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"So you're lizards?" I asked. "Or Dragons?"

The Wyvern - Zasen - lifted a hand as if asking the others to let him answer. "Tell me, Ayla, what do you know of Dragons?"

All I could do was shake my head, but their acceptance of my answers was starting to make me feel brave. No matter what I said, none of these three men had tried to punish me. I wasn't sure if my words had simply been proper or if they were merely that kind, but either way, it felt like the truth was working for me, so I intended to keep using it.

"Not much," I explained. "Our lessons in school were confusing. They said the sins of women caused us to be kicked out of Eden, and the sins of men caused us to be evicted from the Earth. The battle between God and the Devil raged, and God lost because there were too few Righteous. Now, we are the last, and the heathens - the Dragons and the wild men - are the only ones who can survive on the Devil's world. Earth has become a dangerous place because of evil's influence."

"The Earth," he told me, "has become wild. That is not the same as dangerous. It is certainly not the same as evil. It simply means you need to learn about it before you go running off without shoes." He canted his head and lifted a brow.

"Then give me some," I told him.

He nodded his head once. "I will once your feet are healed. The doctor who treated you was very clear that you should not walk outside on dirt even with the bandages."

That wasn't at all what I'd expected. "You're going to give me shoes?"

"Why wouldn't I?" And he leaned closer, resting his elbows on his knees.

I looked at Kanik, wishing he would interrupt this discussion, because it was starting to feel like an interrogation. But when he simply smiled, I sighed and decided to just answer the question.

"Because you don't want me to escape?"

"You still tried," Zasen pointed out. "What I want to know is why you ran, Orin?" He let out a little grunt. "Ayla, I mean. Why did you decide today that you no longer want our help?"

The book was still in my lap, and my fingers tightened on the cover. "I didn't mean to tempt you. I was merely trying to wash my things, unaware you were in the house. Any of you! So I didn't watch my posture. You see, I would rather you not force yourself on me." I couldn't meet his eyes. "After everything I've been through, I don't want to end up married anyway."

"Married?" Kanik asked.

Which made Rymar ramble off something in their own language. Kanik replied. Zasen tried to wave them down, but it wasn't working. Those two continued to trade words back and forth for a moment.

Then Rymar turned his turquoise eyes on me. They were filled with the same cold stoicism the Wyvern's normally had. "How daz..." He paused and pulled in a breath. "How does bendinding..." His eyes flicked to Kanik, who nodded, so Rymar kept going. "...make marriage?"

Zasen answered before I could, but his reply was also in their own words. "Sa meenz reip."

"Fuck," Kanik breathed, the harsh word one I'd never heard before.

Zasen grunted at that, then lifted both hands over his face and dragged them down to his chin. "I'm sorry. I should've said something. Even if you didn't understand, I should've made sure you knew I was there." He sighed. "I simply intended to move your dress back down. It was pulled high, and I guessed that you thought you were alone. Ayla, I was trying to spare your modesty."

"Oh," I breathed.

He nodded, realizing I understood. "We are not Moles. We are all Dragons, and our women have claws."

"But I don't."

"No," Kanik said. "Yet this house has many forks."

Somehow, that made me feel better. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be a joke, yet I'd also seen the knives in the drawers. Plus, the simple fact that I could now talk to them changed everything! No longer was I left to figure out this new world simply by watching.

But there was one thing they hadn't quite clarified. "Does everyone know English?" I asked, the question probably unexpected or rude.

"No," Zasen assured me. "We are taught some with science, but most don't remember much."

"Yet all of you speak it," I insisted.

"Read," Zasen corrected. "This is the most I have ever spoken the language. I am probably making a complete mess of it. Kanik should be much better. Rymar?" His laugh made it clear he knew how crushed the yellow Dragon's words were. "We will get better."

And while they weren't making a "complete mess" of my language, they were somewhat hard to understand. They were also changing the way they said the letters with each sentence and enunciating better and better. That didn't remove their accent, but it was helping. I knew what would help more, though.

"Maybe I can learn your language?" I asked. "That might make it easier, but if nothing else, the more you say, the less strange you and Rymar twist the sounds. Kanik simply has an accent, or maybe I'm getting used to how you three speak?" I offered the last so I wouldn't shame them, even if it was mostly a lie.

Kanik chuckled at that as if he could see through my weak attempt at being polite. "I am trying to mimic you and the way you pronounce the letters. I know the words because I teach English to children. Zasen knows it from books." He tipped his head at the book in my lap. "But few of us have had a reason to use it, and none of us have heard someone who uses it all the time speak it."

One thing in all of that stood out to me. "Why do you teach children a language that is dead?"

"Because Vestrian is made from it," Kanik explained. "Since the fall of man, the sounds have shifted and the pronunciation has changed to adapt. Long ago, history books say there was Old English, then it changed to Middle English, and eventually it turned to Standard English - which seems to be the type you use. The next stage of change was Vestrian."

"Which isn't English," I said, checking to make sure I understood him.

But Kanik smiled. "It's like English's cousin. Close, if you know how to use it."

"Will you teach me?" I begged.

He glanced at Zasen, smiled, and then nodded. "Yes, I think that might be a good idea. We can start tomorrow, hm?"

"And for today," Zasen said, "you can finish reading that book. It might help more than you know."

"Okay," I agreed. "But where's Idaho?"

That made the Wyvern chuckle. "Right here. Well, it was."

Are sens

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