Heath scowled at her, still stung by the suggestion that he couldn’t have been trusted to keep their secret.
“What do you mean, young power-wielder?” Reka asked, frowning. “I haven’t been paying as close attention as I ought, perhaps, but surely things have not reached such a pass? Surely the use of your magic is not outlawed by your king?”
“Not yet,” muttered Percival.
Heath glared at him. “Of course it isn’t,” he told the dragon quickly. “Can we go now?”
“No.” Rekavidur’s eyes were still fixed on Heath’s brother.
Percival seemed to feel it, because he looked up, and his tone became defensive. “Well, it’s true that we can’t use our magic freely in the city.” He frowned at his brother. “If anyone’s outlawed what we’re doing, it’s Heath.”
“That,” said Rekavidur, in a voice that made everyone go still, “is untrue.” His orb-like eyes rested sternly on Percival. “Even if I couldn’t sense the dishonesty in your words, human, I would know it was untrue. Heath may struggle to embrace his own magic, but he has never had any fear or distrust of anyone else’s.”
The clearing was silent for a long moment, but Reka seemed oblivious to the effect of his words. He turned calmly back to Heath. “You wished to speak to me privately?”
Heath nodded. He felt an odd mix of elation at the dragon’s defense of him, and cowardice at his own inability to meet his brother’s eye. Without another word, Reka seized Heath’s shoulders in his front talons and took to the air with a rush of wind that sent the unprepared onlookers tumbling backward into the snow.
The sensation was familiar, but it had been some time, and Heath’s stomach dropped unpleasantly. The flight was mercifully short, however. Reka set him down on a nearby hilltop, landing gracefully beside him.
“What is it you wish to say to me in private, Heath?”
Heath paused, still catching his breath. He expected the dragon to make one of his usual lofty remarks about humans and their tendency to deceive and hide things from one another, but Reka remained silent.
“Reka, how closely are you watching me?” he asked. “Did you know I went back to Vazula by sea?”
Reka started visibly, an unusual display. “I did not.”
Heath nodded. “I thought I might have heard about it if you did. Well, I convinced a captain to take me on his ship. Although I had to go by rowboat to actually cross the magical barrier.”
“Why would you do that?” Rekavidur pressed. “Surely it was painful for you to witness what must have awaited you.”
“But it wasn’t!” Heath said, excitement warring with nervousness as to how the dragon would respond to the mention of their mermaid acquaintance. “Reka, Merletta is alive.”
Again the dragon’s reaction was visible, although this time he stilled. “Alive? How can that be? She regained the water without our assistance, then?”
Heath shook his head. “She didn’t. She—” He broke off as something obvious occurred to him. “How did you not know that, though? Couldn’t you have used your farsight to see what became of her?”
Reka shook his head. “Farsight doesn’t work that way. We can’t see anything and everything.” He tilted his head to the side, considering. “Except for the most powerful of dragons, perhaps. The rest of us have to choose what to target our sight upon, and then develop that ability. I can always see my own home when I am away from it, for instance. And I can see you because I have invested in you, in our friendship. You are within my sight. But that is not the case for everyone. It is not the case for Merletta.”
Heath thought dryly that he didn’t need Reka to tell him that Merletta wasn’t important to him. But he didn’t say it, not wanting to break the new peace. Reka’s comments about farsight were fascinating, and Heath would love to question him more. But it would have to wait. Again, Merletta’s form flashed before his mind. She was at the island now, above water, and her image was no longer murky and obscured. He could see her in vivid detail. The drops of water on her dark eyelashes glistened in the sunshine, and the white sand of Vazula glinted behind her.
“What was that?”
Heath pulled his thoughts back to the dragon in front of him. “What was what?”
“What did you just do that drew so powerfully on your magic?” Reka pressed. “I could feel it, more strongly than I’ve ever felt from you before.”
“It’s a lot to explain,” said Heath quickly. “And I want to tell you all of it, but not right now.”
“Very well,” Reka agreed comfortably.
Heath had to bite back a laugh. He couldn’t think of a single human who would give that reaction. It was nice to know that sometimes the maddeningly unhurried pace of dragons could work to his advantage.
“Where was I?” Heath asked vaguely.
“When you interrupted yourself, you were explaining to me how it was that Merletta was not dead,” Rekavidur reminded him patiently. “Or at least, so I understood.”
“I was,” nodded Heath, his excitement growing. “Reka, she dried out, just like I thought. But it didn’t kill her! Once she was fully out of the water, her body transformed. Her tail disappeared, and she became human!”