In moments, the ranch came back into view. I guided my drykon down to land gently by the stables. Shaking, I pried my arms off her neck and stroked her feathers.

"Good girl." I murmured the words in my mind as well, and she cooed like Eura did when Harker spoke to her.

Baffled-looking scalewings watched from the corrals. None of them seemed eager to come any closer. Cadmus landed his mount nearby, and I realized it didn't have any legs, just a snake-like body.

"Wh- what did you do to Bloodflight?" Cadmus asked, panting.

"What do you mean?"

He stared at my drykon, who'd started growling at him. "No one's been able to ride him for more than a few centiblinks without getting knocked off—or having a bite taken out of them."

I shrugged. "She didn't like being chained down. I told her I would never chain her down if she let me ride her sometimes, and she said that sounded okay."

"She said?"

"Yeah, Bloodflight's a girl."

"Those red markings mean he's a male." He shook his head. "But that's not what I meant. How did the drykon say anything?"

"Well, she didn't really use words, more like images and feelings."

He cackled like a madman, and even his own mount seemed disturbed by the sudden shift in mood. "Harker told me you were crazy, but I never thought-" He slid off his drykon and shook his head. "Does he know you're a telepath?"

"I am?"

"You think all of us can read the minds of drykons?"

"I'm guessing the answer is no."

He snorted. "That kind of Skill is worth its weight in crystal around here. Come on down. I'll have someone take care of the drykon, and-"

"By 'take care of,' you mean feed and brush, right? Not like kill? 'Cause the paper on the fence said I could have her if I broke her, and I'm pretty sure I broke her."

"Yes, yes, of course he- she- whatever Bloodflight is, it's yours. Tell him to go with Eril so we can talk."

"Okay." I slid off Bloodflight's back but kept a hand on her, just in case that was necessary for the telepathy thing. [You should go with Eril—he's that green scalewing over there. He'll give you food and brush you. Then we can fly some more later.]

She didn't trust the green scalewing—or any scalewings, for that matter. She very much wanted to kill them all. [You sure he has good food? And no chains?]

[I'm sure, but you can't hurt them, or else they'll hurt you back.]

[They're small and weak.]

[Then how'd they catch you in the first place?]

She paused, grumbling. [I won't fight.]

[Good.]

She followed the green drykon away.

I turned to Cadmus. "Eril knows not to tie her up, right? Because I'm pretty sure she's ready to kill someone if they try to tie her up again. Or restrain her in any way."

Cadmus muttered something that sounded like a curse and ran after Eril.

For the rest of the day, Cadmus supervised me interacting with the wild-caught drykons he'd imported recently. It wasn't as productive as either of us had hoped. Apparently, my abilities to influence drykons only worked if the drykon was thoroughly desperate—like mine had been—or very open and friendly—which was the kind of drykon anyone could train without a telepath's help.

I was able to help Cadmus work on complicated tricks with the adult drykons, which was a lot more interesting than basic obedience training with the hatchlings.

After a long day, Harker showed up to bring me back to the hotel. The look on his face when he saw Bloodflight was one of pure horror.

"She- you can't give her-" He clutched his ears.

Cadmus shrugged. "I said I'd give him to anyone who could tame him. She did."

"You said he nearly killed someone."

"She's a telepath. He listens to her."

He shook his head fervently. "She is not a telepath. I don't know what she told you, but you can't listen to her. She's not in her right mind."

Cadmus flicked a wing at me. "She rode him a good five kilotails while he tried his darndest to shake her off. No one else had the guts to try that."

Harker looked like he might've gone pale, but it was hard to tell with all the fur. He swayed, staring at Cadmus with wide eyes. "That's because only a lunatic would try to break a wild drykon in the sky!" He kicked dirt in Cadmus's direction. "You had one job—keep the damn human safe."

Cadmus's tail curled. "Hey, you said to keep her alive. She's alive."

"Because you got lucky. Because the drykon-"

I raised a hand. "You know what? I'm going back to the hotel. You can stay and argue if you want." I willed Bloodflight to bow, and she allowed me to climb on her back.

"Don't you dare. Liza, you get down right-"

Apparently just as annoyed as I was, Bloodflight took off before I could ask her to. Below, Harker raced to keep up with us. We out-paced him easily. I guided Bloodflight the short distance to the hotel, and we landed behind it, on the very edge of town.

I slid off Bloodflight's back and stroked her neck. "What a good drykon."

She cooed, pressing her head against my shoulder. Her mind yearned to take flight again and go hunting. There were many types of prey in the area, including the large lizards and strange deer.

[No, you can't eat those. They're people.]

[Why shouldn't I eat? What is a people?]

[Uh...] How could I explain this in terms she could understand? I told her in images and feelings that the large lizards and strange deer were poisonous. If she ate them, she would get very sick. Also, they were territorial, so she shouldn't stay near their strange dens.

[If I can't come here, how do I help my hatchling?]

[I'll leave town if I need to. As for calling you-]

The memory of my scream from earlier flashed through her mind. [This is a good call.]

I supposed it would work as good as anything until I could get my hands on a whistle. [For now, you can go and hunt away from the people. There's a big bear thing that might be good to eat.]

Hooting excitedly, she took off over the open grassland.

I went up to the suite and knocked on the door.

It flew open to reveal Harker, flanks heaving and damp with sweat. He grabbed my arm and wrenched me inside, where the rest of his team was waiting.

"Where's the drykon?" he shouted in my ear.

Leaning away, I glared at him. "She's out hunting."

His grip on my arm tightened past the point of hurting. "You just let him go? An untrained, vicious wild drykon—and you let him go in town? He'll kill people, and you'll be responsible."

"Let her go." Mark stepped closer. "A drykon doesn't want to eat bony people when there are mettils around."

Harker's nails dug into my arm, drawing blood. His face was in mine, spitting with rage. "You'll be executed, you stupid little-"

Instinctive fear propelled my fist into his face with a crack. Blood flowed from his nose. Stumbling back, he let go of my arm. Adrenaline shook my body, screaming at me to hit him again, bring him to the ground, eliminate the threat.

Someone grabbed my arm. I swung wildly, but Mark caught my wrist. We stood, frozen, in a moment that seemed to last an eternity.

"Stay back," he shouted over my shoulder.

I twisted as Harker stopped approaching with a length of rope. A woven grass patch covered his nose. I tried to wrench myself from Mark's grip, but he had both of my wrists now.

"Hold her still, and I'll tie her up." Harker gestured with the rope.

"I said, stay back." Mark's voice burned with anger as hot as mine. "Touch her again, and I'll break your jaw."

"What the felk are you talking about?"

Raeve scoffed from her perch on the back of the couch. "He's her knight, moron. You can't hurt her in front of him."

"You tried to kill her twice, and he didn't threaten you."

Twice? When was the second time? It must've been while I was asleep. Had Mark stopped her?

Confusion passed over Mark's face, and he let go of me. "As soon as I touched you, I was furious. Now I'm not."

Great, even in my own dream, my fantasy boyfriend didn't care enough to get mad when someone was threatening to tie me up after shouting in my face. This was the longest dream I'd ever had, and it was driving me crazy. I wished I would wake up already.

What if I never woke up? I could be dying, and this dream would be the last thing my brain made before shutting off. Or... it could be real.

No, of course not. Magic wasn't- I wasn't-

But I'd never had a dream this realistic. Even the other dreams with Mark hadn't felt this real—sore feet in muddy tennis shoes, a rivulet of blood running down my arm, a thudding heart in my ears.

It was crazy to think I could be the descendant of a deity from this world, but in a way, it almost made sense. Silvervale's founding families spoke a language that no one else did. They kept strange relics from a civilization that wasn't written about in any history book.

If it was true, I wasn't human—at least, not entirely. And I was trapped on an alien planet with no clear way home. It had taken ten people to get here, but I had no idea where the others were. They could've died moments after they got here. Without them, could we ever go home? Could we ever see our families again?

I staggered back under the weight of the truth. Everyone was staring. All of those inhuman eyes bore into me. They hated me. They wanted me dead. The only reason they'd let me live was because Mark had been magically brainwashed to protect me.

Harker stepped forward, hand outstretched to grab me again. I lurched into the bathroom. Slammed the door shut. Fumbled for the latch.

They couldn't get to me. Only, the large bathroom was too exposed. Too much air, too much space. If they got in, they could come at me from any angle.

There, at the back of the room—a small linen closet. I squeezed in behind a hamper and shut the door as best as I could. It didn't close all the way; I couldn't fit my fingers under the door to pull it shut, so it drifted to a stop right before it could close.

I clutched my knees to my chest, biting down on my knuckles to keep from making a sound. Tears flooded my cheeks. Sobs caught in my throat as my heart crashed against my ribcage.

The latched door wouldn't stop them. They had magic, and Thyr looked like he didn't even need magic to break down the door. The moment they got in, they would know where I'd gone. There was no window I could've escaped through. I was trapped, helpless. If they thought to restrain Mark, I was dead.

I couldn't fight them. The only power I had was in the polearm Mark took from me. No matter what he said I was, my body was very human. I was weak, fragile. Any one of them could kill me in an instant with magic or knives or a well-placed kick.

Death wasn't even the worst thing they could do to me. If they wanted me alive for whatever reason, they didn't have to kill me to punish me. They could shatter my legs again and make me heal the old-fashioned way. I would be crippled, even easier to control than I already was. They could rape me, and it would be my word against theirs in a world where humans were the minority.