Page 19 of Tempest

“Oh.” Sophie sat up. “You’re serious?” Iason gave her a dry look. “You’re serious. There’s actually a god out there who used to be adragon? What is he now?”

“This is taking too long,” Levi said, pushing Iason aside with a lazy hand. If Iason had doubted his divinity, Levi’s strength would have convinced him. No mortal held that kind of casual power in such a lean form. Levi bent to look at Sophie, who hurriedly finger-combed her hair.

“You were the dragon?” she asked.

“Yes.” Levi stepped fully into the tent, and Iason followed, wishing—not for the first time—that he had at least a pair of knives. Instead, he clenched his fists and crossed his arms, watching Levi warily. “Have you heard of me?”

“A little. My dads were in the navy, and sailors are more superstitious than anyone else in Staria.” She squinted at him. “I didn’t know you could turn into a human.”

“I can’t. I’m still a god, even in this form.”

While he spoke, Sophie lit the small lantern and hung it from the tent hook, where it cast unnatural shadows over their borrowed belongings and tired faces. The tent blocked out most of the natural light, and Levi looked as inhuman as ever, his face more angular in the glow of the lantern, his eyes like fire.

“I think I get it,” she said, as she stopped the lantern from swinging. “It’s like how I’d still be me even if you were to turn me into, I don’t know, a stingray.”

Levi’s smile showed off too-sharp teeth. “Something like that.”

“So the dragon is still in there, it’s just locked away? And Iason… did that, somehow, when he saved me in the water?”

“He drew on my power, and the nature of his magic and my godhood… mixed.” Levi shot Iason a nasty look, as though Iason had planned this in any way, and went on. “He claims he did this for you. I would like to know why.”

“Oh.” Sophie tugged at the hem of her chiton and lowered her voice. “I don’t know. I heard him crying, once, and asked if he was all right, and it all kind of built up from that.”

Iason looked away rather than meet Levi’s gaze. The first weeks after his memory was shattered had been devastating. He’d felt like a shell, cracked and empty, and even though that feeling hadn’t gone away, it had lessened somewhat when the small, mousy girl forced her way into his life.

“I’ll need to touch you,” Levi said, and Iason noticed that, for all that his brow was still furrowed and his shoulders were tense, Levi was much gentler with Sophie than he was with Iason. “To test the currents between us and see if they align in the same way they do between me and that man, there.”

“He’s not so bad,” Sophie protested, leaning forward. Levi placed a palm over her forehead and closed his eyes. After a second or two, his frown deepened, and he took Sophie’s face in both hands, pressing their foreheads together. When he drew back, his brows were knit tight, and he rubbed his mouth with a thumb, back and forth, as he stared at Sophie.

“You can stop worrying about her,” Levi said.

Sophie snorted. “You do know he had to literally save my life yesterday, and thenyoushowed up all growly and bitey. He has good reason to think we might be in danger.”

Levi nodded. “True, but he shouldn’t, anymore. He changed you.”

“He what?”

“Did you know I have the power to createanddestroy?” Levi asked, as Iason looked Sophie over, wondering what Levi saw that he couldn’t. “I made the sirens—you may not know of them—”

“My papa’s friend saw one!” Sophie lunged forward, and Levi’s eyes opened wide as she grabbed his hands. “Everyone said he was drunk, but he swore he did. They’re real? You made them? Do they look as pretty as you, or are they like you in your dragon form, with pearly scales and oh, oh, are their tails all fluffy like water dragons or—”

“We can discuss that later,” Levi said, but Iason could see he was pleased. “But yes, they’re real, and I created them. It’s in my nature to create and destroy—to change things. Your friend here drew on my power to save you, and it seemed he wanted so desperately for you to live that my power bent toward creation. You won’t die, child. Not of old age, at any rate, and it will be harder for people to kill you in the usual ways of mortals. Iason used my power to make a new being, unique in all the world.”

Sophie’s eyes went wide. “I don’t want to be unique.”

“But you are.”

Sophie was still holding his hands, her grip tight. “Will I look like this forever?”

“No. You’re still growing. The current of your aging will slow eventually, but not yet.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” Sophie said, relaxing. “At least I can get through puberty.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Iason asked. “Sophie. I had no idea this would happen.”

“If you were looking down the barrel of being stuck in the middle of puberty forever, you’d be relieved, too,” Sophie said, and Levi actually laughed. “I know you didn’t mean for this to happen. Everything happened so fast.” She sat back. “And now you’re stuck,” she added, eyes filling with tears as she looked at Levi. “And you can’t be a dragon anymore.”

Levi gave Iason a nervy look as Sophie buried her face in her hands, and Iason ducked down to give her an awkward hug. She sank into it with a heavy sigh.

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