The Life

Paige

Before the first hour of the flight passed, Tom fell asleep. Between the last bit of pain medication the doctor had given him before we left and his injuries, I was honestly surprised it took him that long. I dropped my head back against the seat and let the quiet flow over me. In the cluster of four seats across the plane from Tom and me, Killian watched a black-and-white movie using headphones, and Carp and Stan bickered quietly over a card game I didn’t recognize. It was nothing like the rambunctious flight to Egypt, when I’d spent half the time clinging to the arms of my seat to keep from freaking out.

Not least because the dragon I came to slay lay dead behind me, just as I’d hoped. Well, not just as I’d hoped. If I could do it all over again, I’d skip the part where Zahur almost got me again. And the one where a scared woman nearly collapsed Tom’s lung. I flexed my fingers and remembered the smell of the bastard’s blood, of Tom’s blood when we landed in Lebanon.

“If you’re