Merin was holding a horned black lizard when Red finally tracked her down. She was muttering to it as if it could respond to her.

"Merin?" Red said as he stepped towards her. His eyes darted around the room, trying to assess what happened while he was gone. Red had already pulled his dagger from his boot. He would have preferred his shovel, but he didn't risk stopping to grab it.

"It's a dragon!" Merin said, her face bright with delight.

Red almost tripped over his feet as he skidded to a halt. "What did you say?" He asked her.

Merin held out the lizard and said, "It's a dragon!"

Red could feel the immense burden of countless words he wanted to say press down on his shoulders. He inhaled deeply and resheathed the dagger back into his boot.

"What happened here?" He said when he'd gathered his patience.

He watched as Merin chewed on her lips and debated internally on how to respond. Her emotions through the bond were all over the place.

"I'm not sure. This boy I've met before came here before he exploded over there. He left his pet dragon." She said finally.

The lizard started doing a weird vibrating motion, and Merin apologized to it. "You're not his pet? What are you then?"

Red rubbed her face before he strode across the room. He could see the spot she mentioned, and traces of magic splattered across the walls.

He sniffed and tried to pick up any signature trace, but whatever had created this was beyond his scope.

Red turned his attention to the lizard, something he could deal with deftly. It was nuzzling Merin's hands and making weird noises.

"If this was left behind, it can't be safe," Red said. He picked up the spiky one and chucked it out the window.

The lizard landed on Akkad, who was paying a surprise visit. Red knew his brother was likely coming to start trouble after Red showed up for breakfast. The man was smart enough to do this to prevent Red from actually bringing Merin to breakfast.

Red watched as Akkad had a split-second realization that a lizard had landed on his cheek before he howled.

"Get it off me!" He roared. His men attempted to remove it, but each dropped their hands from the lizard within seconds of reaching for it.

Merin joined Red to stare out the window as the lizard turned Akkad's face into a melty, gooey mess. The exposed cheekbones went from ivory white to granite black as the lizard stared impassively at the damage below it.

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Red grabbed Merin's hand to examine her palm. Her white skin was flawless without a hint of a burn, let alone any indication it had ever touched the sun or seen hard work.

Merin turned over his hand that was examining hers, "You weren't burned either." She said.

"The next time that boy comes back, make sure to get me," Red said as he watched Akkad struggle.

The fear within Merin eased into relief through their bond, and Red could feel himself relax, too. He hadn't realized how much of her emotions had influenced his own.

The lizard might not be a dragon, but it wasn't normal, which meant it needed to be watched. Many unexplained things had fallen into his lap since Merin fell from the sky. She was a good luck charm.

Sadly, he would have to ask her to heal Akkad's face. Although it was an accident, there was no telling what would happen to his own face if it went unchecked. There might be no rebound as a genuine accident, but Red didn't want to test the waters.

The two left walked towards Akkad, who had soiled himself before fainting. Merin deftly plucked the lizard from the near-dead man and stuck it on her shoulder. Only then did she pool her magic within her hands and reached out to restore the annoying passerby.

This was an arduous task for Merin because he was near death. Whatever the lizard was, it had done a fair job of almost killing the man within a minute. It pleased her to be correct in believing what the boy said. Acuzio is a dragon.

"You can do this much damage trapped as a lizard. You must be unstoppable in your true form." She said in her native tongue. It seemed to understand and gave a strange sort of pleasant hum in response.

The threads of healing covered half of Akkad's face. She could feel his men tense at her actions. Red's presence and innate respect for her Russus status stopped them from touching her. A Russus couldn't be grabbed or touched. Any man other than their Rutilus would have their hands chopped off.

The silvery white patch glowed as it grew, and she focused her breath on every crevice of the injured skin. When she pulled her hands away, bright, tender new flesh had grown in the burn's place.

Merin had to blink at the amount of energy this healing zapped from her. She would have stumbled had Red not grabbed her by the elbow to steady her.

Red then scooped her up and carried her off while Akkad's men did the same for their Rutilus.

There was no way for any semblance of peace to remain even after Merin healed Akkad's face.

Akkad had soiled himself after nearly dying from a lizard landing on his face. Rumors spread fast despite what the royals did to stop them. These tales fell on even the citizen's ears, and despite what Akkad did to protest, no one knew believed his version.

He claimed that someone threw a pot of boiling water on his face after he came to check on his youngest brother. The truth was a far more amusing tale that made elders and babes laugh uproariously.

Akkad couldn't even take the high road and claim nothing happened. His face was a walking testament that something had happened to him. His bright, tender new skin made the other half look aged and worn.

Merin kept her wicked laughter to herself whenever she saw him. Even the hardened Red had mirth shining from his eyes when he saw his brother.

Akkard wore a growing expression of bitterness. He did many things like putting a hand over half his face to hide it. It was too late for him to try to conceal it. Everybody knew.

The only good thing about this was how Akkad became an advertisement for her healing capabilities. Merin was known for violent magic. This was the first hint that her magic could be healing and that she was good at it. The servants and guards who fearfully serviced the Red's quarters approached her and asked for assistance.

Red watched Merin heal servants and take care of her scaled animals. She still insisted that the lizard was a dragon, and as long as it didn't hurt her, he didn't care if she kept it.

Something even more pressing had come up. Bellare had returned with news of his birth father's whereabouts.