Chapter 36
I’m soaring over Cascara once again, the wind twirling in my hair. I spin around, flying with my back to the ground to see Calais high above me, catching glimpses of her wisping between buttery clouds.
I whirl once more to peer at the ground below, an ever-growing expanse of twisting Blackwood. I can feel something. No. Someone. Down there, calling to me. Like a humming melody on the wind, repeating my name sweetly, like a honey lure.
Slowly, I descend, lower and lower, until branches bow and snap as monsters snarl and screech. Instinctively, I want to pull away, but the eldritch whisper keeps singing to me, entrancing me.
Come to me.
In the clearing ahead, a tall woman with waist-length, metallic black hair is barely visible. As I fly in her direction, the siren’s purr becomes impossible to ignore. My eyes meet her silver gaze; her skin is ghost white, sending a shiver down my neck.
Come to me.
I’m close enough I can almost make out her blood-red lips moving in the darkness cascading around her.
“Wake up!” Calais’ voice booms through my head, shooting me out of bed like an arrow.
“Celestial’s tits, why the fuck are you waking me up right now?” I scream aloud, brain still half-asleep, forgetting I’m talking to a dragon in my head. The sharp trill of my voice sends Pip scurrying under the bed.
“Meet me in the field north of your room,” Calais commands.
“You know I can’t always be at your beck and call,” I grouch.
“Yes, you can, and you will. We are bonded. We both must come when the other needs us.”
“You’re a dragon; what could you possibly need from me?”
“Stop back-sassing me, and find out,” she snips so sharply, I swear her words could cut my mind if she so pleased. I drowsily draw my body up from the bed.
“Do I need to wear armor for whatever it is that we are doing?”
“Those fire-proof basilisk scales might come in useful, along with that sour mouth of yours,” Calais snaps with sarcasm.
Alright, so I am definitely going to wear my armor this evening. I guess the time by the sun’s position, hanging low in the sky, not yet bursting with the color of sunset.
I don my winter aerial leathers lined with the softest fur and grab my special cloak from the wall. I sheathe my daggers along my ribs, my two short swords along my back.
I reach for Dream Singer, but Pip scurries up the blade, meeting my hand at the hilt.
A burst of silver light erupts, forcing me to shield my eyes from the searing pain.
Slowly, I open them to reveal a new leather bracer; it’s white and matches the golden markings of my arm perfectly.
Across it shimmers the shape of Dream Singer’s indigo blade, flaring near the hilt, now adorned with four cobalt gems.
I smile down at Pip. “Always watching, huh?”
The gems shift into eyes; two of them wink at me! A wild laugh cracks my chest. Apparently, S?las is rubbing off on him.
I hurry down the spiral stairs, taking the door on the north side of the corridor to reach a sea of golden grass.
“Hurry. I grow bored waiting for you,” Calais clips.
I’m in no mood to argue with her snarky remarks, pressing into a full sprint. I reach her impressively large leg, slinging myself up the spikes onto her back.
“You know, if you focused your powers, you could glide short distances and wouldn’t need to subject either of us to you climbing my leg.”
“Sure. Let me just add that to my endless list of things to master,” I mock dryly. And with a bend of her legs, we’re flying into the sky, her four wings lifting us up with ease.
“Where are we going?” I enquire.
“Be patient, and you will find out.”
“You can’t ever just tell me things?”
“Now, where would be the fun in that?” She snickers.
After we reach a good altitude with less turbulence, she whisks north through the clouds. I’m grateful for the heat rippling off her body as the air grows colder and colder.
The thick air of Cascara fills my lungs, no doubt what makes it easier for the great many large creatures that inhabit our world to fly. The peaks of the Dragon Spine Mountains pierce the sky like jagged fangs, dripping white in crisp snow.
She begins to dive, weaving between the lower peaks drenched with waterfalls.
We come upon a silver lake surrounded by fields of lavender, dappled in dots of fuchsia flowers.
The color combination is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, reflecting off the silver water like a moving oil painting.
A large black figure takes shape on the edge of the innermost part of the lake.
As we get closer, I recognize the shape of S?las’ dragon.
“Absolutely not. Take me back right now,” I sneer.
“I have brought you to a hallowed place. You will be respectful, or you can walk the rest of the way back,” she snarls.
I huff, knowing this is a battle I won’t win. The lake is tucked between such a rugged maze of peaks, even if I could fly without Calais, I’d still risk falling to my death.
The ground trembles as she lands. Beautiful ripples spread across the silver lake, blending the shades of purple together in an ethereal way. Tears threaten to well, its sacred beauty stealing my breath away.
I slide down Calais’ leg to find S?las lying on a magenta blanket, his upper body perched up on two carved arms. I don’t let my eyes linger on him long, rejecting my heart’s pleas to skitter at the sight of him.
But I can’t help sipping in his beauty. His face is painted with the reflection of dancing silver and purple.
He looks like an oil painting. I find myself wishing I could paint so I could capture him like this, to keep it in my heart a little longer.
It’s the most beautiful pieces that leave you shattered and whole at the same time.
I undo my jacket. Despite being in the mountains, the air is warm and muggy. Yet the cool breeze keeps the air from sticking to my skin.
“What is this place?” I ask in Calais’ direction.
“This is the sacred breeding ground of the Moonstorm dragons. The silver lake before you is called Tearfall Aether. My species is born from the magic of the Celestial Dragon’s tears.
When the chaos of lightning strikes the pool—filled with our eggs—on a full moon, we are able to hatch.
It’s a rare event, which is why I am the only one of my kind.
My clutch of eggs rests at the bottom of this lake, waiting for lightning to strike, so they may be born and finally join us. ”
There’s a beautiful sadness to her story. I can sense she dreams of a world full of young ones nipping at her feet.
I walk to the edge of the lake, touching the aether that moves like mercury through my fingers.
I hear steps come up behind me. My breath held captive by his presence.
“It’s enchanting, isn’t it?”
I ignore him, too angry at myself to speak. For letting my fears rule me; rather than face them, it’s easier to be cold and distant. And far easier than letting folk in.
I use my senses to ground me. Twirling my fingers through the aether, soaking in the way the ripples dance across the surface, swirling with every shade of purple.
The soil shifts beside me as S?las takes a seat. I will my focus to resist the urge to sink into the gravity of this inescapable pull between us.
“We don’t have to talk. As long as you listen,” a smoky voice says in my head.
I jump, practically falling into the lake, only for his shadows to wrap around my waist and tug me back to safety.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” My eyes narrow on him.
He casually sits there, his arm clasped around one leg, staring out along the aether. He’s acting like he didn’t just magically talk in my head. That fucker. Maybe all the sleep deprivation is finally rotting my brain.
“I see you can finally hear me. It doesn’t count as talking if I’m not moving my lips.” The smoky voice echoes in my mind. This time, I see the slightest smirk tug at the corner of his full lips.
“Bastard! How are you doing that?” I demand.
“Ah. Finally, she listens.” Calais’ voice booms in my head. My hands lift to my hair, tugging at the strands as I struggle to adapt to another voice in my head. Why is no one giving me any Celestial-damn answers?
“Are you going to tell me how he did that?” I pin Calais with my glare. I swear her rainbow eyes roll. The audacity of my dragon knows no bounds.
“I brought you and the Shadowmancer here to train.”
“Train in what exactly? He’s not supposed to talk in my head like you can. It’s crowded enough with the both of us in there.” I scowl.
“Are you always this petulant? Can’t you be grateful for the powers bestowed upon you?”
“Powers? This is yet another distraction that threatens our Zenith.”
“She can be narrow-minded. I’m working on it.” S?las’ smoky voice caresses my mind like warm silk. That fucking smug smirk of his tugs on my chest in a way it has no business doing.
Perhaps I should have killed him when I had the chance. Now I am stuck forever trying to resist the urge to kiss him as my sanity seems to deteriorate further.
“Clearly, you need to work harder.” Calais scowls, pointing her head in S?las’ direction.
How is this even happening? Celestials, I really hope this is not the gift of my Arcane Glyph, giving me the power to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe I’ll take that walk after all. Right off the cliff.
“No. This is a gift shared between the four of us.”
“The four of us? You mean, I’ll be able to hear S?las’ dragon, too?”
“Yes. If you would only let your walls down to listen, creating pathways in your mind to anchor the tether to one another,” Calais snips.
“And what if I don’t want to be tethered to those two?”
“You don’t have a choice; the tether is already there. We’re just trying to teach you how to listen so all our voices don’t come crashing into your brain at once. It can be overwhelming once you can hear all our direct thoughts and feel all our emotions, too.”
“I don’t want this.”