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Pan watched the images on thephonechange. It was a portal into someone else’s life. Not just a message passed via the Strega but a sign posted for all to see. “What is the Internet?”

“It’s our magic way of connecting,” Linda said.

Pan frowned. “It’s not magic. I can’t sense any magic.”

But what if they did have magic, and he was the one who was broken? No, he’d caught a glimmer of magic off Noah. It wasn’t him. It was this world.

“I think what Nan is saying is that trying to explain the technology will take far too long. But we can see what’s happening around the world. Every country is affected by the collapse, and there is fighting in some places.”

“Then I need to make sure that my people here don’t start fighting.” There were far more humans than there were Tarikians, so how he was supposed to do that, he had absolutely no idea. “When I flew over the city last night, I wasn’t looking for landmarks.”

Now he had a map of Beita he’d be able to locate and identify buildings. Or at least he hoped that would be the case.

He cursed Feryn again, but this time he was quite glad that he had no magic to follow through with that curse. While he understood grief, it was only because he’d seen all kinds of people be swept up in it; it wasn’t something he’d ever felt himself. Though the loss of magic was deeply unpleasant and upsetting, and he’d do anything to get it back.

Maybe that’s what grief felt like for mortals.

Unlike other people, though, this wasn’t his forever as he would reconnect with magic. The alternative was far too terrifying to even contemplate. But the word rolled around his head in every language he had ever known.

Mortal.

Gods didn’t die…death was possible, sure, but they didn’t die of natural causes. They were killed, usually by other gods. Which wasn’t any more reassuring, given that in his current state, it was rather too easy to kill him.

“We don’t need to fly over the city. We can walk out the door with your map,” Noah said, pointing to the palace on the map. “The spire is a good landmark because it’s tall.”

“It would be taller if three floors weren’t buried underground,” Pan muttered.

“No one’s going to be digging that up in a hurry,” Linda said. “Noah’s right. Go for a walk for a couple of blocks, identify what you can. Then, once we orientate the maps, we can make a logical plan.”

“And what am I supposed to tell the dragon?” Because walking off and leaving a dragon behind the palace was not a good idea. The dragon might get hungry. Not only that, they weren’t known for their patience.

“They didn’t live in the city, did they?” Noah asked.

“No, they lived on the outskirts. They like hills and such.” He pointed to a couple of likely places on the map. “But maps mean nothing to a dragon. They can talk, but they have no concept of time. He doesn’t understand how he’s ended up in this strange city and why the palace is so small. It’s like talking to a small child. A lost and hungry small child.”

“How hungry?”

“That depends on how recently he hunted.”

Linda stared at him for far too long, and it was not the nice, warm stare that Noah gave him. This one was as sharp as a sword, as if she saw straight through him and knew he was hiding things. He didn’t like it. It was dangerous.

“I’ll talk to the butcher and see if he’s got any carcasses going to waste. And while you two take your walk, I will call my daughter, Meredith. Perhaps she can help with the locating of the Strega and knight or at least speak to the people in charge of this mess so they are aware they should speak to you regarding mythological issues.”

Yes, that is exactly what he needed: more people coming to him with more problems. He was already missing the euphoria of the vampire bite. At least while warm in its embrace, nothing mattered. He simply existed.

Which would have been more relaxing if he hadn’t been untethered from magic. Instead, the euphoria had made it clear he was on his own in a way he had never been, or at least didn’t remember.

Pan rolled up the map of Beita.

Noah stopped him and pointed to a labeled arrow. “What does that say?”

“Calla.”

His eyebrows lifted. “What is Calla?”

“The neighboring city-state.” Wasn’t that obvious? There had been similar markings on three sides of the map, indicating all three neighboring city-states. The fourth side was, of course, the coast and the selkie town, which technically fell under the protection of the city-state, though the selkies considered themselves independent. And much like mermaids, most sensible people left them alone.

The male selkies could be savage—both in bed and on the battlefield.