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T he Jades didn’t complain about Vahly and the elves asking to ride their backs.

Not even the dragon tasked with carrying Ryton.

As Arc had done on Nix, Vahly slid between the two primarily crystalline spikes at the base of Yarun’s neck.

He was one of Eux’s personal guards and was built low to the ground and had lean muscle running through him that tensed as Vahly adjusted her position.

More than anything, the lack of grumbling Jades spoke to the immediacy of the Sea Queen’s threat.

As they took off in a sweeping circle, the coastline shimmered in the distance.

Matriarch Eux had shown Vahly the territory the sea had already risen to flood.

The Jades had lost a third of their lands.

Four bald mountain peaks rose from the waves, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine the horrible story those places told.

A single tree, broken and leafless, sagged in the ocean wind.

With a strong wave like the one Astraea had used to kill the elves, the Jade territory would be completely submerged.

The reason Eux’s throne room had been empty was because most of the Jades had been off building up land breaks to ensure the lapping waves came no further. What little good it would do. But Vahly understood why a leader would want to keep her folk busy at such a time.

Vahly felt like she was betraying Kyril by riding Yarun.

The Jade’s flying was far smoother, but Kyril hadn’t been flying for nearly as long.

Wind crashed over Yarun’s sage-colored head and around his mossy-hued spikes before brushing through Vahly’s hair and whipping her mended and washed shirt against her arms and throat.

The Jades had given her a new leather vest, too, easy enough for them to fashion in a night with their quick and crafty talons, properly sized for such work when they were in their human form.

The Jades’ leanings toward craftwork and textile creation had surprised Vahly and the elves.

During the time before she’d gone to Arc’s chamber, she’d seen several rooms of Jades in human form, stitching, weaving, and cutting fabrics in a rainbow of hues.

Vahly smiled, thinking of how the vicious, ruthless Jades, even those in their prime, shared interests with the elder dragons of the Lapis clan.

The early morning bright blue of the sky gave way to an afternoon rainstorm, and Vahly watched in envy as the elves shaped golden spheres around themselves that seemed to keep off some of the rain. She had no such ability and was soaked by the time they landed for a meal and some rest.

Ryton dismounted from his dragon. With the water running over his face, he looked more like he had appeared under the sea—skin glimmering, pupils wide.

He seemed to breathe easier in the rain shower, but his appearance threw a shiver down Vahly’s back.

Her magic thumped against her ribs. Why did the Source insist that she keep him alive?

Sure, he’d saved her, but wasn’t he still a threat?

This seemed like lunacy. He could cut them all down in their sleep.

The rain slackened to a mist as Arc walked over, the scent of him like a balm.

Vahly looked up into his face and raised an eyebrow. “That little rain shield seemed comfortable.”

Arc’s lips tilted. “May I?” He lifted his palms, indicating that he could dry her with his air magic if she wanted.

“Pretty please with a long night of sleep on top.” Vahly stepped closer.

Tingling erupted over her scalp and down her limbs as his magic moved over her, hot and quick.

Her breath came too fast, her chest rising and falling against his.

Once the deed was done, he lowered his hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She inhaled the scent of resin and sun-warmed earth.

His lips brushed down her temple and found her ear, where he nipped the top edge.

Vahly’s body flamed, heat rising in her chest and stomach. “Trying to turn me into an elf? I wouldn’t fight that. I think I’d look good with pointed ears.”

His mouth moved just under her earlobe. “You would be beautiful as any kynd.”

Vahly smiled, his words easing the ongoing pain of being separated from Kyril.

The Jades flew off to hunt for dinner as the sun slumped toward the last slice of sky. Rigel and Haldus brought Arc into an elvish conversation, Ursae standing outside their circle and looking ill.

After settling her bags against a boulder, Vahly decided to have a chat with Ryton.

He was sitting against a fallen oak, hitched up awkwardly to one side, the beast obviously causing discomfort.

“What do you think is going on now in your realm?” she asked, standing over him, wishing she still had her sword. She had her earth magic, but she hadn’t trained an entire life with it like she had her blade. Stones, she missed that weapon and the comfort of its ivory hilt.

Ryton took a small bite of the root vegetables Haldus and Ursae had gathered just before the group had started their journey that morning.

“She will come after your heart, Earth Queen.” Ryton’s face held little emotion. “And mine as well. Lilia, though she thinks she is in a safe place, is as good as dead.”

Vahly recalled the story of Grystark. “Lilia is the wife of your friend?”

He nodded. “She has kin in the far northern oceans. Beyond our usual trade and travel routes. She might be there. I didn’t ask so I couldn’t give up the information.”

“There are sea kynd that far from your Blackwater source?” It was surprising they had chosen to settle such a distance from their access to the Source. Vahly had learned more about their underwater spring from Arc.

“As I argued earlier, many of our kynd are unlike what you are accustomed to encountering. Lilia’s kin are peaceful. I beg you not to wipe them from the world without a thought.”

“I don’t think I can do that anyway.”

“But if you eventually have the choice, the skill, will you stay your hand and consider them?”

Vahly didn’t mind lying in card and dice games. Nor did she mind deceit when it worked to help her side in a fight. But here, seeing Ryton’s sincere face, with the memory of the wounds he’d suffered for her fresh in her mind, she found she had no desire to be in the least bit dishonest about this.

“General Ryton, I can’t make this promise.

Not yet. My anger at your kynd runs through me like my magic.

I would be lying if I made this promise to you.

I still hate you and your folk for all that you have done.

You stole my family. Every one of my nightmares as a child consisted of what your kynd did to my mother before she died.

Was she ripped by ruthless teeth? Drowned, her lungs bursting near her heart?

Did she call my name in the water even as your kynd tore her throat out, thoughtless of guilt or innocence?

No, Ryton, I will not make any oaths to you.

I despise this situation because I can see kindness in you.

I see your valor and courage and goodness.

But I’m not ready to swear anything to you.

Maybe someday. But not now. And maybe never. ”

Guilt weighed on her as she left him, his gaze on her like a brand, burning against her back. But she wouldn’t lie to him. It would be a betrayal that was beneath her. She would be his enemy to his face. At least she wouldn’t act like that queen he had served for so long.

Not far from where Rigel, Haldus, and Ursae talked quietly, Arc was on one knee near a holm oak, touching the exposed parts of the tree’s roots. He whispered something in elvish.

“What are you up to, elf?” she teased, trying to shrug off the weight of her conversation with Ryton. “Are you asking that tree to court you?”

He looked over his shoulder and smiled mischievously. “Are you jealous, Earth Queen?”

“I’m too tired to be jealous now, but I’m noting the feeling and will do my best to rile the emotion once I’m back to full strength.”

“I look forward to the show.” He stood and dusted his hands, his cloak brushing against the dormant red hat flowers and their delicate stalks. “If you must know, you nosey thing, I was speaking to the tree and asking it to form you a bed.”

Vahly’s mouth opened, and her hand went to her chest. “No.”

“I was. I can see the fatigue in you, and it worries me. Though you have pain and worries enough to explain today’s exhaustion, I believe it’s because you need your familiar by your side. You could also use a good night’s sleep.”

Last night, dozing by the fire with Arc—it had been wonderful. But it was true that she hadn’t slept much. She’d feared he would need her again, and she’d only closed her eyes for a few minutes here and there.

Arc stepped away from the oak. Waxy leaves grew from every possible spot along its branches.

“Perhaps you should try to persuade this tree to extend itself for you. My ability to influence trees appears to remain limited to the trees of Illumahrah.” His gaze went to the southwest, where his destroyed home sat.

Not sure whether to say something comforting, Vahly stayed silent. Instead of speaking, she knelt at the foot of the tree and placed her right palm on the foremost root. Earth magic pounded through her flesh and flashed up her arm.

“Grow,” she commanded.

Everyone had fallen silent. There was nothing. And then, a crack of wood…

The oak’s roots rose like great snakes and slithered across the ground. Their girth expanded to four, five—ten times their original size before braiding themselves into a hammock of sorts.

Vahly smiled. “I guess that worked.”

Ursae came up, her arms full of dry grass. “May I?” she asked Arc.

At his nod, she filled Vahly’s new oaken bed, then covered the grass with her own cloak.

Vahly touched her arm. “Thank you, Ursae, but please, keep your cloak.”

“I’m not cold. Take it. Please.” The elf’s light eyes studied Vahly’s face. She seemed sincere enough.

“Thank you.” Vahly watched her leave, wondering if Ursae’s behavior spoke of acknowledged guilt or was a ploy to get into Vahly’s good graces for some future goal.

Wind rose around them, and the branches of the oak waved wildly.

The Jades, in full dragon form, descended near Rigel and dropped two stags and a large doe.

The dragons ate in their dragon form while Vahly and the elves roasted the dressed deer before sitting down to feast. Ryton’s face twisted at the sight of the meat, and Vahly wondered what he had consumed under the sea.

He pulled more root vegetables from the bag at his belt and chewed in silence.

What was Amona going to make of him? Vahly took a bite of warm venison, then swigged from her water skin. Would she threaten him like Eux had, or would she be curious?

Haldus broke into her thoughts. “Earth Queen, if you can fashion a bed, I would think you could also create an entire shelter for us.”

She raised an eyebrow, thinking maybe he was asking a bit much from her considering her fatigue.

She didn’t care to entertain tonight. But perhaps his request spoke of his longing for his home, a place once filled with an oaken castle and homes magically formed from pines and beeches, moss and herb.

Setting her water skin and the rest of her meal on the ground, she spied another holm oak behind Haldus.

All watched as she walked to the tree and pressed her hands against its trunk.

She could almost feel the Jade dragons’ gazes burning into her back.

Their reluctance to change into their human forms during the journey troubled her.

Vahly would’ve thought the Jades would want to discuss what had happened and what the plans were for their next move.

This larger oak cast a shadow over her, blocking out the sky’s last turquoise and lemon light. She inhaled the tree’s green scent as it vibrated under her hands. She was about to speak, to command the tree, but it ended up being unnecessary.

The tree exploded into a churning chaos of movement. Dirt flew from the turned earth as roots and limbs and leaves swirled together and climbed over the camp. The ends of branches found one another to form a woven ceiling of oak.

Haldus’s eyes twinkled as the tree saw fit to curl roots around each group—dragons, elves, and Ryton on his own, creating small, partially private chamber walls that sprouted leaves like it was springtime.

Heart beating excitedly, Vahly entered through the new structure’s archway and found everyone peering from their respective chambers, faces pale with shock.

Arc was the first to speak. Grinning, he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway into his new room. “Nix will be furious that she missed this.”

A laugh bubbled from Vahly’s throat. “I can already imagine her list of cider house improvements.”

Vahly nestled into the bed she’d crafted first and pulled the cloak the Jades had provided over her to ward off the night’s chill. With Ursae’s cloak under her body and Arc in the chamber next door, she was quite comfortable.

They’d made it through the windy passes of the Jade territory, and the rest of the trip would go quickly. If Vahly’s fears were on the mark, these would be the last nights of good rest for a long, long time.