Page 77 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
“I knew him,” he says as we all peer at the carved name.LINUS WILDE.“He was a Historian, I was his protector, and I failed.” There are layers in his voice then, like smoke and fury, but whenhe looks back at us, his gaze is cool. Onyx more than gold. “This time around, I have not failed. But Ialmostdid.”
I can see how that weighs on him. Thealmostof it.
I move to him, and he doesn’t push me away, but there is still a distance he has put up. A wall, even as his arm comes aroundme and he looks out at my coven.
“You all do not understand the role of the fabulae yet. It’s not the same as yours. I add magic to spells, to ceremonies,but I do not have to have a say in all the goings-on, the day-to-day. You must go on as you did before I showed up.”
I don’t like this at all. “Why would we do that?”
But he remains calm. Too calm. “Trust me. I have not ledyou all astray.” Then he smiles, but it has none of that dragon certainty, and I hate it. “Yet.”
“Azrael—” I begin.
He looks at me, and I think he’s trying to hide all the old pain in his eyes, but I can see it. “You must all go and focuson full ascension. On making sure the Joywood do not have access to the archives, to your crystals and homes and so on. Youmust be vigilant. You can deal with me once all is said and done.”
I can tell no one is quite buying this, but no onesaysanything. No one argues with him. SoIdo, clenching my hand tight around the ring he gave me.
“You don’t really think we should just... leave you in a graveyard and worry about ascension like you’re not trapped here,do you?”
“I don’tthinkyou should. Iknowyou should,” he says gently. Almost like he understands what he’s asking of me. Ofus. He looks like himself again, for a moment, when his gaze meets mine. “Trust me, Georgina.”
I want to. I really do. But this is leaving him behind, and that is not what I stand for. It’s not whoweare.
“How about we regroup,” Emerson says then. And I know this is directed at me, even if she’s ostensibly addressing the coven.“We’ll all go home and sleep on it. Then we’ll meet back here in the morning and discuss plans.”
Azrael makes a frustrated sound. “You need not come back here. Have your meetings and plans in Wilde House where they belong.”
“We’ll be back here in the morning, Azrael,” Emerson replies. Firmly. “Whether we need to or not.”
He says nothing to this. He turns back toward the grave he pointed out instead. Behind me, my friends take off, talking quietlyamongst themselves.
Emerson comes to me and gives my arm a squeeze. “If youdecide to stay here tonight, let me know, okay? I don’t want you alone after what happened.”
I nod. But I don’t promise. I think alone may be just what I need. But I won’t put myself at risk again. There will obviouslybe no more walking along rivers.
She and Jacob leave then, choosing to walk over to his farm.
I don’t watch them go. I watch Azrael’s back instead. OfcourseI should stay here, with him—
But when he turns back to me, he looks so remote. Walled off. Not like the dragon I’ve come to know at all. Not even likethe newel post version of him.
“You should go back to Wilde House,” he tells me stiffly. “Or the archives. There is much to do, and those are the placeswhere you will be best protected.”
“Do you think thisactis going to work on me?”
He sighs at that. “This is not a game, Georgina. It is not...” He trails off. Then some of that intensity I know so wellshines through in his expression, making everything in me feel comforted and furious at once. “I need you to understand me.To believe me.”
“What I can’t believe is that you suddenly don’t want to be in the middle of this.”
He looks at that Wilde grave again. Sad. Guilty. “This is not about wants. It is about what is right.” He says this as ifthe words and feelings are brand-new to him, but with a dollop of self-recrimination that I’m not loving. “It is about thefuture. Not the past. I have been trying to re-create the past, and you almost died for it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The Joywood are behind the black magic attack.”
“Yes,” he agrees, but doesn’t explain.
Maybe he does actually need time. Maybe this mood of his will blow over. Maybe this is what a bad reaction to something he can’t burn looks like on a dragon—and Hecate knows Iwould be having a whole private opera if I found myselfimprisonedin agraveyard.
Then he reaches over and touches my face. “My own,” he says, and I can tell he is trying to smile. Trying to lighten thisup between us, but he can’t manage it. “They have taken away my ability to protect you by putting me here—something I wasalmost not able to do today anyway. So you must protect yourself. Youmustbe careful. They have made you a target because you are the one who can find the truth, and the past. I think we both knowthe truth and the past can be dangerous weapons. You must focus on the present, the future, instead. So you are safe.”
