Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
IDALLIA
Autumn has truly set in now, and the snap in the air is even harsher as we fly toward the first peak of the Silver Moon Mountains.
I haven’t stopped smiling for hours. I bask in the sunshine, three phoenix feathers a permanent part of me now, brilliant yellow, firelit orange, and reddish-gold brushstrokes painting my skin with protective love and the strongest threads of magic that could still be woven from the fading light of a dying star. My birds are as happy as I am.
“Are you going to forgive Dad now?”
My heart tumbles wildly. Laughing, I shake my head at Sol. “Do you think I should?”
Hugging our left wing, she nods into the wind, her crest a little less thick now but as jaunty and sparking as ever.
“And what do the rest of you think?” I ask.
Rim angles a little closer to our right wing. “You don’t seem as angry anymore.”
I glance over at him. That was a nonanswer if I’ve ever heard one. I understand him, though. He chose me, but I know he misses Bale.
“If you’re ready to forgive, then forgive.” Fyrestar pauses. “Or maybe you already have.”
I have, haven’t I? I don’t think I’d be flying toward this mountain otherwise.
I finally see Bale, a dark, powerful dragon on a granite cliffside.
He turns and stares in our direction, his amber eyes reflecting the afternoon sun, and his reddish-black scales absorbing the light until he looks like a shadow cast against the wall.
Preternaturally still, he waits, watching.
He doesn’t track me like I’m prey. He tracks me like I’m everything.
We speed past him and up, landing on the summit. Huge wings flap, talons send stones cascading down the sheer rock face of the mountainside, and then he’s with us, seamlessly shifting into skin as he strides forward.
Voice rough, awed, he says, “It worked.” Stopping a few steps from me, he stares at me so hard that his gaze both burns my skin and makes me shiver. “Is it permanent?”
I loosen my cloak and tunic enough to show him at least part of each of the three feathers, ending with the one at my nape as I turn, lift my wind-tangled hair, and look over my shoulder at him.
“They’re bonded to my body. I can’t lose them, and no one can take them from me.
” I turn back around, pulling my cloak closed against the thin, cold air.
“The shielding magic was infused into the feathers and then into me when they hit daylight. It’s done, Bale. I can walk in the sun.”
His face a wreck, his hands already reaching for me, he closes the distance between us and folds me into his arms, pulling me against him.
I stiffen on reflex, then close my eyes, sigh, and sink into his warm body.
Woodsmoke and wind. Autumn leaves and pine-scented forests.
Inhaling his scent, I lift my arms and hold him back.
It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.
“I’m so proud of you,” he murmurs against my hair. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“I can’t live in Blackrock Keep anymore. I hate it.” I lift my gaze to his. “I want high mountains and furious updrafts, wild spaces and shining lakes, and…” My breath hitches. I can barely get the word out, my throat clogging with tears. “You.”
His eyes widen. A low groan sounds in his chest, then his mouth is on mine, his hands in my hair, and his kiss is everything I’ve been terrified to think about for the last two years.
I kiss him back, fiercely, passionately, and for the first time since I left Drayke Mountain, I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.