I couldn’t agree with him—leaving the vehicle seemed the worst course of action, but my opinion meant little.

I supposed there was no one but myself to blame for that. I’d already given far too many opinions on far too many subjects. He’d already learned to ignore me. I was nothing but noise.

When I could no longer see him and was fairly certain he couldn’t see me, I made quick work of peeling off my still-soaked clothing in favor of Callie’s dry t-shirt and pants. She’d packed a zippered sweatshirt which I slid into before considering what to change her into.

The last thing we needed was for her to develop pneumonia, sitting around in wet clothing when the temperature in the vehicle dropped further. But it would mean moving her around and possibly causing further injury.

I watched her, studying the way her chest fell in slow, even rhythm. “I know what you’re thinking,” I whispered. “You’re thinking I’m behaving like a stubborn ass, unwilling to let his blood mix with yours. You have no idea how this eats at my very soul.”

Her hair was beginning to dry, at least. She reminded me of Mother so very much. What set her apart were the freckles which dusted her nose and cheeks, and the big, luminous eyes which always seemed to see straight through me.

They were still closed, her lashes brushing her cheeks as she slept her dreamless sleep. Somewhere outside the pain.

“I don’t know what to do,” I confessed, running my fingers through her hair to untangle it and to give myself something to do with my hands, which seemed to tremble whenever I stopped concentrating on keeping them still. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never been through anything nearly as important. This is you. My Calliope. What am I supposed to do to make it right?”

The very notion of her carrying his blood—dragon blood—made my throat constrict almost painfully. Mother would never allow it, and if she knew such a transfusion had taken place, she would be inconsolable—and enraged beyond reason. There would be no making her understand.

What if she banished me? My hands trembled again at the mere thought.

“No. She wouldn’t do that again,” I whispered, shaking my head. Callie, of course, had no opinion on the matter. How could she, in her state? I found myself wishing she were awake that we might discuss the problem, but that would mean bringing her back to reality. And to a hellish pain.

She’d have to come back eventually. I wished I knew what I’d do when the time came.

I wished for so many things. Wisdom, strength, courage. Qualities I’d always been so certain I possessed. Always self-assured, always working to sharpen my skills and prove myself a worthy successor to my mother.

A waste of time, all of it, as Keira was the heiress and I was halfway around the world, shaking and on the verge of tears when I looked down upon my sister’s broken body. There was nothing I could do so far from home, my powers weakened nearly to the point of nonexistence.

No wonder Mother had insisted on guards. She’d suspected this, predicted it, most likely. A weakening of our abilities. It took everything I had just to keep Callie in her trance-like state.

Thunder rolled. It seemed to go on forever. I searched the darkness outside the car, looking for him. Realizing I wished he would come back. “It is safer, having him here,” I told my sister. “That’s all. I feel better knowing he’s with us. After all, look what he did to the dashboard.” It was barely recognizable after he’d reshaped it, twisted and cracked.

“I can’t keep you in here forever,” I mused, looking down at her legs. “You’ll need to stretch them out straight, which means we’ll have to pull you from your seat. I am so sorry, dearest. I would never cause you pain if there was any way of helping it, you must know that. You do, don’t you?”

She offered no reply. No consolation. No reprieve.

I looked around outside, but nothing aside from windblown leaves and driving rain greeted me. Where was Dallas? I hoped he hadn’t taken it on himself to go too far, for where would that leave Callie and myself?

“We don’t need him. We don’t.” I looked down at my sister. “We don’t need him, or anybody. I can take care of you if need be. Without him. It will be all right.”

Would it? I imagined her asking me this if she were awake, because it was very likely what she would’ve said. Would it be all right? Would we manage on our own? I had no idea where we were, I was certain there would be no cell signal, and the road might very well be impassable by this point. What was there to be done?

Damn it all. I needed him much more than I wanted to admit.

“I wish I knew what to do about Dallas,” I whispered, then jumped as a crack of thunder split the air the same moment a jagged bolt of lightning streaked through the sky and threatened to blind me. I held an arm over my eyes, squeezing them shut against the dark spots dancing in front of them.

“Hecate!”

My heart jumped at the sound of his voice. Relief washed over me. I blinked to clear my vision and soon found him standing behind the vehicle, peering inside with his hands cupped around his eyes. Once he saw that he’d gotten my attention, he pointed to his right. “There’s a cave in the woods. Very near here. Shallow, but dry.”

I chewed my lower lip and cursed the fact that my powers failed me. Without them at their full strength, I was little better than a helpless human.

There was nothing to do but go along with him, no matter whether I wanted to or not.

“We need the fire to stay warm and dry off,” he reminded me, raising his voice above the storm.

I nodded, exaggerating the motion so he could see me in the dimness.

“Wonderful,” I mourned, looking down at Callie. “Just wonderful. How will we manage this?”

He came around to the driver’s door and slid into the seat. His clothing might as well not have existed, painted onto his body the way it was. He ran his hands through his plastered hair, pushing it back from his forehead. “It’s surprisingly easy going out there.”

“Really? Why are you panting as if you ran a marathon?”

He cast a doleful look my way. Even in the dark, the green in his eyes seemed to leap out at me. “I did quite a lot of scrambling around before I found the cave. Once I did, I cursed myself for not having found it sooner. It’s just nearby.”

“That is a relief. We’ll have to carry her there.”

“I know,” he grimaced. “I suppose I’ll be the one carrying her, unless you feel up to the challenge.”

“It isn’t as though she weighs a ton,” I chastised him. “But yes, it would be better if you did. Though you must be careful not to jar her too violently.”

“Once again, I remind you…”

“I know what you wish to remind me,” I snapped. “And the answer is still no. You will not share your blood with her.”

We stared at each other for a heavy moment, so heavy I forgot to breathe. How could I breathe when it seemed there was no air in the vehicle and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight up? How could I take a breath when my heart was no longer beating?

“Why don’t you let her decide when she wakes up, then?” he challenged, raising an eyebrow. “And do not come back at me and say you won’t allow her to come out of this trance, for that is the most ridiculous and pitiful thing I’ve ever heard, and I haven’t even heard it yet.”

My cheeks burned as shame painted my face. “How did you know? Oh, wait. You do not have to tell me.”

“I sensed it in you.”

“I just said—”

“I know what you said, but you needed to hear it. You seem to forget easily that I’m in your head now.”

He couldn’t be too deep inside my head if he blamed me or thought me stubborn or hateful, which was very clearly the case. The disgust which twisted his handsome face into something snarling and threatening told me as much.

And I could not tell him the truth. It would mean risking the fragile peace between his clan and my coven. If I blamed my mother, he would hold it against her.

He didn’t understand how torn this left me. He might have sensed my conflict, but he did not sense the reasoning behind it.

The spacious vehicle was suddenly far too small, too enclosed, too airless. It was indeed a wise decision to find a cave, for I needed to put a little more space between us.

“I suppose we should start out,” I murmured, looking away out of shame and confusion and regret. He thought it was because I hated him and his kind, I just knew it. And while that might have been the case before, and might still have somewhat been the case now, I didn't deny him out of that hatred. I wasn't a stubborn ass for my own sake.

I opened my mouth to explain this, but he cut me off.

“Do you plan to keep her in this trance while we move?” he asked as he opened the door to the storm.

“Of course.” I wished I hadn’t changed my clothes after all, but it seemed as though the rain had slowed. Whether this was a permanent development or only a matter of minutes, I couldn’t say. I could only hope it held off until we reached shelter.

“You’ll have to carry our bags,” he announced. “I’ll be as gentle with her as I can.”

I scrambled out of the car and watched with my heart in my throat as Dallas moved my poor, broken sister. I could barely see through the tears in my eyes, but I saw enough to know the care he took with her. For someone as large as he was, for someone whose nature was that of a beast, he managed to treat her as though she were made of glass and might shatter at any moment.

It struck me as unthinkable, even laughable, but she was in good hands.

“Gods, I hate doing this,” he grunted. “I can feel the bones shifting in her legs.”

“We’ll deal with that once we reach shelter,” I decided, trying to sound as though I had any sort of hold on the situation when I had absolutely none.

We’d been raised to be strong. Self-reliant. Confident in the knowledge that no one could best us, either in a fight or in terms of our powers. We ruled the world, or very nearly, and there were none who could stand in our way without ruing their decision later.

Yet there I was, struggling to hold two suitcases while my feet slid through mud covered in slick leaves, wondering what was next. How to manage the situation.

How to manage him. If there was even a chance of such a phenomenon.