka and his father would openly share that much about their thoughts with a group of humans.”

Sage looked a little taken aback at being referred to as a human, but she didn’t comment.

“What was all that about your house paying a price for Reka’s life?” Merletta asked curiously.

Heath waved a hand. “Ancient history. I’m more concerned with getting you two into Bryford without attracting unfriendly attention.”

“It might be difficult to get all the way there,” Sage said awkwardly.

Heath looked at her in surprise. “It’s not as far as it looks,” he said kindly. “We can walk there in half an hour, I’d say.”

She gave a dry laugh. “Youmight be able to.”

Merletta slapped a hand to her face in sudden understanding. “Oh, Sage, I’m so sorry! I forgot you can’t walk.” She looked at Heath. “This is only Sage’s second time with legs. She hasn’t even learned the basics yet.”

“Oh.” She could see Heath recalculating. “No matter,” he said, amicable as always. “We can go as slowly as we need. It will give us time to catch up.”

“There’s plenty to catch up on,” said Merletta, as they began to make their slow and labored way out of the grove, Sage leaning heavily on her arm for support. “Even before what happened today.” She cast an anxious glance at Sage, whose face looked more strained than Merletta had ever seen it. “Did you watch what happened to our friends? I asked, but…I don’t know if you could hear.”

“I heard,” Heath told her quickly. “I didn’t think I’d be able to, to be honest. I can usually only follow people whom I have some personal investment in,” he added, presumably for Sage’s benefit. “But it was clear how important it was to you, so I tried.”

His voice took on an eager edge, as if, in spite of everything, he was excited to be sharing his discoveries about his magic with Merletta. “It was amazing. I don’t know if it was the presence of Reka’s magic, or just the strength of my connection with you, but when I focused on how important Andre and Emil are to you, I could see them. It was almost like—like your priorities became mine.”

She could hear his self-consciousness in the last words, and knew he was as aware of Sage’s presence as she was. But still, the words sent something warm shooting through her. No matter how often they were parted, no matter for how long, the connection between them was always instant and potent.

Their eyes held for a moment, all the things there was never opportunity to speak passing between them. Then Sage cleared her throat.

“So what did you see?” The fear in her voice brought Merletta’s thoughts back to the friends they’d left behind. “What happened to Emil and Andre?”

“They were all right last I saw,” Heath reassured Sage quickly.

“Didn’t they get captured?” Merletta demanded.

He nodded. “They did. They were locked up in some kind of cell. But they’ve escaped. They had some help.”

“Who from?” asked Sage, her face taking on slightly more color.

“I didn’t recognize either of the mermaids, but they were about our age,” Heath explained. “One of them had a pale blue tail and blond hair. She seemed to be providing some kind of distraction while the other one—also pale, but with a green tail—broke them out.”

Sage frowned at Merletta, still shuffling her feet awkwardly forward as she mused. “The blue-tailed mermaid must be Indigo, don’t you think? But who’s the other?”

“Ileana,” said Merletta, amazed. “It must be.” She shook her head. “She wasn’t joking that she wanted to change sides. Even with me out of the way, she’s still siding against the Center.”

“But where did they go?” Sage pressed.

Heath looked troubled. “I’m not exactly sure. It didn’t look like they left the cities, but they must have, because the place they ended up was nothing like the area Elddreki found you in. It looked like…well, like a war zone.”

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