I said, “I promise. Ryan, I promise. Nothing’s going to happen. To either of us. Any of us.”
He kissed me again, desperately so.
All of you will not survive until the end. There will be loss, Sam. And it will burn like nothing has ever burned before.
Fuck the star dragon. Fuck the gods.
I wouldn’t let anything take him away from me.
And just when I was about to lead him back to the bed, to take what he was offering to me so freely, I remembered what it was I’d forgotten.
Indeed I do. And I think a lesson in humility is in order. Even now, the Darks march toward Meridian City where the people sleep unaware of the fate that awaits them. At my word, the city will be razed. It is truly a sinful place, so I doubt it would be missed too much. And they will have my word, Sam. As an example to you.
“No,” I breathed against Ryan’s lips.
I felt Ryan frown. “What?”
I pushed him away. “We have to get to Meridian City. We have to—”
In the corner, where our packs lay on the ground, something rattled sharply.
Ryan took a step back. “Is that the—”
“Summoning crystal,” I said, brushing past him. “It’s gotta be Morgan.” I groaned as I crouched, my back screaming at me, the lightning-struck scars on my chest on fire. I dug through my pack until my hand closed around the crystal. I pulled it out and saw the little burst of light shoot off deep inside it.
There was that little tug in my head, that old familiar pull, and the crystal lit up in my hand.
“Morgan?”
“Sam,” he said. “Thank the gods. Where are you?”
“We’re in Mashallaha still. The dragon is ours. He’s—”
“Sam.”
“No,” I said. “No. No.”
But I knew. I already knew.
He said, “You must listen to me.”
He said, “For we don’t have much time.”
He said, “The Darks are heading toward Meridian City.”
He said, “The defenses will hold, but we don’t have much time.”
He said, “Randall is coming for me.”
He said, “We’ll do everything that we can.”
He said, “Sam. It’s begun.”
“I understand,” I said, swallowing thickly. “We can—”
“No,” Morgan said firmly. “I want you to go north.”
“What?”