Chapter 51
Wingbeats boom above us like furious thunderheads, shaking flakes of frost from the branches. The forest recoils from the sound like it prepares for the dragon's landing.
“No! We can’t leave him!”
Isra lodges himself in front of me, arms spread. I sidestep him and rush for the tree line, but he’s too fast. My cheek crashes into his chest, and the dam holding my tears fractures.
“I’m not going to let you get yourself killed back there.”
“You’d leave him behind?” I know we need to go. Any chance of his survival depends on Saphine reaching the egg, but my body refuses to move.
“Nova, stop!” Isra wraps his hands over my shoulder and presses into me. “You think this is easy for me?”
“Let go of me, Isra Kaari!” My fists fly and the blows land on unyielding strength.
“Jace is the only one capable of holding them off. He bought us time to get out of here. I’m not going to let you fuck that up.”
Saphine inhales a sharp breath and her violet eyes flare in the dim light, like she reflects my grief with nowhere to aim it. We’re strangers after all. This isn’t her loss to mourn.
I go still like I’ve lost a vital organ and maybe I have. “Fuck you.”
Isra throws his hands around his neck and paces away from us, stopping short with a sharp intake of breath. “Fuck…” I hear him whisper.
The ground trembles as the dragons descend. Wind whips leaves and grime against our legs, coating the marshy forest in disturbed snow. First Tenebris drops through the canopy, his obsidian scales reflecting the sunset like collapsed stars. Sera follows with wings slicing the air like blades.
Roe leaps from Sera before she’s even fully landed. “Where’s Jace?”
The three of us stay silent. I wrap my arms around my torso, simply to keep from falling apart.
Isra’s quiet curses cut through me, like I’m walking on broken glass.
I can’t breathe, can’t think. My system is shutting down.
Maybe it’s shock or utter devastation, but Jace’s absence is like a missing limb.
I left a part of myself out there, and now, I can’t face the others without it. Without him.
Roe’s eyes flick between us, panicked and searching for a face that isn’t here.
“He told us to run,” I say finally. There’s a brief moment of relief to see the she-demon, but it’s gone as swift as it came when she launches toward me, hand raised and ready to strike. I don’t flinch away. Whatever pain she plans on administering is far less than I deserve.
“What the hells were you thinking?” Her words lash at me like a whip. “You left him out there? Alone?”
Isra rises and steps between us. “Roe—”
“No.” She jabs a finger toward me, jaw tight enough to crack teeth. “He is the King of Shadow, the heir to the Midnight Throne, and he sacrificed his life for yours? A shit-stained mercenary from nowhere.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Rage roars right through me, white hot and blazing.
“If he dies what happens to the people of Shadow? He has no heirs. You’ve damned an entire fucking faction!” Her nails dig into her palms when she throws her fists to her sides. Tears well in her glittering blue eyes. “You abandoned him out there…you left him to die? How could you, Nova?”
It’s the first time since we met that she speaks my name, and rather than a quiet victory, it’s a fucking death sentence.
“It wasn’t her decision!” Isra booms, himself between us. “Lock this shit up, Roe!”
“We’re alive because of him, Princess Mercora,” I seethe, teeth flashing.
Roe goes rigid.
“Yeah, I figured out secret Plan A. You think I simply fled without a glance over my shoulder? Don’t stand there and claim you shouldn’t have trusted me when you, too, have been withholding.” The words scrape out of me, thin and sharp.
“You don’t know shit about me.” Anguish flickers over her face, simmering the rage collecting on my tongue. “Or my past.”
“I don’t need to know every detail, Princess. Just the ones I risk my fucking life for.” Fury bubbles straight to my head.
“Call me that again and I’ll slice out your tongue!” Roe growls.
“Fucking try me.” My fists curl at my sides.
“Everyone shut the fuck up and mount up,” Isra barks. I can’t bring myself to meet Tenebris’s garnet eyes. I’ll shatter if I do. Roe falters for a moment, her eyes flashing with a grief that burrows deep into her posture. “The ward is down. The lurkers have broken through and there’s no time.”
“What do you mean the ward is down?” Roe asks, her eyes narrowing.
“It’s gone. Destroyed. Now let’s fucking move.
” Only the brutal, merciless warrior commands Isra’s tone.
He’s a trained soldier, a fighter. I don’t know why I expected him to fall apart as easily as I, but the shift in his demeanor hits me like a shockwave as he hikes up Sera’s thigh without a second glance.
“You’re just going to leave him?” Roe throws her hands in the air.
“If we don’t go now, this will have all been for fucking nothing. So shut your mouth and mount up. That’s an order,” he hisses. The fists at my sides shake uncontrollably. “Nova, take Saphine to the hatching grounds. Roe and I will be right behind you, okay?”
“Okay,” I whisper and fight to master the tears blurring in my eyes.
Tenebris lowers himself for us to mount, and still I refuse to catch his gaze. The communication block in this form eases the protest in my legs, as I climb his thigh and settle into the saddle. Saphine, wary and hesitant, scampers up behind me.
“Quick flying lesson—don’t let go of me, keep your breathing stable when we ascend, and don’t lose your shit,” I say over my shoulder.
Stiff as a board, she nods and interlocks her fingers around my waist. Her lean-cut body against mine is utter betrayal, and I grit my teeth. It should be Jace’s chest pressed into me, Jace’s arms wrapped through mine.
“Ready?” I ask, battling another surge of tears.
“I guess so,” she replies.
With that, Tenebris launches into the air, the sheer force pinning me in place as the forest drops away in a rush of icy wind. Sera rises beside us, her wings beating in a powerful staccato.
We shoot through the cloud cover at a rampant speed, gaining altitude fast enough to squeeze my lungs.
My eyes sting, but I don’t blink. I risk fracturing into thousands of pieces if I do.
Jace’s face lingers behind my eyelids, our last kiss blazes on my lips.
Now’s the time to shut this shit down and become the mercenary that died in those tunnels.
Get a fucking grip, Nova.
Because if I don’t, a whole lot more than my broken heart dangles over the pyre.
When we level out, only then do I relax my jaw. None of us speak. The sky is diminishing light, smeared with a periwinkle bruise as the day fades.
“The ward wouldn’t just fail like that. Not unless someone destroyed it,” Roe’s voice cuts through the wind.
“Or Morvayne is royally pissed off and rescinded his blessing,” Isra replies. “Regardless, if we don’t get to the egg we’re all fucked.”
Tenebris huffs up at me.
I don’t acknowledge him. I can’t. Not yet, anyways. If I’m to survive this, all I can do is cling to the impossible hope that Jace survived the ambush. There were so many lurkers, but I’ve seen him in combat. He's protected his borders this long. He can survive this, right?
Tenebris and Sera bank left and the vast air cools my sweat-glazed brow. I’ve lost so many in my life, the list of names is long enough to reach the cosmos, but I refuse to add Jace’s.
He will survive.
Death is a non-option.
Wrestling with the irrational is all I can do to keep myself together. I don’t speak to the others, even when they look to me for a response, even when Tenebris’s eye wanders back toward me.
Focus on the mission. I’ve done this before, too many times to count, but this time when I withdraw into myself I’m not so certain I’ll ever resurface.
When the hatching grounds come into view, Saphine’s grip around my waist loosens. The Blightfangs below are smudges of black as we begin our descent.
My stomach jumps when he drops us from the skies, locked in free fall for a moment, then hovering above the earth. The other dragons raise their heads expectantly, teeth bared and claws sharp.
Two hatchlings squirm under their mother’s wings and hide from the imposters in their sacred grounds. Not a moment before Tenebris’s claws sink into the mossy soil do I leap from the saddle and hold a hand out for Saphine. “Come on.”
Saphine slivers down Tenebris’s thigh and follows my lead. Any other day I’d probably have pissed myself by now, but the thought of losing Jace fuels each step with reckless courage as we weave through snarling Blightfangs.
Wind whips at my back as Sera lands with Isra and Roe locked into her saddle. Boots thud, but I barely hear the frantic conversations between my companions. The mission. Focus on the mission. Right now, that’s Saphine awakening the guardian and incinerating those fucking nightmares.
Niaxa growls as I approach, her large eyes rallying between Saphine and me.
“She’s the rider, please, let us see the egg,” I say, words wavering and wrenched.
The female Blightfang unfurls her tail, revealing only the opalescent egg.
The others in her clutch remain tucked under sharpened spines and thick, leathery armor.
I don’t blame her for the suspicion. Even after leading us safely out of Sea, I’m not certain I trust Saphine either, but there’s no other option.
We’re surrounded by wolves, teeth sharp and drooling.
Saphine stills when her eyes land on the Astralwing, now almost completely of stone.
Astora, please let us not be too late.
She approaches Niaxa, careful not to move too quickly. The Blightfang dips her head toward Saphine, fangs glistening in the moonlight.
“Holy shit…I can’t believe it’s real.” Saphine’s voice quivers.
“I don’t know how this works but try touching the egg. See if it responds to you,” I tell her. My eyes don’t dare wander from her outstretched hand. Isra and Roe fall in line beside me, watching with bated breath.
Then, Saphine closes her eyes and brings her palm to the egg. My fingers twitch over my dagger.
I’m not sure if I expected a shockwave of power to explode from their connection or a crackle of energy from the skies, but my eyes, too, squeeze shut as I ready myself for the resultant force.
Everything stays quiet.
Birds still chirp.
Hatchlings still rumble.
Life carries on without any indication of the guardian bond snapping into place.
“You know, for a moment I convinced myself it’d work,” Saphine mutters, rising from her knees. She wipes the grassy dirt from her trousers and shoves her hands in her pockets. Her violet eyes land right on me and my body goes numb. “I’m sorry, Nova.”
The mercenary retrieves something small and ivory in color from her trousers and holds it out for us to see. Is that a rune of some sort? “I hope one day you find it in your heart to forgive me.”
“What are you doing, Saphine?” My heart lodges in my throat. Isra’s eyes widen beside me, and he unsheathes his blade.
The object falls from her open palm.
Niaxa roars and curls over her eggs, shielding her babies with guarded wings.
There’s a quiet stillness throughout the meadow one moment. Then the next, there are only flames.