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“Is Drew okay?” Daniel asked as they prepared to leave to deal with Emms.

“He’s getting there,” Sonia said. “I think he’d be in a worse state if he hadn’t had Naria’s help. I wonder what they’ll do about their bond.”

“You need to explain that sometime,” he said. “What do you mean by bond?”

“It’s – ah – they’ve formed a sort of psychic emotional bond. It’s…” she trailed off and looked helpless at Sarah. “How do I explain it?”

“It’s not easy to explain,” Sarah agreed. She tutted thoughtfully to herself. “We have whole classes on this at Brierthorne. Perhaps for now it’s best just to say they’ve formed the same sort of bond that exists between Astral spouses.”

Daniel stared at her. “He’s in love with a dragon?”

“Not quite,” Sarah said. “It’s not unique to marriage, just most common there.”

“We’ll explain it to you all when we get back,” Matthias said, then turned to look at Marian sitting in the corner.”Have you sensed anything else?”

The woman looked up at him and shook her head wanly. “No, but thinking of you going there is still making my stomach turn so I think there is something else. Please be careful.” She shook her head again. “Something is coming. I have a horrible foreboding you aren’t going to stop him.” She gasped in a breath and her eyes went blank in the same way Sonia’s did sometimes. “I-if you can’t, it’s more important that you get out alive. Don’t get yourself killed trying.”

“Looks like you sensed something then, Marian,” he said equably. “Sonia?”

Sonia closed her eyes, then paled and nodded. “Yes. I sense it too when I concentrate. I think he’s blocking us and Marian’s picking things up only because how injured she is has left her hypersensitive.”

“That’s entirely possible,” Estara said. “Once we done with this I’ll get to work on healing her.”

“Don’t bother,” Marian said. “I don’t deserve it.”

“Oh hush, Marian!” Matthias said. “What you deserve is nothing to do with this. We need you able to function. You’ve got to deal with your son for one thing and fix whatever you did to Kayleigh Clitheroe.”

“Kay?” She looked at him blankly. “I didn’t do anything to her.” She frowned to herself. “Though she was incredibly clingy around Adrian and I was surprised she sided with him. Are you sure something’s been done to her?”

“It’s a reasonable assumption… Could Adrian have done it?”

“It is, isn’t it? And I don’t think so,” she said. “He’s got a wider spread than he admits to but his mind affinity isn’t up to that. You want me to go and talk to them.”

“Not without an escort,” Matthias said. “I don’t think you’d betray us but something isn’t right here. I don’t want you going after him alone.” He paused. “I don’t want anyone going after him alone.”

“Okay,” Marian nodded. “I’ll stay here.”

“Good,” he said, then turned to Kitaran. “I suppose I should let you go.”

The dragon cocked his head at him. “Well I certainly wouldn’t object but my father wants to keep acting as a conduit for a while, as long as you’re going to feed me enough.”

“It’s probably not a bad idea but I’m worried about what will happen to you if something happens to me.”

Kitarian’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes, that might cause a problem.” He closed his eyes for a moment as if listening to something. “Andrew-idan is staying here isn’t he? Give control of the collar to him. He obviously knows how to handle it.”

“Is that your father’s suggestion?” Matthias asked.

“Yes, though I should have thought of it myself,” he said. “He als-” He broke off as Hannah leapt to her feet.

“We have to go! He’s started.”

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