Page 37 of Draekora

Looking at her blankly, Alex said, “Come again?”

“I have seen into your future, Alexandra Jennings,” the old woman said. “The Aven you know is not the Aven who currently is. Right now, there is an opportunity for you to get to know him, to learn who he was before he came to be the Aven of the future.”

“That sounds… rather devious.”

“Are you not intrigued?” Lady Mystique asked, her ancient eyes almost daring. “Here you’ll have the chance to get inside the mind of the one who forced his way inside yours. You may even discover what leads him onto his dark path.”

“You can see what that was?” Alex was quick to correct, “Or, uh,is?”

“I can witness events outside of time,” Lady Mystique said vaguely. “I know what was, what is, and what may be, but notwhen. As such, I cannot tell you how far Aven has already travelled on his journey to becoming the Meyarin of your future. But perhaps you will catch a glimpse of him as you spend your remaining time here in the Great City of Meya.”

“Wait—she’s not staying with us?” Xiraxus cut in.

“No, hatchling,” Lady Mystique said. “Her place is with the Meyarins, for the moment. She must build her stamina and learn how to consistently utilise the Meyarin blood in her veins. For her survival, and yours in turn, shemusttrain with the Meyarins.”

“That’s not the first time you’ve said something like that to me,” Alex said with a resigned sigh.

“I know,” Lady Mystique said, speaking Alex’s language for the first time, her eyes twinkling. Then she clapped her hands once, breaking the moment, and reverted back to her strange, foreign dialect. “Now, some important things to note. Firstly, no one in Meya can know you’re mortal.”

“What? Why?”

“Because while humans and Meyarins have a trade agreement in place, they do not mingle other than when they exchange their wares. There is no way the Meyarins will include you as one of their own if they know you are mortal. That, and you can barely pass for one these days, Alexandra. You would simply make them ask too many questions.” Lady Mystique shook her head. “No, it’s best for everyone if you allow them to believe you are a Meyarin like them.”

“Uh, problem,” Alex said. “Appearance-wise, there will be some pretty obvious discrepancies.”Like the fact that they’re all drop-dead gorgeous, she thought to herself. “Not to mention, they have more grace in their little toes than I have in my whole body. I think they may realise that I don’t quite fit the stereotypical Meyarin mould.”

Lady Mystique actually chuckled. “You just might surprise yourself, child. And even if what you say is true, thanks to thevaeliana, they won’t be able to see past your appearance to notice any lingering humanness in you.”

Alex wasn’t sure which part of all that alarmed her the most. “I’m sorry—what?”

“Look at your skin, Alexandra.”

Still covered head to toe in the wintry Myrox-threaded outfit Kyia had helped her into for thevarrungard, Alex raised her hands in front of her face since they provided the only visible skin easily accessed. Doing so, she could see nothing out of the ordinary. She wasn’t even all that dirty despite her overnight trip in the woods, not to mention travelling through time and spending however long in a gritty cave.

“What am I supposed to be looking for?” Alex asked, squinting at her flesh.

“Stop acting like such a mortal,” Lady Mystique scolded. “Take a proper look.”

Alex resisted the urge to point out that shewasmortal and instead tried to centre herself, calling forth her Meyarin abilities. It took her a few moments longer than when she was on hervarrungard, but she was eventually able to expand her senses and focus her sight.

She took a startled step backwards.

“What the…?”

“You may find that thevaelianahas produced some unexpected changes to you,” Lady Mystique said, sounding way too amused for Alex’s liking. “No doubt you already know about the sharing of thoughts and languages, but you’ll also be pleased to note that your bond with the Draekoran heir has overpowered all traces of Aven’s scent in your blood. The Meyarin abilities still evidently linger in your veins from his forbidden ritual, but no one in this time or any other will recognise the smell of theGarsethupon you.”

Alex was too dumbstruck by what she was looking at to appreciate the enormity of what Lady Mystique had just told her—or how complicated her time stuck in the past could have become if the Meyarins had noticed the scent of Aven’s blood in her veins.

Clearing her throat, Alex said, “And this?” She waved her hands around, her voice verging on hysteria. “I look like I’ve fallen into a vat of toxic waste!”

Lady Mystique cocked her head. “I do not understand the reference.”

“I lookirradiated,” Alex all but shrieked. “I’mglowing!”

And she was. Her skin was gleaming with a soft golden sheen—nothing her human eyes had been able to notice, but her enhanced Meyarin sight couldn’t miss the unnatural radiance.

“As I said,” Lady Mystique stated, “there may be some unexpected changes as a result of your bonding.”

Alex gaped at her. “What about when I get back to my time? I think someone—sayAven—may notice something has changed about me, don’t you think? Normal one day, glimmering the next?”

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