Thayle gave her forces no time to heal. She ordered them assembled an hour later for practice and drilled them vigorously. Afterward, she told them they were welcome to come talk to her. She would answer any questions they had about Ulustrah or the road ahead.

She planned to set a tent aside to meet with them, but first, there was another to talk to. She walked out of the camp to the dragon that hated her.

Shadros lay curled in a ball with his back to the camp, staring off in the direction of his hoard. Over the bind, she could feel a sort of longing, and his aura burned with regret.

“How are you feeling?” Thayle asked as she walked up to him.

“I am a prisoner of a rodent,” he said. “How do you think I feel?”

Thayle saw his aura flare up with red to hear her speak. His hatred for her apparent in the bright colors that flared up and danced like fire. Once again, she began to doubt that keeping him was the right thing to do.

“Have you come here to torment me?” he asked when she didn’t respond right away.

He spoke of his own accord, and Thayle saw an opening. She needed to find some way to engage him and keep him talking. He wasn't going to grow in his understanding unless he learned of humans. She knew Mingfe was encouraging him with food, but this was going slow. She decided to change her tactics and encourage him to ask questions.

“I wanted to talk to you some more,” she said. “I hate to see you sitting here all alone.”

“What would I want to talk to you about?” he growled.

“Is there anything you want to know about humans?” she asked.

His neck lifted and turned just enough so that one blue eye could focus on her.

“Yes, are you very old for one of your kind? Are you perhaps going to die soon?”

Thayle felt insulted by the remark but also felt a sudden concern. If she died, he would go free. If they were engaged in fighting, he would suddenly be rampaging in their supply wagons. It would likely mean the end of the campaign and Gersius's dream of saving his people. She felt a cold chill run down her spine at the thought of what would happen to Gersius and Lilly if she died. Just the thought that she might be dying in that cave haunted him, and from what he said of Lilly, she had fallen apart. She put the thought away and looked up at the dragon that was eyeing her with cold hatred.

“I have been trying to treat you with a great deal of respect,” she began.

“Respect?” he said, suddenly rising to his feet. “You call ordering me to obey that mad rodent respect?”

“Mingfe is a very kind and disciplined woman,” Thayle argued back.

“She treats me like I am some beast of burden that needs to be broken!” he shouted. “She throws spears at me when I want to be left alone and demands I take your inferior form.”

“She wants to show you that the human form has advantages, like our food, for example.”

He was silent a moment as he turned to face her. “One day, this bind will break, and I will struggle to choose which one of you to kill first.”

“If the bind ever breaks, you should run,” came Lilly's voice from behind her.

Thayle and the dragon looked to see Lilly in a simple brown and tan dress walking up. Her hair was braided in two strands that were looped together with flowers in a chain down her back.

“If you so much as raised a hand against my Thayle, I would kill you,” Lilly spat.

Shadros’s eyes narrowed as he blew an angry snort from his nose.

“Why do you demean yourself with these insects?”

“They aren’t insects,” Lilly protested. “And they have a whole world of things to show you, but you can’t appreciate them. Your heart is closed, and I see no way to open it.”

“I have the heart of a dragon,” he argued back. “I don’t need it opened. Maybe you need yours shut again.”

Lilly shook her hear. “I would rather die than go back to being like you. Just being around you makes me sick. You remind me of when I was nothing more than an animal. The horses are more useful to the world than you are.”

“How dare you!” the dragon roared, turning every head the camp. “You are not a dragon! You are nothing, and I will find a way to make you pay!”

“Lilly, why are you trying to anger him?” Thayle asked over the bind.

“Because I am sick of him hating you,” Lilly replied in silence. “Whenever your near him, Gersius and I feel the sickness his rage causes. I can't stand being reminded how worthless I was.”

“Sweetheart, you were never worthless. You were always a beautiful dragon. you didn’t know that life had more to offer you.”

Lilly looked up at the dragon that seethed in rage behind Thayle and shook her head. She spoke out loud so he could hear her. “I may not have known, but I am sure I wouldn't have cared like he doesn't care. I needed a link to somebody who could love me despite who I was. I needed that compassion to wear away at my barriers.” She looked up at him and frowned to see he was still snarling. “And I needed the fall that left me open to his influence.”

Thayle looked back to Shadros and realized that he had none of that. All he had was his fall, but she was responsible for it, not the one who saved him from it.

“What am I supposed to do?” Thayle asked.

Lilly shook her head in disgust. “You can't reason with him, or appeal to a nature he doesn't have. You brought home a wild animal. Maybe you need to set it free.”

Shadros snarled. “I am not a wild animal! I am above you all! I am the only true dragon here, not some domesticated pet that lays at the feet of her master.”

“You would be dead without Thayle!” Lilly yelled.

“I would never have been in that rockfall if not for you!” he bellowed. “You two and that male are responsible for this!”

“You should not have attacked us!” Lilly shouted. “You forced us to try and stop you!”

“You should not have come into my lair! You came into my home to steal from my hoard!”

Lilly felt her anger rising in return and shook her head to get control. “The sword wasn’t in your hoard. You were afraid to touch it.”

“I am afraid of nothing!” he bellowed. “I could read the ward. I knew it was designed to weaken dragons. It was perfectly safe where it was!”

Lilly stalked toward him in her dress and pointed at him as she went. “We had no reason to believe that was a dragon lair!” she shouted. “I would have announced my presence and bartered with you if we had.”

“I would not have bred you,” he growled. “You are not worthy.”

Lilly recoiled in disgust. “I would never have offered to breed you! I would have offered you gold for your lair. You left no dragon marks anywhere to be seen.”

“It doesn't change the fact that you invaded my lair and stole from my hoard. Then you cripple me so you can force me to give up my name!”

Lilly sighed. “All of this is pointless. You attacked us because you're a dragon. You hate us because you're a dragon. You can't understand because you're a dragon. We should have been able to walk into your cave and speak to you. We should have been able to bargain for the sword and ask you to help us.” She turned away from him and shook her head. “But we can't because you're a dragon, and you can't care about anything but yourself.”

Thayle watched her walk away as Shadros glared at her from above. She waited until Lilly was gone and turned to address him again.

“I only ordered you to obey Mingfe because I thought you would respond to her better.” She looked back to Lilly and closed her eyes with a sigh. “But Lilly is right. You have no reason to trust us or want to work with us, and every reason to hate us.”

“Then set me free!” he demanded.

Thayle looked up at him and decided to test his heart. “If I set you free, will you leave us in peace and go home?”

He was silent a moment as his eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

Thayle saw his aura flash strongly with the lie. He would attack her the second he had the chance. With a resigned sigh, she walked away, leaving him sulking behind her. She couldn't bear to be so close to him any longer.

She found her way back to the meeting tent to discover a very alarmed Lengwin.

“What is wrong with your eyes?” he asked.

Gersius sat at a table with a cloth tied around his head.

“I am seeing the aura’s like the priestesses of Ulustrah do. But I see them so brightly they hurt my eyes.”

“How?” Lengwin asked. “You are a servant of Balisha now. Does she grant the aura’s as well?”

Thayle hadn't considered that possibility before. What if Balisha did grant the aura sight? She shook her head and put that thought away. She was certain this was a gift that was coming from her being in the bind. Somehow the link they shared was giving them access to each other's abilities.

She decided to make her presence known as she walked into the tent.

“I take it he has told you all about it,” Thayle said.

Lengwin looked up at her with a long face. “How has he gained your sight?”

Thayle walked to the table and stood beside Gersius.

“We share a soul, and I suspect that any of our abilities that are tied to the energy of that soul will be shared between us.”

“But why does it blind him?”

Thayle ran a hand down the back of Gersius’s head. “Because he sees it as a blinding light. He needs to train his eyes to filter the light out and see the aura as a halo around the body.”

“But how long will that take?” Lengwin asked. “If word gets out, it will affect morale, and may embolden his enemies.”

“He isn't blinded,” Thayle said. “He can read papers and sharpen a sword. He only has trouble looking directly at people, and Lilly even indirectly. I have a plan to help train them both to attune their sight rapidly.”

“Them both?” Lengwin asked with arched brows. “So she can see them too?”

Thayle smiled at the thought of how annoyed Lilly was that she hadn't received the sight first. “She hasn't developed it, but she should soon. Hopefully, by starting her on the training now, she won't have as much trouble.”

“How long will that take?” Lengwin asked.

Thayle played with Gersius's wild hair and laughed. “He is stubborn. It might take a week or so.”

Lengwin's aura showed her attempt at soothing humor failed to amuse him. She relented, going for blunt and direct.

“I have no idea. It could be a week. It could be a month. I have never trained anybody this way before. All I can do is work with them as much as I can, and hope he starts to respond soon.”

Lengwin finally looked down and nodded. “I suppose this is another blessing. Forgive me for being so alarmed.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” she said. “This conflict is a terrible strain on us all. Anything that disrupts the progress only makes the strain greater.”

Lengwins's aura began to soften, and he sat down across from them at the table.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Gersius asked.

Lengwin looked around a moment and composed himself before replying.

“I think we should stay one more day,” he replied with a nervous tone to his voice.

Gersius leaned back in on the bench and hunted for Thayle's hand.

“Give me your hand and look at him for me,” Gersius said over the bind.

She smiled at his ingenuity, taking his hand and looked at Lengwin to show a man twisting in concern.

“What has you so upset that you want to stay a day longer?” Gersius asked as he looked into Thayle's mind to see.

Lengwin shifted on his seat. “The king has me upset. This recent attack on you and the meeting with the king's emissary seem too coincidental. I suspect the emissary was sent to meet you and get a feel for you. The king must be worried about what you're doing. There is no telling what that man has been whispering in his ear.”

Gersius nodded silently a moment. “So, what do you propose we do?”

“We are relatively close to the king's capital city in Harlorin. I think perhaps you three, and I should go and meet him,” Lengwin suggested.

Thayle watched the colors twist in Lengwin's aura, collapsing into his core.

“What does this mean?” Gersius asked in her mind.

“He’s frightened,” Thayle replied. “He must be worried that this king is about to turn on us.”

“This is why my sight has you so concerned,” Gersius said aloud. “You were hoping we could go and deal with this man before he came to deal with us.”

Lengwin nodded. “We will be in his lands another two weeks. I would rather put his worries to rest before he shows up behind us with his armies. If we do battle with this man, it might spell disaster for the future lands we have to march through.”

Thayle could feel Gersius thinking over the bind. He was silently scolding himself for not thinking to make contact with the king sooner. He began arguing with himself that this was a battle between faiths not kingdoms. The king was not involved, but it would have been polite to inform him. She could feel his stress mounting as he tried to think of a way to stand before the king and not flinch from the strain on his eyes.

“I will stand with you, and you can look through my eyes,” Thayle said silently.

“How do I look through your eyes with mine open?” he asked in her mind. “I can’t stand before him with my eyes closed.”

Thayle couldn't answer that. She knew it could be done because she did it randomly at times. It was far easier to do with her eyes closed, but she had done it holding hands with Lilly. It happened more at random while she was letting her mind wander.

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“Gersius?” Lengwin asked when the silence had gone on too long.

He nodded his head and turned as if to look at Thayle.

“We need to practice as much as we can. I want to be able to fly out in the morning and visit this king. That fool from the estate is poisoning his mind against us. We must challenge these accusations and put the king’s worries to rest. We cannot afford to have a hostile army at our backs.”

“I can't guarantee you will make that much progress,” Thayle said. “I can almost guarantee you won't.”

“We need to get me to where I can hold his gaze for a minute,” Gersius replied.

Thayle wasn't sure that was going to be possible, but she was committed to trying.

“Then we should start right away. We need Lilly back here.”

“Why does it have to be Lilly?” he asked.

“She has the brightest aura in the camp and will be the most demanding. If you can tolerate looking at her, then you will be able to look at this king with little trouble.”

Gersius nodded and reached over the bind. “Lilly, can you hear me?”

There was a long silence before she finally responded. “What is it, my love?”

“Thayle, and I need you to work on my sight some more. Can you come back to the tent?”

“I will be right there,” she replied.

Gersius smiled and turned to vaguely face Lengwin. “Lilly will be here in a minute. We will work on it all day and night. We can fly out in the morning to confront this king and show him we mean no harm.”

“You are sure you will be ready in the morning?” Lengwin asked.

Gersius shook his head to show he wasn't sure at all. “It has to be done and done quickly. The longer that fool is poisoning the king, the worse this will get. We need to explain the battle on the road and make our intentions known.”

Lengwin tapped a hand on the table nervously. “Our riders reached that city a week ago. I should have sent him a letter then. At least we will be able to use our temples there to gain some measure of welcome.”

Lilly arrived, smiling as she nodded to Lengwin and sat at the table beside Gersius. Thayle explained the plan to her and the need to meet this king as soon as possible.

“Are you sure flying into his city on a dragon will be seen as a desire for peace?” she asked.

Thayle felt Gersius's mind working again as he tried to consider if such a move would be seen as hostile. He thought that it might be interpreted as a show of power to put the king in his place. He was concerned that a proud man would be insulted by such a display.

She marveled at how fast his mind worked and all the details he considered. Finally, he decided that being seen as the dragon knight with a dragon was the most important. He could settle any hurt feeling with a proper display of humility and respect, particularly if done publicly.

“We must go as the Dragon Knights, and that means showing him the dragon.”

“It amazes me how quickly your mind works,” Thayle said, squeezing his hand.

“It is important we do not offend this man. He needs to see us for who we are, but we also need to assure him. He needs to know we are going to cause him no trouble. We will leave his land in peace and remember him when we sit on our throne.”

“If this is settled, I will see to the affairs of the camp while you train,” Lengwin said.

Gersius nodded and waived at the unseen man to see him out. Once the tent flap was closed, he took a deep breath and spoke.

“Let us begin.”

Thayle understood and quickly had Lilly stand on the other side of the table. She focused on Lilly's aura, and Gersius looked through her eyes to see it.

“This makes it seem very easy,” he said. “There is no strain to see it from your point of view.”

“I have been looking at auras for over ten years,” Thayle replied. “It took me a year to get to the point where I could look at them for an hour or more at a time.”

“You can stop seeing them if you want to?” he asked.

Thayle nodded and focused her sight, causing the aura to wink away.

“Just like we can stop the dragon sight.”

There was a sudden realization that swept them all as she said that, and Gerisus started to laugh.

“Why are we not thinking of these things?” she asked.

“We have much on our minds,” Gersius said. “It never occurred to me to try to use the same process.”

“Do you think that will work?” Lilly asked.

“There is only one way to find out, but we shouldn’t do it with you. We need another volunteer whose aura won’t burn his sight if it doesn’t work,” Thayle suggested.

“I could get one of the guards outside,” Lilly suggested.

“You can’t take a guard away from his post,” Gersius said. “Find one of the acolytes or any person who is free outside the tent.”

“Wait,” Thayle said to stop her. “Find Mingfe, and send her. Then find Lengwin and have him come back. We need to speak to him again.”

Gersius turned his head as if to look at her. “What has you so worried now?”

Thayle realized that nobody would suspect Lilly or Gersius of having the aura sight. While they might be cautious about what they said around her, they would be careless around Gersius and Lilly. The sight could be a huge advantage, provided they could keep it a secret.

She explained her idea, and Gersius agreed, sending Lilly to fetch the two.

Lengwin arrived first and sat down with Gersius to hear the plan. He nodded and thankfully hadn't yet told anybody about it. Just as he was leaving, Lilly returned and walked around the table to stand behind Gersius. Mingfe arrived a moment later with a very puzzled look on her face.

“What is this about? Your dragon says you need someone who can keep a secret.” She looked at Gersius with his eyes wrapped and tilted her head. “Why are his eyes covered?”

Thayle sat her down and explained how he gained the aura sight and how they wished to keep it quiet.

Mingfe was stunned to hear that he could see the auras, but she quickly understood the plan.

“You want people to be careless with their words around him,” Mingfe said with a nod. “None of the fools ahead will suspect he can see the truth of their light.”

Thayle was pleased Mingfe understood and agreed to stand at the tent wall to be his training light.

“Now, do it just like before,” Thayle said. “Look down at the ground and open your eyes. Look across the ground slowly until you see the edge of her light and see if you can blink it off.”

He nodded as she took the wrap from his eyes. He opened them and took a deep breath as he allowed his vision to crawl up. He saw the edge of her light and flinched a little. Thayle retook his hand to see through his mind and give him instructions.

“See if you can send the sight away like we can Lilly's sight.”

He blinked a few times as his vision blurred, and for a moment, the aura was gone.

“You almost had it!” Thayle said. “This will make it so much easier if you can send it away when you’re not practicing.”

For the next hour, he struggled to send the light away, causing it to fade out several times but could never hold it.

“You have to try harder,” Thayle insisted.

“I am doing the best I can. Until you and Lilly, I had no idea it was possible to train my eyes.”

“Why are you pushing him so hard?” Mingfe asked.

“Because we have to,” Thayle replied. “We have to go before the king in the morning, and Gerisus needs to be able to look at him.”

“Why are you going before the king?”

Thayle explained it to her and as a frown formed on her face. She folded her arms and tapped a foot in annoyance.

“We have no choice. It has to be this way,” Thayle said.

Mingfe shook her head at Thayle’s insistence. “He cannot learn in a day what it takes an acolyte a year to master.”

“This normally takes a year?” Lilly asked.

“I told you it took a long time,” Thayle said. “But usually they start unable to see the auras. Gersius started as if he was staring into the sun.”

“This bind you share gives you all access to each other's talents?” Mingfe asked.

Thayle looked up at her and nodded slightly. “We thought it was only Lilly’s powers at first. Then he started to manifest the aura sight.”

“And how did you learn to use your Lilly's power?” she asked.

Thayle wasn’t sure what she meant. “It’s just something we do,” Thayle said. “The only power she has given us that requires any effort on our part is her eyesight.”

“You still can't see over long distances as I can,” Lilly added.

“Are you sure?” Mingfe asked. “Perhaps it is a matter of training as well?”

Thayle wasn't sure, but she had an interesting idea.

“Lilly, come stand behind us.”

Lilly did as she was told, and Thayle took a hand and put her other hand to Gersius's neck.

“Use your sight to look closely at something across the room. I want to see it through your eyes.”

Lilly nodded and looked around the tent. “I am ready.”

“I am watching her thoughts,” Gersius said.

Thayle nodded and looked into Lilly’s mind. “Alright, show us.”

Lilly blinked a few times, and Thayle gasped as the threads of the distant tent wall became as clear as if she were inches away, studying them.

“You can see things with amazing detail,” Thayle said in a shocked gasp.

“I am not looking as far as I could,” Lilly said. “If you really want to see my sight, we need to go outside.”

“So, you can look into her mind to see her what she sees?” Mingfe asked.

Thayle nodded again. “I was hoping to train them that way. He can see how the aura should look through my eyes. It might condition him to see them the same way.”

“Why can’t he tap your control itself,” Mingfe asked.

Thayle was lost again. “I am not sure what you mean?”

“Didn’t you tell me you could draw on her power to strengthen your blessings? Why can’t he draw on yours to control the sight.”

Gersius turned his head with his eyes closed as he considered it.

“She might be right. I have been practicing reaching out to Lilly. Perhaps I can reach out for you?”

Thayle licked her lips as she pondered the thought of him pulling on her strength.

“I don't see why it wouldn't work,” she said. “We should try it.”

Gersius smiled to hear the apprehension in her voice. “Let us do it very simply. I will hold your hand, so we have the strength of a direct connection.”

Thayle nodded and took his hand. “Alright, look at Mingfe’s feet again and see if you can draw on me to correct the sight.”

Gersius nodded and opened his eyes, slowly looking up until he saw the glow of her aura. He then fell into his focus and tried to feel for Thayle over the bind. Thayle looked through his eyes as she felt a tugging at her core.

“By the goddess!” she cried as Mingfe’s aura snapped into perfect focus.

“It works,” Gersius said as he looked up to see the whole woman.

Mingfe had a look of wonder on her face as she stared back, her eyes focused on Thayle.

“This is not good!” the woman exclaimed with her aura suddenly flaring with deep colors of worry.

“What isn’t?” Thayle asked.

“Stop!” Mingfe commanded. “It is dimming your aura!”

Gersius let the connection go and was struck by the full brightness of Mingfe’s light as he turned away in shock.

Lilly tried to comfort him as Thayle held her hands up to look at her own light.

“My aura is darker,” she said in shock.

“I could see the light fading,” Mingfe said in alarm. “He was drawing it from you.”

“Have I hurt you?” Gersius asked.

Thayle waved her hand and saw her aura slowly gaining in strength again. She looked to the air between them to see a surge of light coming from Lilly.

“She is restoring you,” Mingfe said. “Her aura radiates a deep concern for you, and it reaches out as if to heal you.”

“We cannot do this to go before the king,” Gersius said.

“You need to be able to stand before him, Gersius. If we can't train your sight by morning, this may be our only choice.”

“I am not depleting your aura to deal with this king.”

“I don’t feel any harm from you pulling at it,” Thayle insisted.

“But will you?” Mingfe asked. “You dimmed but a little. What happens if you dim a lot?”

“I will not put you at risk,” he said.

Thayle smacked the back of his head. “I fly on the back of a dragon and march into battles with you. Are you telling me that drawing on my aura is too much to ask?”

“I know the risk of marching into a battle with you,” he said. “We have no idea what the risk of draining your aura is.”

Thayle tried to argue with him but couldn’t think of a good way to refute his point.

“What if you drew on me?” Lilly asked.

Thayle shook her head. “You don’t have the sight yet. He needs to pull on me so he can tap into my understanding of it.”

Lilly smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t mean for him to pull on me. I meant you could.”

“What?” Thayle asked.

Lilly walked up to Thayle and took her hand. “You draw on me as he draws on you. I will replenish what is lost, so you won't be hurt.”

“We don’ t even know if it is hurting,” Thayle said. “Your aura was nearly blackened by the ward. It left you weak, but you recovered in two days.”

“Then do it to put our husband's worries to rest,” Lilly said.

Thayle nodded and put a hand on Gersius’s shoulder.

“Let’s try it and see if helps,” she said.

He nodded and took his hand away from his eyes. He opened them and looked at the floor as he blinked a few times. He locked hands with her and steadied himself.

“I am ready.”

Thayle closed her eyes and reached for Lilly over the bind feeling for the strength that was the dragon.

“I have Lilly,” Thayle said. “Now, try again.”

Gersius looked up until he saw the bright light of Mingfe's aura and then reached across the bind. For a moment, there was absolute peace as the aura snapped to a clear halo, then he looked up and saw the expression on her face.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“By Ulustrah!” Mingfe gasped. “The exchange of light between you three is divine.”

“Is Thayle’s aura alright?” he implored.

“Alright? It is blinding! She is being consumed by Lilly and nearly as bright as the dragon herself. It is then flowing to you as a river flows to a waterfall. Your dragon is like an ocean of divine power, and her love causes it to envelop you.”

“Then this works?” Lilly asked.

“It seems to be working,” he said. “I can see the aura with no difficulty. I wonder if we have to keep holding hands.”

“We can try severing the link,” Thayle said. “We can draw off Lilly without touching. So it stands to reason you and I should be able to do the same.”

Gersius nodded and opened the fingers of his hand. Thayle carefully lifted her hand away and lost the ability to see through his eyes almost instantly. A moment later, he turned his head away and slammed a fist on the table.

“I lost it nearly the moment you broke contact,” he said.

“Maybe we need more practice with it,” Thayle said. “Surely we don’t need to be touching to maintain the flow.”

He rubbed at his eyes and took a calming breath.

“I need to be able to present a strong face to this king. I cannot walk in there, holding your hand as if going to a wedding.”

“You never gave me a wedding,” Thayle teased as she took his hand again.

He shook his head at her joke and calmed slightly.

“We need to keep practicing so that I can see the aura’s without resorting to drawing on you,” he replied. “Look back to Mingfe so I can see it through your eyes again. We will stay up all night and keep working at it.”

Mingfe scowled at him as hands went to hips.

“I am not standing here all night,” she remarked. “Somebody has to throw things at that dragon.”

Thayle chuckled and looked up at her focusing her sight for him.

“I meant to talk to you about that. I don't think that is a good idea. He accused me today of ordering him to obey you so you could torment him.”

“I and every person in this camp know what he said. He bellowed it loud enough to be heard in the city.”

Thayle stopped laughing and took a more serious tone with her. “He feels we are treating him like an animal.”

“He is an animal,” Lilly said. “He cares about nothing but what an animal would care about. Nothing matters to him but himself and what he wants.”

“I agree,” Mingfe said. “He will not respond to kind words or a soft touch. He needs to be broken like a horse.”

“That isn't going to work,” Thayle said. “Even if you could break his spirit, you can't break his curse.”

Mingfe huffed. “How did you break your dragons curse?”

Thayle looked at Lilly with a smile.

“He fell in love with her, and she felt it over the bind. It allowed her to feel the emotions that were blocked by the curse, and it freed her from it.”

“That’s all?” Mingfe asked. “Then I will break his curse tomorrow.”

Gersius laughed and nearly lost his focus.

“It is not that easy. Shadros needs somebody to truly love him, and feel compassion for him.”

Mingfe shrugged as if the remark was pointless. “So, I will love him.”

Thayle could feel Gersius’s amusement over the bind and tried not to laugh.

“You can’t just fall in love with him like that,” he said.

Mingfe laughed. “Girls fall in love; women choose to love. You didn't woo your wives, you impressed them, and they chose to give you their love. I have already considered this path, and I am prepared to walk it.”

“What are you saying?” Thayle asked.

Mingfe gave her a firm smile. “I might choose a man to love. He is not as stubborn as some of the previous ones I have considered.”

Thayle struggled not to laugh as Gersius’s amusement became infectious.

“You would need to be the one he was bound to,” Gersius said. “He needs to share the link with you so he can feel that emotion.”

Mingfe scowled as she considered this point. “If I can get him to truthfully say he would prefer to be bound to me, would you give me the bind?”

Thayle looked at her with confusion. “You would carry his bind?”

“If you trust me to. If love is the key to breaking his curse, then he must be loved. You are not free to love him, so I will do it.”

“You can choose to love him?” Gersius asked.

“I just told you, I am a woman. I choose everything I do. The question is, will he choose to let me love him. I will not force it on him. A man must see how honored a blessing it is when a woman chooses to love him.”

Thayle felt a sudden ray of hope for the dragon, and she peeked into Gersius's thoughts. He was hoping to be rid of the anger that flooded the binding link when she was around the beast.

“What do you think?” Thayle asked, turning to Lilly.

Lilly chewed on a lip a moment as she considered the idea.

“I think if he is going to be free of his curse, this is the only option.” She paused to twist a moment as she completed her thought. “But he will never agree to be bound to her instead.”

“He will agree,” Mingfe said. “I have plenty of spears.”

Gersius let out another laugh and closed his eyes as he lost focus.

“Let’s give this a rest a moment,” Thayle said. “This conversation has gone places I never expected.” She took a deep breath and looked at Mingfe directly.

“If you can get him to tell you his true name, and truthfully admit he wants to be bound to you, I will release him so you can bind him instead.”

Mingfe smiled a devilish smile. “He will tell me, and he will do it of his own free will.”