Omari opened the door and walked out.

"Five minutes!" he said. "And I know I'm right—I put a timer on my watch!" he said proudly, holding it up.

"Jacob," I said, still staring at Ashur.

"Yeah?"

"Can you take Omari to your place for a bit please?"

"Sure. Come on, Omari. You want to see this cool knife I got?"

"Oooh, a knife?" he asked, excitement entering his voice, distracting him from the fact that I was trying to keep him away from another discussion. "What kind is it?"

"The sharp kind," Jacob responded, ushering him out and shutting the door quietly behind himself. If it had been anyone else, I would have been worried that they were taking my baby brother to go look at a knife. But Jacob took weapon safety very seriously. I knew Omari would be as safe as he could be over there.

"I can't just pick up my life and leave, Ashur," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "You're being unreasonable."

I was calm. I would be calm, damn it.

"Why not?" he demanded. "What's so important that you have to stay here and risk your life, Mia? I don't understand!"

"I need to get to the bottom of what's going on, for one!" I said, my voice already rising above the level I wanted it to. Fail. "If I leave now, it might mean I'll never find out who's behind the attacks."

Ashur growled, walking to the door and back, pacing in his frustration. I understood the urge.

"Fine! If you don't find out who's behind this, that's fine! It's a tradeoff I can live with! At least you'll be safe!"

"How safe will I be?" I demanded. "If I don't know who they are, what am I going to do? Watch my back the rest of my life?" I shook my head at that. "And need I remind you the last time I was in dragon territory, we were attacked by another skein of dragons! Safety isn't a guarantee anywhere."

"That won't happen again!" he yelled back.

"You can't guarantee that!" I said, matching his volume. Very adult.

"Yes, I can," he growled, stepping closer to me. "Your grandmother and I have come to a truce! She won't attack!"

"That doesn't mean someone else won't! I'm not going to forfeit the life I've worked so hard to build because of some assholes that have it out for me for God-knows-what reason!"

Ashur shook his head, abruptly turning away from me, combing his hands through his hair. I watched his shoulders rise and fall as he took a deep breath. When he turned back around, he'd regained some of his control.

"Look," he said in a quieter voice. "It would be better for Omari too if you left the city dome. Safer. He shouldn't be here anyway—you know how hard it was for you growing up among humans, always having to hide your true identity."

That hit home. It was coincidence that I'd been thinking about the same thing just now, but it still hit a tender spot.

"It isn't like dragons love phoenixes, either," I pointed out. "He'll hear stuff there that isn't exactly ideal."

"Maybe," Ashur relented. "But at least he'll be safer."

I shook my head.

"I can't leave, Ashur," I said quietly, my heart hurting. "I just can't."

Was this the end of us? Would he be able to handle this?

I held myself, hoping we could get through this together.

He sighed, his face softening, then reached out and tugged me against him, wrapping me in a warm hug.

I was stiff at first, not expecting the contact after the argument, but then I slowly relaxed into the embrace, his scent and the familiarity of his body sinking in.

"Fine," he murmured, kissing my hair and laying his cheek against my head. "Fine." I relaxed even more, wrapping my arms around his waist. "But I'm staying."

I tensed again. "You can't stay," I said. "You have too many responsibilities as Dragon Lord, king of all he surveys and general badass."

He chuckled. "I think I like my full title." He squeezed me. "They can handle some time without me," he said confidently. "I have good people. People I trust. It isn't ideal, but we'll make it work."

That was so . . . sweet.

But I knew he was downplaying how hard it would be to not be at his stronghold, right there where his skein was accustomed to having him. I didn't want to be responsible for anything going wrong while he was gone. He'd be devastated.

"Ashur . . ."

"This is non-negotiable," he said, a thread of steel entering his voice. "I'll just camp outside your door if you won't let me in. Think about how embarrassing that would be for all of us."

I laughed, shaking my head against his chest. How did he manage to sneak under my defenses so effectively?

"Fine," I sighed. Grudgingly. I liked my independence. But I was learning to compromise for Ashur.