The spider scurries forward, its multiple eyes focusing on me. “You know nothing about us, fly. I keep her safe. I am here when no one else is.” For the first time, the words are spoken aloud, and I notice the use of I, instead of us. This is good. I’m getting somewhere.
I lower my blade and transform it back into the ring. I hold up the gold between us, thumbing the back of it. “Do you see this ring? You made this for me, Zoe. It saved my life. It saved my people.”
She moves closer, sniffing the ring. I take it as a good sign that she doesn’t yank me into her web again.
I shake my head and pace to the other side of the cave. “I never wanted you to have to do what you did. I knew that the first time I heard you sing. Some part of me knew that you were my mate. It scared the shit out of me. I wanted to keep you as far away from the war as possible, even if it meant we could never be together. But things got so bad, we didn’t have a choice. I had to ask you for the name of another witch, and I was terrified when you agreed to help us. Inside, I wanted to die. Because I knew my dragon was attached to you, and I knew you’d be in danger. But you did it, Zoe. You saved us. You saved all of us. And now, I need you to save me one more time. Because if you don’t wake up, neither will I.”
Drops of water rain down on the cave floor. The spider is crying. Its black legs curl in on its abdomen like it’s dying. “I can’t save you, Seb. I can’t even save myself.”
I watch her, terrified, as her abdomen seems to shrink and prune. She’s dying. What happens if Zoe dies in this dream? I don’t want to know. What I need is something to help her remember, to fill her with the magic I know is in her bones.
The gold ring on my finger winks in the light, a light that has no source in this dark cave. “The first time I heard you sing, I knew I loved you. When did you know you loved me, Zoe?” I whisper. She doesn’t answer, but I remember. It took her longer because she’s human. But I remember the moment she knew she loved me.
My ring transforms into a golden violin. I catch the bow in my opposite hand and draw it across the strings. The gold puts off its own light and reflects in the eyes of the spider. She’s watching, but what I need her to do is listen. I play the same song I played for her that night in the recording studio, pouring my heart and soul into the notes and chords. My body moves with the music, not exactly dancing but emoting exactly what I want her to feel. I want to sweep her away. I want my music to say exactly what words never could. I play of love, of kisses by moonlight, of moving through the world at her side.
I’m sweating by the time I play the last note.
But when I look back at her, I’m struck by how little my music has mattered. In fact, she looks worse, shriveled in on herself. Her web turns brittle, and she falls, a plume of dust filling the cave when she hits the floor and her body comes apart.
“Noooo!” I drop the violin and cover my face with my arms as the ground begins to shake, and chunks of cave fall from above. I spread my wings to shelter my head.
A woman’s cry has me turning back toward the spider. Zoe sits where the spider once was, her head under the shelter of her arms. She looks so thin, so frail. But she’s herself again.
I rush to her and pull her into my arms, her fragile body curling into my chest, naked and shivering. “Seb?”
“Yes, it’s me.” The cave is crumbling, and I grunt as a boulder hits my wing. “I need you to wake up now, all right?”
“It’ll hurt,” she sobs. “I have no more gold dust. It’s going to take so long to heal.”
Another stone drops, and I bend over her, taking it on the back. It hurts like hell. “With me, you’ll heal faster,” I say. “All you have to do is wake up. I promise you, I’ll take care of you.”
Our eyes lock as more stones fall around us. One punctures a hole in my wing, and I wince. Zoe sees the hole and seems to finally understand the danger. Her eyes widen as she looks at me and then beyond me to a giant chunk of rock that promises to fall on both of us as the world inside her mind crumbles. She grabs my face and then vanishes from my arms.
I follow her out of her head.
Beside me, on the bed, she opens her eyes. I take her in my arms as we both start to weep.
Chapter Forty-Four
ZOE
Twelve weeks later…
Would I be bragging if I said my magic saved an entire species from a devastating war? Maybe, but it’s also true. When Seb killed Roman, he forced the Saint’s Order underground. Dragons have returned to civilian life, but there hasn’t been a single act of violence since.
Seb and I moved out of the safe house and into his Holmby Hills estate. Although we’re already mated, he took Beyoncé’s advice and put a ring on it. We’re planning a wedding in Italy next year.
“One more time, Zoe,” Crew says over the speaker in the recording studio. “It’s brilliant, but I think you can take it to the next level.”
He’s right. It’s the end of the day, and I’m getting tired. But then Seb walks in and stands behind Crew, our eyes locking through the glass. And this time when I sing, that golden edge returns, and it almost feels like I’m ascending. This time, when I reach the bridge, goose bumps march across my skin.
“…Take me away
On wings of gold
Sing to me of
A world unknown
