After days of hard riding, Leo finally had a real bed again.
He took a long, hot bath, then stretched out on the goose-down mattress and slept like the dead through the afternoon.
When he woke at dusk, he gathered his six retainers and treated them to the best meal the Sapphire Inn could offer.
The food was excellent—probably as good as anything the royal kitchens served—but it still couldn't touch the modern, game-enhanced meals Leo could pull from his bag. He ate quietly, showing no real excitement, and even frowned at a couple of the heavier dishes.
His men, on the other hand, devoured everything like starving wolves. This was the finest spread they had ever tasted in their lives. They kept shooting Leo grateful looks, more convinced than ever that they had picked the right lord.
The farmers he had hired got thick bowls of stew and fresh bread in the servants' quarters. They couldn't stop singing his praises either.
After dinner Leo sent everyone away and told Varyn to post guards at the courtyard gate—no one was to come near. Then he returned to his private room.
He opened the Collections tab and spoke to the empty chamber as if talking to himself. "Want to come out and stretch your wings?"
A voice only he could hear snarled back, "You filthy human! You dare imprison the noble Black Dragon Princess? I will never forgive you!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know you won't," Leo muttered, rolling his eyes. This dragon's temper was still nuclear.
"But have you figured out the situation yet? Is this really prison? Do I even have the power to keep you locked up?"
"I've explained this a dozen times. You were a dragon in a game from my world. I farmed your reins and made you my mount. Then some weird force yanked us both here. I'm pissed about it too. I'm just as lost as you are. I want to go home!"
"The truth is we're stuck together. We're on the same rope now—two ants tied to the same blade of grass. Do you get that?"
Onyxia fell silent.
She was still trapped inside his Collections tab—the same Onyxia he had summoned once before. She had roared at him, refused every explanation, and he had been forced to dismiss her. Later he discovered he could talk to her through the system whenever he reached out. If he didn't start the conversation, her curses stayed locked away.
Now that things had quieted down, he figured it was worth another try.
Her silence gave him hope.
He tried again, softer. "The space you're in… it's probably empty, right? Nothing but darkness. Don't you feel lonely in there? Want to come out for some air?"
No answer.
"Ony—"
"Don't say that name!" Onyxia's roar cut him off.
"Okay, fine." Leo spread his hands. "I can't just keep calling you 'you.' I need something to call you."
A cold snort came through. Then, grudgingly: "You may call me Katrana Presto. You know that name—it's the one I used when I walked among humans."
"Got it. Katrana."
"Who gave you permission to shorten it? Use the full name!" Her voice rose again.
"That's a mouthful," Leo complained, then changed tack. "You know, when people asked my surname I told them it was Presto."
"My real name is Leo—Li Ao in my old world. The naming customs here are different, so I borrowed yours to blend in. What do you think?"
Another icy snort. "I think it's irrelevant. Call yourself whatever you want. Why are you even telling me this?"
"Because it's not irrelevant." Leo slipped into the smooth tone he used to use when talking to girlfriends back on Earth. "I chose that name on purpose. I knew it was yours when you took human form. I figured… if we share the same surname, it's like we're family. Every time someone says it, I think of you."
"I see you as the only person in this strange world I can actually trust."
Family?
The only person he could trust?
Inside the empty void of the Collections tab, Onyxia froze. She hadn't heard the word "family" in a very long time.
Trust…
Her father was the Black Dragonflight's Deathwing. Her brother was Nefarian. Both had inherited their father's cunning and ambition. Together they carried out the Twilight Dragonflight's plan to wipe out all life in Azeroth so the black dragons could rule.
Onyxia had posed as Lady Katrana Presto in Stormwind, stirring up trouble to weaken the Alliance. The plan failed. She died in her lair in Dustwallow Marsh, and her head ended up mounted in Stormwind's square.
Her father had treated her as nothing more than a tool. Her brother was a controlling obsessive who, even after her death, stitched her skull back onto another dragon's body with mechanical parts and dark magic to create a puppet.
To Onyxia, "family" had only ever meant manipulation and control. Never warmth. Never real love.
Her roar exploded through the link.
"Never speak the word 'family' to me again! You will not control me either!"
"I would rather rot forever in this endless void than trust anyone—especially you, you wretched human!"
No matter how Leo called to her after that, Onyxia stayed completely silent.