Page 16 of Tempest

“A wizard is a mage who lets their demon take their mind,” Iason spat. “They aren’treal. Maybe when you—when your kind walked here, but not now.”

“I’m no Old One, and youarea wizard, Iason Ellas.” Leviathan wasn’t sure what to do. He could sense there was no deception here—but no, there was, wasn’t there? He leaned in very close, pleased when Iason flinched and tried to turn his head. “And you arelying. I feel your magic.”

“I’m hiding my face,” Iason bit out. Leviathan might have, in another situation, been impressed at how Iason managed to hold his gaze. A dominant, then— not that it mattered. “Because I was a— This country is in a revolution. Don’t you know? It’s a revolution, and I was sent back, and the side that is winning is not the one I was on.”

Human politics were of no interest to Leviathan. “I have seen empires rise and fall. I have smothered them myself in sand so deep no one even remembers they werethere. Kings and queens and princes and politicians are nothing to me.”

“But you’re— The Old Ones, they—”

Leviathan growled again. It didn’t have quite the effect in this form as it would in his other, but it stopped the chatter. “I am no Old One. They were but children when I was already ancient. Do you not know me? You, who stole my power to save a single human girl? Do you think your dead dragons could do that? Would they be dead if they could?”

“Then what are you,” Iason asked. “If not a god who used to protect this island?”

“I am no creature called forth to protect islands. I create islands. I destroy them. Mislia is a crossroads, balanced between the light and the dark, and your spirits reflect that. They are beings bound to no mage, and they gave their light magic to healers and lived in peace with the demons who dwelled beneath. It is not for you to understand. But I am not one of them, and they are not gods, and—are you saying that you do not know you have magic?”

“I know poisons, spells of illusion, things you make with nets. That isn’t magic. I have no demon. All I am is a man who wants to keep one girl safe, and if you can do that at the price of my life—dragon or demon or Old One or whatever you are—then I give it to you, willingly.”

After a moment, Leviathan climbed off him and sat cross-legged in the sand, the rain easing. “You mean that,” he said. “You would let me devour you, if it kept her safe.”

Iason got to his knees, dragging his fingers through his hair, though he didn’t seem quite ready to stand. “Yes.”

“You must know of me,” Leviathan said. “All your people do. You once left offerings at my shrines. Shells, baubles, whatever you thought might tempt me to calm my seas and ensure smooth sailing. Your people were seafarers. You have songs, stories, that speak of me.”

Iason’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not trying to tell me you think you’re the Tempest.”

Leviathan bared his teeth, the air once again growing heavy. “Iamthe Tempest. You took my power without asking and you took my form from me, and youwillgive it back.”

“How?” Iason demanded, not nearly as afraid as Leviathan wanted him to be. “I don’t know how I drew power from you in the first place. How can I give back something I never meant to take?”

“And if I took your pitiful human life, here, now? Would you fight me as you did before?”

Iason gave a harsh laugh and pushed to his feet, arms wrapped around himself as he shivered under the onslaught of Leviathan’s ire. “I should have been put to death in Staria for trying to kill the king. Before that, maybe, for—for my failure—” He stopped, shaking his head violently, and Leviathan wondered what that was about. “On the boat, the men who came for me… I thought it would be over. I’d go into the water, and that would be the end. But no, they wanted me to watchherdie, and then I saved her, and then you—did you say you couldn’t kill me? If agodcan’t kill me, what have I done?”

Leviathan rose to his feet as well, his temper shifting from anger to confusion. “You fought me, when I took you and the girl to the shore. Then, when I had you in my jaws, you didn’t. Even though you’d already drawn on my power for your magic.”

“You were leaving her alone. I thought, if I distracted you, she’d get to safety.” Iason looked away, out toward the storm-tossed sea. “I’m the only man in Iperios who keeps escaping a death sentence and doesn’t want to.”

Leviathan waved a hand, scoffing. “I’m not interested in your moral quandaries. You wanted me to kill you? Do you still?”

Iason was quiet, staring into the distance. “I wouldn’t have fought you. On the beach. I was exhausted, and she was safe. I think she might be safer without me.”

Leviathan grabbed him by the shoulders. “That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s as good as you’re getting,” Iason snapped, voice as harsh as the waves battling the shore. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t trying to take anything from a god. I just wanted to save one girl. A girl who shouldn’t even be here.”

“Why?”

Iason’s scarred face twisted. “Why what?”

“Why did you want to save her?” Leviathan tilted his head. “I’m curious. And it’s better than my rage, mortal, so indulge me.”

“She— I’m not a good man. I’ve killed for money. I’ve tried to do it for revenge. And that’s the part Iremember. Sophie”—he startled, as if maybe he hadn’t intended to use her name—“isn’t like that. She’s kind. She was kind tome, even when I was cruel. She thinks I’m worth saving.”

“Are you?”

“No,” Iason said, meeting his gaze. “No. Butsheis. That’s why I took your power, dragon, though I still don’t knowhow. That’s also why I didn’t fight when I thought my end had come.”

Leviathan placed a hand on Iason’s chest, feeling the race of his heart—and ah, yes, he was a bit more afraid than he was letting on, wasn’t he? He moved his other hand to Iason’s neck, putting two fingers against the vein where his pulse beat.

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