Chapter 3
Chapter Three
ELARIYA
Hedion surged higher into the dawn sky, causing the wind to ripple over my skin.
I inhaled the fresh air infused with magic as it washed over me.
Squeezing my legs around the dragon’s back, I secured myself and tightened my grip on his scales. They were smooth in some places, rough in others, but warmed by the powerful Ocha dragon beneath them.
I didn't need a saddle, reins, or stirrups. I trusted the dragon to keep me safe.
He always had, even before I truly got to know him.
Hedion released a deep rumble that vibrated through his chest and into my legs, acknowledging my thoughts. I’d been so lost in my thoughts I forgot he could hear them.
I patted the base of his thick neck.
“Yes, my Lady. I will always keep you safe,” he spoke in my mind and his ancient voice soothed me.
He climbed above the mountain peaks surrounding Vyrenth Hollow. The sky glowed with streaks of gold, amber, and soft violet. Below us, forests rolled endlessly toward the horizon, their canopies veiled by ribbons of silver mist.
Galaythia was waking.
Pyrion appeared beside us, her midnight wings catching the first rays of sunlight.
I couldn’t sleep properly. After Alaric left, I tried. I might have gotten about two to three hours of broken sleep before I tossed the idea out the window. I came out here and decided to do the one thing that could help me focus.
Flying Hedion had always been a momentous experience no matter how I felt, and no matter how many times I did it. Even when I didn’t remember that I could fly.
Taking both dragons out at this hour was something Wolfe always did.
The dragons knew what was happening with him. I could feel it. Their songs were heavy today. Almost like a lament for the dead.
I knew they would miss Wolfe as much as I did and hoped we could comfort each other just by being together. It worked. To some extent. But… it was a sad thing to look across at Pyrion and not see Wolfe astride her back, staring at me with those piercing blue eyes, checking I was safe.
Gods, he would lose his mind if he knew I’d taken the dragons out by myself with not even someone on lookout in case something went wrong.
I could just imagine the deep glower on my husband’s handsome face. No one could look at me like they were well and truly pissed off with me and love me madly at the same time. It was a skill in itself. One more thing to love about him.
One more thing to miss.
Only the gods knew I’d prefer having him with me, enraged over something I’d done, rather than this.
Everything reminded me of him. Even the air I breathed.
We’d always shared something indescribable. Though he’d only been in my life a short time, he’d changed my world, and I knew what I meant to him, too.
It was foolish, perhaps. I kept thinking maybe if I did as much as I could, he’d feel me through our bond and overpower the Deathwalker.
Before the last reset, I was able to sense him. When he was trapped in Morg?ven, I heard him calling to me in my dreams, willing me to find him. That was right at the start of my very last reset when I’d lost all memory of him. Part of me stayed connected to him.
Then, when we got married, the mating bond almost made us lose our minds with an insatiable need to be near each other. Always. It was like I needed him to survive.
Now I couldn’t feel him anywhere. There was nothing but emptiness where that feeling should have been.
But…
That didn’t mean he couldn’t sense me.
These small hopes kept me going. Kept me holding on.
Hedion continued onwards and Pyrion followed her brother’s lead.
Up here, there was only sky.
And the energetic taste of freedom. I marveled at myself. No one would believe this was me—the lowly half-mage, half-human girl from Stormfell. Now I was Lady of the Dragons. Daughter of the Hourglass. The title the voices in the threads of time had given me.
I had real power, something that could be molded into greatness. I just had to figure out how to use it to help Wolfe.
For a moment, my mind drifted, focused on the steady beat of dragon wings cutting through the cool morning air.
I lifted my face toward the rising sun and basked in the glow as we flew higher, chasing the sunrise across the mountains.
An hour had passed without me noticing, and I almost forgot the horrible situation.
Almost.
As we returned to Vyrenth Hollow, it all came back to me.
The familiar cliffs came into view, along with the sprawling caverns where the dragons made their homes.
We descended when movement in the woods caught my eye.
A lone figure stood on the winding path leading toward the caves.
Arielle.
She was waiting for me.
Her platinum hair danced in the morning breeze as she gazed up and waved.
I waved back and guided Hedion to drop lower.
We circled around until we landed, and I waited for Pyrion to descend before I attempted to dismount Hedion. It was something Wolfe taught me.
The twins liked to do everything together and preferred to wait for the other before being settled back in the caves.
Hedion helped me off in his usual manner, extending a wing so I could climb down with ease.
When my feet touched the ground, I moved back to caress his massive cheek. Hedion leaned into my touch, and I took note of the vibrant light within his amber eyes.
But there was a dimness there that told me he was worried about Wolfe.
I gave him an extra pat and did the same to Pyrion, moving over to stroke her cheek. She would miss Wolfe most.
“Allu ewyn, mun dai. Wolfe retutundai,” I told them, speaking in their tongue. It meant ‘Rest for the day. Wolfe will return soon.’
I knew I had no right to make such a promise, but my heart willed me to do it.
“My Lady,” they answered with a deep bow of their heads.
I bowed, too, and they took off, heading to the cave.
I turned toward Arielle as she approached.
“Wow, you certainly have them under control.” She spoke with a weary voice, a sign she’d had trouble sleeping, too.
“I try.” I nodded.
“Doesn’t seem like you have to. You’re a natural. Just like Wolfe.” She sighed.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither.” She hugged herself and tilted her head as the wind lifted the ends of her hair. “He’d be proud you took the dragons out without him.”
Gods, why did it sound like she was talking about him as though he’d already crossed to the Lands of the Dead?
I needed her usual confidence. That we-can-do-this-no-matter-the-odds attitude that always uplifted me.
“I just want to make sure they get their exercise. That way, things will be okay when he returns.”
Her eyes widened slightly, surprised by my confidence. But she knew me in the way best friends know each other. So, she knew I was just saying what I needed to hear.
“Yes. That’s a good idea. And you should get to know them as much as possible. It will prepare you for your own dragon.” That sounded more like her, even if she was telling herself things she needed to hear, too.
“It will.” I’d always flown Hedion, but he hadn’t bonded to me. Both belonged to Wolfe, but Pyrion was his bonded. “Are you okay?” I decided to change the subject.
“Yeah. I just… wanted to check on you before you meet with Alaric.” She offered a kind smile, though her expression was nervous. “I thought maybe we could have breakfast together. Didn’t see you much yesterday. I would have found you, but I felt you wanted to be alone.”
“It would have been okay.” She’d clung to me the day before when we first got the news, but I understood why she stayed away. She was hurting, too—they all were. Staying away was the only way to ensure she didn’t make me feel worse.
“How are you doing?” she muttered, looking me over with concern in her eyes.
I gave a slow shake of my head. “I’m not okay. I don’t even know if there’s a word for how I’m feeling. I came out here to… I don’t know. Find strength.”
She sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Do whatever you need to feel better. I think we’re gonna need all the strength we can get, in whatever form it comes.”
“I think so, too.”
“Come on.” A faint smile crossed her lips. “Let’s walk and talk.”
She ushered me forward, and I fell in step at her side on the dusty path that led back to the manor.
“I’m worried, Arielle.” I glanced across at her. “Alaric told me about the trial. They think Wolfe is guilty and, honestly, no one knows if he is or not.”
“That’s the part that worries me most. We know how Wolfe felt about Dreynthor. He hated him. We all did. Learning Dreynthor had a hand in the king’s murder would have given Wolfe every reason to kill him.”
“I know.”
“I hate to say this, but there’s almost no question of his guilt. Even though we believe in the whole innocent-until-guilt-is-proven concept.”
I couldn’t argue, but whether Wolfe killed Dreynthor or not, I understood and I didn’t blame him if it was true. “If he’s guilty, they have to understand why he did it. He had one hells of a reason.”
Arielle shrugged. “With no evidence, we’re flying blind. We can’t rely on the testimony of a zombie. We can’t even mention the godscursed thing because Kaem used forbidden necromancy to reanimate him.”
I groaned, feeling my stomach twist. “There must be something we can do in the interim. I know we have to retrieve the ring, but that feels near impossible since I have to bond with a dragon I have no idea how to find.”
That was the other problem we had to worry about and why I knew retrieving the ring wouldn’t be an overnight job.
We knew my dragon had passed through our plane of existence and had been part of the brood raised by the Nightblades, but it no longer existed on this plane.
Like the ring, it was on a temporal plane.
And the kicker was, I had to locate the dragon by going through the cave behind us. It was right there, but I couldn’t simply get to it.
I had no idea if I’d be able to open a portal to the plane once my time magic powers became more advanced, or if I needed something else.
Locating the ring and the dragon were not one and the same. Different principles applied.