Chapter 35
Seph
It was getting easier to sneak into the woods, especially on the weekends.
As if knowing I was looking for him, Sy appeared by our lake in the waning sunlight.
I sat beside him on the ground, taking comfort in his presence. He was a massive shadow beside me, keeping the sun from my eyes. But his aura still sparkled like diamonds.
I liked being with him.
And maybe I was imagining it, but I felt like he liked me too.
“How are you today, tiny one?” Sy asked finally.
“Better thanks to you.”
He smiled and it was like magic. “I am pleased.”
“Do you live in the woods?” I asked the question I had been wondering since we met. “I live where I need to.” He said simply.
“And right now?”
“And right now, I will stay near you.”
I felt a flush of warmth at that. “Why?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“Why me?”
Sy smiled at me. “Why does the sun set and rise each day? It is what it is.”
“So does that mean you will one day leave me?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“I don’t know. Because what if you are required elsewhere.”
“You are my ward, little one. I could no less fly into the sun than leave you alone.”
“A ward? What does that mean?”
Sy was silent, watching the water. “What do you know of eternity?” he asked finally.
I laughed. “Very little I am afraid. I’m only 19. Nearly 20 though.” I added that last bit, feeling defensive.
He chuckled. “I have known this world for longer than you can ever imagine, little Seph.”
“How old are you?” I asked, feeling the ancient power in him like the air.
Sy laughed out loud. “You do amuse me, little one.”
“I’m not that little.” I grumbled at his lack of answer.
“No?” Sy’s voice was amused.
I looked down at myself, then back up at him. “Ok, well I know I’m not massive…”
“One does not have to be large to be great, Seph.”
I looked at my gloved hands fidgeting with the material. “Do you know my power? Is that why you have come?”
“I am a guardian, darling girl. I sensed what you were the moment you awoke and knew it was my time to wake also.”
I lowered my head, disappointed. “Oh. So are you supposed to be like my new parental figure or something?” the thought put me out more than I liked.
He was so very beautiful.
And I didn’t exactly want another parent.
He smiled and nudged me slightly. “A guardian can be many things, Seph. A father, a brother, a friend – “
“A lover?” I asked, before I could stop myself. My cheeks flushed red. “Sorry.”
Sy paused. He studied me — not my body, not my power, but me.
“Perhaps,” he said slowly. “But that is not a role taken lightly.”
He inclined his head, voice steady.
“I am your sentinel, little one.”
I looked up at him. He was watching me closely, like he was trying to understand me.
I turned to him, the true reason I came out here today. He turned towards me, waiting.
“The other day. In the woods you did something – “
“I touched you.” He nodded.
I took a deep breath and continued. “You told me that I couldn’t hurt you. That you were safe.”
“Do you wish to touch me little one?” the dragon asked, his voice soft.
My hands clenched shut. I hadn’t been able to get the thought out of my head for days. The telltale panic ripped through me.
Because I did.
I really did.
My panic was all consuming. I turned my head away.
“Look at me?” he asked softly.
He reached out and gently pulled my face towards him. His touch on my skin was like fire.
“I am here for you, little one. However you may need me to be. If you wish to touch me, you can.”
“But I could hurt you. I hurt so many people.”
But he was already reaching for my gloved hands. I flinched quickly, but his grip was soft. He slowly slid off the glove and placed it aside.
Then he reached out his own hand and he waited.
“You can trust me.” He said softly.
And I did. I don’t know how or why – but I did.
I didn’t trust myself.
My own hand, exposed to the rising cold, looked pale in the dusk light. But I moved it. I fought every impulse to shove my hands back into my gloves, to keep myself safe.
To keep him safe.
But he looked so earnest.
I reached over to his hand—still in the same place, still waiting—and I lowered it.
My chest was heaving.
My breath was panicked.
But I needed to do this.
I needed to prove this.
When I finally rested my hand in his, flesh to flesh, I gasped.
For all his age and power, his hand was smooth and soft.
Perfectly light brown, almost golden.
His fingers curled automatically around mine, holding me in place.
It felt so right.
I didn’t know what to do.
Tears poured down my face.
Gasping sobs wracked my bones, but at the same time, I was laughing.
I was touching.
And no one was hurt.
I held it only for a few seconds before I had to snatch my hand back and shove it into my glove.
Sobs shook me all over, and Sy moved closer, letting his body be the thing I could lean on.
He didn’t put his arms around me.
He was just there.
He was my safe haven.
So I started to talk.
I told him about Jess.
About Dr Marr.
About what I saw.
But I didn’t tell him about the experiments.
No one needed to know that.
He listened, his body still and calm.
“This Jess—have you spoken to her?”
“Not yet. They won’t let me in to see her.” I sighed. “My… friend Dev – he says he will get me in tonight.”
“And you believe this fire—”
“It was a distraction. That I’m sure of. There’s something happening out there in the world. Something bad. I think K knows something about it. So does Wild.”
Sy looked thoughtful.
“Darkness is stirring. It fights the light. But they do not understand—both cannot exist without the other.”
“You certainly love your riddles, don’t you, big guy?” I grinned.
He grinned back. “It is an occupational hazard.”
“So what should I do, Sy? Should I follow K? See what he’s up to and clear Jess’s name?”
“This Jess—she is your friend also?”
“Well, I mean… she’s my roommate.”
“But?” he prompted.
“But I don’t know,” I admitted. “What’s a friend, Sy? You say you’re my guardian—are you my friend? Is Ash? Is Dev?”
“And K?” Sy asked quietly.
My breath caught.
“K was once my whole world. The sun rose and set for me behind his eyes.”
“And you no longer trust him?”
“How can I?” I whispered. “He left me to be tortured for years. He loved my sister, not me.”
Sy’s aura stirred, warm and steady.
“No one fought for you. And yet you would fight for this… roommate? This not-friend?”
I peered at him, trying to read his expression. “I’d fight for her because no one fought for me. No one tried, Sy. My whole life. No one but Sable—and she died. And even before then, she left. She was gone.”
I took a shaky breath.
“So if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the world does not define me. I must define myself. Even if Jess doesn’t appreciate it—even if she doesn’t appreciate me—I know a truth. One that could help her. And so I will.”
“You have a good heart, Seph.”
I laughed softly. “I wouldn’t call it that. It’s more like… why should I become what they made me? Why should I give my father the satisfaction? He called me a monster—they all did. And part of me wants to spite him, I guess.”
“And the other part?” Sy asked gently.
“Wants to live,” I whispered. “Properly. Freely. For the first time. And that means being the true me. Whoever that is.”
My gaze drifted to his hand—where mine had rested.
“Even if the only person I ever get to touch,” I said quietly, “is a centuries-old dragon.”
Sy watched me carefully, and something softened in his eyes.
“This power you hold,” he said quietly. “You do not let it define you. It is a part of you—like flesh.”
“Yes,” I breathed.
“When you reach to pick up a slice of bread. Or a cake.”
“Yes?” I frowned, unsure.
“You use your fingers, correct? You direct them to the item you require, and you retrieve it. Why not use your power the same way?”
“For one… I don’t know how.”
“I could teach you, if you like.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Really? You would do that for me?”
“I am your guardian, little one.” His voice was soft, warm—almost reverent. “I would do anything for you.”
Excitement raced through me. “I would love that.”
Sy watched me, something uncertain flickering in his gaze—like even he was surprised by his own offer.
“Come to me in the evening tomorrow. To the cave. We will start there.”
“How will I find it? I never do when I look for it.”
Sy smiled, a cheeky flicker in his eye. “Ah, one of my many secrets. Trust me—it will be there when you need it. I promise.”
“It’s a date,” I said, smiling despite myself, my face flushing hot.
Heat flared between us—slow, steady, unmistakable.
“Indeed it is,” he murmured.