“The divine aren’t responsible for dragon souls,” I continued. “Add to this the fact that Lisella attempted to get Miseria to heal Modessa’s soul, and I believe that the gods can affect human, elven, orc and even grubby little dwarven souls—but not dragon souls.”

  Cami was quiet, pondering my words. “And does that have something to do with your last vision of Tiamat being surrounded by the different races?”

  “There’s no way for me to know that now, but I think it means we can do this. We will simply need some people to test it on.”

  “People? Or do you mean volunteers from the dragons?” Cami asked.

  “No,” I replied. “I mean people… or a specific person. If she’s willing, it should help her.”

  “You mean Modessa?”

  “Exactly, and it will give you some much needed practice. Your Soul Forger class has increased in level and your Valkyrie class seems to be more soul oriented. I believe you can do it.”

  “You want me to cut off a sliver of your soul and see if we can get it to grow in Modessa?”

  Cami sounded less than enthusiastic for some reason. Fortunately for her, that wasn’t what I had in mind.

  “By the first egg, no… Never! I’m not even sure I’m ready to let her be a minion. What if we did that, and she became a demi-goddess like you? I mean, it hasn’t changed you all that much, but her soul damage is worse than yours was, so it would likely take more of me. What if it caused her to surge in power? I’m not ready to give her that.”

  Relief spiked in Cami. I was surprised she was so against the idea—not that I was willing to even consider sharing a portion of my soul with her mentor.

  “No, what I had in mind was seeing if you were able to work with other souls and then seeing how a soul grafting works between people who don’t have the dragon bond that we have. Galbrecht will probably volunteer to be a donor. The situation isn’t exactly what we need to do for the dragons, but I believe it would yield useful information.”

  Cami was silent for the rest of the trip. I could sense her uneasiness with the experiment I had proposed, but she didn’t argue with me. The proposal was primarily about developing her expertise with Soul Surgery. If she was going to cut multiple slivers off of my soul, I didn’t want her to fumble the process.

  I also wanted to know that those slivers could be sustained without a dragon bond. I was also curious how well merging souls would be tolerated without a bond. And who better to test that with than Modessa?

  When we arrived back at the lair, I was pleased to see that the elves had already started setting up their own housing, rather than simply sleeping on their ship. That was a good first step to integration. I wanted to see all of the two legs working together—that was what good minions did.

  Vox guided the domesticated dragons down to a large stretch of beach far from the docks. There was a fresh-water lake nearby, and they should be able to get all the food they needed from the sea. I certainly didn’t have enough cows to share!

  And the most important reason we set them up here was that it was on the opposite side of the mountain from the entrance to my lair. I might want to save them, but that didn’t mean I was going to share my gold with them. Just thinking the thought brought forth a growl and I shuddered.

  Cami chuckled and I frowned. Had I been thinking too loud again?

  Modessa was waiting for us when we arrived at my lair. She was playing some sort of game with Rollie and Patch, where she threw a ball and the two of them raced to get it. As soon as we landed, all playfulness left them and they snapped to attention.

  “Relax. In front of the humans… and elves, I suppose… it’s probably good if you act all scary. But in here, you can just call me Nico. I don’t mind if you have fun as long as you do your duty. I’m not like some of my ancestors, who tried to turn their minions into mindless drones. I want minions who enjoy their life as minions as much as I want them for their service as minions.”

  The bears turned into something called Ursus finally smiled. They were both wearing loose fitting shirts, belted at the waist, which descended to their knees.

  I said, “I see that Modessa got you to wear some clothes.”

  Cami was already running to give the bears hugs, which left me with Modessa. “Report on the status of my hoard?”

  Modessa bowed her head. The gesture still felt odd coming from her, given our contentious background, but I had come to accept that she’d changed—if not by our shared experienced then definitely by the soul-crippling trauma she had sustained. I could only imagine that had to change everything about someone like Modessa.

  “I’m pleased to report that we’ve added 14,507 gold pieces, 110,300 silver pieces, and an assortment of elven weapons and armor to your hoard,” the former rogue said. “We also added twelve pounds of assorted precious gems. If you’re willing to listen, I have a recommendation.”

  “That’s what smart dragons do. They listen to expertise in the specialization of their minions. What is your suggestion?”

  “We need to set up more guards than just Rollie and Patch. They’re strong and more than a little terrifying, but even they need to sleep. You could turn it into a position of honor, hold competitions and choose some of your best warriors.”

  “Only some?” I asked.

  Modessa smiled. “Yes, only some… because you will need most of your best warriors with your army, others to defend the island, and still more on your ships. I’m honestly glad I don’t have to deal with all of that. As for the hoard, you also need a cleaning crew and some clerks to maintain it. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this up in my current condition.”

  We discussed the details of her suggestions, but I decided to have Candace handle most of the arrangements.

  Nodding in relief at my decision, Modessa asked, “Have you given any further consideration to accepting me as a minion? I’m afraid it may be the only way I can be healed.”

  I studied her, letting the moment draw out until she started to fidget, wringing her hands. “I don’t know that it would work, and I’m still not certain you would be a good fit…”

  Modessa visibly deflated.

  “But… I do have another possible solution, if you’re willing to participate in an experiment. I don’t want to deceive you; it is an untested idea.”

  She stepped forward, almost eagerly, “I’ll try anything if it has a chance to restore me.”

  When Cami rejoined us, we explained what she and I discussed, as well as what we knew about souls. Modessa asked a number of questions which, instead of annoying me, I was surprised helped further clarity things for me. The rogue had a unique way of looking at the world, which was markedly different from how I thought. She also had studied what she could about soul magic after her childhood encounter with a wild mage.

  “Let me summarize,” Modessa said. “If I understand this correctly, you want Cami to practice her Soul Surgery by shaving a piece off another human’s soul and then will try to get it to grow within mine, essentially patching the damaged portions of my soul. Given the amount of damage, she will be doing it differently than simply creating a graft like she did for herself with you.”

  I nodded my head, being careful not to knock her over. “Yes, that is a succinct summary.”

  “You don’t know how well it will work, but you want to prove that it is possible to grow a new soul out of a piece of a healthy sliver. Essentially, you want to use me as an incubator for that while at the same time giving my apprentice a chance to practice Soul Surgery.”

  “Right again.” I was beginning to wonder if Modessa had suffered some brain damage along with the damage to her soul.

  “Bottom line is that you want me to be a guinea pig for your little experiment,” she declared.

  I was confused by the term. “What do small rodents have to do with any of this?”

  Laughing, Modessa explained how humans used rodents to conduct scientific experiments. From what she said, some of the testing was quite barbaric—and they thought that dragons were fearsome.

  Once I got the gist of it, I replied, “I wouldn’t call you a guinea pig… more like a soul pig.”

  Cami tried to view something inside her head while Modessa just shook hers.

  “Let’s say I’m willing to take this risk, that isn’t enough. Where would we find someone foolish enough to donate a piece of their soul for me?” the rogue asked.

  Just then, Candace walked into my lair, immediately followed by Lisella and Galbrecht.

  I glanced over at the paladin before replying, “Ask and you shall receive.”

  Interlude 6 - Modessa’s Wild Ride

  All Modessa could hear at that point was the blood rushing in her ears. After years of capably handling almost any threat, she’d felt never felt so vulnerable as she had these past few months. Being shown how very narrow minded she’d become and how that had affected Nico had only been the first blow to her confidence.

  After that had come finding out how much she’d missed out on with Galbrecht simply because neither of them had been willing to push. That was painful and yet joyful at the same time. She loved the silly, wool-headed, humorless paladin so much. And best of all he loved her back, despite her absolute certainty that she wasn’t worthy of his love.

  Then, in an attempt to even the scales with Nico, she’d done her best to save his life. If only she could have died a hero. With the pain she experienced with every breath since then, she knew it would have been better to have died.

  Worse, it turned out that her self-sacrificing gesture had been futile. Nico would have resisted the toxin. Instead, it had destroyed part of her soul, breaking the connection between her body and her soul, thereby stripping her of the ability to use her hard won abilities.

  It seemed there was a chance she could be healed.

  Modessa would have called it a longshot but this pair… Cami and Nico… they might not see it, but she’d been wrong about them. They were made for each other. It might not be a traditional romance—Modessa wasn’t sure that Nico was even capable of such a thing, although she was pretty sure Cami would keep trying.

  No, it was more than that. They were an amazing team, and she’d seen them do what should have been impossible already. If they told her they thought they could save her this way… then, by all the gods, she believed them. That was a trust which had rooted its way to the very center of her being like faith in a deity never had.

  But how could she take them up on their offer? How could she ask anyone to risk that for her? Specifically, how could she ask Galbrecht—who’d already saved her from a fate worse than death as a child—to risk his very soul for her?

  It only made it worse that he’d volunteered without a heartbeat of hesitation.

  She couldn’t let him risk himself. The image of that wild mage killing her family as she cowered haunted her. But she wasn’t that little girl any longer, and she wasn’t going to hide from this problem. It was her problem, and she’d have to live with it.

  “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try that. I’m sorry. I… I understand if you want me to leave. If you could just spare a rowboat, I’ll be gone from your island before sunset,” Modessa stammered, the final coming out with more certainty and a note of finality.

  Galbrecht stepped forward, a frown on that ruggedly handsome face. “What? What isn’t a good idea?”

  Cami stepped between the paladin and Modessa before turning and scowling at her mentor. “We’re hundreds of miles from the coast. You’d never make it in a rowboat.”

  The deadpan stare that Modessa gave the younger woman left no doubt in anyone’s mind what was going through her mind.

  Galbrecht raised his voice, “I demand to be told what’s going on.”

  Nico stayed quiet and Modessa absently wondered why that was. But then Cami began to speak; she laid everything out for Galbrecht. When he didn’t respond, for just a second, Modessa felt an even deeper pain.

  She’d thought she couldn’t sink any lower, but she’d assumed that Galbrecht would jump in and try to save her. How wrong she’d been. Even the selfless paladin hesitated. Perhaps he’d determined that without her abilities she wasn’t an equal partner. Or worse, maybe he’d realized the truth of her unworthiness? They’d been apart for a while, perhaps he’d come to his senses and reconsidered their relationship.

  Galbrecht smiled at Cami and then nodded to Nico. “Thank you for explaining this to me. May I have a moment alone with Modessa?”

  Nico gave a grunt that Galbrecht must have taken for an affirmative because the big man glided around Cami and put his arms around Modessa. She started to protest, but he held a finger up to her lips. “Just wait a moment.”

  He led her to a back corner of the cave that was Nico’s lair. It was as far from the gold as possible, and thus out of the light. When he looked at her she saw his love for her in his eyes.

  A tear ran down Modessa’s cheek. At least he still loved her.

  “I need to ask something of you, Modessa. I know it’s selfish of me, but I need it more than I’ve needed anything since Miseria first found me. In fact, I now realize that she was only ever my caretaker. My heart has belonged to you for years. If it were possible, I’d be a paladin of Modessa.”

  Confusion sprouted on Modessa’s face. She understood his words, but was still stuck on him wanting to ask her something selfish. Though, to be honest, she couldn’t imagine Galbrecht ever being selfish. And that profession of love… well, any woman wanted to be her lover’s goddess, but he seemed to mean it.

  Miseria might not be able to interact with Ileria now, but even still…

  Modessa cleared her throat. “You said you wanted to ask me something?”

  He nodded. “Yes, but I don’t have any right to ask it of you. I don’t know what you’re going through. From what I’ve seen, it has been awful… but I still have to ask. I hope you won’t hate me.”

  She felt the pressure building behind her eyes till she thought she was going to explode. “What are you talking about?”

  “I want to ask you to promise me something… you need you to keep living. Dessa, you are the sun which rises in the world of my heart. I know you hurt, and I can only imagine the extent of your agony, but I need you to put away the silliness you said a moment ago. I need you to live—if for no other reason than because of me. Whether you can be healed or not, I need you to live. Will you promise to do that for me?”

  Modessa was struck by his words. They were not what she had expected. Was he asking her to endure this pain? For how many more years? Ugh… but how could she not? She loved him so. In that moment, she came to understand the love they had for one another.

  When she nodded, he gently pulled her close, being careful not to hurt her.

  “You know what that means, right?” he whispered in her ear.

  “Yes, you want to try their experiment and you want to do it as much for yourself as for me. I didn’t get it before, but… but I know I’d be hollowed out if you died. So, yes… yes… we can do this. And after it works, we’re gonna kick the butt of the horrors and every other monster that want to destroy our new life together.”

  She could feel his smile against her forehead. She didn’t need to look up to see it, but she did all the same because she wanted to stare into his eyes.

  He simply nodded and said, “Yes, my goddess.”

  With that, it felt like the weight of the world shifted. They held each other for a few more moments before telling Nico and Cami their decision. And then they braced themselves for Cami’s experiment. After all the pain she’d felt for weeks, it almost didn’t hurt.

  Chapter 29 - Soul-Bonded?

  Within an hour of their agreement, a space in my lair had been cleared out for Modessa and Galbrecht to stretch out. Lying on the floor of my lair, they held hands while Cami knelt between them. They didn’t make any silly requests for pillows or such, despite the squishiness of their human bodies.

  Cassandra and Lisella joined Rollie and Patch as they stood guard in the tunnel. I might not trust Lisella entirely, but I didn’t believe she’d do anything to risk the life of Galbrecht. He was the chosen of her goddess. And I believed she considered him a good friend.

  I transitioned to my human form just so that I could get closer to the humans. Or rather, closer to the demi-goddess and the two humans. My previous experience of going through something similar with Cami suggested this was the right decision. No one could fault the dedication to getting the job done these two humans showed.

  I’d always known that—even when the job that Modessa was trying to accomplish was exposing me as a wild mage.