SEVERAL HOURS PASSED while Doom sat on a fallen tree watching the sky warm with the rising sun. Plaintively, he yelled, “Where are you, Ti?!” His voice reverberated across the valley, filled with all the pent up anguish and loneliness he hid from the growing population of the temple complex. As usual, there was no answer.

He closed his eyes, voice barely a whisper. “Where are you? I miss you.” He looked at his hands. “I don’t blame you if you never want to come back. I tried to take care of you. I tried to protect you, but you were always more the protector than I was.” He turned back towards the entrance that led back to the hive of tunnels that ran throughout the mountain. “I miss you so much it hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

He spun around at the sound of the familiar female voice, eyes wide in both hope and dread it was his imagination. Tiwaz walked out of the trees, Ky-Lar by her side. Frozen in place, he could only stare.

Her metallic gold eyes were downcast, posture reflecting both pride and shame equally. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I hurt you again. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I should have come back sooner. I thought…” She looked up to meet his eyes. “I thought you would be happier without me reminding you—”

Before she could finish, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her in a fierce embrace. His arms tightened around her briefly before he loosened his hold so she could breathe. “You shrank,” he managed to say through a tight throat, distressed she felt smaller and more fragile than ever.

Ignoring the tears on her cheeks, she laughed softly. “Silly gromek. I did not shrink. You grew.” Her smile faded. She put her hand over his heart. “I had no idea how badly he had harmed you.” She hugged him fiercely tight, hiding her face against his chest. “I am so sorry I did not do more—”

“Do more?” he asked in an incredulous whisper. “Ti, you suffered more in a day than I did in a week. And not just for me. For all of those who Alimar enslaved. I am the one who never did enough for you.”

She shook her head. “I don’t matter.” Ky-Lar’s ears turned back, the great panther growling. It echoed Doom’s own growl at her self-denigration. She laughed weakly. “Now I have two of you insisting I do.”

“Maybe you should start listening, then,” Doom chided in gentle tones. Putting his finger under her chin, he tipped her face up, searching the depths of her eyes. He frowned faintly. “Something happened.” She pulled out of his embrace, taking a few steps away, her back turned towards him. “Tiwaz, something’s wrong. What happened?”

“Tell him,” Ky-Lar growled in fluent wolflen. “Or I will tell him.” Her hands curled into fists, her body trembling with tension. “It is as much his risk as yours.”

“Risk? What is he talking about, Ti?” He approached her from behind, about to put his hands on her shoulders reassuringly until she spoke.

“I accepted a contract with a demon for Alimar’s death.”

His eyes dilated, wings fanning in alarm. “What? A demon? We’re strong enough to kill him without anyone’s help. You know this! Why would you—?”

“I didn’t ask him for his help,” she snapped. “He asked me for mine!” She turned to meet his gaze. He attributed the glow of her eyes to the sunlight, though a part of his mind niggled that more than the sun caused it. “Alimar has been alive since before the war with the high elves because of this demon.”

Doom backed away from her a few steps, staring at her in utter disbelief. “He is immortal?! No, that’s not possible.” He shook his head. “You can’t believe the lies of a demon, Ti. They will say anything to get what they want.”

“You say you believe in me,” Tiwaz seethed. “You say you trust me, but when I need you to do both, you do neither! Have I ever lied to you?! I could have left to go after Alimar alone, but I did not because I promised you I would not go without you!”

Doom felt his back stiffen. “Is that why you came back?”

Gritting her teeth together, she stated stiffly, “Yes. I would have gone alone so you would stay safe, but I promised you I would not. I would rather die than risk you being hurt by him again, but you made me promise. You made me promise!” She crossed her arms. “So I am here.”

He ground his teeth together for several moments before he could speak without spitting epithets. “After everything we have been through, I can’t believe you gave your soul away.”

“I did not.” Careful not to mention Kragen’s name, she explained everything the demon had told her regarding the sanctity of contracts to demons, and the details of Alimar’s own contract. “I watched him give the demon victims every year. But when the demon demanded I be tithed, Alimar mocked him and refused. The contract said nothing about tithes being specified.”

As she explained, the fury drained from Doom. He crossed his arms, brow furrowed in thought. “One hundred years? Strange this demon would specify that long of time. Humans rarely live that long.” He looked at Ky-Lar. “Do shape-shifters live longer than that?”

“They do not. Fifty if they are fortunate. However.” The panther heaved a sigh. “We are unlike those we were born of.” He looked at Tiwaz briefly, then back to Doom. “It took time for me to fully realize my aceri is no longer one of her own people. The years fighting against the glyphs altered her to her core. By extension, it altered me as well.”

Realization dawned on Doom and he approached the tension-filled woman who stared at a spot off to one side to avoid his eyes. He brushed the backs of his fingers along her cheek, a tender gesture of endearment they had shared since childhood. “Ti,” he began.

She grabbed his hand and started to pull it away, then sighed, pressing it against her cheek, eyes shut. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I am always going to be alone. I have no people to call my own.” She promised, “I will make sure Alimar dies if I must die with him. Once he is gone, you can go back to your people without fear or shame.”

“Ti,” Doom stated gently. “You are my people. I would not abandon you then, I won’t abandon you now. Even if you end up hating me.” She looked up sharply, frowning. “I am…Keth is my father.” She blinked, but said nothing, her expression unreadable. “He has been teaching me how to use the magic of my dragon heritage.” She said nothing for so long, Doom grew concerned. “Ti?”

“Gareth is your brother?”

The unexpected question struck Doom like a rock to the head. “You know Gareth is…? But how? I only just found out a few weeks ago.”

Her expression turned grim and thoughtful as she answered him absently. “He told me when we spoke after Father Bura’an went to meet Drathmor. He told me he keeps it secret because anyone with a dragon parent could be endangered. You would both be in danger if Alimar lives and finds out.” He caught her by the hand when she turned to stalk towards the tunnel. “Don’t you have flight training to attend? I know it is nearing the time when I would see you in the sky. You should not be late.”

“You had been watching?” he asked, letting her pull him after her. He smiled at her matter-of-fact reply, feeling the last, cold vestiges of his fear of rejection melt away.

“Of course I watched you. I was not about to trust someone blindly. I will have to have words with the healers about how hard you must have hit you head and their pitiful healing skills if you could even believe I would not worry about you with someone I don’t know. And then I will inform that dragon that if he lets you get hurt that badly again I will—”

“His name is Marchen and he didn’t do anything wrong.” He could not help but grin at her fuming expression. “You don’t need to protect me from—”

“Yes, I do, because obviously when this Marchen was still a hatchling, he was dropped on his head.”

“Tiwaz!” he laughed as they disappeared into the tunnel, followed by the giant panther.