Page 85 of Grave Situation

I nod. “He said he’s coming with the riders and not to tell anyone about… not to tell anyone.” I can’t say it out loud. It was bad enough that I had to tell Master.

“Hopefully he can give us some answers. I’m… concerned that the riders will know when they see you.”

“Tell the healer that nobody will know unless I choose to allow them.”

I shudder violently and from the corner of my eye see Jaimin lean forward. “Talon? What?—”

“Leicht—” It sticks in my throat. “Nobody will know.”

He sits back. “That’s good then. Did you also tell your master about the archers?”

That takes me by surprise. “What about them?”

The short, awkward silence almost makes me look away from Tia.

“Talon… they died the same way as that man during the first attack.”

For a moment, the words don’t make sense, then my mind clicks into action, and I realize what he means. The manI killedduring the first attack. The one I somehow struck with my magic but who was completely unharmed—merely dead.

And I remember that, as I was running to Tia, my magic didsomething.

“Just the archers?” I ask, trying to understand. “Why not the bishop?”

Jaimin moves restlessly. “I don’t know. Maybe?—”

“Dragons approaching,” Coryn calls in a low voice. “Not close enough yet for me to count in this light.”

“Three.”

“I’ll meet them,” Jaimin says. “Remember, no matter what, I’m here for you.” He moves toward the tent opening, but I reach out blindly and catch hold of his arm.

“Tia really liked you,” I whisper. I want to say more—stay with me. I need you—want to keep him close, but the words stick in my throat.

“I really liked her too.” He puts his hand over mine and squeezes. “She was a special person.”

I stay in the tent, holding Tia’s hand, my eyes on her face, and listen to the sounds of the dragons landing. The people in the nearby village must be wondering what’s happening. Maybe they’ll even send someone out to see.

There’s a small commotion—someone having hysterics. The acolyte, I’d say. I can’t imagine Coryn, who still wants to pet Leicht, would be upset by the presence of more dragons. And Jaimin is used to them, of course.

Then voices approaching, not loud enough for me to hear what’s being said, but I recognize Master’s tone replying toJaimin. Someone else speaks, but I don’t know who—a dragon rider, probably.

They stop outside the tent. “Talon?” Master calls softly.

I open my mouth to respond and find myself suddenly choked by tears. Clearing my throat, blinking away the blurriness, I try again. “I’m here.”

He sighs, and the familiar sound makes me long to be back in his rooms at the academy, cleaning up a puddle of water one drop at a time while Tia laughs in my head.

A moment later, he crawls into the tent and sits beside me. “I’m so sorry, Talon.”

I say nothing. What’s there to say?

“Jaimin said it happened fast—that she wouldn’t have felt pain.”

“She felt nothing,” I correct. “She didn’t even know it happened. She was just… gone.” The connection between us told me that much, if nothing else. One minute, she was soaring above us, gloating about the idiot archers who thought mere arrows could harm a dragon, and then next… nothing.

She was ripped from my head. From her life. Frommylife.

Master puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Look at me.”

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