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“Do your blooded parents still live? I know Tybalt raised you, but—”

“I do not know if they still live,” Razik interrupted. She heard his boots scrape against the road, then crunch on the grasses beside the river. “They left me with Tybalt when I was seven years.”

“Left you with him? Where did your parents go?” she asked softly.

He pushed out a long, harsh breath. “I was not born in this realm. We did not come here until I was four.”

“What?” she gasped, turning to face him fully. She knew her mouth was hanging open, but how else was she supposed to react to that kind of statement?

“I am older than Cethin by three years. When he was born—” His hands curled and uncurled at his sides. “It took Tethys and Saylah nearly a year after he was born to figure out that he had the ability to not only let people in the Wards, but also into the realm. Granted, entering the realm cost more than a vial of Cethin’s blood, but it could be done if the right cost was paid. Not anymore, but at the time, it was possible. Before they bound the gift to his Avonleyan magic to reawaken at a later time, my parents entered this world with me.”

“And your father was Tybalt’s brother?”

“Yes. He is also Temural’s Guardian.”

That was…new information. It was information that she wasn’t entirely sure why he was sharing with her.

“Guardian bonds are much like Source bonds or twin flame bonds. They operate outside of the normal bounds of magic to a certain extent. It is incredibly complex, and I have studied it for centuries.”

“To find your parents?” Eliza asked.

“Fuck no,” Razik spat. “I was left here because they had never wanted me, but when I was born? Another direct descendant of Sargon?” He released another harsh breath. “We are coveted across the realms. Guardian bonds are stronger with direct descendants.Weare stronger, more powerful, and, of course, we can summon dragon fire at will.”

Eliza had slid her hands into her sleeves, her fingers curling around the ends. “I do not understand. They brought you here to hide you? To keep you safe?”

“They brought me here for several reasons. One of those reasons was to be left with Tybalt.”

She wanted to ask the other reasons, but the harshness of his features and the flare of his nostrils told her this was not the time.

Then she asked herself when she had come to know him well enough to know how to read him like that.

But after an extended silence, she did ask, “Where were you born, Raz?”

“It was once called Noidrir, but now it is known simply as The Requiem.” Before she could say anything else, he turned and strode back to the road. “We should keep moving. I suspect you will be getting hungry soon.”

She glared at him as she made her own way back to the road, but he wasn’t wrong.

They crested a hill a few minutes later, and Lightmere was spread out before them. A tall wall of stone surrounded the trade town. She could see warriors patrolling along the top of the wall…and there were a few seraphs among them. Fuck.

Hands on her shoulders were spinning her to face him, and Razik tucked her hair back farther before tugging on the hood to hide her features even more. “I know it will go against every instinct in you,mai dragocen, but you need to let me do the talking.”

“I know that,” she retorted as he pulled her cloak tighter around her too.

Fretting. He was fretting over her.

“You don’t think you won’t stand out more? Especially if your eyes shift?” she countered.

“We will secure our ferry passage first, and then get some food,” he answered, starting down the hill.

“You don’t even know where you’re going,” she snarked, hurrying to keep up with his long strides.

He gestured to the town before them. “I’m assuming we need to first enter Lightmere before I am in need of detailed directions.”

Eliza muttered a foul name under her breath, and she saw his lips twitch the smallest amount. Gods, he really was an ass.

They entered Lightmere without issue, and Eliza was forced to adopt a role of appearing to be a timid female visiting the trade town with her partner. This was worse than when she’d had to pretend to be a servant in the Tyndell manor. She murmured directions and instructions to Razik as they moved around the town, his hand resting on her lower back and keeping her tucked in close.

Just as he’d said, they immediately purchased their passage for the first departing ferry of the morning, and then he was telling her to find them some place discreet to eat. A tavern of some sort seemed their best bet at picking up gossip and information, so they wandered until they found one not completely off the beaten path but not too popular. Razik secured them a table in the back, and they kept their hoods in place while they ate. His general air of annoyance with everything kept others from bothering them, despite the curious glances they were receiving.