Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
FINLEY
I couldn’t lift my gaze. My boots blurred beneath me, but I still felt every pair of eyes on me.
Heavy. Searching. Afraid. Yesterday, I’d believed I could belong.
Kassidy’s family had drawn me into their dance.
Brenton had held me close in the quiet of his tent.
Now all I felt was the weight of the dead pressing into me.
“It’s not safe for me to stay in Vistos.” My voice scraped out, thin and raw, those few words costing me what little strength I had left.
Willow’s sharp inhale broke the quiet. “We need you, Finley. The other dragons. Your magic can still heal them.”
My throat closed. The thought of reaching for any part of my magic turned my stomach. Hadn’t I already destroyed enough? I shook my head.
Before I could force the refusal out, Brenton stepped in, his voice fierce and firm.
“We’ll discuss this later.” His hand brushed against mine, and this time, I grasped it.
He turned to me, his hazel eyes steadying me.
“We’ll go somewhere you feel safe.” His soft tone wrapped around me like an embrace.
For a few beats, I wanted to let him. Gods, I wanted to let him. But there was nowhere I could go that would keep anyone safe. Not if the orb’s wielder could reach through me. Not if I couldn’t even protect Brenton from myself.
“You’re our only chance.” Kassidy’s hand circled my wrist.
I hissed, flinching away as I drew my arms tightly around myself and ensured my magic was wound just as tight.
Kassidy turned her gaze to Brenton. “If she leaves, we lose everything.”
“I will not lose her.” His rough voice cut through Kassidy’s desperation. “I am sorry for what you lost today, but you could pile your dead at my feet, and I’d still choose her.”
His words lanced through me, and my chest cracked under the weight of them.
Their voices blurred after that, a buzzing noise I couldn’t bear.
I curled further inward, each breath ragged.
The world narrowed to the thud of my heart, the memory of dragons dropping from the sky, lying lifeless with their riders beneath them, the certainty that I was a danger to everyone. Even him. Especially him.
Hoshiko’s magic brushed against my mind. “A barrier surrounds Vistos so that magic can neither leave nor enter. There is an island off our coast you can go to. The wielder cannot reach you from there.”
“How would I get there?” I asked, and even in my head, my voice sounded small.
“Sama, Everly, and Javier are preparing a boat for you with supplies,” he said. “Take a day or two to steady yourself, but Willow is right. We need you, Finley. Without you, the wielder will continue her attacks, and the dragon race will cease.”
Escape felt like a surrender, but it was the only mercy I could offer the people and dragons of Vistos. The only mercy I could offer myself.
My throat closed. I forced down the burn of tears until the words surged from within me. “With me, the dragons will continue to die.”
Since the moment I’d met him, Hoshiko had distrusted me, his loyalty to Brenton hardening his feelings for me. But now his voice lowered, a vow more than reassurance. “We’ll find the wielder.” His shadow swept across us as he flew overhead. “Until then, we’ll find a way to block you from them.”
The bond between Brenton and me thrummed with his grief pouring through me, yet his fingers tightened around me in comfort. Gods, inside he was breaking, his devastation matching my own.
Without uttering another word, Brenton tugged my hand, leading us away from Kassidy and the cave and toward a path that wound to the sea. I stumbled after him, afraid that if I fell, I’d never be able to rise again.
Hoshiko landed behind us in a rush of wind.
When Kassidy called to me, his answering snarl split the air.
The ground shook beneath the weight of his growl, flowers trembling as if even the earth understood his warning.
For some unknown reason, despite my failure in helping the dragons, despite my magic causing so much death, I was under his protection.
“You will remain under my protection until the day I fall,” he said, his tone gruff.
The threatening tears built. “You will not die.”
“We all must die someday.”
I dropped my gaze to the green blades that were too vivid, to the wildflowers that were too bright.
Life still thrived here, indifferent to the carnage that haunted me.
Yet all I could see, layered across every petal and stem, were the broken bodies of dragons strewn across the island.
Mighty wings torn. Necks twisted in unnatural angles.
Creatures meant for the sky, now forever grounded because of me. And their riders, dead beside them.
The path widened as we reached the calm bay. Each step should have eased me as we drew farther from the dragon riders’ condemning eyes, farther from the dead and silence. But it only made the truth sharper. I wasn’t walking toward freedom. I was walking toward defeat.
Brenton’s grip never loosened. He stayed with me, steadying me, holding me upright, while inside, I continued to crumble.
Ahead, a wooden boat bobbed against the shore. Javier worked on a coil of rope while Everly checked provisions.
The wind tugged at my hair as I turned to Brenton. “You shouldn’t come with me,” I said, my voice quieter than ever before. “It’ll be safer for you if you stay.”
His answering growl rumbled so deep it vibrated through my bones. Not at me. Never at me. But at the thought. At the insult that I could ever believe he’d leave me to face this on my own. His hand ran up my arm. Steady, possessive, certain. “I go where you go.” His voice was low and final.
I didn’t have it in me to argue anyway. And selfishly, I was relieved he was coming with me.
My throat burned as I held his gaze. Through our bond, his confidence thundered against my fear.
Behind us, Hoshiko landed again, positioning himself against Kassidy’s distant voice and us. At least, she’d stopped calling my name and hadn’t followed us. Hoshiko remained quiet, but his presence felt like an anchor.
He was here. He’d see me safe, even if he couldn’t come with me.
“I’d go with you if I could,” he said in my mind.
Tears fell at the gentleness in his tone and the care behind his yellow eyes.
Still holding my hand, Brenton turned to face his dragon, his eyes a storm of black. “I know you would. You’re as much Finley’s best friend as you are mine.”
The truth in Brenton’s words tore across my chest. Hoshiko and I hadn’t known each other very long, but in that short time, he’d looked out for me and taken care of me. And I had to do the same for him.
“We won’t be gone long,” I told Hoshiko, my voice steadier than I thought it’d be. “I’ll-we’ll figure something out so that I’m not a danger to the dragons, and we can help you and yours. I swear it, Hoshiko.”
“I know you will, Finley,” he answered, lowering his head to press against my stomach. I ran my hand across the smooth surface of his face. “You have my trust and my respect.”
Words caught in my throat, and unable to speak any of them, I simply nodded.
I looked toward the boat bobbing against the small waves. Its weathered wood and tied sails were nothing more than a vessel. But to me, it was more. It was a line drawn between who I was and who I had to become if there was any hope of saving what remained of the dragons.