Page 78 of Iron Hearts and Dragon Magic

“I’ll have some water.”

Iona walked out and came back with a wooden bowl with the liquid.

Leah took it and drank it, telling herself to stop with any nonsense. She had been thirsty, after all. “You’ll also teach me to disguise my magic?”

The fae looked outside. It was still day, or whatever day looked like in this place. “After night falls. I need you to listen to me first.”

“So… what is it you want me to do?”

“The shapers,kee-lies,in their language, they are not evil. Yes, they like to eat people, but that doesn’t mean anything. We eat animals.”

She couldn’t seriously be implying that eating people was a minor detail and not a character flaw. Leah was careful not to spit out the water she’d just drunk. “Right.”

“They don’t like the Breaker either. They are seeing the destruction, and they are willing to fight it.”

“Why don’t they?”

“He’s not… not really here. But to regain full power, he has to go to the second realm, and he’ll be there soon. I mean, I’m not sure how soon, but he’ll have to go there. Conquering realm after realm had to be a plan to get there eventually.”

“Won’t the shapers be happy if he moves away?”

“Of course not. He’ll be more powerful. He causes discord, war, dissent. He’s destroying this place.”

“But then, what’s the Breaker’s goal? If he destroys everything, what’s he going to gain? At some point, everything will be gone.”

“More and more power, that’s it. The second realm is large enough that it could take thousands of years to be depleted or completely destroyed. It would still feed him. If anything, that’s his home realm. He won’t destroy it completely. You think he cares about this place?”

Leah herself didn’t care, and she didn’t consider herself a particularly evil creature. “Doyoucare?”

“All life is precious. They are what they are, and it’s none of their fault. The important thing is that they could help you.”

“How?”

“Let them come to the Second Realm, the ones I know, the ones who want freedom. They’ll fight for you.”

“Right. And once the fight stops, they’ll want to celebrate by having us for dinner.”

“You can make a treaty with them. Have them living in a remote location. They don’t need to eat people, even if they like it. At least let them survive. I can help. Remember I’m a fae, and my deals are binding.”

“How can I call them?”

“Let us come to Aluria. Now. When it’s time to fight, we’ll be ready.”

“You could also wait here.”

“Then it might be too late, and I won’t be around to help you seal the deal with them.”

Everything about it sounded like a terrible idea. “You’re talking as if there will be a war with soldiers, but isn’t this Breaker incorporeal?”

“He has to assume a form if he wants to come into his power.”

“One form, which I’m sure is very hard to kill. What am I going to do? Let loose a bunch of these toothy creatures on him? I’m assuming if he has strong magic, he’ll defeat them easily, won’t he? I don’t see how it’s going to work.”

For the first time Leah saw a flicker of disappointment in Iona’s eyes. “Sometimes you need to trust that the answer will come.”

“No. It doesn’t work like that. I told you I got creatures to help me, and in the end they were turning against us.”

“Didn’t they help, though?”

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