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  “Trust is something that is earned, not given. I want to. God knows I do.” She shook her head. “But it’s not why I’m leaving. Your mother has a valid point. My lifespan is nothing in comparison to yours. I’ll just be a blip in your memory.”

  The ache in his chest worsened. “I don’t mind that, Sandra.” He’d take whatever time she’d give him.

  “I do. It’s not fair to ask me to sacrifice my life to keep you company. I deserve more than being your toy.”

  Her description of herself rang true. He’d begun this adventure thinking of her exactly as that. However, he’d changed.

  She dabbed the corner of her eye with a fingertip. “Let me go, Ishi. I have a plane to catch and a sister to heal.”

  He nodded. “You’re right. You’ve been nothing but a toy.” Nothing he said would keep her here. She had more important things to deal with and it was better if their ties were cut cleanly.

  She squared her shoulders before walking by him, avoiding any eye contact.

  With a cooling heart, he watched her descent until the curve of the mountain hid her from sight. He could have loved her, if only she’d allowed it. He leaped into the air and returned home on leaden wings. Landing on his ledge, he stared out over the world he protected and for the first time since accepting the gate’s offer, resented it.

  “Master?” Urgle shuffled onto the ledge, a huge bowl of stew in his arms. “Hungry?”

  He gave his pet a half-smile and took the meal, even though his appetite had vanished with Sandra’s painful words. Sitting in his den, alone, would drive him insane. He never should have brought her here. Everywhere he’d look, her memory would haunt him.

  The trouble with being a dragon was the amount of time needed for memories to fade. He had to stay busy. Staring at his pet, he stirred the stew with his claw. “Do you think any of your clan still lives in the area outside of the gate?”

  “Yes. They hide in the hills. That where I be when the dwarves hunt me here.”

  “I don’t care to have dwarves as my neighbors.” He licked the thick goo from his finger. “Go arm up, Urgle. Time we went to war.”

  Chapter 16

  Sandra had taken a taxi straight from the airport to the hospital when she finally arrived back home. The trip had stolen two days because of a long-ass layover in Los Angeles. The hospital corridors gleamed with unnatural light at this ungodly hour of the night. She squinted after entering from the dark, and hurried through the building to her sister’s room.

  The saji weighed nothing in her pocket, yet she sensed every time it slapped against her thigh. Please let it work. Who she prayed to, she didn’t know. Anyone who’d listen, she guessed. What would she do if it didn’t cure Beth?

  Ishi seemed confident in the old spoon. However, he came from a world immersed in magic, where she existed in one of science. But her world had failed her. She hoped his wouldn’t.

  As Sandra hurried onto the unit, a nurse rose from her station, blocking her path. “May I help you?”

  “I know it’s late but I’ve flown a long way and I want to see Beth in room 304.”

  The nurse titled her head and frowned. “There’s no Beth in that room, and visiting hours ended a while ago.”

  The blood drained from Sandra’s head and the hall spun. “Where’d she go?” Her voice sounded weak. She’d taken too much time to find a cure. She shouldn’t have lingered with Ishi, or maybe she should have mailed it like he had suggested. Dear God in heaven, she was alone in the universe. Her little sister was gone.

  “Whoa, honey. Sit down.” The nurse yanked a rolling chair behind Sandra’s knees before her butt kissed the floor. “Let me check where she went. What’s the last name?”

  “It’s Welden. Beth Welden.” She spelled it for good measure as her center of gravity stopped doing the hokey pokey.

  “She was transferred to the ICU yesterday.”

  Sandra jumped to her feet. “Why didn’t anyone call me?” Not waiting for a response, she pivoted around and gazed at the halls. “Which way?”

  “Hey, it’s the middle of the night. They won’t let you in at this hour.” The nurse set a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’ll call over and see how she’s doing, okay?”

  Slowing her breathing, Sandra watched as the nurse returned to her station. Once she was out of sight, Sandra left on swift feet, searching the walls for a map of the hospital. At the elevators she found what she was looking for.

  Following the blue line on the floor, she located the intensive care unit and its locked doors. She rattled the knob and swore under her breath.

  The door cracked open and a younger nurse peeked out. “I just got a call saying to expect Beth’s sister. Are you her?”

  Sandra nodded, her voice strangled by the constrictions in her throat.

  “Normally we wouldn’t do this, but we’ve been trying to reach you. The number on file goes straight to your answering service.”

  “I’ve been out of the country. Can I see her? Please.” She held out her hands, pleading.

  The nurse gestured for her to enter the ICU. “Just be quiet and fast. Once we start bending the rules for one person, everyone expects us to bend them.”

  Sandra took a deep breath, steeling her spine, and followed the nurse through an area decorated in machines that beeped and rang. She couldn’t imagine why they’d worry about what noise she’d create.

  The nurse stopped by an open sliding glass door, pointed to the bed and left Sandra on her own.

  Racing inside, she stalled as soon as she stepped inside the room.

  Beth lay sleeping, hooked to a heart monitor and oxygen. Sandra didn’t have a medical degree, but she knew a heart rate of one hundred and forty wasn’t a good sign.

  She crept to her sister’s bedside and knelt on the floor, taking her hand. “Beth?”

  Her eyelids fluttered open.

  “I’m back. I got it.”

  Beth gave her a weak smile. The alarm on her monitor went off and she could see her heart beat faster and faster.

  “Shhh…” Sandra stroked her hair. “I’m here to save you.” Searching the room, she mentally beat her brain to a pulp. She’d been so focused on finding her sister that she’d forgotten to bring something to feed her with the saji. Spotting a water jug, she carried it back to Beth and pulled out the spoon. “You will never believe who gave this to me. I’ve got so much to tell you.” She scooped up a spoonful and held it to her lips. “Drink.”

  As she slid the spoon into Beth’s mouth, Sandra sensed a tingle along the metal between her fingers. Her heart raced along with Beth’s. It was working. Desperation had driven her to acquire the spoon, but she hadn’t dared hope it would work.

  The beep, beep, beep on the monitor slowed to a regular rhythm more akin to a march than a heavy metal drummer on crack. Color returned to Beth’s cheeks, making her appear like the twenty-year-old girl she was, instead of a living corpse.

  Beth smiled at her. “You’re not a dream.”

  Like a high school wide receiver making his first touchdown, Sandra jumped up with her arms in the air and did a stupid dance.

  Her sister laughed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Where did you go?”

  Sandra sat on the edge of her bed and clutched her hand. “I went to Japan and met a dragon.”

  Beth snorted. “Sure. That would be the day.” Her gaze traveled down to her throat. “Where’s your necklace?”

  “Let me tell you…”

  * * * *

  Ishi traced the delicate gold chain hanging around his neck. Yanking his hand away, he set it back on the pommel of his sword. He should melt the necklace from his neck and be done with it. Yet, every time he found his fingertip touching the piece of jewelry, he never went through with it. The love embedded in the metal was a constant reminder of what he’d lost. Even though the emotion inside it was aimed at Sandra, and not him, it eased his loss. It was the only piece of her he had left.

  Three days had passed
since Sandra had abandoned him. In that time he’d organized the goblin rabble. Armed them from his own stores and sent them underground to drive the dwarves out into his waiting maw.

  Things hadn’t gone as he’d planned. What battle ever did?

  The handle of his sword bit into his flesh and he loosened his hold. Like days of old, he wore his armor and assessed the remainder of his troops. What the goblins lacked in skill or grace, they made up for in enthusiasm and brute strength.

  His plan had been simple. Let the goblins flush out the dwarves and he’d bake them. Barbeque for everyone. They were rooted in the goblins’ old cave system, so his allies knew the territory well.

  Then the dwarves got smart. The scout that had gotten away must have mentioned him appearing out of thin air when they entered his den. Someone must have rubbed two brain cells together and associated it with the gate. The dwarves sent sacrifices through the gate so he’d vanish back home and away from the main battle.

  He had to admit the strategy was brilliant. Every time he got close enough to make a dent in their numbers, poof, he ended up back in the gateroom with a terrified dwarf to finish off. He tried setting some goblins to guard the gate, but they weren’t the smartest race in Outremer. One of the idiots always decided he’d take a look on the other side for dwarves. Poof, off Ishi went again. How had that species ever evolved and survived? He led an army consisting of creatures with the general IQ of a tomato.

  He stood on the edge of the battlefield, at the entrance of the dwarven colony, and watched as a goblin ran from a group of dwarves. He kept looking over his shoulder at his assailants until he ran into a large boulder.

  Ishi shook his head. Tomatoes were smarter.

  The horde of dwarves never stopped pouring out of the fucking mountain. He’d underestimated their numbers.

  Sighing, he drew his weapon. Time to change his strategy. They didn’t know of his human form, so he’d fight like this until one of the sides won. Either way was a win for him.

  He had nothing to live for.

  Chapter 17

  Ishi’s flame fizzled and stung his tongue. It took energy to make fire. The goblin army had deserted him and a mass of dwarves swirled around his dragon form. He blinked at the sight of his clawed and scaled hands. When had he shifted? The tide of their numbers sucked him into a whirlpool of axes and pikes. He’d stopped feeling pain hours ago.

  Blood trickled along his limbs, pooling in the dirt under his feet to make a gruesome mud. His claws were useless to find purchase in the slick mess. Once he went down, he wouldn’t get back up.

  The gate would need to find a new keeper to trap in its lonesome embrace.

  And Sandra...

  She deserved better.

  A familiar grip tightened along all his limbs. The gate called. In a flash, he was returned to his den, staring at the magical entrance to his world and a pair of familiar eyes he’d seen since the day of his birth. “Mother?”

  She had passed through the gate and unintentionally saved his sorry ass by making him transport back to Inverness. “What are you doing?” Her eyes went wide as she assessed him with a general’s quick look. “You’re dead on your feet.” She shoved a shoulder under his before he hit the floor. “Where is your silly human girl during all this?” A pendant hung from her grip. “I brought her a present.”

  Pain ebbed back along his nerves. How many times had a pike found its way under his scales? “I ate her.” Shifting back to human form, he slipped from her hold and lay on the warm stone floor at the foot of the gate. It was a fitting place for a keeper to die.

  “Bullshit, I saw that look in your eye. You’re in love with your food and I brought something that’ll even the odds between the two of you.” She glanced around the gateroom. “Where’s the battle?”

  He stared at her and blinked. “You’re too late. She’s gone.” The room faded around the edges of his vision as if he’d drunk too many bottles of good sake. He smiled at the memory of his last drink. It had been over dinner with Sandra.

  With the last of his strength, he called upon the core of the volcano. No one would cross the gate while he still drew breath. He’d blow the mountain as soon as the dwarves breeched his home, and take his enemies to the grave.

  “Ishi?” His mother’s voice sounded faint. “Shit, where’s that useless goblin pet of yours?”

  * * * *

  Sandra helped Beth carry the groceries into their apartment. The doctors claimed her recovery was a miracle. Sandra knew better. People of Inverness might not believe in magic, but she had learned hope came in all shapes and sizes. She ran her free hand over the pocket of her shorts.

  They seemed empty. She dropped the bag of food in her other arm onto the sidewalk and checked both her pockets.

  “Sandra?” Beth halted behind her by the trunk of the car, overflowing grocery bags in her arms. “Did you lose the keys?”

  She stuck her hand deeper and felt around. It had to be there. She always carried it with her every day, but her hand came out empty. Without a glance at her sister, she raced to their apartment on the third floor, taking the stairs two at a time. Maybe she’d left it on her dresser?

  Fumbling the key in the lock, she finally managed to enter. She could hear Beth’s faint call in the stairwell and hesitated. For years she’d been her sister’s caretaker and she’d just left her on the street alone.

  So much had changed over the last few days. Her sister was a different person, almost a stranger. She was cured now and could manage her own life for the first time in years.

  Sandra left her calling and went inside to her bedroom, halting at the doorway. There it was. On her bedside table, the saji lay where she’d left it before sleeping last night. Like any old spoon, the metal appeared tarnished and dinged, but magic had once lived inside the saji. That magic had transferred to her sister.

  It was her only link to Ishi.

  She crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed before her weak knees gave out. With shaky fingers, she cradled the saji and ran her thumb over the cold metal. What the hell was she doing? It was just a spoon. Ishi wouldn’t magically appear if she rubbed it like a djin’s lamp.

  Beth leaned against the doorjamb, out of breath. “Spill it!” She wobbled across the room and knelt in front of her. With a fingertip, she touched the corner of Sandra’s eye and showed her the unshed tear. “You haven’t been yourself since coming back from Japan.”

  Sandra stared at the wall behind Beth and bit the inside of her lip. Her sister knew about Ishi and the deal they’d made, but not that she’d shared his bed and lost her heart to him.

  She missed him. His silly pranks and his teasing, the way he made her laugh and feel free. She’d always miss him. How could she ever fall for a man after Ishi? Sighing, she set the spoon down. “Nothing happened. I thought I lost this. That’s all.”

  “It doesn’t work anymore.” They’d secretly tried it on another patient in the ICU before Beth was transferred out. He didn’t recover. Ishi had said it would only work once in Inverness before needing to be recharged in Outremer.

  “I know.”

  “Maybe we should send it back to the dragon. He should have an address, right? Maybe a PO Box?”

  She frowned and clutched it to her chest. He had his little farm with sheep and dogs on the side of the mountain. “I wouldn’t know how to find the address.”

  “Dude.” Beth grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Snap out of it. I’m cured. We should be partying. Hitting the clubs. Maybe go on a vacation. Instead, you’re acting like–like you’re depressed or heart bro–” She let go and leaned onto her heels. “Heart broken. Oh my God.”

  Sandra stared at her.

  “Oh my God.” She whispered it this time. “You fell in love while in Japan.” She slapped Sandra’s shoulder with enough force to send tingles to her fingertips.

  She grimaced and rubbed the spot. “Ow.”

  “Who is he?”

  Her stomach twi
sted in knots. “Maybe you should start with what is he.”

  She gasped. “No fucking way. The dragon?” She clasped her hands together as if her fairy godmother had just appeared. “Does he love you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m human. My lifespan is just a blink of an eye for him. I’m more like an amusement.” But he had never treated her like one. She rubbed the sore spot on her arm.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Beth gave a look of disbelief. “And you let him get away?”

  Sandra rose so her sister didn’t loom over her. “He didn’t get away. I left and brought the saji home.”

  Beth blinked. “I’m cured. You should go back.” Her voice softened. “I’m a big girl and I’ve got lots of catching up to do. You don’t need to care for me anymore.” Opening her arms, she invited her in for a hug.

  Leaning against Beth’s thin frame, Sandra closed her eyes. If only the answer were so simple.

  “Big sis, if there’s one thing I learned while being sick, it’s that time doesn’t matter.” She squeezed her. “You love him. Go be with him. Lifespan be damned. Hell, he could get struck by lightning tomorrow.”

  The knot in Sandra’s heart loosened. Could the answer be that easy? Just love and not worry about the future? She shook her head. “I think we’ve hurt each other too much for encores.” She patted her hand. “Why don’t you make us some coffee while I bring up the rest of the groceries?”

  Beth nodded, doubt on her face.

  Sandra descended with more grace than when she had climbed. There was only the bag she had dropped on the ground left to carry. She gathered errant cans and a bag of rice before returning to their home.

  Beth rested on the island in the kitchen, leaning forward as she listened intently to the news. “Evacuations are still in progress on Izu Oshima Island. The refugees are being taken to the main island of Japan until the state of Mount Mihara can be determined. Many vessels are in use to transport…”

  Sandra set the bag on the counter top. The buzzing in her ears drowned out the news reporter as she stared at a familiar volcano. A dark bloom of smoke poured from the caldera.