Page 99 of Blood of Dragons

He didn’t seem to know either because he was quiet.

I finished my berries and set them aside.

“You must know that my ambitions haven’t changed, nor will they ever change.” His hands came together as he stared at me from where he sat on his log. “I have to finish this—and I hope you’ll finish it with me.”

“I told you I didn’t want to be apart from you again.”

“We say a lot of things in the heat of the moment.”

“I meant it,” I said quietly. “I still do.”

His eyes intensified as he stared, looking at me with a hardened expression. “Then it’s you and me—until the end.”

I nodded because that was what I wanted for the rest of my life. It didn’t matter what he’d done to me or my family, because my heart had finally surrendered to him. My father couldn’t protect me. My uncle couldn’t protect me. He was the only man I could truly count on. He was the only man who would give his life for mine.

“I need the dragons, Calista.” His tone changed when he called me by my name, the silent plea in his tone.

“I don’t know where they are, and that’s the truth.”

He stared at me with that unblinking stare. “Do the elves know?”

“Yes.”

He gave a subtle nod. “They don’t trust you.”

“No. They didn’t trust me when I arrived, and they trust me even less now.”

His hands came together and rested against his lips for a moment, his eyes on the fire. “But Inferno knows…”

“Yes,” I said. “They told him the location, and he left.”

“Ask him.”

“We’re no longer fused.”

“Why?”

“Because Queen Eldinar insisted on our separation before he departed. Didn’t want him to have the opportunity to tell me.”

“He still could have told you even if you weren’t fused.”

“Yes, but Inferno wanted to keep his word to the elves. He appreciates what they’ve done for his kind. They consider themselves the protectors of dragons and the Realm of Caelum.”

That last bit of information seemed to intrigue him because his eyes narrowed. “The gateway to the afterlife is in the forest?”

“Seems so.”

His eyes shifted away into the distance, and he turned quiet.

“Why does that matter to you?”

“It doesn’t,” he said. “Just helps me understand why they despise me so.”

“Why would that make them despise you?”

He turned his eyes back to me.

“I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. We’re beyond that now.”