Chapter 64 #2
Both dragons shifted, muscles rippling beneath their scaled hides, wings stretching wide to claim the sky.
The air quivered with their power. Hedion's great body tensed beneath me, his low growl vibrating through the saddle and into my bones.
Then, with a single mighty sweep of his wings, the ground dropped away.
The courtyard blurred into stone and silver light as the world fell beneath us.
My stomach lurched as we surged upward, air tearing past me, sharp and cold against my face. The earth below dissolved into shadows and silver, swallowed by distance until only sky remained.
A cross between a shriek and a laugh broke from my lips. Hedion answered with a roar that rattled through my bones.
Hold fast, my Lady, his voice rumbled through my mind.
"I will," I cried back.
Pyrion roared across from us, the sound splitting the heavens, and Wolfe's figure was a dark silhouette against the sun, his eyes locked on me even as his dragon climbed higher.
The wind whipped my hair, tugged at my cloak, but I laughed anyway, basking in the sheer exhilaration of the flight.
For a moment, it felt as though my soul broke loose and joined the sky. Hedion's wings beat in a steady rhythm, each stroke a thunderclap of power that hurled us higher, faster, farther.
The world below shrank to a tapestry of emerald forests, winding rivers, and jagged mountains.
Villages scattered across the land looked no bigger than toys, smoke curling from chimneys that blurred into the distance.
The horizon stretched on forever, endless and unyielding, as if daring me to chase it.
Sunlight spilled over everything, fierce and golden, painting Hedion's dark scales with a copper sheen. The clouds above loomed like citadels of white, and when we pierced them, cool mist kissed my cheeks. My laughter came again, edged with awe.
Beside me, Pyrion soared, wings cutting through the sky in perfect synchronicity with Hedion's.
Wolfe rode like he was born of the storm, but his gaze never strayed far from me.
Even with space between us, I felt him. The bond tethered us like a thread woven through the air, pulling tight no matter how high or far we climbed.
Gods, this…it was amazing. I truly, truly felt like I’d been born to do this. Like flying through the skies on the back of a magnificent dragon had been encoded in my blood and was as vital to me as breathing. I could only wonder what it would be like to have my own dragon.
The higher we rose, the lighter I felt. The curse, the fear, the weight of what waited below, all of it fell away with the earth, swallowed by distance.
For these precious heartbeats, there was nothing but the sky, the wind, the dragon beneath me, and Wolfe's presence burning across the space between us.
I pressed a hand to Hedion's scales, steady and alive under my palm. "This is freedom," I whispered into the wind, and Hedion's answering roar made it feel like a vow.
But the real freedom was being with Wolfe. Across the sky, his eyes found mine. He lifted a hand in silent promise, and my heart leapt to meet it. We rose higher still, two dragons cutting across the vault of heaven, two souls bound together in defiance of the darkness waiting below.
We flew for hours, chasing the sun across the sky. The world unspooled beneath us in shifting landscapes. By the time the forests thinned and the land dropped away to the sea, the sun had arced high overhead, gilding everything in its path.
The dragons skimmed the clouds until the ocean unfurled below, glittering and endless, and then the sight of an exotic villa nestled on a curve of land stole my breath away.
Arched windows caught the light like jewels, and the terracotta roof glowed warm against the lush green spilling around it.
The garden stretched wide in a riot of color, blossoms and fruit trees climbing marble arches, fountains spilling crystal water into pools alive with lilies. It was too perfect, too dreamlike.
Hedion dipped lower, wings stirring the air in sweeping currents that bent the garden trees. I leaned into the descent, my pulse racing with every drop.
The ground shuddered as Hedion touched down, claws biting into the earth with controlled grace. Pyrion followed, his wings kicking up a storm of petals from the flowerbeds, scattering them across the courtyard in a shower of crimson and gold.
I slid from Hedion's back into Wolfe's waiting arms. His hands found my waist instantly, steadying me as my boots met the stone. In his arms, I turned and drank in the beauty around us.
"Wolfe..." I sighed, unable to tear my eyes away from the serene beauty. "This place..."
His lips curved faintly, his gaze fixed on me instead of the garden. "Oasis," he said softly. "That's what my mother called it. A refuge from everything else."
Refuge indeed. The place looked like a slice of paradise carved just for us. I smiled up at him. "That sounds amazing."
"It is. And it's all ours. Imagine all the trouble we can get into." He gave me a seductive wink.
I laughed. "I think I have an idea."
His grin turned wicked, shadows darkening his gaze. "I have several. And every single one ends with me feasting on that body of yours."
Wolfe leaned in and kissed me, and then the next chapter of our adventure began.
We explored the island for the rest of the day, then each other the instant night fell.
That's how we spent the next few days, neither of us mentioning the worries that awaited us, nor our curses.
We were two people in love, and he was the pulse beneath my skin, the beat in my heart, the breath in my lungs.
I updated my journal every chance I got, trying to capture every moment and hold on to every last memory.
But then it was time to stop. Stop writing. Stop escaping. Stop pretending.
I felt the shift in the air when the new moon neared. Just like that night when the Phantom Moon rose, it thrummed through my bones and whispered to my soul. But this was a promise of loss.
Wolfe had a sleeping potion prepared for me. It was a kinder way to drift away, a small mercy to soothe the pain of the curse, but there was nothing kind about what awaited me on the other side.
"Ziyka." Wolfe brushed the underside of my jaw.
We lay together in the bed. I was cocooned in his arms and he held me close to his heart, like he never wanted to let me go.
"Yes," I breathed, clinging to his shirt.
"We have ten minutes."
"Ten... minutes." My throat tightened. "Wolfe, I... I can't breathe." The words caught in my chest.
"It's going to be okay," he whispered.
"You promise?"
"Always, my love." His lips brushed mine and lingered before he drew back with a waning smile. "And I have one last gift to give you."
My heart lifted, aching. "Oh, Wolfe, you don't have to give me anything more."
"There is one more thing. One more important thing."
He helped me sit at the edge of the bed, then knelt before me, taking my hand in his. His burning eyes were a storm of sadness and hope. "I saved this moment because I want it to be the last thing you remember about us when we find the ring and you get your memories back."
His thumb traced the delicate skin of my inner wrist worshipfully, as if mapping something sacred. "This is the moment I bind my soul to yours," he whispered, his voice rough with emotion. "The moment I claim you as my Velastra."
The word stirred something deep within me, a secret part of my being that would always belong to him. My lungs constricted as though the air itself had thickened. "Vel... astra?"
His smile was earnest. "It means soul-bonded." His thumb swept a hypnotic pattern over my pulse. "A Nightblade can only do this once in his life."
My heart raced, wild beneath his touch. Only once. The weight of that revelation crashed over me like a storm. Once. Which meant every other woman who had ever caught his eye, every possible love he might have chosen... none of them mattered.
The dark god of the Underworld knelt before me, offering his essence. His eternity.
"Wolfe... me?"
"Always you, Ziyka. Always," he pledged fiercely. "In three hundred years, I've never wanted anything more than I want you. And since I will never let you go, you will wear my soul mark."
His words sank into me, heavy as chains and holy as vows.
Wolfe lifted my wrist higher, cradling it between his hands like something fragile and sacred. Shadows curled low around us, not menacing, but reverent, as if they, too, bore witness to the rite.
"A mun dair, Velastra," he whispered. His lips brushed the inside of my wrist before pressing fully to my skin.
Heat lanced through me, a molten brand searing into my veins. Golden light burst beneath my flesh, twining with black shadow, spiraling up my arm, through my chest, and into my heart.
I gasped, clutching at his shoulders as the light and darkness tangled, coiling tighter until they carved themselves into an inky black sigil.
At its center lay a soul rune, stark and simple. Wrapped around it, a looping band pulled tight and knotted once to bind me fast. At the ends, the loop flared into dragon's wings, curved and fierce.
The mark pulsed, alive, before settling into my skin. Thrumming with my heartbeat. A permanent echo of Wolfe Nightblade inside me. His soul carved into me.
I gazed up at him through tears. "Wolfe..."
With his gaze locked on mine, he kissed the mark once more, sealing it. "The Seer tethered our hearts. This binds our souls, so even if the curse steals me from your mind... this will never let you go. It will remind you that I love you."
"I love you, too." I spoke the words like a vow.
He drew me close, and his mouth claimed mine. I clung to him, pouring every shred of my love into our last kiss as if I could etch him into me the same way he had marked me.
Then suddenly, a dragon's roar ripped through the air, shattering the sentimental moment. The sound rattled the room until the walls themselves shivered.