Page 55 of Kingdom of Spirits

The experience with the memory realm had exhausted Tahlia and Marius, so they decided to rest if only for an hour or two. They asked Trevain to keep an eye out and every living being, dragons included, lay down to close their eyes for a short break.

“You’re certain we can take the time to rest? He is going to be tough to catch,” Tahlia said, looking in the direction Katk was headed.

“The dragons will outmatch his pace without much difficulty if they have a moment to rest,” Marius said, the confidence ofmany years in the order making his words firm and his tone sure.

Giving him a thumbs up, Tahlia lay beside Fara and fell asleep watching her friend’s purple eyelids flutter in dreams. She hoped they were dreams, anyway, and not nightmares.

A dragon snout woke Tahlia,and when she opened her eyes, Lija was staring down at her.

Chapter 23

Tahlia

Tahlia and Marius readied for flight, adjusting saddles and checking bags and ties. They worked in silence to let Fara sleep a little longer.

A cough from Fara turned Tahlia around from where she’d been checking Lija’s girth strap. Fara sat up, blinking.

“Feeling better?” Tahlia asked.

“I am. Yes. Well, maybe.”

Tahlia brought her a skin of water. “You were right about the plant and the dragons. I ate some of the leaves and now Vodolija can communicate with me.” Tahlia tapped her temple.

Fara’s face lit up as she looked at Tahlia. “Really?”

Tahlia nodded. “Yes!”

Fara drank a healthy amount and handed the skin back to Tahlia. Her sluggish movements gave away the lingering fatigue of her experience.

Beside Ragewing, Marius frowned and grew still. His hands were poised over one of his smaller satchels. “What are you two talking about?”

Another cough shook Fara, and she seemed to have forgotten about Marius’s question. “We are leaving now, right? We havethe High Captain, I see. Insane mission accomplished.” She faced Marius. “Are you cursed? Did you break it?”

Marius grunted, and his jaw muscles worked.

“He can’t tell us,” Tahlia said, “but yes, he is, and no, we didn’t. We still have a lot of things to do here before we can leave.”

Tahlia looped an arm around Fara and helped her to stand. She was steady enough and Tahlia was thrilled to see it.

“I’m guessing these aren’t tasks I’m going to be happy about,” Fara said.

Tahlia smiled. “Definitely not.”

“Why are you dragon riders so enamored with creative ways to end yourselves?”

Marius’s lips tilted up for a second, and Tahlia’s heart soared to see him doing so well. Was the curse easing off of him because Katk was awake and Marius had done as Ophelia’s monster required by digging up his bones?

Trevain introduced himself to Fara and spent a few minutes filling her in on all the happenings while Marius and Tahlia tended to Ragewing’s and Lija’s old injuries.

“Trevain reminds me of someone,” Tahlia said.

Marius raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“I’m not sure. His face just looks like someone I know. It’s odd.”

Marius frowned, and Tahlia shrugged as she finished corking the unguent Fara had brought. She placed the leather-wrapped bottle in one of the saddlebags.

Don’t forget to have him eat the plant,Lija said.