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“I don’t remember him.”

“He’s not worth remembering.” He took her hand and flipped her palm face up, the tip of his finger sliding across the lines.

“What about Synick? He’s still running around only All Mother knows where.”

“I’ll gut him too.” He shrugged and blew out a cloud of smoke. “I should have done it the moment he appeared.”

“I want to be the one to kill him. And we should be looking for him.” After all the disgusting, vile, putrid things he’d said and done, she wanted to be the one to end him again.

“By all means. Make it hurt. And he’ll show up when the council does. There’s no need to waste our efforts looking.” He pressed his finger to a spot on her palm. “Two great loves. Three, maybe four lives, but one of them was fractured. Remember when I first told you that?”

“Yes.”

“I couldn’t figure out what the fractured line was that came back together. It’s now, when your life as Layala joined with the first. You won’t die again.” He kissed her palm, and let it go.

“I thought you didn’t believe in palm reading?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t then.”

She took hold of his hand and gently caressed the lines. Palm reading wasn’t a skill she’d ever learned. “What do yours tell then?”

Curling his fingers, he smiled. “Mine tells me I have one love.” He leaned forward and kissed her.

“And your life line?”

“Isn’t clear. Not everyone’s is.”

The unknowing scared her. She bounced her leg nervously and got to her feet. She was too anxious to stay sitting. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t shake the bad feeling that the council would break through somehow. If that happened, what of all the people here? Where would they go? Not to Calladira, the woodland elves wouldn’t accept them. And the humans were afraid of elves; they wouldn’t be welcomed there either. They’d be homeless, left to wander the wilderness, maybe north with the dragons. Although elves and dragons were such starkly different cultures, they could never coexist peacefully for long.

And her friends, where could they retreat to? And Tif and her gnome colony? The little gnome in her red hat sat on the bottom rung of the wood fence that surrounded the horse pasture. Humming merrily, she kicked her feet while plucking yellow flower petals from a dandelion. Katana sat in the grass beside her, showing Tif how to weave flowers into necklaces.

It was good to see her happy. She never smiled more brightly than she did with Thane. They were special people separately, but together, it was magical. He was the match to her bright sun. She didn’t worry so much about Katana. Thane would protect her and take her far from here if he needed to.

Piper rocked side to side, keeping her gaze fixed on the skies. Ronan and Dax were up there somewhere. Fennan and Leif argued about where Princess Talon should be. At the moment, she was tucked away in her room.

“She should be at the Castle in Brightheart, not here.” Fennan ran his hand through his short black curls.

“Brightheart is right where they’ll be coming through the portal. They might destroy it on their way,” Leif argued.

“Enough,” Thane said, stopping his pacing. “It’s too late to send her away.”

To keep himself distracted, Presco took a brush from the stables and started combing Starborn. Her loyal right hand would be next to her in battle. It was how they’d always fought. She in her chariot, him flying beside her. If she landed, so did he. He’d been with her so long she couldn’t even fathom him not making it through this fight. He was her oldest and most trusted friend.

Minutes seemed like hours. There was no sign of Synick, although Katana had warned them he might know of Lightbringer’s significance to the wall.

Ronan and Dax flew in in their half-shifted forms and tucked their wings away. Their scales shifted to flesh, and they strutted side by side down the path. Ronan’s silver hair was tied back, while Dax’s dark-brown hair was left free. She hadn’t seen either of them in a long time. Ronan was slightly taller than his friend but barely.

“What’s with the pity party?” Ronan stopped before Piper and threw his arm around her shoulders. “The battle hasn’t even started and you’re all doom and gloom.”

Dax hand-signed to Ronan,Be right back,then strutted right through Fennan, and Leif, and around Presco. Realizing who he was coming for, Valeen hopped out of her chariot, and he wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug. “Hi, Dax.” The last time she’d seen him, she’d rode his beast into battle against King Tenebris. Even if he couldn’t speak, they had a special bond.

Hel flicked his civar and slowly blew out the last bit of smoke. “Who the fuck are you?”

Should she like it when he was jealous? No. Did she? Yes. She giggled and Dax let her go and grinned at Hel. With a bow, he took a step back. Facing Ronan, he signed,This is her new man?When she was Layala, she didn’t know sign language, but as Valeen it was one of the many she knew.

“This is my husband,” she said.

He turned to her, brows pinched.You know sign?