steady his heart. “What in all the skies was that?”
“He’s fine.” Tauran let go of Arrow and bent over, resting his hands on his knees. “I don’t know.”
“I didn’t see it.”
“It was big. Fuck!”
Kalai sat, finally forcing himself to loosen his cramped, white-knuckled grip on the vial. He didn’t care if Tauran saw. He inverted the vial to shake a pill into the palm of his hand.
But none came out.
He frowned, shaking it harder, then looked inside.
His blood ran cold.
Empty. It was empty.
He’d opened the bottle before Arrow knocked him over. The pills must have all fallen out.
Tauran kneeled beside him, frowning. “Did you drop any?”
Kalai’s eyes snapped from the bottle to Tauran. He lowered the vial. “Just a few. It’s all right.” His voice shook.
Tauran’s frown didn’t lessen. “Do you still have enough?”
Kalai nodded, trying not to let his fear show on his face. He could handle this. He could. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. I got some more in my bag.”
Tauran rose. His limp was worse than usual when he went to Kalai’s saddle bags and rummaged through them for the box of pills, his other hand gently stroking the horse’s neck to calm it.
“Thanks,” Kalai said, cheeks burning when he took the new vial from Tauran. He shook out a pill and stood. Putting the vial away safely in his jacket pocket, he buttoned it closed before swallowing the single pill.
When he looked up again, Tauran was watching him closely.
“What?” Kalai asked, a little too loud.
Tauran shook his head. “Scared me, ‘s all. Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
Tauran tried to make Kalai fly on Arrow, but Kalai stubbornly refused. More than anything, he wanted to prove himself capable, not just to Tauran, but to himself.
He could tell it irked Tauran. In Valreus, Kalai had basked in the ways Tauran opened up to him, allowed him to see his broken parts and soothe him when he struggled. But the further they traveled from Valreus, the quieter Tauran became. He took Kalai’s offers to work as an offense until they were arguing about who should carry out even simple tasks. In those moments, insecurity and frustration flashed in Tauran’s eyes, and Kalai would relent.
When they crawled into their tent at night, Tauran curled into Kalai’s embrace like he was made for that sole purpose, whispering apologies and sweet affections into the skin of Kalai’s throat, and Kalai would hush him and hold him close. It made the bugs and the constant threat of lurking bog monsters easier to tolerate.
The sun had made its journey halfway across the sky before Tauran spoke.
“They’re the same height.”
“Hm?” Kalai turned his attention from the depressing landscape ahead. It had changed slightly, a few dead and crooked trees reaching out of the pools like giant mummified hands. Turning his gaze on Arrow and Leyra trudging along in front of them, he parted his lips.
Side by side, the differences between the two dragons were obvious. Arrow was slender, with long legs and a narrow body. Leyra’s legs were shorter compared to her body, her shoulders wider and her head larger. But Tauran was right. Their shoulders were near level.
“When did that happen?” Kalai looked from Leyra to Tauran, mimicking the surprised smile on his face.
“She’s growing like crazy.”
“She’ll get huge. She’s not even three months old.”
“Did you ever think about…” Tauran trailed off, frowning at his hands.
“What?” Kalai asked.
“… where her egg came from?”
Kalai paused, and his horse slowed under his inattentiveness. He nudged the gelding to keep pace with Tauran’s mare. There was only one wild titan female around. They both knew it. “They told me…” Kalai trailed off, eyes locking on something in the distance. It was tall and straight, nothing like the gnarled trees scattered around them.
Tauran turned his head to follow his gaze, shielding his eyes from the pale sky. “What is that?”
Kalai shook his head. “I’m not sure. Want to check it out?”
“Well, it is the direction we’re headed.” Tauran withdrew the note with the coordinates from his jacket. “I’m guessing we’ll reach it in about five hours.”
“We could find out quicker than that,” Kalai suggested, excitement stirring butterflies in his stomach. He’d flown Arrow only once since entering the marshes, not wanting to leave Tauran alone for too long. “Arrow is fast. It would take me, what, twenty minutes out, twenty back? Maybe less?”
Tauran hesitated. Kalai could tell they were thinking the same thing: According to the coordinates, they should reach their destination within the next few