Chapter 16
KORMAC
I managed to get to my feet for a few seconds before I fell on my back, the cold on my spine sucking the air from my lungs.
I’m dying…
I’m dying…
I’m—
What was that sound? Wings?
I couldn’t move to see, the deep snow my coffin.
I’m dying…
Were those the wings of death? Some said the gods came on winged beasts to carry the dead away to the next life.
I’m not ready…
A roar. A landing, the ground shaking. Something big. A winged beast to take me away. What would I do in the afterlife with all this unfinished business? I suppose every dying person said these things. There wasn’t enough time, life was cruel, all that hellpiss.
Unless I was going back to Fatumstellae.
I’m sorry, Val—
“Kormac?”
My heart stopped for a fleeting moment, then pumped a rush of heat and strength through my veins.
Did I just hear… No. Was it? Was it him?
A body wading through snow, someone coming closer.
“Kormac?” the voice called again.
Another jolt, surprise attacking my sense. “Val… Valance?” I tried, my voice more delicate than a whisper.
He appeared beside me, kicking snow onto my chest as he slammed to a halt. His silver hair billowed across his face, his dark gaze wide as it fell upon me.
“By Danu!” he cried, falling beside me. “Kormac! Oh, Kormac!” He pulled me up into his arms, pressing my face into his chest. “You’re freezing. You’re naked!” He bellowed that last part.
He scooped me out of the snow with liquid grace, the heat of his body a welcome reprieve, hurrying through the trees and snow toward a monster.
“What…” I struggled.
“A dragon,” he said, breaking into the clearing the beast waited in.
It turned its head to watch, lowering itself as if waiting to be climbed on.
“Are you…” I was going to pass out. A dragon? A real dragon? This wasn’t possible. None of it. Valance and a dragon weren’t here, not in reality. This was the death creatures come to take me away, to make my journey as pleasant as possible.
I left Valance’s arms, floating up toward the dragon on a bed of silver light. I gasped at the sudden change, looking for my prince.
He climbed the dragon quickly, taking a seat on its back before I floated down to him. He removed his cloak and caught me from the air, wrapping the material around me as I landed in front him, my back against his chest. One arm locked around my chest, his hair falling across my shoulders.
“You’re safe now,” he breathed into my ear, shivers racing across my skin.
The heat of the dragon’s body quickly got to work against the cold, everywhere tingled with the sensation of thawing.
“Is this…”
“This is real,” he said softly.
The dragon roared, making me jump.
Valance held onto me tighter.
The beast took to the sky, my head spinning from the speed of this change. Valance here, me still alive in Kormac’s body.
My body.
“I’ll find us somewhere warm, and we can talk.” His voice shook as he spoke. It sounded like there was a lump in his throat.
“You’re really here?” I asked into the bitter wind rushing past us.
“I’m here,” he whispered back.