Chapter 36
Reyla
Ice churned up to form an icy wall, and when it collapsed, Naveer was gone.
Without naming it, we opted to ignore her threat and focus on the task at hand.
“At least we know no one else has found the blossom yet,” Lore said dryly as we left the meadow and strode onto another path.
“One frostwilla blossom left, but where is it?” I asked, studying the landscape but not seeing a blossom like the one she’d held.
“We’ll find it.”
A scream echoed from our right, the sound jolting through me.
About the dragon, Lore said as we slowed to study each garden we passed.
I’m listening.
We stepped carefully, our boots crunching on the slick surface of the wide, flat stones that wound in a meandering path through the frozen garden. They gleamed with shadows trapped beneath their glassy surfaces, shifting silhouettes that moved only when you weren’t looking directly at them.
That dragon saved your life back in the labyrinth when your arm was infected, Lore said.
You’d passed out. You were barely breathing.
I knew that you were dying, Wildfire. So I begged.
His solemn gaze met mine. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep you safe.
Anything I wouldn’t give to heal you. I tipped my head back and offered everything as long as you lived. And you did.
Stopping on the winding path, I stood on my toes and stroked his face. Curled my finger to bring his face nearer to mine.
His skin felt cold, but the heat beneath it hummed as steady as a forge. I drew him down until our foreheads touched, stroking my fingertip across the scar on his cheek. His eyes burned into mine with the kind of fire you could fall into and never want to crawl out of.
“You offered everything.” My breath misted between us. “You didn’t tell me.” I’d asked in the labyrinth. He’d evaded answering.
“Losing you isn't a choice I can live with.”
“There should be no secrets between us.”
“I’m sorry. I planned to tell you soon.”
I couldn’t be mad, not when I would do the same thing. Whatever deal he’d made, whatever promise he’d spoken, he’d done it for me.
And I loved him even more for it.
I kissed him, letting it bloom between us. His mouth met mine with a restraint that only made me ache even more. The cold fell away. There was only the shape of him, the taste of him.
He slid his hand along the back of my neck, pulling me closer as his other arm wrapped around my waist, drawing me flush against his chest. I melted into him, let him devour me until his kiss stopped being gentle. Until it turned hungry.
I gasped into his mouth when his teeth grazed my lower lip, and he caught that sound with a low groan that vibrated all the way through me. I tightened my grip on his cloak, and the world around us vanished.
When he lifted his head, the frost around us glittered like stars, embers held in suspension. He stroked his hand up my spine, leaving fire in its wake. The other hand tangled in my hair, holding tight.
“Anything, Wildfire. Everything. For all our days and beyond.”
“Evermore,” I breathed.
“Evermore,” he agreed, stroking my jaw. “My magnificent, stubborn wife. I’ll follow you into fire or through this frost-laden wasteland for one taste of your mouth.”
“I’m not that good a kisser.”
“I get to decide that, and you are. Don’t forget that.”
“Never. In this life or whatever comes after, I'm yours completely.”
Wrapping his hand around my throat, he dragged me close and kissed me hard, putting all his love and desperation into the kiss.
I moaned and pressed against him, wishing we could be anywhere but here, alone and free to do whatever we pleased without the weight of the curse and this wretched world shoving down on us.
When he lifted his head, he stroked away the tightness of his grip on my throat and studied my eyes. Then his fingers slid down my arms to take my hands and squeeze them. “Your hands are freezing, wife.”
“I lost my gloves. You can warm them.”
His grip tightened, sending heat spiraling up my arm. “Always.” Swirling fragments of heat from the air around us, he formed a mass and encased me in it.
We started walking again, Farris trotting ahead to pause and look back, making sure we followed.
The garden's beauty couldn't distract me from the questions burning in my mind. If I was right about the dragons, we didn’t know everything we needed to about the curse.
We’ve seen a lot of dragons lately, I said. Someone I know well and adore very much recently told me that dragons weren’t playing any role in our lives.
I should listen to my wife at all times. Humor rang in his voice. She's brilliant, deadly, and unfortunately always right.
Unfortunately? I arched an eyebrow.
Devastatingly. It's one of the many reasons I'm completely enthralled by you.
You should be.
His lips quirked up on one side. Duly noted, wife.
Farris’s head swung one way, then the other, before returning to point forward. His nose twitched and his tail spiked out.
Flowerbeds flanked our path, each blossom a masterwork of frost and magic. Violet petals etched with silver, starbursts ringed in translucent spines, vines that shifted from rose gold to dusky violet with our movement.
What did you promise? I asked.
Remember that tiny blade, the one the Halendor librarian gave you?
Got it. I patted my pocket where it and the other two talismans rested. I didn’t dare leave them behind.
The first image in the cave showed dragons encircling a fae king, with the dragons warding off monstrous shapes. The second showed the same fae king and a dragon bowing in submission. The third showed the king—
An Evergorne king.
I’ll concede you could be right in this as well.
My snort rang out. He held the blade against his arm. Blood was spilling from the wound and the dragon was bowing. Remember, the village elder said the borgons want their history back. Their purpose.
Borgons aren’t dragons.
I came to a halt on the path and looked up at him. “But what if they are? Everyone’s warped by the curse. I bet the dragons were too.”
“You think they’re now borgons.”
“Yup. A borgon bowed to you in the marketplace after one of the others nearly killed you. In the library, I read that dragons had once been a vital part of Evergorne's defense.”
He hummed, clearly considering my words, and we continued walking.
The scent here wasn’t what I expected. No earthy loam or decay. Instead, the air held the sharpness of winter mixed with something faintly floral, like frozen lilacs threaded through with the metallic tang of ancient magic. It stung my nose but made my pulse quicken at the same time.
“Your crest is dragons, not ravens,” I said. “I’ve said it before, but I feel like they’re waiting to breathe again.”
A tic bloomed on his temple. “You think it all ties together.”
“I know it does.” I pressed the hilt of my dagger to my chest. “In here. I think our protective dragon feels the same.”
“Hmm.”
“Exactly what did you promise?”
“That I would do whatever she asked.”
“And now she’s told you that it’s nearly time. Bring the blade with you.” I sucked in a breath and spit out what I’d read not long ago. “The elder scales, the crown’s first claim, together bled, bound flame to name. Through kin of sky and earth combined, a kingdom renewed. A fate aligned.”
“That’s from Ember’s Shadow.”
I nodded. “We didn’t understand it then, but we do now. Bleed for the dragon and align your fate.” I continued to quote from the book. “Where rivers twist, and shadows flow, a pledge of twin-born hearts was cast. You were once twin-born hearts.”
“Until you healed me.”
I stroked his face. “I believe it’s time for you and that dragon to heal the past. Only then can we find a future.”
Again, my wife is right.
My grin came out crooked. Duly noted.
With a yip, Farris raced ahead, entering a wide stone courtyard surrounded by low, icy hedges and skeletal flowering vines.
Lore’s gaze swept the area before homing in to where Farris stood beside a raised flowerbed, wagging his tail. He whined and peered over his shoulder at us.
“Frostwilla,” Lore whispered as we approached the nyxin. “Farris found the plant.”
As we drew closer, I saw what had killed the competitors scattered around the flowerbed.
The silver plant wasn’t just beautiful.
It was feeding Naveer’s insatiable craving.