31. Chapter 31 #2
Her mind yearned for her to ask, but she reminded herself it was a moot point. There was no way Daxton caught up to Fotios. That he wasn’t there, and the other dragons didn’t seem worried told her enough not to ask.
“I came here for dragon fire. Nothing more.”
Silas stepped in front of her, cutting off her entry. “You being back doesn’t matter to me. But it matters to Serephina. We’ll help you with your dragon fire—no question. Just don’t walk in there and treat her like leverage. She deserves more than that.”
His words slapped reality in her face. She’d been treating this whole encounter like a professional transaction—an emotional shield to keep her pain at bay. Silas was asking her to break that wall down for Serephina.
But she couldn’t afford that, and so stared him down.
Silas sighed and moved out of her way. “I’ll be here when you’re finished.”
She walked through the double doors on the opposite side of the barracks. A small hallway opened to an auditorium-sized room with curtains separating the beds.
Serephina lay in the bed of the first cubicle she entered.
Laying with her eyes closed, Serephina had cuts and bruises blemishing the left side of her face and down past a neck brace.
Her right arm lay in a sling across her chest. Silas’s words weren’t needed.
There was no way to combat the guilt that collected at the back of her throat.
“Is that coffee I smell?” Serephina perked up, nose lifting slightly before her eyes fluttered open. “I wasn’t expecting you to visit.”
Izzy’s neck heated. “I can leave if you—”
“No. No. Stay. You just surprised me. Especially since you brought me coffee, and something else?”
Izzy set the thermos on the tray table suspended over the bed and pulled out one container. “Pancakes. One for you and one for me.”
Serephina’s eyes widened. “Wait. You’re going to eat with me? I should get injured more often.”
Izzy placed the open container next to the coffee. The mound of whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate chips on top made Izzy’s stomach gurgle.
Serephina gasped. “You know my favorite?”
Izzy shrugged. “You eat this every morning.”
Serephina flashed her tongue at Izzy and dug into her pancakes using her free hand. Izzy opened her container and enjoyed a buttery bite, thinking it might be her last one for a while. One of Serephina’s red curls almost dipped into the whipped cream, but she swatted it back.
“Jamal and I missed the Tattered One’s trap,” Serephina said, staring at her plate.
Izzy sat in silence, letting Serephina know she was there, but not pushing her for more.
“When Jamal petrified the Tattered One, it set off the bomb.” Her face scrunched with focus. “All I remember was racing toward him.”
“Jamal said you saved his life.”
“Yeah.” Serephina offered a small smile as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Izzy’s stomach twinged. “How are you doing?”
“I’m sick of lying in bed. I want to fly.” She gazed up and swallowed. “But Sarah said…”
The pain in Serephina’s voice ravaged Izzy’s insides, especially when she too understood what flight meant to beings like them.
Izzy touched Serephina’s stiff arm. “Would you let me heal you more? At least attempt to get your wings in better shape?”
Eyes narrowed, Serephina nodded her head.
“It’s going to get cold.” Izzy’s back prickled as she drew the power from her feathers.
As she targeted Serephina’s back and arm, all of Izzy’s feathers tingled.
She’d have to use all of them to pull her back through time.
Logic told her that she needed to save them to trap Fotios, but Serephina’s hopeful expression battled for her heart.
Burning agony stretched across her wings and back. All her feathers littered the ground, but she didn’t regret a single one. Izzy hissed and dropped her head into Serephina’s mattress.
Serephina’s arm turned frigid, and her teeth chattered. “D-did you t-turn me into a p-p-penguin? I feel like I just got back from Antarctica.”
Izzy let loose a belly laugh into the covers. Serephina joined her. They sobered to a subdued silence, and Izzy lifted her head. The bruises still marred Serephina’s face, but the pain lines had receded.
Serephina sighed. “You should do that more often.”
“What?”
“Laugh,” she said. “I didn’t think you could.”
Izzy smiled shyly. When was the last time she’d laughed like that? It felt nice.
“I did what I could,” Izzy said. “You still need to recover, but your injuries shouldn’t affect your flying.” Izzy stepped on her feathers to destroy them.
“I can feel a difference already. Thank you.” Her glistening eyes made Izzy’s heart ache. “Are you okay? Now you look worse than me.”
“It’s nothing.” It isn’t the first time I’ve lost all my feathers.
Serephina wiped at her eyes. “It didn’t look like nothing, but I appreciate it.”
Izzy gave her a tight grin.
“I have a silly question,” Serephina said. “Are there male Fallen?”
“Only a few of them I know aren’t Archfiends—Tattered Ones. But it’s been a while since I’ve spoken to any of them.”
Serephina frowned.
Curiosity got the better of Izzy. “Why? Would you be interested?”
She snorted. “My brothers would have a field day. They can’t get it that I’m past my first century and don’t need babysitters.”
“They probably don’t want their sibling getting hurt. Imagine lifetimes of mistakes they can’t stand to see you repeat.”
“It’s still my life to mess up without interference from them,” Serephina said.
“I agree, but you’ll have to figure out how to make those mistakes with two overzealous brothers.
From what I hear, you’re good at it already.
As for a man, you’ll want someone who can step up to them.
” Why am I trying to give advice when I have no room to talk?
Izzy sighed. “I’m actually envious of you.
I’ve never had a caring or protective family. ”
“Would you want a protective dragon family?”
Her chest tightened. Too scared to allow hope to fester when she needed to stick with her plan.
“Sarah,” Silas shouted. The high pitch rang with alarm.
Izzy pulled back the curtain as Sarah ran by. Silas carried Jamal under the shoulder toward a gurney. Blood dripped from a wound under his pant leg.
“What happened?” Sarah asked as her blue-emitting hands hovered over his chest. Silas lifted the man’s legs gingerly onto the bed.
Jamal’s placid skin glistened with sweat as he grimaced. “Daxton…he…” He swallowed heavily. “He attacked me.”
Time slowed as Izzy stopped breathing.
Sarah met Silas’s eyes.
Silas nodded. “I’ll gather as many Hunters as I can.”
“This can’t be happening,” Serephina said behind Izzy.
Izzy whipped around. The answer lay in Serephina’s misty eyes, but Izzy shook her head in denial. “He can’t be.”
But the gaping hole in her mind whispered the truth. Without the link, Daxton had become Lost.