43

G E O R G I E

✿

We'd spent the whole afternoon strolling the streets, browsing clothing stores and chatting about the latest islander fashion trends. Reyna chatted at every opportunity with her people, who seemed to adore her as if she were the moon goddess herself, Arrow was silent as ever, and Rowtag never missed a chance to flirt with the charming princess.

The previous looks Reyna had given Beau as we were about to leave the palace had bounced off me like harmless little pebbles. Because Beau's words still echoed inside me and my heart fluttered at the memory of how he hadn't even looked at Reyna. Instead his eyes had been on me and his lips had whispered, No reason.

I almost let out an I love you at his confession. Because heavens, I loved this man so much. After three orbits of the sun of girlish infatuation, the steps to infatuation and complete love might not have been too big, but he had gradually crept into my heart until it was completely his. And while I wasn't particularly shy about my feelings, I still wanted him to say it first. Finally, I almost yelled in his face that I was in love with him.

As the sun was about to set and Minkaujin turned a deep shimmering orange, Reyna took us to a nice restaurant and ordered us tea. We sat outside on the patio with a bamboo pergola above us.

"What's up with the dragon's blood?" I asked Reyna, who was sitting in front of me and just put our filled shopping bags on the table. I took the smaller one that contained my pink dress and placed the bag on the wooden bench next to me.

"Oh, you heard about it!" Reyna replied, then thanked the waiter who brought our teas to the table. “Well, the legends say that the ancient dragon Ozuro protected our land with his flames of fire during a war. But not everyone was spared from the fire and it also hit our people, dragging them to their deaths. Only one family was untouched by the deadly flames.”

I wrapped my hands around the colored teacup. "The Nakajimas."

Reyna blew gently into her hot, steaming cup. “It is said that from then on they were blessed with the gift of his fiery flames. It's said to be in her blood."

A healer werewolf who wielded the power of fire? I leaned across the table and asked, burning with curiosity. "And is it true?"

She shrugged and grinned at me. "You'll have to find that out for yourself."

"Dragonborn, definitely." Rowtag, seated - what a question - next to Reyna smiled shamelessly at her. “I can see that at first glance. Hot."

Oh man. If anyone came up with the dumbest pick-up lines, it's Rowtag. I had to suppress my laughter and glanced at Arrow at my side, but his face was a blank disk.

Reyna smiled politely and then turned to her tea. An awkward silence spread.

I searched for topics of conversation in my head to block out the discomfort. The shiny lettering across the street caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes and turned back to Reyna. "Who is this Malvera?"

Reyna looked at me in astonishment. “You mean the fortune teller? Well, she's a little crazy if you ask me. But I don't doubt her talent for a second. Why do you ask?"

I looked over Reyna's shoulder at the busy alleyway at the harried people jostling and avoiding the vendors. I read the glittering lettering. Find out what life has in store for you.

It wasn't my future that I cared about - that I cared about. It was Beaus. I wanted him to have one. I wanted that curse to break and he'd let his hideous claws off my mate. My eyes wandered to the princess in front of me. "What exactly is her talent?"

“She can read the bullet, see your future. Reads your deepest dreams as well as your fears. You-' Reyna seemed thoughtful. 'Well, it's not always exactly clear how her Gift manifests itself, or what the Orb is showing her. Sometimes she helps healer werewolves find their gifts as well.”

I hesitated at her words. "How do you mean that? So she teaches them how to heal wounds?” Why would a fortune teller do such a thing?

Reyna cocked her head. "Sometimes. Well, not every healer werewolf has the same power in the same area. Wound healing is just part of it.”

Only part of it. I remembered Maeryn healing the neural cords. Did that mean there was more to it than healing from injuries and directing the energy pathways? I placed the small teacup in front of me. "And you? What level of healing are your powers in?”

“Wound healing. I guess I'm normal. Boring, isn't it?” she laughed, then stopped when I didn't respond. A knowing look in her purple eyes. "You don't know yet, huh?"

I'd rather have anything than rubbing it in Reyna's face that I was a failure at my healing powers. But I couldn't deny it either. "No."

'Perhaps you should tail Malvera on a visit. Who knows what's in the ball. But if that doesn't help, just try it in as many different ways as you can. Don't focus on the superficial wounds and injuries, or on the energy cords, go deeper. Find the shadow.” Her eyes sparkled. "Search the abyss."

"Princess! Princess!"

Reyna turned to the little girl who was holding a doll and was looking up at her.

“Did Orzuo tell you who's going to be chosen yet? He has? He has? Has he?” She was jumping up and down in place.

"Well, unfortunately I can't tell you that," Reyna said behind her hand and then whispered mysteriously to her: "But you'll find out when the time comes."

The girl widened her eyes. "Cool! I want to be selected too. I pray to Orzuro every night before bed that one day he will choose me."

Reyna smiled and stroked her black, thick hair. "You are doing well, Kadin, little dragon."

I was about to ask Reyna what the girl was implying, but then her mother came rushing over to us and dragged the girl away, apologizing to Reyna in an unstoppable flow of words. She got up too.

“I have some things to look up, but don't let that bother you. Enjoy the tea and Minkaujins charm. See you tonight at the palace for supper.” With that, Reyna took her leave.

That was my cue, but I couldn't follow her right away or it would be more than obvious. Plus there was Arrow and Rowtag, who now adored Reyna even more than before. A wonder he hadn't followed her.

"I'll order something to eat, I'm really hungry. Do you want some too?” Rowtag asked us when he was already on his feet.

I shook my head and politely declined while Arrow scanned the patio as if searching for something. Or after someone.

Three minutes later he said, "Won't you sit down with us?"

My heart almost stopped in shock when I heard Arrow's voice. He spoke. Voluntarily.

The hood, as always, hid most of his face, and despite his muscular build that screamed manliness, many people didn't seem to notice him.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked him as bamboo leaves began to fall on the table. One even ended up in my teacup. Then suddenly someone dangled from the pergola and dropped onto the bench in front of us. Elegant and graceful.

It was Reyna's sister.

Silently she adjusted her two knife belts strapped across her chest and straightened her blood-red cloak. She looked at Arrow, then at me. "Hi."

Okaaaayy? I fished the leaf out of my tea and threw it on the ground. Then I looked at the blond haired girl in front of me. "Hey June."

From the angle I saw Arrow lean slightly over the table and my werewolf ears caught his low growl. Interesting.

June met his gaze, but she didn't seem to have noticed his growl, nor did she react like any other werewolf who would get such a stare from Arrow, a very dominant wolf. I was confused. She didn't smell like a werewolf, but she didn't smell like a gi either. What was she then?

"A human," June snapped out of my musings, and I realized I'd been staring at her shamelessly.

My cheeks burned. 'Oh, excuse me. That was rude.”

She wasn't smiling, but she said in a low voice, "It's okay. My mother came from Selda, she was a human. And her father too. That makes Grandfather and I pretty much the only people here on the Fire Isles.”

"That means Reyna and Shiyan aren't . . . humans?" The word felt odd on my tongue. So that was what the pirates had been. People.

June shook her head. "No, they come after Kenshin, my father."

"And what exactly are humans?" I asked, unable to keep my mouth shut. What skills did they have? Did they transform too? Or were they playing with the elements?

June parted the top section of her light hair and tied it in a bun with a red silk ribbon. Her fingers were so quick and nimble that the whole thing took less than two blinks of an eye. "Think of them as werewolves, only without their supernatural senses and ability to walk."

So with nothing? My eyebrows shot up automatically. "Oh, okay." I searched for the right word. "Cool." Oh holy moon goddess, that sounded stupid. “No, honestly, that's great. People are great.” I grimaced. I only made things worse. 'If you'll excuse me. I'll go to the restroom."

Rowtag was at the bar and appeared to be flirting with the waitress while a glance over my shoulder assured me Arrow couldn't take his eyes off June.

You are not spying on her, nor are you up to any mischief. Not without me, okay?

I knew I promised Beau. But this was my chance, an opportunity like this might never come our way again. How could I have missed her?

Without giving a second thought to what Beau would think of it, I slipped out of the restaurant and mingled with the island folk.

It wasn't easy to pick out Reyna's scent among all the other smells. But finally I succeeded and I followed the smaller, deserted streets, ran after their scent until I finally saw them.

The sun had already set and the red, round lanterns on the curved, overhanging ends of the roofs were the only sources of light in the darkness. I pressed myself against the wall of the house while sneaking a peek around the corner and watched as Reyna was talking to a woman and a girl. It didn't look like they were arguing, nor were they talking about anything secret. Both the girl and the woman both flashed smiles and -as everyone is said to do- threw their arms around Reyna's neck, but not before touching the ground at her feet in adoration. Shortly thereafter, the door closed and Reyna raised her hand.

I couldn't believe my eyes what I saw there. They were flames of fire. Yellowish flames that adorned her palm and with which she branded a mark on the wooden door.

So it went on. Reyna visited a few selected visitors in the deserted streets, chatted with them, accepted their hugs and gestures of worship and then burned a cross on her door.

What on earth was she doing?

But no matter how long I followed her, I received no answer. Just when I thought she was going to visit half the population, she went back to the main street and that's when I lost her. People bumped into me, snapped at me to stay out of the way.

I strolled down the streets, my mind wild, it kept revolving around what I had seen. So Reyna was a Dragonborn, I understood that much. But what did that mean? Was that why they treated everyone like she was a goddess? And what was the purpose of that cross on the doors?

I was passing the old woman's cute little knick-knack store from this morning when I stopped again in front of the odd shop. The deep purple velvet curtains that hid the interior of the store seemed gloomier than daylight.

I read the inscription again. The path of your destiny. Find out what life has in store for you. You only have to ask the ball.

I didn't know what powers I had, or what game Reyna was playing, or how to save Beau.

I made a decision and went into the shop.