Page 119 of A Forgery of Fate

“You had fun,” he observed.

I did. “Now I see the appeal of those cricket races you used to watch.”

“You wish you’d joined me?”

“Definitely not. It’s gambling.”

“Many things are. How bleak life would be, if we left nothing to chance.”

“Ironic, coming from you,” I spoke. “Was our meeting even chance?”

He merely smiled, a small, sad smile that did not reachhis eyes. “Mailoh told me you were pleased with the paint she brought today. I take that to mean the color is suitable?”

Of course he would change the subject. “It’s perfect,” I had to admit. “I can’t believe you grew this entire field of waterbells. You could’ve asked me to help.”

“I seem to recall, the Saigas sisters have the killing touch when it comes to plants. I couldn’t chance it.”

Turds of Tamra, I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “I should’ve known from all the gardening you were Gaari. Where did you pick it up?”

“From my mother.” It was the subtlest thing, how every muscle in Elang’s face softened. “We spent one spring in the hinterlands of A’landi. She kept a garden there.”

“What was she like?”

The ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “Her name was Lanwah. She smelled of sun and camphor, and she always kept a bag of preserved plums in her pocket—for my bones to grow hardy, she’d say. She hoarded luck in little charms and trinkets and prayed to the gods every night. It wasn’t easy for her, raising a half-dragon boy alone. I spent my childhood on the run.”

“From your grandfather?”

“From humans too,” Elang said darkly. He knelt on the roof. “I had a fever one day, and while my mother was out to buy medicine, bandits broke into our home and assaulted me. They wanted to skin me and sell my scales. When my mother came home and found them…” Elang didn’t need to finish—I’d seen his scars. “She spent all her magic saving me. It nearly killed her.”

I sat beside him, my heart wrenching inside. I could see how hard it had been for him.

“That was the first time that I rememberfeeling,” he said. “Fear for my mother, along with wrath. Hate.”

“How’d you escape?”

“She changed the bandits into goats. Her spells didn’t last long, and I wanted to kill them before they turned human again. My mother stopped me. It took a long time before I realized that she was more afraid of me than of the bandits. Afraid that my heartlessness would turn me into a…”

“Monster?” I said gently.

“Yes.” He paused. “That spring, she brought me to A’landi. It was dangerous for us, being closer to the sea, but she thought it an important lesson to grow a garden together. She taught me to care for the flowers and nurture them, from seedlings to withered husks.” He looked to the field of waterbells. “At first I didn’t have the patience. But my mother was persistent. She believed, one day, I would break my curse.”

“You already have,” I said. “You’re not as heartless as you think.”

He made a soft, soft laugh. Then his eyes fell on the pendant hanging from my neck. “Do you know why butterflies fly in pairs, Tru?” he asked. “When I was in my mother’s garden, I used to think it was because they were afraid of me. But I was wrong. They fly in pairs because…” He hesitated. “Because they’re in love.”

Under the heat of his gaze, my cheeks burned. “You should take this back,” I said, starting to unclasp the butterflies. “I shouldn’t—”

“Keep it,” said Elang. “Dragons give each other a pieceof their hearts when they marry. This is the closest I can offer to mine.”

My lips parted. I didn’t know what to say. “Watch your tells, Demon Prince. I might start to think you actually likeme.”

It was a joke, yet Elang didn’t laugh. “I always liked you, Saigas.”

I meant to scoff, but my heart rattled in my chest, every beat a roaring peal. He was close enough that I was worried he’d take it as an invitation to kiss me. Blast my treacherous heart, I hoped he would.

It was a war I waged against myself, the way I forced my body to draw back. “Then why didn’t you tell me the truth from the start? Why act like a stranger, why act like you wanted nothing to do with me?”

Elang was quiet. “Do you recall Gaari’s third rule?”

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