“How?”
“The sands below and fire.”A flash of fire pouring through this space crosses my mind. I flinch, but knowing it’s Saff’s memory and not my own comforts me.
I slide down her side, landing hard on the sand below. Gazing around, I take in the labyrinth before me as I make my way to the closest shard of glass. On closer inspection of the red material shooting up from the ground, I realise it’s not as brittle as glass. It seems to be more crystalline in nature. It reminds me of the Goddess statue under the tree, but in more roughened shapes, and showcasing colours of red and blue melding in some places to make a rainbow of purple. I’ve never seen ones with these shadings or placement before. They seem to segment the large, rocky space into rooms.
Another memory hits me of an egg encased in a purple crystal, one cobalt dragon breathing fire on it, followed by another flame of red.
Saff—I turn to look at the hulking dragon in the wide space, big enough to house multiple dragons her size. They are the memories she chose to share with me when she picked me as her intimate. Together, we are an oddity within our world. A dragon and a human girl.
An eerie feeling creeps up my spine, and I shake it off, continuing my perusal of the crystalline area.
“Saff?” I ask as I find the low, jagged circular amethyst crystal with a hole in the centre—the perfect size for a dragon egg.
“My mate hid our egg in the mountains. Safe,”she explains.
“Safe from who?” I ask.
“The Gods. They play. They fight. They war. They create us to destroy us.”
I reach out for the crystal in front of me, finding it cool to the touch. Memories of harsh winds and blinding lightning hit me. A despair washes over me as I picture a large blue dragon being struck in the clouds and sent tumbling towards the earth. My heart hammers.
The idea of losing both my mate and young in the same night fills me with rage.If it’s anything like the loss I’ve experienced, then it’s diabolical in its annihilation. How can you breathe when everything you love is taken from you? How do you cope with an existence they no longer cohabit?
Solace is not something I’ve achieved within this lifetime. How does one mend a heart that has been crushed and severed? Surely, love cannot exist within something so bruised and battered.
“I’m sorry.” Stepping away from the nest, I move towards the dragon, feeling the temperature soar. “What can I do?”
“We find egg,”is her gravelly reply in my head.
Fumes pour from Saff’s nose as she tries to contain her temper.Is this the first time she has been back to this place since…he passed through the veil?
I never left the temple. After my sister…Brushing my hands on my pants, I try to stem the tide growing within.Breath. Breath, Dove. Inand out, in and out.The idea of being in the place I lost Wren massacres me. And here Saff is, in the last place she saw her mate and their egg.
My decision was made when I looked into her bloodshot eyes in the grey sands, but this knowledge just further solidifies it.
“I promise to help you find your egg,” I try to soothe. Because I do. I plan on helping Saff find her family. What I would give to know my sister still lived. If only she resided in a secret location, awaiting rescue.
“Then we kill the bad king.”
Through the tunnel, a sound catches both of our ears, a howl on the wind, and we both look towards the yawning opening that leads into the dragon’s nesting place.
“Is that a—” My voice catches. My time has run out.
“Wolf,” Saff states firmly for me.
Now confirmed, the howl hits deeper the next time it rings out, piercing deep within me. “Gideon?”
Saff puffs her chest out next to me.
I’m in two minds about the dyre wolf who helped me. He doesn’t seem to want to kill me, instead being compelled to through magic. It’s hard to be angry at someone who has no control over the outcome that is dictated for them.
“He’s being compelled to capture me and take me back to the king of Haven.”
“Compelled.”The word is snorted in the corners of my mind, letting me know Saff isn’t happy with this situation.
Wren said not to discount the wolf, but by Saff’s tense form, I can tell she’s not impressed by the immortal shifter.
Gideon is one of the oldest creatures in this land. He must know more than he can share in his current controlledstate.
