Ryder woke to blistering hot pain in his chest and when he tried to move, his arms felt like long, wing-like things. He groaned and shifted back into his own form, collapsing onto the branches and fir needles beneath him.

“He’s one of us—it’s him! Tell her to run!” a woman’s voice shouted earnestly somewhere above him. Calming hands touched his shoulders and tried to lift him. “Rori, Dev, help me turn him over!”

Ryder cried out in agony as several hands pulled at his aching body and rolled him onto his back.

“By the flares, Rori,” the woman’s voice said shakily. “He flew all the way out here—like this!” The gentle hands brushed his tangled hair away from his face. “Ryder, can you hear me?”

He cracked open his eyes and blinked in confusion at the pretty woman peering down at him with worried concern. “Kea?”

“She’s coming, Ryder. I’m Cait, her aunt. Lie still now. I have to clean your wounds.” Cait unzipped his jacket and tore open his shirt, cutting the fabric away from his bloody chest and arm with a sharp knife. Cool water trickled over his encrusted, torn flesh, but when she pressed something into the oozing wounds, it felt like he’d been touched with a torch.

“I’m sorry,” Cait said apologetically as Ryder hissed and flinched. “I’ll try to work fast.”

“Kyle, go back down and get the wagon. Bring it up as far as you can!” a deep voice called out. There seemed to be a lot of voices shouting about something, but only one voice pierced the haze of his battered awareness.

“Ryder!!”

He heard Kea’s small feet running closer and opened his eyes again, searching for her face. When she broke through the wall of strangers gathering next to him, he pulled up roughly, trying to rise, and reached for her with his right arm, drawing her down into an urgent kiss. “I found you,” he whispered with relief as he collapsed back onto the ground, clutching her close in a fierce hold.

“I didn’t think you’d be here for days, if you came at all,” Kea replied, pushing herself up so she could look into his face. “And then we heard the saur wail above the lake—” She glanced over at the mess of his chest and gasped. “My god, Ryder, what happened?”

“That wail was his, Kea. He must have been attacked by one of those flying monsters,” Cait answered severely, resuming her careful ministrations to his wounds.

“Two,” Ryder acknowledged hoarsely, bringing astonished murmurs from the people standing above them. “I killed the first one, but before that—” He stopped abruptly, studying Kea’s face intently as the gruesome images from his night in Tessin came flooding into his mind—the running, the incessant screaming and smell of blood, the rampaging saur—and above them all rose the relentless, wrenching memory of Kynn dying in his studio. His eyes widened in horror and he shook his head feverishly against the images and heartache he couldn’t hold back. “Oh god, he’s dead,” he grated, breaking down into sobs. “I couldn’t stop him.”

Kea pulled in a breath as she picked up jagged pieces of violence and jarring sounds through her hands, lifting shocked eyes to Cait. “Are you seeing any of this? What he did? So much blood! I can’t believe he made it out of there alive.”

Cait nodded grimly, pressing a poultice and clean bandages onto Ryder’s chest and arm. “He loves you deeply, little one.”

Turning back to Ryder, Kea reached up to wipe the tears away from his grief-stricken face. “Ryder, what happened at the shop? Who’s dead?”

“Kynn ... truthsayer ... got me out of the Assassins Hall the day Ilánn and Stani were killed,” he managed to say as fresh tears rolled down his face into his hair. “He was there last night when I brought the saur to destroy my shop, and—took my form, my ring, wouldn’t come with me, let the saur—” He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, fighting for his voice. “Tiro won’t have any reason to hunt for me now.”

A sympathetic silence spread among the group of onlookers while Ryder breathed heavily, struggling to come to terms with his grief. The man standing next to him knelt down and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. “Then you can start again with us,” he said softly.

Startled by the contact, Ryder looked up into the face of a sturdy, pony-tailed man watching him with concern. Momentarily caught off-guard, Ryder shifted his gaze to the men and women standing above him, only to discover expectant and openly curious expressions on each of their faces. It was acutely unnerving to have so many eyes on him at once and ingrained apprehension stole across his features as he refocused on the man beside him.

“It’s alright, Kea told us a little about you. You’re safe with us,” the man assured him calmly. “I’m Rori, Cait’s husband, and this little lady is my niece. Ilánn was my sister.”

Ryder’s eyes clouded with anguish. “I’m sorry—I couldn’t save them.”

“There was no way you could have,” Rori soothed, “but we’re all grateful that you sent Kea back to us in one piece. Well, maybe with a little something extra,” he said with a grin as Kea blushed furiously. “It sounds like you’ve been through hell, Ryder, and we’re amazed that you made it all the way out here, but you kept your word to Kea and that means a lot to all of us. So, take your time, get to know us. You’re welcome here.” He smiled warmly while support, understanding, and the offer of friendship filtered through his touch.

Ryder didn’t know what to say and transferred his eyes to Kea who nodded her encouragement. Cait placed her hands gingerly over his bandaged wounds and sent him echoes of Rori’s sentiments.

“I—thank you … all of you,” he stammered shyly to the group, unable to meet their gaze again.

Rori patted him on the shoulder and stood up. “Cait, if you’re finished, let’s get him home.”

Ryder kept a tight grip on Kea’s hand as he was hoisted onto a blanket and carried by a dozen willing people down the branch-strewn slope to the waiting wagon where he was gingerly handed up and laid on a bed of straw. Kea climbed in and settled herself next to him in the crook of his arm for the long ride down the mountainside.

“Oh, and Ryder,” Rori called at the foot of the wagon. “I could use a hand at the smithy and I hear you know a thing or two about metals. Nothing fancy here like you’re used to, but care to give it a try?”

Ryder nodded. “I’ll hammer anything you’ve got.”

Rori flashed him a smile before he threw his arm around Cait’s shoulders and started down the slope beside her.

As the wagon lurched forward, Ryder reached over and nuzzled the top of Kea’s head. “I missed you something awful,” he whispered into her hair.

Kea raised her face and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I missed you, too. It was so hard to leave you, not knowing if I’d ever see you again.”

“I told you I’d come.”

“I know, but you wouldn’t tell me what you were going to do. Ryder, what I saw when I first touched you was terrifying. You could easily be dead.”

“I’d do it again, Kea—you’re worth it. But next time, I’d make sure Kynn came with me.”

“Will you tell me more about that man?” she asked quietly. “You helped me so much with my grief. Will you let me do the same for you?”

Ryder squeezed her shoulders. “Ok, we’ll talk about Kynn. It would help me work things out inside.”

With a sudden thought, he sucked in a sharp breath and pulled his arm around Kea, anxiously trying to reach for the front of his torn jacket with his good hand. “Kea, open up my jacket and see if you can find a zipped pocket on the inside.”

“Ok, settle down, I’ll help you,” she said with concern, raising herself up slightly so she could use both hands to gingerly lift the front of his tattered jacket. “Yes, I see it—it’s still closed.”

“Thank goodness,” he rasped as he relaxed and let his head fall back again, hugely relieved that he hadn’t lost his precious parcel somewhere in the night.

“Do you want me to get into it for you?” Kea asked.

He nodded several times. “Yes, take out the bag that’s inside.”

Moving slowly in an effort not to cause him any pain, Kea unzipped the pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch. She looked up at him with a question in her eyes and he nodded again. “Open it,” he insisted, watching her face raptly.

With utmost care, she loosened the ties and pulled out a matching pair of intricately carved silver rings, one large, one small.

“I started them the day you left.”

Her mouth fell open as she turned the exquisite rings over and over in her hands, and when she finally looked up again, her eyes were shining. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. Ryder, you’re an amazing man. I love you so much.”

“I love you, Kea,” he replied softly, running his eyes over every detail of her delicate face.

Holding the silver rings tightly in her hand, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly before nestling back down beside him, keeping her head angled back on his shoulder so she could watch his face.

Ryder relaxed and sank into the pile of blankets. The wagon rocked as it moved down the rough mountain trail, soothing in its steady rhythm, but when it hit a gully and lurched, he winced from the pain that shot through his sore chest and arm.

“Are you alright?” she asked quickly, lifting her head with concern.

He nodded to reassure her. “The bumps just jar me a little. Whatever Cait put on my skin is already bringing the pain down.”

“We’ll be off the mountain soon. I bet you’re tired from all that running last night.”

“You know, my body is exhausted enough to sleep for days, but my mind is clear and wide awake.” He lifted his gaze up into the expanse of green branches and golden sky, watching the stately trees pass by over their heads, noticing how rich and vibrant the colors appeared to be.

“I can’t believe I’m really here, Kea. I kept wondering what it would look like, but I really had no idea how beautiful it would be. I mean, look at this,” he said, gesturing with his right hand as his voice trailed off. He rotated his head, darting his eyes in every direction, picking up the smallest details around him with heightened perception—the angles of the branches, the texture of the moss, the variegation of shapes and color in the foliage beneath the canopy, birds and squirrels flitting around in the tree tops. “It’s amazing,” he marveled, “and so peaceful. The flare has already calmed down, the sunlight is back to normal, it seems like it could be just any other morning—but it’s not. At least not for me…,” he stated, his words trailing off once again as he was struck by the unreality of where he was and how different everything felt.

“There’s no tension in the pit of my stomach, or my head, or anywhere else in my body.” He raised his left hand up in front of his face, examining it carefully. “It’s not shaking. It hurts, but it’s not shaking.”

He let his hand drop to his bandaged chest and drew in a deep lung full of crisp mountain air. “It smells so sweet and clean out here, alive,” he finished in a whisper, exhaling slowly until his lungs were empty. “No rotting buildings … no acidic reptiles … no blood—”

Kea cleared her throat. “Except yoooours,” she admonished lightly.

“Except mine,” he corrected with a faint smile. “But Kea, there’s no one watching me,” he went on, his voice tinged with wonder. “I don’t have to shift or hide or pay attention to every bloody thing I do or say every minute of every bloody day. No more eyes.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he let out a short, self-deprecating laugh at the thought of being ogled up on the slope just moments before. “Ok, there are still a few eyes that make me jump,” he admitted humbly as Kea grinned beside him. “That was definitely weird to be stared at by a bunch of people I don’t know yet.”

“But they’re nice eyes,” she said laughingly.

“Yes, nice eyes,” he agreed, “not out for my blood. It’s just going to take some time to get used to people who are so open, but I should be alright with you and a baby—oh my god, we’re going to have a baby!” he exclaimed with a start, hugging her shoulders. “I’ve been thinking about that ever since you left.”

“You have?”

“Uh-huh. I keep seeing myself carrying this little person, holding a small hand, reading before sleep, laughing. It’s going to be so cool.” He rubbed Kea’s arm and shoulder, blinking up at the trees. “I really want this, Kea. I hurt for so many years when I was young, wanting my father back, and now I’ll have a chance to be the kind of father I always longed for.” He paused and his hand stopped moving. “My child won’t ever have to wonder where I am,” he stated with quiet conviction while Kea patted his chest understandingly. “If we had stayed in Tessin, every day would have been torture trying to keep hidden, the same debilitating fear I lived with for years, only worse. But now I can actually look forward to raising a family with you because I’m here. The damned reptiles are still out there and could still hunt us down, but the knife isn’t staring us in the face.”

Ryder let out a long, relaxed sigh. “I can actually look forward to just waking up in the morning,” he declared with a touch of amazement. “What a novel concept.” He planted a kiss on Kea’s head and looked down to find her watching him with a warm expression. Lifting a tiny hand, she reached up and ran her fingertips along the side of his face, moving her hand slowly on down his neck to his chest and stomach.

He sucked in a quick breath as his flesh reacted to her touch. “Oh, I can’t wait to get you home,” he whispered.

“But … you’re injured. I don’t want to hurt—”

“We’ll manage,” he assured her in a husky voice. She looked up at him with surprise, shifting her gaze from one sparkling eye to the other and back again before she laughed softly.

“What?”

“You know what,” she teased. “But I think there’s something missing.”

His brows rose in silent question while the corners of her mouth curled in invitation. “Come on, I know you can do it.”

Slowly, and with great deliberation, Ryder broke into a wide, gleaming smile.