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“Then, why’d you ask me to do it?” I grumbled as he moved me.

“To evaluate your progress.” He moved and manipulated my wings but remained silent.

“Well?” I asked, needing to know.

“They are healing. Slowly. Your magic stores need to go up before they can progress faster. I’m going to have to ask the elders if I can give you a charge stone.”

“You have to get permission to do healing work?”

“For an outsider, I do. We have our secrets, as I’m sure you’ve realized by now.”

“Many of them, I’m sure, since the rest of the Twelve Kingdoms don’t know you even exist.”

“By design.” His words were clipped.

“I don’t know how many dragons you have here, but if we are at war?—”

He cut me off, putting a salve on one of the wounds on my wing. “I know what you may think, or how it may look, but your wars are not ours. We have our reasons for being here.”

“That doesn’t mean our wars won’t affect you if we lose. The undead will claim the continent and come here, too.”

“If they have returned, I’m sure that is true. But it’s more complicated than you know.”

“It doesn’t sound so complicated to me. We are all dragons.”

“You’re young, and the world has changed many times since we split off. But many here don’t know you exist out there.” His voice dropped low. “It’s not because we don’t care about our kind.”

It didn’t make sense to me, but no good would come from questioning the fae tending to my wings.

“Stay off your wings and eat something. I must seek permission to use power crystals,” he said when Zaria returned.

“How am I supposed to eat like this?” I called after him, making a face at Zaria.

She laughed.

“I’m sure your mate can help you,” Emrys threw back.

I barely held back a cringe. I guess I deserved that.

FIFTY-FOUR

ZARIA

Nyx was laying on his front with more of the salve coating his wounds. He turned his face to me, but he was still so weak.

I knelt by his bedside so I could be face to face with him. I held up the plate of food I’d been given and smiled. “Want some?” I picked a piece of fruit and teased him, then popped it in my mouth.

He gave me a flat look.

I did it again, this time brushing his lips before stealing it away.

“You are enjoying this far too much, Sol.”

Suddenly, I was gripped with guilt. I shouldn’t be enjoying anything while we didn’t know Kol’s fate. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes softened. “Don’t be. I didn’t mean you shouldn’t. We can’t do anything right now, and you’re keeping me sane until we can. I should be thanking you, not making you sorry.”

I couldn’t respond while emotion choked my words. Instead, I fed him some fruit, and we shared a moment of understanding. We would make the best of this pause and then we would go get Kol.