come.”
“Not anymore.”
“So I’ve heard,” Moonleaf said grimly.
“Val,” Zav called, power in his voice as he looked over—as he summoned me.
It was the first time I remembered him using my name, and I had the urge to trot over obediently. Which I refused to do. I planted my feet in stubborn rebellion, held a finger up to him, and finished my conversation with Moonleaf. “Would a half-human be welcome in… the place where my father lives, if she were to show up?”
Not that I had plans to leave Earth any time soon, even if it somehow became a possibility. It wasn’t as if I could hunt down a portal charm. At least, I assumed not. But I was curious and wanted to know.
“Few humans have ever been taken from this—pardon me, but this is how the rest of the sentient species feel about it—savage world and into the Cosmic Realms, so I could not say for certain.” Moonleaf glanced at Zav, lifting a hand in a fingers-down gesture that seemed like an apology. He was speaking quickly. “But humans as a whole have not traditionally treated the other races well when they’ve visited this world.”
“So there may be grudges.”
“Yes.”
“And such a trip would be dangerous.”
“Probably so, but if you ever get the chance…” His blond brows rose as some new thought occurred to him. “Does he know you exist? Your father?”
“I don’t know.” My mother had told me that he and his kind had left before she’d known she was pregnant with me. She’d never allowed me to voice anything negative about him—using the phrase deadbeat dad when I’d been about ten had gotten me slapped, the only time I could remember her hitting me. She had never agreed with me that it had been an asshole thing to choose to leave Earth with his people instead of staying with the woman he had supposedly loved. “Probably not,” I added.
“Ah. That is interesting.” Moonleaf sent Zav another nervous glance—Zav had his arms folded over his chest, that haughty expression tinged with impatience. “I must not keep you from your meeting. I’m pleased to have made your acquaintance.”
He bowed again and turned toward the other end of the valley, toward the exit tunnel I’d originally come in through.
“Wait,” I blurted. “If I ever get a chance to go looking for him, where would I start? There are a lot of worlds in the Cosmic Realms, right? Like seventeen?”
“Yes. You need only to ask to be taken to the Sylvan Court of the Elves. There are many portals that lead there, from all the worlds where elves have colonies.”
I thanked him and started toward Zav and Greemaw but noticed that two of the kids who’d been watching had scooted closer. Their dirty faces were lean, and they looked hungry. I reached into one of my inner duster pockets and pulled out the box of fries I’d stuffed in there as I’d left the restaurant. It was smashed after the battle with the orcs, but the fries ought to still be edible. When I tossed it to them, they snatched it out of the air together and raced off behind a tent.
Are you delaying on purpose? Sindari asked. Your dragon looks cranky.
He’s not my dragon, and he always looks like that.
True.
Trusting I’d made my point—that I would not be summoned like a slave—I joined Zav and Greemaw. I did feel a little bad for making her wait, especially since we were intruding on her time, but she oozed the calm serenity of one who had lived a thousand years and more and was never in a hurry. I wondered if Zav was young for a dragon.
Fortunately, he didn’t snipe at me when I arrived. He returned to their conversation.
“The mongrel said she has a map with points that may be useful,” he told Greemaw.
“The mongrel?” I stared at him and pointed back to where I’d been talking. “You just used my name. Did you forget it that quickly?”
As soon as the words came out, I realized he might have only used it because names had power and he’d known I would be more likely to come to it than mongrel.
Greemaw stirred on her bench as Zav turned his violet gaze on me. His eyes weren’t glowing at the moment, but her stony face looked worried. Did she think he would flatten me for my presumptuousness?
Even Sindari stirred, bumping my side. Have you not yet learned to avoid being contrary with dragons?
I didn’t know asking