She kissed the side of my neck and hugged me tight. “Yes. But I like it. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I can do what I want, not what’s expected.”
There was no way to tell whether the changes between Clem and me would stick, or if things would spiral out of control and we’d end up feeling very different from how we did at that moment. And that was okay. I’d held myself apart from everyone, unaware of how much I needed the connection to friends to help me find my way in the world. With the Burning Core trapped inside me, that had become very obvious. If I didn’t let myself live in the world, how could I make decisions for it?
“We’d better go up there before Eric starts chewing off his own leg,” I said. “Besides, I bet you’re hungry, too.”
Advancing to disciple had worked the same changes on Clem and Abi that Eric and I had already experienced. Their hunger was nearly insatiable, and they needed so much energy to keep it at bay that they’d willingly let go of the sleepless talismans so they didn’t have to eat their way through the night.
“You are correct, sir,” she said. “I’m gonna devour half that pig myself.”
“Try the snout,” I encouraged Clem as I stood up from the rock and pulled her to her feet. “And the ears. So crispy.”
“I’ll eat anything right now,” she said through her grin. “See ya at the table, slowpoke.”
I watched her run up the rocky beach and wondered at how much things had changed in such a short time. Eric was still irritated that I’d made him turn his back on his dream world, but his eagerness to get back in the ring to train outweighed his anger. Clem and I had grown so much closer I wasn’t sure where our relationship was headed. And Abi...
His wheelchair, the finest I’d been able to afford with the jinsei left from my dragon haul, hovered on lifters that let it glide effortlessly over the ground at his command. As nice as the chair was, it didn’t make up for what he’d lost down in the ruins. Not that Abi complained about what had happened. At that moment, he was too busy fighting with Clem over who got to eat the roasted pig’s snout.
“Jace,” he called out to me, “come over here and tell your girlfriend to knock it off. I earned that snout.”
Clem shot me a wink, then threw one of her hands up in disgust. “Fine, take the snout, but both of those ears are mine, mine, mine!”
Eric rolled his eyes and patted the chair next to him. He’d already loaded up a plate for me that was a mirror of his own. A heaping pile of pulled pork sat atop a pair of rolls, with sweet potato mash next to it, and some crispy bits of skin resting on a pile of greens swimming in butter and speckled with sea salt and flakes of spicy red chiles.
“Any plans for Christmas?” he asked.
I was startled to realize we were only a couple of weeks away from the big holiday. I hadn’t given it much thought. “Nah,” I said. “I’ll probably just hang out at the School and bone up on the next step in the quest.”
“Sounds boring,” Eric grumbled. “Do you really think we’ll know what to do next so soon? Things have been pretty calm out there, honestly. Maybe what we did at the Forge was enough to give us a breather.”
That was a good point, but I didn’t want to give myself false hope. My mother’s heretics were scattered to the winds. Whatever leadership had existed outside of her direct command was either terrible or nonexistent. Local law enforcement departments across the world were reporting arrests. It was almost as if losing my mother had taken the wind out of the cultists’ sails. With no one to guide them, they’d lost their drive and gotten careless. Eric’s friends in the Guardian Corps had also reported the warped weren’t attacking anymore. The big ugly had been pushed off the Design by the new Flame’s power.
A power I didn’t know how to control. I was the host, but that didn’t cut much ice with the second core. It bided its time, and probably would until we completed this quest and my destiny was revealed.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted that to happen sooner or later.
For the moment, I decided to enjoy the food in front of me and the hospitality of the dragons who’d set up this whole shindig.
Speaking of the devil...
“I hope you find the meal satisfactory,” Zephyr said as she took the seat to my right. She’d adopted a more human form for this meeting, but there was no mistaking her regal and intimidating presence. Though she was nowhere near the power of the First Scepter of the Scaled Council, she was the equal of any sage. “And I apologize that we weren’t able to find more modern accommodations on such short notice. When we heard what had happened to you and your friends, we knew speed was of the utmost importance. Oh, and Eric, Trulissinangoth sends her regards and hopes you are well.”
Eric choked on a piece of tapioca bun and quickly washed it down with a drink of wine. He looked away from the dragon while he cleared his throat, his face growing redder than his drink.
“Excuse my friend,” I said jokingly, “he’s not as used to dragons as I am. We thank you for all you have done, honored Zephyr. I can’t begin to thank you enough for all of this.”
“You are most welcome,” the powerful creature said. “And I extend my condolences for all of your losses. The world is a poorer place for your clan’s disappearance, and I grieve even for your misguided mother. She was a true genius in her time, and
