“Since we found you?”
“Yes.”
“Six hours,” Gary said.
“Shit,” I muttered. That explained the daylight filtering in through the windows. It didn’t help either that I felt like I was forgetting something, something important, but it was lost in the fog of pain in my head.
“He was here?” Vadoma said, voice trembling.
I looked up at her. She was pale. Shaking. “Yeah. He said… he didn’t need the dragons for what he had planned. That he—” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s all a blur.”
“If he doesn’t need the dragons, then what does he want?” Gary asked.
“I am okay with this turn of events,” Kevin said. “I would prefer not to be the bitch of some evil wizard. He might make me do things I don’t want to do. Sexual things.”
“Kevin, there is nothing sexually you don’t want to do,” Gary said. “Remember that time we tried docking?”
Kevin smiled down at Gary. “I’ll never look at that church the same way again. Hey. So. I was thinking. Um. Maybe after all of this is over, we could—”
“Everybody out,” Ryan growled.
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s all just go out and—”
“Not you,” Ryan said, hand on my elbow holding me back.
“Save me,” I hissed as Gary walked past me.
“Oh, girl,” Gary simpered. “You gonna need to save yourself on this one. Go easy on him. He had a scare, and you know he doesn’t deal well with that.”
“Yeah,” I said to Ryan. “Go easy on me. I had a scare.”
“I was talking to you,” Gary said as he walked out the door.
“You bitch!”
“Love you, kitten!” And the door closed behind them.
I was doomed.
“So,” I said nervously. “What are the chances we can just forget all about this and—”
Ryan kissed me, gripping the sides of my face tightly. His teeth clacked against mine, and he swallowed my gasp down. His tongue was warm and slick, and I groaned, forgetting about the pain for at least a moment.
We were both panting as he broke the kiss, pressing his forehead against mine. My hands were on his waist. He still cupped my face, brushing his thumbs over my cheeks, arms folded between us.
“You can’t do that to me,” he said, sounding angry and broken. “You just can’t.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I don’t care. Sam. Promise me. You can’t do that. You can’t die.”
I gave him a trembling smile. “I can’t promise that. None of us can. You know that, Ryan.”
His eyes were wide and a little manic. “Promise me.”
I meant to say You don’t have to worry about that. I meant to say I love you so, so much. I meant to say We’re gonna do this together. I meant to say so many things.
But I was young and foolish. I’d just met Myrin face-to-face and I’d survived. I’d tamed the desert dragon. So much was up in the air, but I knew I could do this. I could end this. I could beat back the dark.