“You’re not to blame for their reactions,” Heath said lightly. “I can even acknowledge that they had reason to be nervous. Reka was behaving much too dragon-ish for my liking.”
“Why doesn’t he like me anymore?” Merletta asked, abruptly pulling her gaze up to Heath’s.
“I don’t know,” he said simply, and she could read his sincerity in his eyes. For a moment they held one another’s gaze, then his face softened. “Don’t let it trouble you. Dragons are inscrutable at the best of times. If it helps, I think better of you every time we meet.”
Merletta returned his smile, twining her fingers through his again. “I’ve missed you these last few weeks,” she said quietly.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Heath told her. “What’s been happening?”
“Nothing of much interest,” Merletta shrugged. “I got new shells.”
Heath’s eyes flicked quickly to her shells then even more quickly away. “They’re…very nice.”
Merletta couldn’t help laughing. “I forgot you humans are so private. I suppose people don’t comment on coverings where you’re from.”
“Well, no.” Heath scratched the back of his neck. “I mean, people do comment on clothing. It’s just…different.”
“Why?” Merletta asked curiously.
Heath made a slightly strangled noise. “It’s…hard to explain.”
“All right.” Merletta let it go without a fight. “How about you? Have you been busy trying to make peace between your warring tribes?”
Heath made a face. “I’m starting to think that’s a hopeless cause. I haven’t stayed away because I was busy. I’ve been watched too closely, thanks to Percival’s latest antics. I only got away today because there was so much kerfuffle with my sister that—”
He cut off abruptly, his eyes suddenly unfocused and his body rigid.
“Heath?” Merletta asked, alarmed. “Are you all right?”
Abruptly, his gaze snapped back to her, clear once more. “I saw her,” he gasped. “Laura. She’s had the babies—there were two after all! How could the physicians all have gotten it wrong?”
“Your sister?” Merletta demanded. “What do you mean two after all? She’s had twins?”
Heath nodded, running a hand distractedly through his hair. “She looked pretty haggard in the image,” he muttered. “Maybe that’s normal, I wouldn’t know, but…”
“You should go home,” Merletta said firmly. “Your family needs you.”
Those words seemed to pull Heath from his abstraction. His eyes were faintly distressed as they met hers. “Why is it that my family always seems to need me right when I want to be with you?”
Merletta smiled. “We’ll have another chance to talk.”
“Who said anything about talking?” Heath murmured, his voice suddenly a little husky.
Tentatively, he reached out, sliding a hand around the back of her neck. Merletta’s pulse quickened, and she couldn’t seem to remember how to swallow. She tilted her head hopefully, but in spite of his words, Heath made no move toward her. His eyes were still troubled as they rested on her face, and when he spoke his voice was strained.
“Do you think that guard is right?” he asked. “Am I too dangerous for you? If I thought my presence here really was enough to put you at risk…”
“Of course he’s not right,” Merletta protested. She placed her hand firmly over Heath’s on her neck, trapping it in place. “Heath, you’re the best thing in my life. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
Heath didn’t look reassured.
“Honestly,” Merletta told him, “there’s no reason to think the Center knows about our meetings here. I don’t know why Griffin was being so unreasonable.”
Heath gave her an incredulous look. “Do you really not know?”
Merletta frowned, but before she could voice her question, the unmistakable signs of Reka’s descent stirred the heavy air of the lagoon. A moment later, the dragon was alighting on the rocks beside them, his tail dangling into the water.
“Heath,” he said in his gravelly voice, the word a command.