“Let me try.” I moved before I could second-guess myself, sinking to my knees before Alaric’s enormous head. Carefully, I pressed my hands against his muzzle.
That simple contact washed an icy chill over me. For Thorne, for Alaric, I would not pull back. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. If I could just reach my magic.
Darkness rolled over me in a wave. Thick and menacing, it shoved me beneath its surface. My lungs squeezed, pressure thrusting down on my chest. I was sinking.
“No!” I stumbled away.
“What happened?” Thorne grasped my upper arms, holding me upright.
I met his wide-eyed alarm. “I…don’t know. It felt…like… Death.”
The dragon’s legs contorted. His muscles spasmed. “He’s seizing,” Thorne cried out, dragging me to a safer distance.
Light exploded. The impact reverberated through our bodies. The force of it rattled my skull, sending us reeling.
Flames encompassed the dragon’s body.
“Alaric!” I raised my arms to shield my face from the sweltering heat, watching in horror as the inferno swallowed the writhing beast.
“Hathor’s curse,” Thorne choked out. “After all this time, it’s finally consuming him.”
The anguish and defeat in his expression threatened to split my heart in two. He circled his arms around my back, and we clung to each other, our grip tightening with every cry Alaric unleashed.
The smell of charred bone and sulfur filled the air.
Alaric was burning to death. Could Hathor’s vengeance really be this cruel?
As the thundering of the flames quieted, a high-pitched keening rang in my ears.
“Alaric?” Thorne’s voice was a whisper, taut with fear.
I braced myself and turned to face the dragon’s ruin. The proud beast who had once towered before us now lay reduced to a mountain of ash. My hand flew to my mouth, eyes stinging as tears threatened.
“He’s… He’s…gone.” A silent sob wracked Thorne’s body.
I circled my arm around his waist and squeezed. “I’m so sorry.”
“I was too late. I failed him,” Thorne choked out.
Alaric's death left us both in a state of frozen shock. It was the cruel punishment of a goddess who had no mercy.
And then, through the silence…
A groan.
My heart slammed against my ribs. That hadn’t come from me or Thorne.
The mound of ash shifted, caving in. Impossibly, a blackened hand thrust free. Another followed, clawing upward.
The mountain of death cracked open, and from its center rose not a beast, but a man.
“Alaric!” Thorne shouted, lunging forward.
We rushed to the pile of cinders.
“Brother?” The voice that rang out was hoarse, broken, but alive.
“I’m here!” Thorne cried, digging through the mound. He grasped the figure buried beneath and dragged him into the light.
