Lola dashed her tears and pivoted, pacing back and forth. She twisted the ring around her finger as she crossed the spot where Soleis had disappeared in the night. It was dawn, and the rebels had pried her away to get sleep, but she had returned at the first sign of sunlight. Thol stood aside. He wore a troubled frown while Flev continued running his hands over the trampled grass.

“Is there a trap door or hidden tunnel? Anything?” she asked.

“It’s solid. There’s nothing here,” said Flev.

“Well, there has to be. Look again.”

“Lola, we’ve been out here for hours. I’ve checked every leaf and rock. There’s nothing here.”

“What are you saying, Flev? That we should give up looking for him?”

“Of course, not! He’s like a brother to me, Lola! I was in charge of protecting him, and I let him down. This is tearing me apart, too. You’re not the only one concerned with finding him. Let’s just go back to the village and devise a better plan.”

“There’s no time,” she whimpered. “Anything could be happening to him. He could be hurt or…”

Her vision blurred, and the lump in her throat threatened to choke her. She twisted the ring faster. How had it brought her to him before? All she had done was think of him, and she had shown up here. Why wasn’t it working now? The rebel leader grabbed her hand as she marched past again.

“You’ll make yourself sick with worry,” Thol murmured with concern.

“In case you haven’t noticed, the one person who can fix things has been captured! We should all be worried.” Lola jerked away.

He flushed. “Blue Sky Woman, nobody asked Soleis to come here! We didn’t need him. The Resistance was working before he showed up and interfered.”

“Yes, hiding on an island while people died in the villages and towns was working just fine!”

Thol’s yellow eyes flickered with anger, but Flev stepped between them. “Both of you calm down. We shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves. We should be looking for Soleis so we can destroy that accursed dragon sorcerer! I’m going back to the hut. Are you with me or not?”

Flev stormed away. Lola turned to follow him, but Thol lingered. “I know you love him,” the rebel muttered to her back. She hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at him.

“I simply care about—”

“You love him.” Thol smirked. “I’m not sure why, but you do.”

“Yeah, well, what’s it to you?”

“Because of how you took care of me, I will do everything I can to make sure you get him back. All I’m asking is that you get some rest, get something to eat, and let me and Flev figure up a plan for how to sneak into the castle complex undetected. Work with us, and we’ll work with you?”

“Thank you,” she said with mild surprise.

She let him lead her away from the place where Soleis had disappeared. The lump in her throat only burrowed deeper with every step. She couldn’t remain in this world without Soleis; however, she couldn’t leave until she knew that he was safe.

She didn’t understand why Belzaan wanted him. If this had anything to do with the illness, then it was her the president wanted. She was the Healer. She considered turning herself in. Unfortunately, to do that, she would need Flev to transport her and Thol to tell them where to go. She couldn’t risk putting their lives in danger.

Lola gnawed on her bottom lip as they reached the village. Enough people had died for her. She saw families burying loved ones who had been killed by the soldiers. Though the Healers had done everything they could to save lives, some couldn’t be brought back. There was a somber pall hanging over the rebels who remained. Many were packing.

“Are they leaving because of me?” she asked.

“I have my generals preparing everyone to evacuate this place since the Mad King knows the location. We’ll be moving out by nightfall,” Thol explained. His lips thinned with regret as he studied his camp, and her heart reached out to him.

In her selfishness, she hadn’t thought of how everyone else was being affected by the situation. She had been the one to suggest they free the Healers. The president’s surveillance team must have found the secret hideout by following their escape route.

If Belzaan was truly after her, then the rebels had paid a steep price to keep her alive. The only reason she wasn’t in a dungeon somewhere was because Flev had flown her above the fray. Lola suppressed a sniffle as she entered the round hut behind him. Thol handed her a cup of something sweet and cold to drink, but she couldn’t swallow.

“This is my fault,” she whispered. “I’m the one he wants.”

“Why so arrogant?” Thol teased as he ushered her to a comfortable pile of fur blankets and pillows. He politely but firmly bade her sit, and she obliged, staring up at him.

“He’s looking for a cure to the disease.”

“The Mad King is aware there’s no cure for the disease. It’s not even a sickness. It’s his evil nature. When there aren’t enough Healers, Makers and Oracles to absorb, he drains the world around him. The parasite needs us for the strength to manifest himself. Otherwise, he’d fade like a wraith. So, it’s not you he wants.”

She gaped. “You’ve known this all along? Wait a minute—so, why would he want Soleis?”

“I think it has something to do with the Heart of the Dragon,” Flev said as he settled beside her. “According to the history book, the Banished King was looking for a way to get back to his own world. He can do that with the red diamond. It allows you to go wherever your heart desires.”

“I know, but how does it work?” Lola studied her ring.

“You focus on traveling to where you want to be, and the Heart takes you there.”

Thol interjected, “No, the Mad King wants more than travel. He wants to be alive again. Belzaan used the disease to lure Soleis into his services. I believe he tried to cultivate a relationship with Soleis and Flev so they could let down their guard and show him the stone. When you arrived, Lola, he realized he had to take it by force.”

“The question is...” Flev murmured. “What’s going to happen when Belzaan is able to take full form again?” The trio looked at each other uneasily. Thol broke the silence.

“He has armies. It’s the reason the Resistance has been training and bolstering our numbers, even risking absorption. We thought he was preparing for war here. Now, I think he was readying his forces to attack somewhere else.”

Flev nodded and said, “I never knew the story of Sengenis being cast from our world, but if he wants revenge, there aren’t many dragons left. Another war—especially a war with a powerful dragon sorcerer—could wipe us out.”

“Rest assured, the same way you came to our aid, the rebels will come to yours. We may not be able to breathe fire, but we have talents of our own. We can breathe underwater and communicate with sea life.”

“I appreciate the offer. Ironically, our world is mostly sea, but none of the other dragons can adapt to it like Soleis. There’s just one problem. We can’t travel to the Fire Realm or anywhere else without the Heart of the Dragon,” Flev muttered, disheartened.

“Actually, that’s not true,” Lola piped up. She lifted her hand, and the red diamond ring sparkled in the sunlight. “How do you think I got here?”

“What? You’re using the ring to travel?” Flev gasped. “All these times I’ve heard you talk about it—I thought taking off the ring was a euphemism for something else. I assumed Soleis had found some way to reach out to you. Are you certain it works?”

“There’s only one way to find out. I need you guys to hold onto me while I do this. I tried it before, but I didn’t think of going to him. I simply thought of him. Now, I’m thinking of him. I’m picturing him. It’s my heart’s desire to be with him.” She said the words again like a mantra, and Thol quickly pushed away from the wall and clamped a hand on her shoulder as the pressure changed in the room.

Flev yelped and grabbed her hand. “But, Lola, the diamond is only for leaping to—!” His voice was snatched away as a soft pop of suction resounded in the room. The wispy blue smoke of a cone of incense fluttered toward the space where the three of them had been. Then, the pressure returned to normal, and the smoke drifted out the open window of the empty hut.

* * *

“—other worlds!” Flev finished.

Lola jolted forward as Thol fell into her. He hissed for Flev to be quiet as he steadied them both. She gazed around in surprise. “Oh my god, it worked!” she whispered.

They were in a large room that looked like it had been struck by a mini tornado. Papers littered the floor beneath her feet. Something green and sticky spilled from the lip of a table that had been overturned, and glass bottles and beakers lay broken. However, none of that held her attention.

“Soleis!”

She rushed to the bent and battered cage on its side in a pile of broken monitors. Her lover struggled against a noose, turning bluer by the second. Lola jerked the cord, and it sparked as it came from the socket. But, it slipped from around Soleis’ neck, and he slumped forward. She covered her mouth to muffle a sob. His face and neck were bruised, and he lay so still that she feared the worst.

“Is he—? Get him out, Thol. Get him out now!”

“I’m on top of it.”

The rebel leader skirted the mess of lab equipment and looked for a control box to open the cage. It resembled the same one the rebels had used to house Soleis and Flev when Lola had rescued them. Thol tapped on a corner of the floor with his booted foot. When nothing happened, he stomped harder.

Her eyes darted to the door, and she wondered how much time they had before Belzaan or a guard reentered the room. “Hurry!” she begged.

Suddenly, a box rose from the gray stone, and he knelt and pressed the unlock button. The cage creaked open, but its inhabitant didn’t move. Flev threw the door open wider to clamber inside and carry Soleis to freedom.

They made almost no noise. Still, Lola’s heart raced at the prospect of getting caught. She took another look at Soleis’ beat-up face and dreamed a million ways to kill the bastard who had done this to him. There was no time to mourn the suffering he had already been through. They had to get back to the rebel camp.

“Hold onto me,” she ordered.

Flev, with Soleis on his shoulder, grabbed her hand. Thol dashed into the circle and wrapped an arm around her waist just as she pictured the sunny island glade and the round hut filled with sage and sandalwood incense. For a heart-stopping second, nothing happened, and Lola feared the ring wasn’t strong enough to transport so many people.

Biting down on her lip until she drew blood, she thought as hard as she could of her destination.

She felt, rather than heard the pressure change. The damaged lab disappeared. Birdsong reached her ears. She blinked against the glare of sunlight and turned away from the window of the hut as Flev gingerly deposited Soleis on the pile of blankets and pillows. Thol raced to the earthen jug near the door and ladled honeyed wine into a cup for him.

“What else can the ring do?” he asked in awe.

“Provide protection, transform mortals into dragons,” Flev said absently. “Lola, he needs you. Heal him.”

“Of course.” She nodded and hurriedly laid hands on Soleis.

“You mean it can turn anyone?”

Lola barely heard Thol. She only had eyes for Soleis. It occurred to her that the weightless feeling in her chest and the butterflies in her stomach were symptoms of her condition. She was dead-smack in love with this stranger from another realm, this monstrous man who could transform into a beast. Her love was an unexpected thing, like the gift of healing, something magical that she had never imagined could happen to her.

Before the idea could overwhelm or distract her, she focused on taking care of him. She set aside the fear she had felt when she saw him lying motionless in the cage. She forgot how her heart had beat frantically with the possibility Belzaan had damaged him beyond repair. She closed her eyes and saw Soleis the way he had been last night, lying next to her in post-coital bliss, healthy and whole.

“Wake up,” she whispered.

This time the healing effect happened in an instant. As the power flowed from her fingers, she felt a warm buzz, and she was only slightly woozy when it was over. He was restored. His cuts sealed, and his bruises faded. His skin returned to its normal color. With a triumphant laugh, Flev pulled him into a hug, and his eyes opened.

Lola couldn’t contain her exuberance at the first sight of his blue orbs. When he grimaced, however, her laughter subsided. “Are you still hurting? Are you injured internally?” she asked, running her fingers over his stomach. He pulled away and stared at her with something like hatred. It made her blood run cold. “Soleis, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“You should’ve left me there. You should be halfway home by now,” he muttered as he sat up. Flev and Thol shared matching blank stares before looking to her for answers. Lola rose from the pallet uncertainly.

“You were in danger,” she said in a measured voice.

“He’s my great-grandfather. Did you honestly think he would hurt me?”

“Gee, I don’t know, but it sure looked like he had tried his level best,” she snapped.

“Well, I didn’t call you to this world to fawn over me, Dr. Cambridge.”

Thol rescued her from her saying something she would regret. “You brought her here to Heal people,” he replied. “Now that we know you’re safe, she can do her job. The rebel encampment will be on the move in a matter of hours. I’ll take her to the most vulnerable nearby villages, if that’s alright with you.”

“Do with her what you like. Flev and I will be at my place until it’s time to leave.” Soleis ambled to the door of the hut, and Flev arched a brow but followed when he beckoned. Lola felt betrayed.

“Don’t you mean our place?”

Soleis snorted a laugh. “We shared a bed, nothing more.” She flinched like she had been slapped. Flev squared his jaw. He looked as if he wanted to strike his dear friend for what he had said to her, and Thol stared at the man with a murderous glint in his eyes.

“Soleis, Son of Arken,” the rebel leader barked. The dragon shifter paused but didn’t turn to face him. Thol rested a hand on the knife in his waistband. One look at Lola stopped him from using it, however. His mouth tightened in a frown as he relaxed his stance. “What about President Belzaan?”

“What about him?”

“He captured you for a reason. What makes you think I’ll let you back in my camp without knowing your business with him?”

“It was a family matter. Nothing for you to concern yourself with, rebel. You got what you wanted, right?” Soleis gave Lola a pointed stare. “She’s all yours.”

* * *

“Right,” she whispered. “Of course.”

Trembling with shame, Lola shoved a hand through her hair and pivoted from the door. Thol shuffled his feet, and she cringed and faced another direction. Her heart slammed painfully in her chest. She wondered if a person could expire from mortification.

The fact the rebel leader had seen the embarrassing interlude hurt less than the fact it had happened in the first place. Audience or not, she had misread what was going on between her and the Water Dragon. Unfortunately, now, there was no getting lost in translation. Nothing was going on.

Giving her virginity to Soleis had only been sacred to her. The burgeoning love that felt like magic wasn’t mutual. It wasn’t like they had spoken vows or made commitments. It wasn’t even like she had asked Soleis for anything more intimate than a decent lay. As recently as last night, all she had requested was that he get her home.

“Well, what else is new?” she sniffed.

Of course, she was familiar with the stinging rebuke of abandonment. From Marie Cambridge walking out on her to her father neglecting her while he built his studio empire, Lola had always taken care of herself. She could get herself home, and Soleis could go play in traffic, for all she cared.

She swiped her nose and steeled herself to walk past Thol with her head held high. Yet, when she faced him, the empathy in his eyes made her crumble. Shameful tears splashed down her cheeks. Thol wordlessly dragged her into a hug.

He laid his cheek on the crown of her head and tucked her to his bare chest, and she tensed. He smelled like juniper and sea breezes. His arms were cool as the ocean. She realized she had grown used to Soleis’ unnatural dragon heat. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to forget the sweet details that made him the only man for her. Thol caressed her face.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” he said finally.

“I’m alright, really.” She sniffed again as she slipped from his embrace.

“I think you should go to him. He’s not acting like himself.”

“What are you kidding me?” Circling to the other side of the room, Lola put some distance between them. “He’s acting exactly like a man whose had his fill of the flavor of the month. I’m a big girl, Thol. I can handle a little rejection. I just need to do what I’m here to do so I can leave with a clear conscience.”

“You and I both know wasting your gift on trying to cure the villagers won’t serve any purpose. We have to keep the Heart of the Dragon out of the Mad King’s hands. If he gets what he wants, more than this world will be imperiled. He could come to yours, as well. Soleis knows that. I don’t like the feel of this.”

Thol balled his fists and restlessly moved to the middle of the hut. He looked imposing, but powerless. The hulking warrior faced an enemy brute strength couldn’t defeat. He said again, “You should go to him.” Lola met his gaze with a dry laugh.

“I get it,” she said. “You want to use me, too. You want me to go crawling back to Soleis to find out what really happened while he was with the president.” She threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll ask him for you. Happy?”

Thol crossed the room in one stride and drew her face up to his, and Lola froze. The touch wasn’t merely consoling; it was intimate. “You think it makes me happy to see you in so much pain?” he asked fiercely. “Lola, I would gladly break every bone in his body for making you shed a single tear, but I know that would hurt you, more.”

“You can’t fix this for me, Thol,” she whispered. She didn’t want to lead him on. He closed his eyes, exhaling with a flare of his nostrils.

“I know. That’s why I’m asking you to do this. Soleis loves you. Whatever is prompting the response he gave just now isn’t natural. Yes, I want to know what was discussed with the Mad King, but there’s a selfish part of me. A part that cares more about you than the fate of worlds.”

“You don’t mean that.” She tried to smile, but his eyes said otherwise.

“I do,” the rebel replied. “Lola, I’ve always known my destiny was to die a martyr. It never bothered me before; I lived for it. The cleansing rage of resistance fueled me until your healing touch reached into my soul and erased my pain...and made me want to live for something more.” He took a step closer, and she placed her hand on his chest to keep him at bay.

“Thol...” she whispered in warning.

His eyes bore into hers as a sad half-smile touched his lips. “Relax. I know that you belong to someone else, Blue Sky Woman. But, I don’t have enough rage left to fuel a war. The only reason I fight now is to protect you. I need to know I can trust Soleis of the Fire Realm to keep you safe. Now, go.”