But I fear my luck has run out, and this is it.
“Find my sister!” My voice cracks, the verge of tears threatening the corners of my eyes as a sob escapes my lips. “You must find Tilly, do you hear me!”
I whip my gaze towards Kaine and Thoen, their eyes widening as if they know, this will finally be the death of me.
“Promise me!” I choke, a sudden whimper catching in my breath. “Kaine! Theon!”
“I promise!” Theon shouts, and my head nods, over and over. Reminding myself that this is okay.Everything is okay.I close my eyes, letting my body relax.
I can hear the fire begin to crack in the mouth of the dragon. Sizzling heat expands in the air around me, almost suffocating me. My eyes open, accepting my fate at last as I see the fire flicker inside the mouth of the dragon.
“No!”
I glance over my shoulder, watching Koen fall to his knees as he grips the ground. His knuckles are bloody and bruised as the ground beneath him seeps through his fingers. But I lock onto my favorite thing about him—his emerald eyes.His beautiful emerald eyes, with kisses of golden flecks, widen as he watches. I am grateful for the chance to gaze into his eyes one final time.
I don’t fear the man he thinks he is.
I fear the thought of never truly having him because we both won’t allow us to.
His veins bulge in his neck, pulsing with rage and fear. A tear escapes his eye, tracing a path down his face, gliding over his bottom lip before falling to his chin. I can hardly grasp the sight before me. A tear…shed for me.
“Gods, don’t take her!” Koen screams, begging to the sky above us.
But it's no use. The Gods won’t save me here.
The Gods know I am not from here. They don’t listen to my cries, my begging.
Flames engulf me, surrounding my sight with their fiery, red glow, making the view of Koen impossible to see. The crackling fire fills the air, scorching it as my skin feels the rising heat. This is it.My death.
“Fight it!” Fingers stretch through the flames that scorch the air around me, an arm reaching into my burning death. As my arm stretches, I catch sight of my bare arm starting to scorch, charcoal flakes floating around like a violent tornado. But that’s when I see the markings along the wrist—the language of the flames he once showed me—and I know, Koen is burning alivejust to save me.
“Koen, no!” I scream at the top of my lungs. My head burns not only from the fire that suffocates me, but from running out of air as I yell out to him.
His arm forces through the fire, and my fingers reach out to touch his. If only I can feel his skin,one last time, death won’t be so bad.
“Please don’t leave me!”
But as I go to say my last words to him, his arm vanishes as the fire thickens, consuming the air and land around me.
He tried. He was going to give up his own life just to save me.I can die knowing I saw the Koen that made my heart flutter each time his eyes locked on mine. Not the Koen who wanted me dead.
“You gave in so quickly.” A voice resounds around me, as if the fire is speaking to me. “I had thought the Scorching Queen would have put up a fight against a dragon?”
I lift my gaze from the ground, gradually, feeling the heat radiating off my body as I fall back into a normal temperature. But the fire circles around me, the dragon still scorching me.
“I’m sorry, what?”My breath hitches, sucking in the smoky air. “What the hell is happening?”
“We knew you would come, we’ve been waiting.”
The dragon's eyes beam a soft, silver hue through the fire that surrounds me. Its neck swivels as it studies me, watches me, waiting for me to respond.Am I talking to a damn dragon?
“It’s time, child. Are you ready to show the Realm who you are?”It lowers its head, the scales reflecting the raging blaze. I’m unsure how this beast is communicating with me as fire still breathes from its mouth. “The time has come—war is coming, we need you.”
“You don’t need me!”I scream out. “You don’t need me.”
“The Gods need you to be ready, let the stones guide you. Don’t fight it. Give into it.”
Knowing that is exactly what Florian told me to do, I clench my teeth, not understanding how any of this is possible. I should be burnt to ash, my bones the only remaining thing of me, yet I am not. Can they all see this as well?
