Page 22 of Of Scale and Blood

“Then perhaps we could make that happen, given I, too, have no desire to vegetate within the red halls of Zephrine.”

“I can’t see your father allowing that, either.”

“Oh, you would be surprised what my father would and wouldn’t allow when it comes to me.”

It was once again said with an edge of bitterness and only served to sharpen my determination to uncover what the hell was going on. Maybe I needed to talk to Mom again. While her seeress abilities might be hit-and-miss, it was possible that if she used something personal of Damon’s, she might be able to more accurately pin down what was going on between father and son.

I walked into the dressing area to don clean undergarments, leathers, and boots, then strapped on my knife. It, like my sword and the arrowheads, was made of Ithican glass, but I tended not to wear it when I was astride Kaia, simply because its length made it decidedly ineffectual against the riders or their mounts.

Damon’s gaze scanned me as I came back out, and his eyebrows rose. “That niggling is obviously strengthening if you’ve come out dressed for war.”

“I do have several new riders to introduce to their drakkons, remember.” I sat on the sofa and slathered butter over a piece of fruit-and-nut bread from last night’s meal.

“You never don the knife when you patrol on Kaia. Besides, you’re not meeting Kele and the new rider until an hour after dawn.”

He walked past the sofa and headed for the bathroom. My gaze lingered a little longer than necessary on his taut butt, and a soft sigh escaped. The man really was magnificent.

“Yes, but by the time I have a good breakfast, it’ll be time to go. What are your plans for the day?”

“A not-so-subtle attempt to shift the conversation, but I shall play along for the moment.” He ran water into the washer basin and then moved across to grab soapweed and a towel. “I’ll be accompanying the cutters out to the Helvede caverns to help secure the evacuation there.”

Alarm cut through me. “That’s dangerous?—”

“No more so than you going out on drakkon back. Besides, my ability to shield others is a more useful gift in this circumstance than your fire.”

He speak truth, came Kaia’s thought.You ask about flame share?

No. Did you just wake up?

No. Ask.

You are a seriously bossy drakkon.

Am queen.

I snorted softly. “Kaia wishes me to ask you something.”

“Ask? Not demand?” He grabbed a fresh undershirt and pulled it on, the blue somehow deepening the color of his eyes. “Should I be worried?”

“No, although technically, itisa demand. She wants to know if there is any sort of spell that will allow the sharing of my witch fire abilities with her.”

He came out of the bathing area, tucking his undershirt into the waist of his pants. “Theoretically, yes. I believe they’re called competency transfers, and while they were done in the past, it’s a spell that’s not been performed for a very long time. I suspect there’s a very good reason for that. Why?”

A gentle knock on the door stopped me from answering. Damon walked over to unlock it, then ushered in the small woman carrying a large tray of food. She was followed by a man carrying a pot of steaming shamoke and fresh cups.

I thanked them both and, once they’d collected the remnants of last night’s meal and had left, said, “My flames have proven capable of bringing down the gilded riders and their mounts, but it’s restricted by my strength. If we could find a way to give fire to the drakkons, their size, bulk, and strength will prove a far more formidable weapon.”

He sat down opposite and poured us both a cup of shamoke. “Any sort of spell involving the transfer of powers?—”

“I don’t want to transfer. I want to share. We need both drakkon and rider to be flame armed. It’s the best defense against them swarming us.”

He slid the cup over to me, then grimaced. “Again, that’s theoretically possible, but any such merging might have greater consequences than the mere sharing of your fire skills.”

I lifted the lid on the pottage, filled a bowl with it, and handed it to him. “Like what?”

He nodded his thanks. “The sort of spell you’re talking about is basically a merging of beings. Of souls, almost. It could bind you to each other in ways we simply can’t understand.”

“If we can’t find a means of combating the gilded riders, that may well be a cost we will have to pay.”

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