“How are you?” Catria asked, hands lingering on Kalai’s shoulders. Her eyes turned gentle.
“I’m well. Thank you,” Kalai said, blushing a little at her kind attention.
She stroked his shoulders. “That’s so good to hear.”
Arrow joined them, resting his head on Kalai’s shoulder.
“I’m guessing you know this fella,” Catria said, petting Arrow’s nose.
Kalai nodded, pride shining in his eyes. “His name is Arrow.”
Arrow slid out his tongue to lick Catria’s hand, who cooed and rubbed his chin. “You have a dragon! He’s spectacular.” Catria narrowed his eyes, looking between Arrow, Kalai and Tauran before she said, “Wait a minute. He was in Valreus, wasn’t he?” She pointed at Tauran. “That’s why you needed that half cow. Skies, Tauran! Once a rascal, always a rascal.”
“Guilty as charged,” Tauran said, winking. “What are you doing in Sharoani?” He stumbled forward when Leyra nudged his hip, no doubt smelling the small piece of cold-cut ham he’d dropped in his lap at breakfast.
“I was about to ask you the same.” Catria returned to Sorcha’s side, loosening the straps of her saddle so she could relax while they spoke.
“The note with the coordinates,” Tauran said. “You didn’t think sending us out there would be a little… risky?”
Catria winced. She leaned against Sorcha’s shoulder, who turned her head and pressed her scaley nose against Catria’s temple. “I didn’t! That was never the plan.” Stepping back, Catria followed Kalai and Tauran to a cluster of large rocks and sat. “I wanted us to talk about it when the guards showed up. Then you disappeared. Emilian didn’t think you’d be reckless enough to follow such a vague lead halfway across the land, but I had a feeling…”
“Yeah,” Tauran said slowly, glancing at Kalai. “Your feelings tend to be right.”
Catria looked nervous when he met her eyes again. “So you went.”
“Yes.”
“Was he there?”
“Yes.”
Catria swallowed visibly. She took a deep breath. “Dare I ask if he’s still alive?”
Tauran winced. “I didn’t kill Andreus.”
Catria released her breath and leaned back, turning her face toward the sun. “Thank the skies. And excuse me if I was a little worried.”
Tauran shook his head. “You were right to be. When we first arrived, I was just about ready to put a bullet in his skull.”
“What stopped you?” she asked, her eyes intent on him again.
“Kalai did.” Tauran smiled a little when Kalai placed a hand over his. “Turns out I was wrong about everything I thought I knew and was actually the villain the whole time. So that was fun.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness entirely out of his voice. The part of him that had once been proud of being a sky rider still felt raw. “But how did you know he was out there? They told us they hadn’t had a single visitor in years.”
“We didn’t know,” Catria admitted. “Not for sure. Apparently, Andreus and his partner had been trading with fishermen off the southern coast for a while. The fishermen would often talk about him when they made it back to town. This strange, scarred man who lived in the middle of nowhere and spoke of dragons. I can’t tell you how, but word got around. Leather traders came to Valreus and told Albinus, the saddle maker, about it. And Albinus told Emilian, who told me. I wanted to fly out there myself, but it wasn’t easy to justify such a radical detour, especially when Falka had me so closely watched.” She shook her head slowly, lost in thought. “I’d risk my father’s life.”
Tauran thought about the pills she’d brought for her father, Villy. Doroxian, like Kalai’s. “So you thought I might be able to find Andreus?”
Catria rubbed the back of her neck. “Like I said, I wanted us to at least talk about it.” She frowned. “But why are you here?”
“Andreus sent us here. Leyra is the Executioner’s daughter. Andreus thought we can use her to communicate with the Executioner, get her to keep away from Valreus and move her nesting site somewhere the Sky Guard won’t find it.”
“Any luck?”
Tauran shook his head.
Catria groaned, dragging a hand over her face. “It’s why I’m here.”
“For the nest?” Kalai asked, leaning forward to see past Tauran.
She nodded. “A few months before you came to Valreus, Falka used the old archivist’s notes to locate one of the wild dragons’ nests. The archivist tried to burn the documents before Falka could read them, but…” She winced and exchanged a glance with Kalai. “You know what happened. I flew with