Page 6 of Taloned Heart

“To the pub, then,” he said with a soft smile. “Let’s fill our bellies while we still have the chance.”

He tried to convey that he wasn’t worried about anyone seeing them. After all, he was made to protect her. And protect her, he would.

CHAPTER3

Lore hated to take anything from Allura when it was so clear the siren had very little left. Though her friend waved off her concerns with a laugh.

“I don’t need any of it,” Allura had claimed. “The sea is all I need, and I have my ship back because of you. I’ll steal a few items before I go and no one will ever know I was here. Leave the rest to rot and keep the seas on my horizon.”

She’d heard the quote from Allura before the few times she’d seen her off, but this time seemed different. Allura seemed different. The siren was on edge and kept glancing into the shadows like she was waiting for someone to attack them.

And considering the company the siren kept? It was entirely likely.

So Lore didn’t argue much. She took what Allura offered after that, slid new boots on her feet, wrapped a moth-eaten shirt around her torso, and kept on her own leather pants that would offer her much better protection against the elements.

They couldn’t steal horses. Though it would make travel much faster, it wouldn’t get them very far before they were noticed. And they certainly could not travel on the back of a dragon. Abraxas would make the entire world tremble again. The magical creatures knew him as a symbol of what the mortals could do. They’d enslaved the most powerful of all their kind and forced him to kill others for their own enjoyment.

The longer they could keep it secret that either one of them had returned, the better.

So they would walk. Again. All the way from the docks, past the castle, through the swamp, and into Tenebrous. It would be yet another long journey and it would take them longer than she feared they had.

Still, it was the only plan they could think of. Otherwise, they might be looking at a dead Zephyr and the rest of the mortals as well.

Lore cared very little for the rest of the humans. She didn’t care what Margaret was doing with the kingdom either, but she would not lose her friend. Not another one.

“Ready?” Abraxas handed her a bag, although he looked like he wanted to grab it right back the moment she shouldered it.

“We talked about this, remember?”

“Yes, I realize if you weren’t carrying any bags that someone might think you were important. You don’t need to remind me again, Lore.” But he muttered underneath his breath, “It doesn’t mean I need to like it.”

Her dragon. Always the gentleman.

She cupped his cheek in her hand and smiled up at him. “I love you.”

The anger lines around his eyes and mouth softened. “I love you, too.”

They started off their day and set a good pace. Allura hadn’t wanted to see them off. The siren needed to get back to the ship, figure out where the rest of her human sailors had gotten off to, and make sure they weren’t stolen. There weren’t a lot of them, half her crew maybe, but enough for Allura to be worried.

Lore couldn’t think about those men who had gotten them here safely. She couldn’t think about the fear that burned through her at the thought they might be dead because they had returned. She could have offered them another life. Another way to live in the dragon isles where they could still sail and adventure but have a safe place to rest their heads. She could have...

A warm hand landed on her lower back, the heat spreading through her skin. “Easy,” Abraxas said quietly. “You’re letting your thoughts get away from you.”

And she was. Again.

Lore took a deep breath and focused on every step they had to take. “Right. Stop thinking about the madness of the past few days and focus on the now.”

“You got it.”

So she did.

They passed through multiple hamlets on the way. And the closer they got to the castle, the more magic she saw in the land. At first, she almost didn’t notice the tiny changes.

A scarecrow moved in the corner of her eye. Its head turned to watch the crows that circled the crops before settling back to staring straight ahead when they moved on. Laundry floated up from a basket that a woman had set on the ground, twining itself around the line without her having to lift a finger. Wood chopped itself with an enchanted axe that had made a very good pile beside it.

Little things that her mind seemed to remember and said, “this is normal,” but then she realized how not normal it was. These were homes of people who had lived in fear of ever showing a single ounce of magic. Now? They showed it without care at all.

The very earth seemed seeped in it as well. Ancient roots had stretched from deep within the earth, seeking out sunlight as they pulsed with green magic that would help them grow. They wriggled underneath her feet, sensing that an elf was among them. They seemed pleased that she’d returned, but she was afraid of what they’d do to her.

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