Chapter 55
Chapter
Fifty-Five
HAVEN
Who knew one tiny baby could claim my heart so quickly? Clive and Mary had brought Grace to the inn, and we’d said our teary goodbyes. Remy had tried to hide the wetness in his eyes, but I’d seen it.
Despite the hole in my heart, I was certain we’d done the right thing.
Now we were riding toward Talin on a road that would lead us past Takir.
My eyes filled at the thought of the village, but I blinked back the tears and tilted my face toward the sun.
To our left, the land dropped away into a valley cut by a frozen river.
To our right, pine forests formed a near-solid wall.
The morning was cold and crisp, and an impossibly blue sky stretched endlessly.
When I’d awakened, I’d found my filthy, torn shield’s uniform replaced by black leather leggings, buttery black leather boots, and a soft blue tunic.
Aside from the cloak that Pierce had helped me liberate, they were the nicest clothes I’d ever worn, and I couldn’t help but wonder who’d bought them for me.
Probably Zane. He’d been quiet after dinner last night, and I’d caught him staring at me with an intensity that felt almost …
protective. Possessive, even. There had been something in his eyes—something wild and barely contained.
I allowed myself a small smile. I was warm. I wasn’t hungry (not after the excellent breakfast William had fed us). And I trusted my traveling companions. I was feeling almost hopeful.
Right up until talons longer than my forearm closed around me. Their grip was crushing, and pain shot through my shoulders as I was wrenched skyward, my boots kicking uselessly at empty air.
“Haven!” Remy’s shout carried a note of something beyond fear. “Zane, get her back!”
Even as I rose higher and higher, my stomach remained on the ground, and I swallowed the urge to be violently sick.
I’d watched birds and wondered what it might feel like to fly. I had my answer. It was traumatizing.
I twisted, desperately trying to see what held me. But no matter how I craned my neck, all I could see were green scales.
I glanced downward. A mistake. Already, Buttercup looked impossibly tiny—a toy horse, not a real one. My cloak billowed around me, and the unreasonable worry that the talons that snatched me from the saddle had also torn the fabric consumed me.
The wind at this height was vicious, tearing at my hair and making my eyes stream.
A roar rattled my bones, and I caught sight of a crimson beast arrowing toward us. It was massive, with scales that gleamed like polished garnets in the morning sun.
Then came the jolt—like two enormous runaway wagons colliding. I’d seen that happen once in Grimswood. The crash had shaken houses and broken windows. Desperate children had braved the wreckage to scavenge whatever survived the accident.
I wasn’t sure anything could survive a dragon’s hit, but we kept flying, kept rising in the frigid air.
When the red dragon hit us a second time, the clash was deafening—scales scraping against scales, the wet rip of claws finding flesh, a roar that made my bones vibrate.
The hold on my shoulders loosened slightly. If the green dragon dropped me, I needed a plan.
The red dragon circled; I prepared.
A third jolt was followed by a pained snarl.
The talons released, and I fell.
For an instant, my heart stopped. The ground, which had seemed so very far away, rushed to meet me. Panic froze my thoughts, and precious seconds slipped by before I remembered I could control the wind. I conjured a gust to slow my descent.
No longer in danger of crashing to earth, I dared look up.
Above me, two dragons battled. The red dragon fought with startling precision, each strike deliberate and controlled. It sank its fangs into the green’s neck.
The green dragon scored the red’s chest, and blood sprayed. Dragon blood had a scent—metallic like human blood, but with an underlying sulfur tang that burned my nostrils.
Dragons were real. I’d hoped Gladys’s pool had lied.
The red dragon stared at me with golden eyes, and my concentration faltered. I plummeted toward the frozen earth.
Desperately, I tried to call the wind. But I was too shocked by what I’d seen in the red dragon’s eyes to conjure more than a soft breeze.
Meanwhile, the rushing air brought tears to my eyes as the ground grew ever closer.
Below me, Remy was near enough for me to see the horrified expression on his face. He raised his hands, and I stopped. In midair. Stopped. As if gravity didn’t exist.
I floated in a bubble of safety. A bubble that eased me toward the ground.
I landed in Remy’s waiting arms, my entire body shaking. For once, the shivers racking my body weren’t from the cold. Instead, the bone-deep terror of nearly dying had me shaking like a leaf. My hands wouldn’t stop trembling, so I shoved them into my pockets to hide the tremors.
“Are you hurt?” He patted his hands over my body, searching, desperate.
“I’m fine.” The lie came automatically. I wasn’t fine. I could still feel the horrifying realization that a dragon had dragged me off my horse, the sickening lurch of falling, and the moment when I’d thought I was going to die. My eyes returned to the sky.
Above us, the dragons still fought, but it was easy to see the red would win. The green dragon had a tear in its left wing and a deep gash in its throat.
The green whipped its spiked tail toward the red, earning a deep score through its scales.
Remy stiffened. “That’s all right. He’ll be fine. Whoever that is, he was a fool to antagonize Zane.”
Something inside me went still. “Zane?”
“The red dragon. He’s been worried about telling you. Being bound to a dragon is … a lot.”
Zane was a mythical beast. I mean, why not? The fates were meddling. My mother was still alive. I was Destiny’s champion. And, according to visions I most definitely did not want, I was meant for six men. One of whom held me now. I couldn’t help it; I laughed. And once I started, I couldn’t stop.
“Haven?” Remy sounded alarmed.
I took a quick breath, but the laughter kept bubbling from a bottomless well. Tears rolled freely down my cheeks. My mouth stretched into a rictus grin. My stomach actually hurt with each fresh guffaw. “A dragon?”
He nodded, his face serious.
“What are you? A griffin?”
“Just a prince.”
A prince was holding me in his arms. And I didn’t hate it. The laughter finally died, leaving me hollow and wrung out. I’d almost died. Again. How many times could I tempt death before my luck ran out? My chest felt tight, and each breath seemed harder to draw than the last.
“Haven?” Remy’s voice seemed to come from very far away. I looked at him—really looked—and something cracked inside me. He was here. Solid. Real. He’d saved me when I couldn’t save myself.
A violent screech returned my attention to the sky.
The limp green dragon plunged toward the ground.
“Will it survive?”
He shrugged. “Dragons are tough.”
Its enormous body thudded into the earth, shaking the ground beneath our feet.
“It survived that?”
Above us, Zane trumpeted his triumph.
Remy allowed himself a grin. Brutal, nearly feral, his grin launched an army of butterflies in my stomach. Then he shrugged. “Probably not.”
For a long moment, neither of us said a word. I was processing that I was still alive. He was holding me like I might disappear. The solid warmth of his arms around me was the only thing that felt real after the surreal terror of being airborne.
“You saved me,” I whispered.
“Always,” he said, and the rough promise in his voice made my breath catch.
That was when I became aware of how close we were. His arms were still around me. And the adrenaline coursing through my veins was transforming into something else entirely. “You can put me down now.” Somehow, I kept my voice steady.
The expression in his eyes was … heated. “And if I don’t want to?”
My heart stuttered. It had been so much easier to keep Remy at arm’s length when he was an asshole. I stared into his eyes, and our breaths mingled. I should insist that he put me down. I didn’t. Instead, I lifted my head until our lips brushed.
He caught the back of my head and took control.
A slow, honeyed warmth enveloped my body. I liked his kisses. I wanted more.
My lips parted, and his tongue tangled with mine. Challenging. Claiming. Demanding.
The slow warmth morphed into blistering heat, and my hands closed on his shoulders.
We were lost in each other. Taste. Sensation. Need.
I mewled. A sound that had never, ever escaped my lips before.
Remy’s body stiffened, and his lips pulled away from mine.
“Don’t stop.” I blinked my eyes open.
A dagger pressed against Remy’s neck, and a trickle of blood disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt.
“Put her down,” Teal demanded. “Now.”