36. Chapter Thirty-Six
Zyon brings in a breakfast tray with a large bowl of strawberries, pancakes, and tea. It’s a simple breakfast that he places on the bed. He feeds me strawberries, and I give him bites of pancakes. At the end of our meal, he snaps his fingers, and a servant rushes in to take the tray away.
He puts his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “We need to practice today.”
“We’ve practiced as much as we possibly can. It’s time for me to go.”
He takes my hand and brings it to his lips. “No, there’s still time, and we’re going to try again all the way up the mountain and back.”
“When do you suggest I leave? Give me your estimate of my departure.”
“Soon, but today we practice.” He jumps over me and goes into the bathroom, emerging wearing his black pants and blue shirt he likes to wear in the cave. “We'd better get a start on it.”
We almost get into an argument about whether or not I still need my coat, and as soon as we're outside, he stomps on a blue flower that’s trying to grow to the side of the stone path.
I bend down and pluck the squashed flower to put in my bag for possible later use. “What did the flower do?”
He grabs my hand and leads me through the hedges to the ice sculptures that have mostly melted. The dragon still stands, but water drips from various places on his body. Zyon readies him like he always does with the blankets to keep us warm while riding on top of ice.
I pet the dragon’s head when he lowers it to my hand. “Do you think he’ll hold together okay?”
“He’s fine. Perfectly fine as always.” Zyon straightens the blankets and helps me onto the sculpture. “It’ll hold the same as it always does.” There’s been a bite in his tone since breakfast, and it’s almost like grumpy Zyon is returning.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing new.” He doesn’t elaborate, so I let it go, and we make it into the cave. He immediately changes the room so that we are at the base of the mountain. “We’re going to run through what could happen top to bottom.”
I stare up at the enormous path he expects me to climb. “Shouldn’t I be resting since I have to leave soon?”
“We have time, and you need to be ready.”
“You don’t think I’m ready?”
“You need more practice on the Wondorian bats.”
I finally relent and give it everything I have to lessen his worry.
Things go pretty well even with the bats until about halfway up, a griffin snatches me from the ground by my shoulders.
It takes me high in the air too quickly for me to get any of my weapons free, and I’ll have to wait until it leaves me at a second location.
I can see the castle and rolling hills that extend beyond the mountains.
All the details of forests and winding rivers make the illusion Zyon creates very realistic.
The griffin lets go, and I tumble to the ground, somersaulting faster and faster. I grab at tree branches, but they only scrape my hands. Zyon catches me, and the simulation ends.
He sets me on the ground with his jaw so tight I believe he’s causing himself a headache this time instead of the castle.
“What exactly was that? And you thought you were ready. There is a lot more we need to do than worry about signs of spring. There can be no going up the mountain until you never fail.”
“What are you saying?”
“That it’s concerning that you will probably die on the mountain.”
I stab the dagger in my hand into a pine tree to prevent myself from throwing it at him. “And you’re back to being as ass. Thanks for the confidence.”
“You’re showing me what I see.”
“And I’m done for the day.”
“No. We will keep going until nothing bad happens to you. We’re not stopping!”
“Excuse me.” I turn around so he can see my fury.
“You’re not done for the day. We spent too much time lounging in bed.”
“Yes, so you wouldn’t die, and I’m done. Maybe I should just head right up the mountain.”
“I will lock you in your room again if need be.”
“That would be the biggest mistake you’ve ever made. You underestimate me.”
“You’re not ready!”
“When will I ever be ready enough for you, Zyon? Long after the last petal falls, and there’s no hope left of ending the curse and saving everyone I love. When the summer sun scorches us and everything is lost, is that when I’ll be ready enough?”
He makes swift strides across the cave as he lets the mountain view vanish.
“It’s not worth it. The attempt isn’t worth it.
For hundreds of years, every generation has attempted this and failed.
Don’t you think the earlier generations cared just as much?
You don't think they didn’t have just as much on the line as you do?
The only way history doesn’t repeat itself is if you stay here with me where you’re safe.
We get married and live our lives together. ”
“While my family stays mad or frozen, then what? Someday our children will have to suffer this same agonizing fate as us. Are you really that selfish?”
“Maybe I am. When it comes to you, I feel very selfish. There's no one I want to share you with, especially not that gods forsaken mountain! It will take you from me and then where will I be?”
“Well, I can’t let you be selfish.” I jump into the water without giving him a chance to respond.
He chases after me and restarts the conversation as soon as we make it out of the portal. “If you die on the mountain, you won’t save anyone. It has nothing to do with my confidence in you.”
“It definitely does. There’s no way you can say it doesn’t.”
“It’s that there are too many monsters, and everyone who has come before us has proven that. You’re an amazing fighter. One of the best I’ve seen, even over all my men. That’s why when I tell you you’re not ready, it’s not an insult.”
“It doesn’t help anything, Zyon. It only raises my anxiety for this thing I have no choice but to do.”
“You always have a choice! Always!” He pulls me into a hug and holds me tight, like our heartbeats so close together is all that will ever matter to him.
“This is all I need to the end of my days, and I don’t care if that makes me selfish.
I don’t. That’s what I need you to know because no part of me can send you to the mountain to die. I can’t watch that happen.”
“It’s not in my nature to be selfish.”
“Just once, embrace doing something for yourself. Please, sweetheart. Please.” His heart rages in his chest, beating so fast against my ear. He’s nearly heaving as he holds me, and it’s very clear his fear for me is real.
All I want is to slow his heartbeat, so I entangle our fingers and walk toward the dragon.
We ride back through the sky, and I ache at the sight of the dragon’s horns melted to nubs.
The stunning creature lowers his head as earlier in the day, and I tell him goodbye because by morning he will have watered the newly sprouted flowers.
We say nothing all the way to his room, and Zyon kicks out all the servants cleaning with sharp looks. They flee as if he’s chasing them to turn them into piles.
He pushes off the sleeve on my right shoulder to run his hand over my bare skin. “Take a shower with me?”
“You’re asking?”
“Of course, we could be married for decades, and I will always ask to have you. It is not something I will ever demand from you.”
I drop my jacket first, followed by my pants. “I have been wanting to take a shower with you, but the king is quite the prude, making me wait weeks.”
“What did you call me?”
“A prude.” I undo my bodice and slide down my final layer of clothing to give him the full view.
He throws me over his shoulder and smacks my ass hard. “I will show you what calling me a prude earns you.” He does exactly that and continues it once we’re in bed.
Our passion slows into something deeper.
An emotional desperation to connect for what may be the last time.
This new place we’ve taken things is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, but it’s a happiness I can’t fully claim because those I love are suffering.
It taints what I have with Zyon, and it’s the most unfair thing, that it may be all we get in the end.
When our bodies finally still, we watch the stars through the dome in his ceiling.
We lay on our backs, and I lift my hand toward the sky I can never reach.
His palm lines up with mine, and our fingers dance and play with each other.
It’s a night of soft touches and kisses as we spend time only with each other.
He tucks me tight to his side and slowly relaxes.
I move my ear to his chest and stay awake until his heartbeat evens out, and I know he’s at peace.
I sit up when a strange chill wakes me up, bringing the blanket with me when I sense someone else in the room. Zyon still sleeps next to me.
Lazzus steps out of the shadows and under where the moon is peeking in from the ceiling window. “Neera, we have to go,” he whispers.
“What’s happened?”
He snaps his fingers, and the rose appears. The last petal dangles, like it will fall at any moment. “We are out of time.”
“Can I even make it up the mountain before it dies? The king hasn’t given me the key yet.”
“He’s a stubborn fool. You can still make it, but it will fall before the week is out.”
“And what do I do if he refuses to give me the key?”
“Convince him, or there will be no point in you heading to the top,” he says.
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“He may not make it clear, but he would give you anything you asked for.”
“Not that. He wants me nowhere near that mountain.”
“Convince him, Neera, or all of this has been for nothing.” He vanishes before I can shout at him to convince the king if he thinks it’s so easy.
Arms go around me as I remain sitting on the side of the bed. Zyon sucks on my neck and massages my breasts. “What’s the matter?”
“I need the key, Zyon, and I know you’re aware of that.”
His hand squeezes before it drops. “No, I can’t send you to your death, Neera. I can’t bear it.”
“Then I will go up the mountain without it.”
“What would be the point in that?”