Why enter the temple at all? As humans, they wouldn’t have gone to worship, and, until the temple was consecrated, it was just an empty shell, an architecturally uninteresting shell. So what was the draw?
He was pretty sure peeing in the temple had been an impulsive act. Probably after traveling a good distance, they had needed to pee. But the fact that they hadn’t gone outside was disrespectful, insulting, and…maybe personal? Was the perpetrator sending a message?
“I can see the gears cranking in your head. What are you thinking?” Helena asked.
“Peeing in the temple was a fuck-you. To urinate on something is a personal act of animosity.” His gut knotted with a growing hunch. “Who hates the Draconians more than anything?”
Helena lifted her shoulders. “A colonist accidentally left behind?”
“Biggs. I think he’s here.”
“No… That’s not possible.”
“He hasn’t been found on Earth.”
“He wouldn’t come here. He loathes dragons.”
“Right. He hates them, but he covets Elementa. He risked an interplanetary war to get it—and then it was almost taken from him when your father pulled out. I think when the situation went south for him, he hauled ass to Elementa. That’s why he hasn’t been located on Earth—he’s not there!”
“How would he get on a ship? He’s on the no-fly list.”
“With his power and connections?”
“Oh shit.” She closed her eyes for a long second. “B-ut how would he survive out there?”
“How is anybody surviving there? Somebody is, so why not Biggs?”
Chapter Fourteen
O’ne cupped the tiny flame flickering from the draft of a portent. Significant change drifted in the breeze, more monumental than the death of a monarch, the coronation of a new king, a near-war with Earth, or migration to another planet.
She stoked the fire, feeding it with her breath, trying to see more, but she couldn’t. There was only the whispering hint. She’d been wrong before—not often—but possibly she’d misread the omen. She prayed so.
H’ry would be halfway to Earth by now. The white-yellow flame cooled to red as desolation swept over her. Of his future she could see nothing, although she checked often. After seeing the shrouded image of his mate and children one time, she hadn’t been able to call forth the vision again.
She caught L’yla’s scent and pinched out the flame. The acolyte brazened into the room with an assertiveness and confidence both gratifying and troubling. Until the completion of another temple, they had few duties, so why not grant the acolytes freedom? She’d given them leave of their devotion, telling them to let their dragonesses fly. They would never have another opportunity to see Elementa.
She wished for them to avoid the mistakes she had made. They needed to be sure of their motives, their desires. There could be no doubts, no half measures. They should spread their wings and see what the secular world had to offer. Afterward, they would return to the cloister with renewed gratitude and commitment—or they would renounce their vows and not return at all.
After initial and vocal reservations, L’yla had embraced the furlough with alacrity. She’d explored the First City and beyond, congregated with dragons not of the temple, and had traded her gown for a gray jumpsuit. Already outspoken, she’d become more talkative, her boldness bordering on improper. She’d embraced her freedom so wholeheartedly, it raised concerns.
Would L’yla return to the cloister after the furlough, or would she decide secular life held more appeal? If L’yla failed to return, it would break the circle of twelve needed for the rebirth. Another novitiate in training would have to fill in, and it would be difficult to prepare someone else so quickly. On the other hand, perhaps that would be for the best. L’yla had never struck O’ne as being suited for the role.
But who was?
Unworthy.
“The others have gone exploring. R’nay and I are leaving now as well. Do you need anything before we go?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” She dismissed her with a flick of her wrist.
“Princess Helena is sending food.”
“I will eat if I am hungry.”
“Elementa has an abundance of lava worms. They are best when eaten live. My dragoness loves them. Shall I bring you some?”
She remembered the pizza she had shared with H’ry. The food had been…terrible. But the company had filled her in a way nothing else had. “No, thank you.” She waited for L’yla to leave, but she showed no signs of budging. “What it is?”
“You have not ventured out of the palace since our arrival two weeks ago.”
“I did not leave the temple in thousands of years.”
“This is the palace—and a new planet. You encouraged us to see Elementa. Do you not wish to see it yourself?”
“No.” Why would no one leave her alone? Even Helena kept urging her to leave her chamber and explore the palace.
“I have heard the new temple will be completed in another two weeks.”
“Yes.” Her daughter had kept her apprised of the progress. Even more loquacious than L’yla, Helena had seemed to have guessed quite a bit and had spoken about H’ry so often, O’ne had forbidden her to mention his name.
He was gone. She’d told him to leave. A clean break was a kindness, and she was rarely kind. To ask him to stay, to salve her pain with the knowledge of his nearness, would have been selfish.
She felt gutted.
“They still have not found the human who desecrated the temple,” L’yla said.
Would she ever stop talking? When had they become friends? Freedom to fly and explore did not mean freedom to babble. A fireball of frustration coalesced, and it was all O’ne could do not to spit at her. “I’m aware.” If the defiler had been found, he would have been
