11. Calista
11
CALISTA
When I returned to the forest, my uncle had improved.
He was on his feet again, carrying the weight of his armor and sword, the side of his skull still visible because the hair grew back slowly. His eyes lit up when I approached, just the way my father’s used to. “I’m happy to see you’ve returned.”
Now I was divided in two, living in two different lands, my heart in two different places. “I came to speak with you. I need help with something.”
“I’m listening.” He stood outside the palace near the statues. The queen must be inside or stationed somewhere else in the forest.
“Would it be possible for you to arrange a meeting with us and Queen Eldinar?”
The light started to fade in his eyes. “Specify us .”
“Talon and me.”
“Talon?”
“The Death King.” I hadn’t referred to him in that way in a very long time. Despite his unquestionable powers, that wasn’t how I viewed him. I saw a handsome man with a broken soul, no different from me.
“I think everything’s been said, Calista.”
“Not for us.”
He drew in a slow breath and released it as a frustrated sigh. “Queen Eldinar will never reveal the location of the dragons—let alone to him. This is a fruitless endeavor. And I certainly won’t betray my queen and my people—not even for you.”
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for the dragons. I think it’s noble and heroic. But I think the dragons deserve to know what’s happened across the sea, that their kin have been enslaved by dark magic, and their minds and bodies are no longer their own. It’s wrong to hide this from them.”
“I understand, Calista. But once people know where these dragons are, they’ll try to enslave them too. If the Death King propositions them and they refuse, he’ll just take them by force?—”
“He would never do that.”
“Have you already forgotten what he’s taken from you?” he asked coldly. “I know you’re young, but I didn’t think you were this na?ve.”
I stumbled for a moment, memories flashing across my mind. “I know he would never do that to the dragons. I’ve witnessed his kindness firsthand. Khazmuda is fused with him because that’s what he wishes. Talon already found Inferno in the wild once before, and when he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he let him be. He wouldn’t enslave the creatures he’s vowed to free.”
My uncle watched me with judgment in his eyes.
“I’d stake my life on it.”
He gave another heavy sigh. “And I thought my love didn’t make sense…”
“All we’re asking is for the chance to speak with them. That’s all. If they say no, then so be it.”
He looked away and stared into the tree line. “I can ask the queen if one of the guardians can plead your case.”
“It needs to be us,” I said. “They need to see who they’re fighting with.”
“That will never happen, Calista.”
“Uncle Ezra…” It was the first time I’d called him that, and I felt the love in my heart as I referred to him with such affection. “Please.” I looked into his eyes and pleaded. “I understand you can’t tell me where they are, and I would never want to put you in that position. But just get me an audience with the queen so we can speak with her…please.”
Affection burned in his eyes as he looked at me, but there was also strain, strain caused by the request. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“Will you return to the forest?”
I wanted to show Talon the beautiful forest, my tree house where our minds had touched, show him the fireflies in the dark. But I knew he would never be welcomed here. “No. Not unless he can come with me.”
I left the forest and approached the campsite.
Khazmuda had returned, his scales brilliant in the dying light. Pretty.
I missed you . I moved to one of his massive legs and hugged it, my head resting against his smooth scales.
He dipped his head and rubbed the soft side of his snout against my head, handling me with the utmost gentleness. And I you.
I pulled away and saw Talon sitting on a log by the fire, looking at me with that same look he always gave me.
He patted his thigh and beckoned me toward him with a nod.
I walked over and felt him grab me, position me across his lap and hold me close. His kiss moved to my hairline, just above my ear, and his strong arms cocooned me against his chest. He didn’t ask how the conversation went, just sat there with me, his lips resting against my temple.
My arm circled his neck, and I leaned against him, closing my eyes because I felt such peace when I was with him, when he held me like this, when we were this close, our souls almost touching.
We sat like that for a long time, his eyes on the fire, my eyes on the dark horizon.
Khazmuda lay in front of the fire and closed his eyes once twilight arrived.
Talon broke the silence. “What did he say?”
“He said he would try.”
He gave a slight nod.
“But she’s ferocious. I’m not sure even her husband can persuade her.”
“We’ll know soon enough.”
“He said he might be able to get a guardian to share our message with the dragons, but I told him I wanted the words to come from us. But that can be a backup plan if we need it.”
“You can’t ask someone to serve you if they’ve never seen your face. That’s not how it works. And someone else would never convey the urgency in the matter. They need to see me—and Khazmuda.”
“Yes.” My fingers moved through his short hair, feeling the strands I only touched when we made love. We’d never shared affection outside of intimacy, but now we held each other fully clothed, under the starlight.
“Let’s go to bed. Perhaps we’ll have our answer in the morning.” He rose to his feet and lifted me with him, carrying me with our chests together, making me feel like a feather on the wind.
“I’m not tired.”
He smirked slightly as he looked at me. “Neither am I.”
When I woke up the next morning, Talon was gone from the tent.
I dressed then stepped outside, finding the campfire cold and vacant.
Khazmuda was there, eyes closed as he enjoyed the sunshine. I like that it’s warmer here. Reminds me of home.
“I hope I get to see it soon.”
It’ll be ravaged by war and tyranny, no longer the beautiful place I remember as a hatchling.
“But it’ll still be home…always be home.” I looked around at the scenery, hoping to see Talon nearby.
He went hunting .
“Oh.”
It was my turn to sleep in.
I grabbed new logs for the campfire and lit it with the match I found in Talon’s pack. The flames came to life and provided an extra layer of warmth we didn’t need.
Talon returned moments later, but he didn’t have an animal carcass over his shoulder. He carried a sack instead. “I found some potatoes and mushrooms.” He kneeled down by the campfire and washed them with water from his canteen before he started to slice the potatoes.
And what am I supposed to eat?
“There was no game,” Talon said.
There was no game, or you didn’t look?
“I don’t think it’s wise to cook a deer when Queen Eldinar can emerge from the trees any moment.”
We’re not feeding from their forest.
“Even so, it’s unwise to provoke them when we’re at their mercy.” He finished skinning the potatoes then chopped them up into pieces before he tossed them in the skillet with the mushrooms. The veggies started to sizzle.
I’m not a rabbit, so I’ll hunt myself. Khazmuda took off and soared into the sky.
Talon stared at the fire for a while before he looked at me. “How’d you sleep?”
“Like a rock.” I slept better on the hard ground next to him than I had in my soft mattress in the tree house. I’d never felt so warm and safe, felt more at peace.
He gave a slight nod and looked at the fire again.
Minutes later, footsteps sounded in the distance.
Talon was the first one to notice, and he rose to his feet to turn toward the forest.
I got to my feet and followed his stare, seeing Queen Eldinar accompanied by Uncle Ezra and a dozen armed soldiers brought for her protection. Rather than wear her pristine gown, she was in her armor, which had been cleaned after the battle.
Talon stared at them before he approached.
“Your sword.” Ezra moved ahead, keeping his queen behind him.
Talon hesitated before he removed his blade from the scabbard and tossed it twenty feet away, where it landed on the grass. He dropped his quiver of arrows and set them to the side as well. He even removed his dagger from his belt and threw it into the dirt, where the hilt protruded from the soil.
Ezra stepped aside so Queen Eldinar could approach.
“I told you I have no ill will toward your people,” Talon said. “Calista has deep affection for you, and since I have deep affection for her, you’re immune from my wrath.”
Queen Eldinar approached him and dismissed what he said. “I only stand here at the request of my husband. He tells me you wish to know the location of the dragons to ask them to fight in your great battle, a battle that doesn’t concern the last free dragons.”
“They’re the last free dragons because the others have been violently enslaved,” Talon said calmly. “I think they have the right to know that. To hide this knowledge from them is an abuse of power in itself.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“They have the right to know,” he repeated. “And to make that choice themselves.”
“Don’t pretend your intentions are altruistic.”
“They’re symbiotic,” he said. “I need to avenge my family. Khazmuda needs to free his kin. We will work together until both missions are fulfilled. I’m just as committed to his cause as he is to mine.”
The breeze blew through her golden hair, moving about her in a beautiful way.
“Allow me to seek their audience,” Talon said. “Let them decide.”
“And if they say no?” she asked.
“Then they say no.”
“Really?” she challenged. “And you would just leave it at that?”
“I wouldn’t coerce a dragon, if that’s what you’re asking. You can ask Inferno yourself. I asked him for help twice. The first time, he said no—and I let him be. Years later, I pursued him again in the hope that his loneliness had changed his mind. And it had. I’m not a monster, but a man who’s had to do horrible things to survive. There’s a big difference.”
“I see no difference,” she said coldly. “Monsters are born in the dark—and you’re the same way.”
Talon didn’t refute her claims. “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind.”
She stared at Talon with the same confidence he stared at her, the two monarchs equally matched in ferocity. “I have something to offer you—an exchange.”
My skin prickled.
“Yes?” Talon asked.
She looked to Ezra.
He stepped forward. “Our forest is deep and vast. It’s home to more than elves…but darker creatures that have threatened our borders for millennium. The Behemoth attack has stirred them, and our scouts report a congregation of the enemy. We know what they seek, and they must be stopped at all costs.”
“You want me to defeat them.” Talon said it more to himself than to everyone else.
“We want your aid in this fight,” Ezra said. “They’re dark elves, so no easy opponent.”
“And in exchange?” Talon asked.
The queen spoke again. “We will escort Calista blindfolded to Thalian—and she can make your plea to the dragons.”
It wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but it was better than nothing.
“What do the dark elves seek?” Talon asked.
The queen was quiet for a long time. “They want Riviana, God of Caelum.”
I thought of the redheaded god I’d seen, the way she glowed with the light of a thousand suns, her beauty and power unmatched.
“How many dark elves?” Talon asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Ezra said. “But several thousand.”
“How do they differ from you?” Talon asked.
“They match our strength and swiftness,” Ezra said. “And our intelligence. But they’ve been cursed and exiled from our lands, so they lack honor and empathy. They want revenge for what’s been taken from them, so they seek to destroy the afterlife.”
“Why?” Talon asked.
“Because they’ve been excluded from it,” the queen said. “For their crimes against us…and one another.”
“Then this is no easy foe,” Talon said. “This campaign won’t be brief, which only distracts me from the battle that awaits me. Not only that, but I will risk my life for a cause that’s not my own. The price of that is you are to escort both of us, Calista and me, to Thalian for us to plead our case. Blindfold us if you wish, but we go together.”
The queen held his gaze before she turned to Ezra.
Ezra’s eyes flicked to me before he looked at his queen.
They seemed to have a conversation in silence.
Then the queen looked at Talon again. “I accept your terms, Death King.”