The drawing of the woman who looks almost exactly like her stares back up at her from one of the pages. The other one has two words written in large script at the top:Elena Shaw.
I quickly sweep my gaze over the rest of the words written on the page. My heart clenches as I realize what it says.
Elena Shaw, Isera’s mother, died two months before the Atonement Trials started. Underneath the time of death, there isa sentence detailing that her body was burned and the ashes were tossed from the ice walls around the palace.
One final tear slides down Isera’s cheek as she tilts her head back and gazes up at the open sky.
“Closure,” she replies. A shuddering sigh escapes from deep within her chest. “It is closure.”
A smile, full of both sadness and relief, blows across my face.
On her other side, Orion draws a comforting hand down her arm.
I turn back to the city below, giving them privacy.
Kath and the others reappear from behind a massive chunk of ice before disappearing from view behind another boulder as they continue making their way down the mountain and towards Stonehollow.
I cast a quick glance towards the sphere of golden light that is now nestled in Orion’s pocket.
The humans have reclaimed their home.
Now, it is time for us to do the same.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“See that mountain range up ahead?” Alistair calls over the rushing winds.
Leaning to the left, I look past him where he is sitting in front of me on Lyra’s back so that I can see better.
When Lyra shifted back into a dragon and flew us away from Stonehollow, Alistair was still unconscious, so I had to hold him in place in front of me to make sure that he didn’t fall off. But the hours in the air thankfully gave Alistair enough time to recover the magical energy he gave to Lyra, and he woke up about half an hour ago. It also gave the rest of us enough time to rest and allowed our bodies to heal our wounds somewhat.
We technically promised Lavendera that we would give her the Soul of Trees first. But a detour to the Seelie Court would add several hours to our journey, and I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Draven to fight alone for one minute more than absolutely necessary, so I convinced the others that it was best to head straight to the battlefield instead. Thankfully, they didn’t need much convincing.
“Yeah?” I reply, gazing out at the tall mountain range before us.
“Lyra says that the battle is just on the other side,” Alistair explains.
Once Alistair woke up, he and Lyra opened their union bond so that they can communicate in their minds while she’s in her dragon form.
“So get ready,” he finishes, glancing at the three of us over his shoulder.
A sudden burst of dread explodes inside my chest, and I swallow as I stare at those imposing gray mountains before us. Draven is leading the charge somewhere there on the other side.
Please, let him be okay. Goddess please, let him be okay.
Lyra’s powerful wings beat the air on either side of us as we draw closer to the stone barrier that separates us from the battlefield. I can’t feel any of Draven’s emotions through our mate bond, which means that he is either keeping them on his side of it, or blocking out his emotions altogether so that he feels nothing at all in order to concentrate fully on the fight and not get distracted. It’s an incredibly difficult skill to master, but one he has truly perfected. As I learned first-hand during that initial power demonstration in the Atonement Trials.
A small smile ghosts across my lips at the memory. It feels like several lifetimes have passed since then.
“She says that she’s going to head straight to Draven and Galen so that you can join them,” Alistair calls. Then he glances back at Isera, who is sitting behind me. “Did you ever end up bonding any of the other dragon shifters?”
“No,” she replies with a tone of finality in her voice. “I don’t want to bond anyone. I don’t like feeling tied up in that way.”
Orion clicks his tongue. “Well, there goes the bondage session I had planned for tonight.”
I can feel her turning around behind me to stare at him.
“When this is all over, you and I are going to have a talk,” she says, though it sounds more like a threat.
