‘‘Oh, for the love of the twelve gods. I’ve told him before I don’t care about that. I know he doesn’t have a lot of money like Drake. I am completely fine with living a modest lifestyle. My flat in London is really nothing but a room with a sink. I’m totally fine with staying within a budget, although I wish now I hadn’t let him buy me all those expensive clothes.’’

‘‘Gabriel isn’t one to hold on to money for long,’’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘‘He has never accrued wealth, as most dragons do. He has a lair, but it is filled with things that are precious to him and wouldn’t necessarily be viewed by others as overly valuable.’’

‘‘Sounds like my kind of man. I’m not heavily into possessions, either. I’ve never had the resources to develop that taste, and if I did, I had Magoth to consider. He’d never allow me to keep anything with any true value. So, honestly, Gabriel has nothing to be nervous about.’’

She gave a little half shrug, watching along with me as Gabriel, Tipene at his side, argued some point or other with a growing circle of customs officials. ‘‘He has not had enough time to be sure of you.’’

‘‘He’s not sure of me?’’ I asked, pain biting into my gut. Gabriel had doubts about us? About me?

‘‘It’s not surprising given how little time you have spent together,’’ she said, and I saw the truth in that. ‘‘How many days have you spent in each other’s company?’’

I cast my mind over the last couple of months. ‘‘Just a few,’’ I admitted, feeling like a fool. How could I have allowed my common sense, the common sense that Cyrene had given up to create me, to be so completely overlooked? Of course Gabriel wasn’t sure of me—we’d known each other for only a few months, ninety percent of which I’d spent in Abaddon. But my heart had managed to ignore the obvious and fall madly in love with him, building all sorts of wonderful rosy images of a future together, images that suddenly turned to dust and wafted away.

‘‘He is in no doubt that you are his mate,’’ she continued, watching as suddenly the bulk of customs people turned and walked away, leaving Gabriel and Tipene alone with one important-looking official. ‘‘No one can be in doubt of that. But it is your feelings he is unsure of.’’

I said nothing, just rubbed my fingers, suddenly cold.

‘‘He does not see as I have that you have given him your heart,’’ she said, turning back to me with yet another smile. ‘‘But he is male. We will cut him some slack for that handicap, yes?’’

‘‘Is it so obvious?’’ I asked, horrified that I’d been caught wearing my heart on my sleeve. Gabriel had not once mentioned the moment when I’d blurted out that I loved him. I figured he hadn’t heard me, or had chosen not to acknowledge it. ‘‘Does everyone know?’’

Her smile turned wry. ‘‘I did not get to see you with Kaawa, so I do not know if she saw the truth, but it is very hard to hide anything from her. She sees beyond this realm.’’

I remembered the odd look Kaawa had given me as we’d left her camp that morning. She hadn’t said anything other than to bid us farewell, and to come back for a longer stay, but there was something in her manner that had me thinking she was holding things back.

I shook off the premonition and returned my mind to the present. I might have had a lapse in judgment in falling so quickly in love with Gabriel, but I wasn’t Cyrene with her many love affairs. I wasn’t ready to tell the world of my feelings, especially if Gabriel was so unsure of me that he had doubts about our relationship.

‘‘I do not tell you this to upset you, May,’’ Maata added, suddenly looking worried herself. ‘‘I wanted you to be prepared, so you would not upset Gabriel by a lack of enthusiasm for his home.’’

A note in her voice pulled me out of my dark introspection. ‘‘You love him, don’t you?’’ I asked.

‘‘Yes,’’ she answered promptly, surprising me. ‘‘Not as a lover or a mate, as you do, but as a leader. He is truly an exceptional wyvern. He would die to protect the sept, and has given himself selflessly his entire lifetime to bettering our lives, to keeping the peace within the weyr. His actions may not be viewed by all in that light, but I know the truth. He was born to be wyvern, and his strength comes not from vast wealth as it does for some dragons, but from the true depths of his character. I hope you can see that and value him for what he truly possesses.’’

‘‘I do,’’ I said, watching as he shook the official’s hand. It was a loaded handshake, one I hoped did not contain too many folded New Zealand dollars.

‘‘Come along, little bird,’’ he said as he opened the door and waited for us to file out. ‘‘We have the passport issues sorted out and can go to the cottage now. It’s outside of Auckland, on the water. I think you’ll like it.’’

‘‘I’m sure I’ll love it,’’ I said, allowing him to take my hand, tightening my fingers around his as a sudden spurt of emotion filled me.

‘‘Don’t be so certain.’’ He gave me a little peek at his dimples. ‘‘It’s not up to Drake’s standards, not even up to those of the house in London I took for the winter. It’s just a modest little cottage on the beach, but it’s mine. I designed it myself.’’

‘‘Sounds like heaven to me.’’

The ride out to Manukua City didn’t take long. Gabriel and his two bodyguards chatted about sept business, plans for a meeting at which I would be formally presented, and updates on various members. I listened with only part of my attention, watching as the busy Auckland streets changed to those of suburbia, which in turn morphed into a beach community. I kept a pleasant expression on my face, determined to love Gabriel’s house, no matter what it was.

‘‘Here we are,’’ Gabriel said as the car suddenly turned into a private drive guarded by a gate. Tipene, who was driving, punched a couple of buttons on a remote, and the gate slid silently open. ‘‘My little cottage.’’

The car pulled up outside a pair of double doors. I looked at the expanse of sixteen-foot-tall glass doors, pale melon-colored stone, and tall fluted marble columns, and promptly socked Gabriel in the arm.