When the huge golden body of the queen came into sight, we coasted down, the wind catching us as we drifted to land gently, keeping Justice just off the ground in our front claws.
Josephina lowered her head, despite being the one who technically ruled us. The dragon side anyway.
Welcome, my pack mate. Please, tell me everything.
Using our mental connection, we told her about the wild dragon, the ley lines, the jeweled president, and the consequences for Justice.
You already knew all of that, though, right?
Josephina nodded, her huge head bobbing gently.Yes. We have closed the gateway for the wild dragons. No more will terrorize Earth. I apologize for the pain that this caused you. We realized too late, and then it was too dangerous to the worlds for us to use the lines and cross.
I felt her true sorrow at this, and the worry she’d felt knowing that her most beloved Jessa, and the pack she had claimed as her own, were beyond her help.
Can you help Justice?
I'd almost been avoiding this question, because if she said she couldn't, the agony that was tearing at my chest would rip me completely in two, leaving me to bleed out on the ground with my mate.
I wasn't being dramatic; I felt the certainty of that.
I don't want to promise you anything, but I will try.
When I released my mate, Josephina leaned down, pressing her snout to the ruby coffin.
I started to pace in dragon form, rumbles rocking my chest as flames spewed from my mouth in random intervals.
We were not handling this well; I just needed Josephina to give us our heart back.
I have good and bad news.
Everything inside of me stilled, my bones literally chilled by this statement, despite the fire that nestled deep in my broad chest.
Tell me.
I felt her sympathy, and her sorrow.
I can free her from the prison, but right now the rubies are the only thing keeping her alive. She was hurt badly. Very badly. There's barely a flicker of life. I'm not sure she can come back from this.
My roar split the air, everything around us going up in flames, Josephina and Justice the only beings protected from my wrath.
There's a chance, Jacob.
This halted me briefly.What is it?
The ruby fields.
I listened without moving or breathing.
If we remove the ruby around her while she's in the fields, they may choose to rejuvenate her essence and power. It's going to be up to the power of that gem, and how they feel about Justice, but it's the only chance she has.
This was the point where our mate bond might be the catalyst to her death. If they didn't accept me, then they'd never bring her back into their fold. Just as her parents had feared.
There's no other option. Nothing?
Josephina was silent, and that said everything I needed to know.
Let's do it.
If they didn't accept our bond, I would end it to make sure that Justice lived. This world, it needed her, and I couldn’t survive knowing she wasn’t part of it.
