With my hand in the strong grip of his, Fell led us forward.
30
FELL
IWONDERED IF I WAS STILL DREAMING, CAUGHT UP IN THAThazy in-between. The in-between of life and death. The in-between of human and dragon. The in-between of reality and …not.
Had my existence twisted once again and taken on a new form? A new shape full of tastes and textures and colors. The primal, dizzying bliss of sinking my body into hers. The delicious push and pull of two bodies—of Tamsyn. Was any of this even real?
Had I further unraveled? Was Istillburied? Still trapped in a box? Still deep beneath the ground, lost in misery?
The void was never so kind as this. Never joyful. Never as sweet as Tamsyn in my arms beneath a fading purple sky. There was never this hope I felt with her hand humming in mine, striding through the Crags, seeking shelter for the night.
It was that—the sweetness, the heady pleasure, the absolute fucking joy of it.
That was the thing that told me this was no dream; this was all real.
We found refuge in a cave, guided there by the faint sulfur smell of a warm spring tucked deep inside the mountain.
And perhaps it was instinct, too, that guided us. Our dragons responding to our inherent bid for survival.
We followed a tunnel that bottomed out into a shallow cave. The spring was almost the entire width of it, offering a small shelf of mossy bank for us to sit on.
Tamsyn did not bother with sitting, however. She slid withinthe balmy waters with a sigh and leaned her head back against the edge, the dark water lapping seductively at her shoulders and the top swells of her breasts. Tendrils of steam lifted from the water’s surface like smoke, weaving in front of her face.
Her amber-gold eyes locked on me. “Aren’t you joining me?” She held out a hand. “The water will soothe your body.” Her gaze flicked to my torso and the skin that was still not quite right yet, not fully healed. It was less charred now, to be sure, but a bright waxy red stretched from my shoulder to my upper chest, the skin knitting back anew.
Guilt flashed in her eyes when it should not. She’d burned me to save herself, to stop me from destroying her. I didn’t blame her. More than that … her proven strength filled me with a deep sense of pride—a hot, primal thrill. She was strong and beautiful and powerful. And mine.
“I will, but if I get in that water right now, I won’t do those other things that we discussed.”
She angled her head. “You’re leaving me?” There was no mistaking the slight wobble in her voice. She was strong and powerful, but not invulnerable. Not without fear.
I got down on my knees at the edge of the pool. Leaning toward her, I pressed a firm kiss to her lips. “I will be back. Don’t worry about that. I’m not going to lose you now that I’ve just found you again.”
A cloud passed over her features. “I need to tell you something. No time feels right to say the words, but I can’t let you go back out into the world”—she stopped for a fresh breath—“unaware of what’s out there, how things have changed. Especially in Penterra. You need to prepare yourself. It’s not as we left it.”
I sat back on my heels. Of course, things would have changed. Especially in Penterra. Still, I braced myself. “What has become of it?”
What has become of my home? My people?
She released the words in a breathy exhale: “Stig is not dead.”
It took me a moment to digest this. I thought of that bastardas I’d seen him last, bleeding from what certainly had seemed a mortal wound.
She went on. “He has been appointed your replacement. He is the Lord of the Borderlands.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and lifted to my feet.
He was given my lands? My people were subject to him?
My hands clenched into fists at my sides, my talons reacting, pushing to come out.
Tamsyn shook her head, her voice thick, clogged with emotion as she looked up at me with eyes that glimmered wetly with tears. “It’s very bad there, Fell.”
I staggered back a step, as though I could distance myself and escape from this wretched truth and all it signified.
She swallowed, working her throat. “They call him the Terror of the Borderlands. I saw him, Fell. He’s … different. Obsessed with dragons. With me. He’s determined that everyone know what I am.”
