A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(168)

“Uh,” I said. “Did I get drunk and make the unfortunate decision to get tattooed? I told you guys to never let me get shattered and make decisions involving needles. You know how I get.”

“Unfortunately,” Gary said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s a mulani,” another voice said. “A ghost scar.”

I looked up to see Vadoma standing in a corner, Ruv at her side. She was watching me with a look of what I could have sworn was fear on her face, but it was gone before I could pin it down. That didn’t bode well for what was to come.

“Come again?”

“The lightning,” Ruv said for her. “It came from you. From your heart. It scarred your skin.”

“Suuuuck,” I said, wincing as I pressed against it. It looked odd on my darker skin. I thought it would eventually fade white, but I didn’t know.

“I dunno,” Gary said, sounding chipper. “I think it looks really badass. And look at it this way: if you ever think of scaring us like that again, a chest scar will be the least of your worries because I’ll be bathing in your blood.”

I gulped, because when a unicorn sounded that happy while threatening you, you had to take it seriously. Unicorns were bloodthirsty creatures who would bring the pain. “Got it. What the hell happened?”

“We found you inside a collapsed building,” Ruv said. “Along the edge of the water.”

“I didn’t do it this time,” Kevin said, head stuck through an open window. “It would have felt a little repetitious. Lord knows people hate repetition.” He frowned. “But then they’ll also complain when something wasn’t exactly the same as it was before. I really don’t get humans.”

“Shit,” I groaned, wincing as I tried to swing my legs off the bed. “Myrin.”

And that pretty much sucked the air out of the room. “Myrin,” Ryan said. “Are you trying to tell me that the bad guy—the main bad guy, the one who wants to kill you—was here?”

“Um, yes?”

“And you faced him alone.”

“Hey! It’s not like I went looking for him. Mostly. He was sort of… in my head? Maybe?”

“Gary! Get me my sword.”

“Do I look like a little servant girl? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t think my ego can take—”

“You didn’t find anyone else out there?” I asked, grabbing Ryan by the arm to keep him from going off half-cocked. If Myrin was still out there, I didn’t want Ryan anywhere near him. He was dangerous, and he needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. I felt a pang in my chest that had nothing to do with the scar. I didn’t know what it said about me that I could think of killing someone without hesitation.

“No,” Ruv said. “The night guards said there was a great storm within the lake. They’d never seen such a thing before and thought that the gods had been angered. That they were bringing down the heavens in penance. They came to me, but by the time I got outside, the lightning was fading. And it was only then we heard the building collapse on the water’s edge.” He looked away. “We found you in the rubble. You weren’t breathing.”

That… wasn’t something I expected to hear. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Ryan said mockingly. “Oh.” He stood and started pacing, something he only did when he was really angry.

Yeah. I felt like shit.

Even though I didn’t think I’d technically done anything wrong.

“Ruv got you breathing again,” Gary said quietly. “Chest compressions.”

“How long?”

“Since we found you?”

“Yes.”

“Six hours,” Gary said.

“Shit,” I muttered. That explained the daylight filtering in through the windows. It didn’t help either that I felt like I was forgetting something, something important, but it was lost in the fog of pain in my head.

“He was here?” Vadoma said, voice trembling.

I looked up at her. She was pale. Shaking. “Yeah. He said… he didn’t need the dragons for what he had planned. That he—” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s all a blur.”

“If he doesn’t need the dragons, then what does he want?” Gary asked.

“I am okay with this turn of events,” Kevin said. “I would prefer not to be the bitch of some evil wizard. He might make me do things I don’t want to do. Sexual things.”

“Kevin, there is nothing sexually you don’t want to do,” Gary said. “Remember that time we tried docking?”

Kevin smiled down at Gary. “I’ll never look at that church the same way again. Hey. So. I was thinking. Um. Maybe after all of this is over, we could—”

“Everybody out,” Ryan growled.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s all just go out and—”

“Not you,” Ryan said, hand on my elbow holding me back.

“Save me,” I hissed as Gary walked past me.

“Oh, girl,” Gary simpered. “You gonna need to save yourself on this one. Go easy on him. He had a scare, and you know he doesn’t deal well with that.”

“Yeah,” I said to Ryan. “Go easy on me. I had a scare.”