Chapter Twenty-Three
–Ellie–
IHAD NEVER felt as many fluctuating emotions as I did when I witnessed the truth of how I died in my last life.
The truth behind my murder.
Something the Hereafter showed everyone in the Sutherland courtyard, including the king himself. How the pact ignited in this century. How it began with me, and ended with me.
Or so we thought as the gem over my dragon’s heart faded away along with Dugal Sutherland’s life. While one might have thought Elspet had a heart as she hung her head over her son and seemingly wept, we should have known better.
If she did manage to shed a tear, it was brief and clearly for the power she had just lost, rather than grief for her son. Or so we assumed when she lifted her head and narrowed her tear-free eyes at me. Sinister, black, blazing dragon eyes full of hatred and immense power as she stood, and began chanting.
Bracing for the impact of whatever she was about to throw my way, I spread my wings to protect all those behind me, including the King and the Macleods. And yet again, the unexpected happened, and it was beyond remarkable, not to mention incredibly courageous.
My niece, Marjorie, of all people, roared, “Nay!” and raced to defend me.
If that weren’t shocking enough, she shifted into a little emerald-green dragon, skidded to a halt in front of me, and spread her wings as if trying to defend us all despite her small stature.
Terrified, I went to wrap my wings around her, but miraculously enough, something, orsomeone, protected her first, when the Viking blade-turned-dagger slammed into Elspet’s chest, ceasing her magic dead in its tracks.
Her eyes widened in shock as she stared down at the blade with magic yet again more powerful than hers, and slowly dropped to her knees, chanting to try and save herself as she wrapped her hand around the hilt, but it was clearly no use. Instead, her words began slurring, darkness ebbed and flowed around her, and her gaze widened in terror, fixed on something only she could see, unable to stop the Hereafter from coming for her.
A Hereafter that was kinder to some than others.
While I hated her for all the harm she’d caused, I could only hope she found a better side of her soul wherever she ended up, because moments later, she released a blood-curdling scream, slumped to the ground, and breathed her last breath.
Shocked by the swift turn of events, dumbfounded silence settled over the courtyard until murmurs began in the crowd, and someone exclaimed, “Look, the wee one wears the gem now!” and another exclaimed, “And he wears the mark now, but who is he?” Another called out, “’Twashewho threw the dagger. ‘Twashewho took her down once and for all!”
Not Lady Sutherland but a mere ‘her’, making it clear how much her clan disliked her.
“My wee lass,” Lilias cried, as I shifted back, sensing no more danger, there for my sister, who stepped in front of Marjorie and took her in with eyes as wide as ours because nobody knew she was half dragon. And Lilias didn't care in the least. All she caredabout was that her daughter was okay, no matter her form. “Are ye alright, my bonnie lassie?”
Marjorie seemed quite in awe herself, and peered down curiously at the brilliant emerald over her dragon’s heart.“Aye, Mother,”she replied in the way of the dragon, allowing all to hear because she was that powerful even upon her first shift.“’Tis lovely, is it not?”
“’Tis,” a young voice answered as the crowd parted to murmurs of, “he’s the boy who felled Elspet,” and others, “he’s the one with the mark on his wrist now.”
Tavish joined me and slipped his hand into mine as my father, Malcolm Sutherland, appeared, the age he was when he supposedly died in the twenty-first century beside a young boy with jet-black hair and pale, silvery-gray eyes. King Robert fell in on my other side, and Broderick and Sloan beside him, riveted by the scene unfolding.
One could have heard a pin drop as Marjorie’s dragon and the boy approached one another with wonder, taking in each other with such fondness there could be no doubt they knew each other. Loved each other despite their young age.
Not romantic love, not yet, but perhaps someday.
“Ye’re inner beast is every bit as bonnie as I told ye she would be, lass.” Looking at Marjorie with adoration, he dropped to a knee and held out his hand. “Thank ye for being such a good friend when I needed ye most.”
“And thank ye.”She leaned her dragon’s cheek into his tender touch, only for fire to ignite and roll over him, then roll over her as well, a beautiful display of soft, loving flames.“For ye have been there when I needed ye most, too, Blaze. My verra best friend.”
I felt a fresh surge of shock ripple through the MacLeods just as it did me.Blaze?The pup belonging to the Wolves of Ossary, who helped us so much?
“You mean helped Marjorie so much,”Chara whispered into our minds.“I think ‘twas always wee Marjorie. And I think there’s even more to Blaze than meets the eye.”
Seeming to back up what Chara said, Marjorie spoke.
“Might I see all of ye, then?”she asked Blaze as his flames continued curling over her affectionately. Something no wolf shifter should be able to do.
“Unless he started life thrust amid powerful dragon magic,”Broderick said, eyeing Blaze with not just affection but pride and awe, figuring him out.
“Nay, not yet,” Malcolm said, resting his hand on Blaze’s shoulder when the boy looked hopeful as if he wished he could do as Marjorie asked, but knew he couldn’t. “’Twill be some time before Blaze, the verra first of his kind, will be able to embrace not just his inner wolf and human but his inner dragon.”
