Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

" I want to. But I can't."

Derek lowered his hand to his side. He saw the determination in her eyes. She intended to face whatever was to come on her own. Or so she thought. The problem was that he had yet to give Kora a reason to trust him. She wanted to know his secrets, but she would never trust him if he told her everything. He was in a situation he didn't know how to get out of without losing her.

" We're too exposed here. We need to find a place that offers more shelter," he told her.

She raised her brows. " We ?"

" I'm not leaving without you."

" Did you hear anything I said?"

" I did."

" Then I'm the last person you should want to be around."

He stared into her deep brown eyes and did the unthinkable. He bared his heart. " You're the only one I want to be around. Today . Tomorrow . In a million tomorrows."

" Don't . Please , don't say such things. I can't watch anyone else die. It's too painful."

" I'm not going to die."

She scoffed and took a step back. " You can't say things like that."

" I'm here to help you. Let me do that. Please ."

Her face crumpled as she glanced away. " I should refuse for your sake."

" You've stood on your own for a long time. You've proven yourself to everyone. Accepting my offer doesn't diminish your strength. We're friends, aren't we?"

" Are we?" she asked softly.

He nodded. " I wouldn't find you if we weren't." Derek held out his hand. " I've protected you before. Let me do it again."

This time, she put her hand in his. " I'm too tired to argue. It isn't as if we have anywhere to go. There's nothing but grass."

Derek pointed in the direction she had been running. " There is a forest that way."

" You know where we are?"

" Nay . I can see the trees."

" You can…?" Her brows drew together. " How ?"

He shrugged. " It's just something I can do. It will take hours to walk it. I can get us there faster."

Derek didn't waste any time getting them into the relative safety of the woods. The land was flat, and the vegetation dense, but it was shelter. He let Kora take the lead and followed her as she wove between the trees until she found a place she liked.

The tree had to be the tallest and biggest in the forest. It would take five of Derek standing with his arms out to wrap around the trunk. Kora sank against it and stretched out her legs in exhaustion. He gathered branches and returned to build a fire.

" Let me," Kora said after he'd stacked the wood.

He could have lit it himself, but he sat back as she held out her hand. A flame erupted from her palm and arced across to the sticks. When he arrived, he had gotten a brief glimpse of Kora on fire and feared he was too late, that the dragon had already engulfed her. But they had proven to be her flames.

Her gaze lifted to his. Her brown eyes blazed with fire of their own before a red-orange color filled her irises. He stared in wonder as the ends of her glorious hair sparked with embers. Her skin cracked and split into sections as the same red-orange hue could be seen underneath. He had never witnessed anything so beautiful or amazing. Flames shot out of the slits and covered her, disintegrating her clothing but leaving her hair and skin unmarred.

He had seen hellhounds on fire before but never cared about how or why they had such an ability. Or how it was used. He had hunted them so none could harm Villette . Now , he wanted to know everything about Kora to protect her .

The flames died, and her skin stitched together as the glow faded. Smoke trailed from her hair before vanishing altogether, and once more, her eyes were the warm brown he knew. She sat naked, watching him.

" That was astonishing," he whispered in awe. " Does it hurt?"

She shook her head. " Not at all. It feels powerful."

" As it should."

" You don't fear me?"

Derek sat across the fire from her. He used his magic to clothe her again before shaking his head. " Do you want me to?"

" Nay ," she answered.

This was where Derek should open up and spill his many secrets. He wasn't sure how, though. Where did he start? How did he explain enough but keep what he was from her? He didn't want to lie anymore. He wanted to lay it all out—every offense, every transgression. But he knew what would happen. Her fear of dragons was too visceral. It didn't matter how much time they had spent together. She would believe he had deceived her.

And he had.

That's what gutted him. There was no getting around it. Nor could he keep it from her forever. The truth always came out. It would be better if he told her rather than letting her learn it from someone else. He parted his lips to speak, but the words wouldn't come.

" The fire will attract the dragons," she said.

He tried to smile but didn't succeed. " If any show, I'll get us away."

" With the cuff."

" Aye . Are you hungry?" He snapped his finger, and a ritbit was suddenly roasting over the fire.

Kora nodded to the silver on his wrist. " Are you sure that isn't where you get your magic from? I've never seen anyone do anything like that."

" The cuff was a gift. It's not attached to my magic."

" A gift from Villette ?"

He slowly released a breath. The time for lies and half-truths was over. It was time to begin building trust. Somehow . " Aye ."

" Why ?"

" So I could get to her when she called for me."

Kora snorted. " She's quite full of herself. What exactly are you to her?"

" A means to an end."

" For ?" she pushed.

Derek closed his eyes for a heartbeat. This was going to be so much harder than he thought. " She found Bryok and me. We were very young, and she looked out for us. She kept us safe, and when we asked about others like us, she told us the story of how a group of magical humans, along with some Star People , had taken them prisoner. The anger that filled me that day has yet to lessen. It has driven me since."

" I have an inkling of what you felt," Kora said.

" Villette saw that both Bryok and I wanted to do something, and we started to plan. Whenever Bryok or I pushed to free our kin, she would tell us we needed to be stronger. We were too young. So , we grew, and we trained. She told us stories about what those enslaving our kind did to them. It fed our hatred. She pointed us in a direction, saying she had gotten word of a group or person involved in the capture of our kin. We didn't hesitate to retaliate. We went after them. And we destroyed them."

Kora's brow was furrowed. " Did you question them?"

" It's what we should've done. But , nay. We reacted." He leaned back on his hands, the shame of his crimes washing over him. " Until very recently, I never doubted anything Villette said. Or asked of me."

" You never questioned her or others?"

" Who was there to ask? Bryok and I were kept away from everyone. When we were freed, we spent so much time set apart that we preferred it that way."

Kora's eyes widened. " Do you even know if what she said about how she found you or your people is the truth?"

" Nay ." He twisted his lips. Looking back on it now, there were plenty of warning signs if he had only looked. " Despite all the training and planning, we never attempted to free my people. She always had a good reasoning—something I couldn't determine might be a lie or not."

" But you stayed loyal."

It wasn't a question. He shrugged a shoulder. " I did. Then I met you."

" So , you knew all along that I was after Villette and wanted to stop me?"

" I had no idea. I felt…compelled to help you. It was such a strong emotion that I was powerless to ignore it. Villette never wanted me in the city. I was warned to stay away. On the occasions she called for me, we met privately within the mountain."

Kora drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. " And once you learned I was after Villette ?"

" She would expect me to warn her, but I didn't. You opened my eyes to what was happening in the city. What she accepted and intended. It went against what I thought I knew, and I had trouble reconciling that. Doubt set in. The voice in my head gave me another push."

" The voice you said you heard when we were in the gardens?"

" Her name is Miena . She's a Star Person that Villette has imprisoned at the palace. Miena began speaking to me as we neared Stonemore . The closer I am to the palace, the stronger her voice. Villette's weakened, as you saw, which affected her magic somehow."

Kora grinned. " That means other things are weakened. Can you trust Miena ?"

" Of course, not. She wants her freedom, and, supposedly, I can give that to her. Though I'm not sure I should. She told me Villette wiped my memories at least three times. I began to doubt if my kin were being held, but she said they were. She also promised to give me answers to all my other questions, but not until I've released her."

" Did you?"

Derek shook his head. " I found her. She's chained in the middle of a room with lava flowing around her. She isn't the only one there, either."

" Villette caught two Star People ?"

" Daelya is human, but she can sense magic in others. Villette was using her to find those with it in the city."

Kora's face tightened. " So that information could pass to the priests."

" It seems so. Daelya would rather remain in the room with Miena than be used by Villette again."

" Can't say I blame her."

" Miena said she was chained because she tried to stop Villette . She also claims that once she's released, she'll kill her sister."

" If Miena has answers and can end Villette , then maybe you should grant her freedom."

Derek turned the meat over to cook the other side. " I considered it." If for nothing else than it would keep Kora from confronting Villette . " That seems like the right answer, but something held me back."

" When I was in the palace, I caught three distinct scents of evil. One at the top of the castle and two below. I found Villette below."

" Miena's at the top."

Kora grunted. " I wonder who the third is." She shook her head slightly. " There has to be someone who can give you the truth."

" There is someone who claims to know."

" Who ?"

Derek was pleased with how the conversation was going, but their discussion was far from over. They were treading into territory he dreaded, and there was no way he could skirt it. " The man you saw staring at me in the gardens. The same one I went to meet the other night. His name is Merrill ."

" How did he contact you? No one came to the room."

He hesitated, debating how to tell her. He finally decided on just saying it. " I heard him in my head."

" He can do that, too?" she asked in surprise.

" The Star People have that ability because they're so powerful. Merrill said it was something our kind can do, too."

Her mouth parted in shock. " You're telling me he's like you?"

Derek watched her carefully. " So he claims."

" You don't believe him."

" Why would I ? Bryok and I can't talk mind-to-mind."

Kora wrinkled her nose. " That is a problem. Did you ask him anything?"

" I asked him a lot. He shared that our kind wasn't being held. He urged me to go check for myself."

Kora's throat moved as she swallowed. " Did you? Oh . I see. He could be telling the truth, but it might also be a trap."

" Exactly . I did contemplate it, though. I went and got close, but I didn't go through with it."

" You weren't ready to know the truth. Either way. If they are, indeed, free, it means you would have to face the fact that Villette has lied to you for your entire life. If it is a trap, then you would have to be looking over your shoulder constantly."

Derek shoved his hair out of his face. " As you have."

" You get used to it."

" Nay , you don't."

She smiled sadly. " Nay , you don't."

" Anyway , all that brought me back to Miena , saying my memories had been wiped."

" There's only one reason anyone would mess with someone's mind."

Whenever Derek thought about the people and places that could have been erased, or the person he might have been, he became enraged. " Merrill said the same."

" I can't imagine how I might feel if I thought someone had taken something from me like that."

" If Villette did it, she will pay. Regardless , you won't be fighting her alone. I'll be beside you."

Kora pulled the skewer of meat off the fire to hold between her hands. " Villette has a lot to answer for. If you don't want to see if your kind is being held or not, let me do it. I owe you. Tell me where to go. I won't have much time because of the dragons after me, but you can get us in and out quickly."

" I appreciate it more than you know." Because no one else would have offered. " But I have to see for myself. Merrill said a man named Constantine rules our kind. He urged me to talk to him through my mind."

" But you could be talking to anyone."

" That's why I'd prefer a face-to-face."

" That would be smart. The offer stands if you change your mind." She tore off a piece of meat, popped it into her mouth, and looked at him over the flames. " You never said what your race is."