“I’m sorry,”Sofia said, trying not to roll her eyes at the pouting creature before her.“I should have listened to you and not wandered too far.”
Chalia let out a breath so hard that Sofia had to step back.
“I forgive you,”Chalia said at last.
Sofia’s shoulders relaxed.“But there will be times when you’re not there,”she said.“When I’ll have to be on my own. It won’t be your fault if something happens.You know that, right?”
“I can protect you.”Chalia pressed forward, her nose hot against Sofia’s hand as she nudged her.
“You don’t have to. It wasn’t your fault those shifters attacked, and it definitely wasn’t your responsibility to save me from them.”
She heard the hypocrisy in her own words and pushed it aside.
“But I did,”Chalia said. Sofia’s hair blew back in the cold wind of her breath, and she let out an angry huff.
“You did,”she said, pressing her palm against the top of Chalia’s head.“And I can’t thank you enough.”She leaned forward and pressed a kiss between her eyes.“You saved our lives.”
Sofia shifted, leaning back against Chalia, to look up at the sky above. The heat of the sun suffused her skin. The healing cuts that had been itching for the past week lessened at the cool touch of Chalia’s scales, and she closed her eyes, breathing in the forest.
“You still haven’t asked me to confirm where the other dragons are,”Chalia said.
“No, I didn’t,”Sofia acknowledged.“I know you don’t want to betray your family and the others.”
The dragon was silent for a while, and Sofia let the sounds of the forest embrace her. It had been too long since she’d felt at peace—or some semblance of it. Her body had been running on adrenaline since the day she’d captured Fox, and she wasn’t sure it had ever stopped.
“I don’t see it as betrayal,”Chalia said. It took a second for Sofia to remember the conversation.“I didn’t tell you where we lived. You discovered that on your own.”
Sofia nodded. It wasn’t a direct answer, but it was confirmation enough. And then Chalia sent her the image of the twin peaks, curved in to embrace the valley below. And there were dragons there—in the vision. Dozens of them, of every size imaginable—shades of blues, blacks, grays, whites, and silvers. The vision evaporated.
“We’re going there, aren’t we?”Chalia said, suddenly sullen again.
“We need to ask for help. You’ve seen what we’re dealing with.”
“Do you plan on saving Eha and Zuni?”
The dragons that the chief commander had. The one Fox had confirmed he was experimenting on.
“Yes,”she said firmly, though she didn’t know how.
Chalia rumbled at the statement.“My parents are going to hate me,”she said after a lengthy pause.
“Why? You said yourself you didn’t help me find them.”
“I flew away,”she said.
Sofia waited for her to expand. She could feel the dragon’s anxiety.“I wasn’t supposed to come help you. My father was the one who heard the call. It washisfeather you prayed to. When he brought it to my mother, they decided to ignore it. My mother said that the humans had murdered us and proven themselves unworthy. They didn’t deserve our consideration.”
“But you came anyway?”Sofia asked, understanding for perhaps the first time everything Chalia had truly done for her. She hadn’t just saved her, but she’d come after centuries of silence. She’d answered her prayers.
“My mother chased after me, but I flew through a canyon I knew she couldn’t follow down. I don’t know if she’ll forgive me.”
Sofia turned, pressing her cheek against Chalia’s side in an attempt at a hug, given the dragon’s size.“I’m sure she still loves you.”
“I hurt her.”
“I don’t know a lot about parents. But I think they love unconditionally. That’s kind of the point of them, isn’t it?”
“I hope so.”