Page 98 of Grave Situation

I barely have time to process that before the stone’s response echoes through me.

~Yes~

“So I’m not a danger to my friends?” I double-check.

~No~

“Can you tell us anything more about this?”

~Yes/No~

In other words, itcan, but it won’t. “Fine.” I look at Master. “What do you think?”

He shrugs helplessly. “I think we don’t have many options here. There’s no precedent that I can find for your magic to act this way. There’s no record that I can find of people dyingwithout reason. There’s no record that I ever found to explain the bond between you and Tia. But the fact remains that no good would come of any of this being revealed to others. You need to find the champion so this threat can be neutralized. I’ll keep looking for information, any information that might help us. And nothing that has been said here will ever be repeated to anyone else.”

“I will not betray Talon,” Jaimin swears. “I still don’t know what my purpose here is, but it seems clear that it’s tied to him. I’ll take his secrets to my grave.”

I swallow hard. The past two days have made oaths like that seem a lot more real than they ever did before. I can only hope it won’t come to that—I’ve lost Tia already. I can’t lose him too.

When we return to camp,it’s to find Coryn still patting Arimen gently and talking to him in soft tones. If I hadn’t seen him kill with my own eyes, I’d never believe this was the same man. I try not to resent the fact that he’s being so sweet to Arimen and I still haven’t gotten my hug.

I really want that hug.

Dragging my attention away from them, I turn toward Hearne and Kanesha. They’re approaching at a rapid pace, troubled frowns on their faces.

“Apologies for disturbing you with this,” Hearne begins, and I suspect Leicht may have preempted our plan to wait until after the pyre ceremony. “Leicht tells us he wants to continue with you on your journey.”

“You couldn’t have waited? We had a plan!”I snarl mentally.

“Dragons are not subject to the plans of humans such as you.”

I’m certain he just insulted me personally as well as all of humanity, but whatever. I’ll manage. It’s not like his disdain for me is anything new.

“He does?” I inject surprise into my voice. “Why? I thought it was a tradition for dragons to return to the valley after… In these situations.”

Hearne pulls a face. “Tradition is a strong word for it. They prefer to mourn with their own, yes, but in this case, Leicht has expressed the wish to continue Tia’s mission. He’s, uh, quite insistent upon it. He sees it as a debt he owes her memory.”

I look away, and I’m not even acting. A debt owed to her memory. My entire life will be that. I’ll never live up to the standard she set, but I’ll spend all my days trying. “I… suppose. If that’s what he wants, I can’t exactly stop him.”

“Wait,” Jaimin interjects, right on cue. “That could present some difficulties—certainly frustrations. We won’t be able to communicate with Leicht, nor he with us.” He shakes his head. “I don’t see how it would be—Oh. Would the riders be willing to send another dragon and rider? To… translate, for want of a better word.”

Hearne opens his mouth to reply, already nodding, but the stone steps in to play its part.

~No~

From the corner of my eye, I see Arimen’s head snap around. I guess the stone wasn’t selective about its audience.

I pull it from the pouch around my neck. “No?”

~No~

“I don’t see any other solution,” Kanesha says, and bites her lip. It’s clear they don’t want to have to tell Leicht hemustreturn home, and from what he said, they can’t. “It’s not as though there’s another way for him to speak with you all.”

I barely stifle my smile. She’s given the stone the perfect opening.

~Yes~

Hearne’s brows draw together in confusion. “There… is?”

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