Page 51 of Tempest

Levi did not appreciate being ignored, so when Iason did itagain,he reached over and took the book from Iason’s hands.

“What— Give that back. We’ve plenty of others, if you want to look for something helpful,” Iason said, reaching for it. Levi held it up over his head, and Iason fixed him with a look. “I said, give that back.”

“No.” Levi tossed it carelessly aside—he’d never had much use for books—and grabbed Iason’s wrist to keep him there on the low couch. “You won’t find anything about this in a book on Mislian magic.”

Iason stared at him. “I’m trying to find out whatthisis, dragon. And these are the only books I have.”

“That doesn’t mean the answer is in them,” Levi pointed out, reasonably, but Iason scowled and tried to free his hand. Levi let go, but his next words stopped Iason cold. “I know what it is, anyway. My brother told me.”

“What?” Iason’s dominance was sharp. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were busy reading.”

Iason glanced up at the ceiling. “Did you make the world a chaotic mess, or did we, as humans, make our gods chaotic messes to resemble us?”

Levi shrugged. “Probably a bit of both. My brother Astra visited me in my dream. He’s the dream lord. The Weaver? I don’t remember what he’s called in Mislia. Anyway, he wanted me to know that he’s made a companion bond, and his companion is now the god of art.”

“Wait,” Iason said slowly, narrowing his eyes. “That’s how gods are created? You find a companion and give them… powers?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Cillian, Astra’s companion, was born with the potential for godhood. I had a sister named Pallas who was the god of art, once, but she became corrupted. Gods can’t die until they choose to, and she wasn’t ready to go. Apparently, she either changed her mind or was convinced, because now it’s Cillian. But that could have happened without a companion bond. My other siblings who have companions, theirs are just humans who are granted immortality and some of their godhood.”

“Who decides that?”

Levi blinked. “My siblings and their companions chose each other.”

“No, I mean, who chooses who gets to be a god? Who gives the power of a god to a companion?”

“Oh.” Levi shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just how it is.”

“You don’t want to know?” Iason demanded, like it was a personal affront.

Levi smiled, leaned in, and kissed Iason right on his scowling mouth. “No. It doesn’t change anything, if I know or if I don’t know. Azaiah once told me that he likes that there’s one last mystery even we can’t solve. Souls return to his river, sometimes, but where they are in between… where the others who have borne the mantles of Death, Art, and Dreams before have gone… that, I doubt I’ll ever know. I don’t think I can go there, even if the rest of them do.”

Iason reached out and gently drew his fingers over Levi’s jaw. It was one of the first times he’d ever touched Levi like that: affectionate, almost shy, without any intent to take power for his magic. “And that doesn’t that bother you, either?”

“No. There’s no point in worrying over something I can’t change. Maybe if the planet itself dies, I’ll find out. Maybe I won’t.” He turned his head, kissing Iason’s fingertips. “I think you’re my companion. I think we made a bond when you drew on my power to save Sophie. But it’s out of balance, maybe.”

“That can’t be right,” Iason said. He pulled his hand away. “A companion shouldn’t take something from you, and I did. Your power, and your dragon form.”

“Yes. But I remember my brother Arwyn—when he was Avarice, he borrowed a mortal’s form, but he didn’t get to keep it until he made his bond with Declan. Now he easily changes between the two, as I once did.”

“That’s the opposite of what you just said, though.”

“My point is that I think it’s our bond that has taken my form.”

Iason gave a soft, unhappy laugh and raked his hand through his hair. It was longer, now, enough that he was constantly pushing it out of his eyes when he read. “Of course a bond with me would take rather than give.”

That gave Levi pause. There was something to it, maybe, a truth that he couldn’t quite grasp yet—just a flicker of a thought, like sunlight filtering through waves. “Our bond was formed for a reason. I told you, didn’t I, that I would have been drawn to you even without you taking my power? You’re interesting. I like interesting things. I usually eat them, though.”

“You did try to,” Iason pointed out. “And I don’t know what is interesting about me. I’m a failure of an assassin who lost his memories and couldn’t even get himself executed properly.”

“You’re a storm, like me,” Levi said. “Like I was, I suppose, before I was anything that could have a name. All pressure, building and building, waiting for a release. Maybe that’s because you’re a wizard, but I think it’s justyou.”

“I’m a repressed, moody asshole, and you think that’s interesting.” Iason smiled, which pulled at his scars and might, to anyone else, look like just another scowl. But Levi knew it wasn’t. “Then again, you’re a terrifying cross between a hurricane that tears islands to pieces and a surfer who wants to catch some waves and then nap in the sun like a cat.”

“Dragons are a lot like cats,” he said, curving a hand around the back of Iason’s neck. “My brother Azaiah, he fell in love with his companion when his companion was a general in the Iperian empire’s army.”

“There hasn’t been an Iperian empire for a thousand years,” Iason said, then swallowed hard at Levi’s knowing look.

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