Just as I feel myself slipping away, a woman appears above me, kneeling at my side with her hand pressed gingerly to my chest.
She’s beautiful.
Concussed as I may be, I know she’s the most stunning woman I have ever laid eyes on. Her sparkling green eyes remind me of thick bamboo forests in the summertime. She smells of dewy grass after a fresh rain. Her soft black hair streams over her shoulder in one long, loose braid. She’s dressed in light green robes, the silksembroidered with a subtle floral pattern. The faint scent of jasmine floods my nose, a welcome change from the dirt and blood and ash that surround us.
“Sai?” she whispers, her voice concerned, yet still somehow angelic to my ears. Her brows are knotted in worry. I would reach up to soothe her expression, if only I could feel my arms.
“I… know you,” I rasp, my throat squeezing so tight that I choke.
I have no idea why I’m saying this. I’ve never seen her face before, and yet it feels as though I have known this woman many lifetimes over. And then it hits me. She’s the one from Longhao, the hooded stranger who saved me from those thieves.
But it runs deeper than that. I felt this strange familiarity then, too. Her presence is the salve to my wounds, a fire on a cold winter’s night. The very air around her seems to vibrate, a tangible force that ghosts across my skin. The blinding pain radiating through my broken body is nothing compared to the comfort she brings.
A million questions race through my head—What is she doing here? Where did the dragon go? Has Feng harmed it?—but the darkness pooling at the edges of my vision makes it difficult to ask.
She shakes her head. I can almostfeelher disappointment, a cold, heavy sensation crossing our shared gray thread of fate. I don’t understand how it’s possible, and yet there’s no denying the pulsing of my heart. It sits heavy in my chest—though that could very well be my broken ribs piercing holes into my lungs.
“You’re a damn fool,” she says, placing her hand on my forehead. Her fingers are lovely and cool and soft.
“Who—”
“Rest.”
I don’t have the energy to argue. My eyes drift closed, too heavy to open again. The last thing I register is the sensation of being lifted into the air.
The world falls away a moment later.
12
Iwake up.
And immediately start screaming.
I’m not only in an unfathomable amount of agony, but have suddenly found myself thousands of li up in the air, which is enough of a fright to make me lose consciousness all over again.
Wind screams past my ears, deafening me. It’s difficult to appreciate the beauty of the lands below when I could plummet to my death at any moment. Craning my neck to look up, I discover that I am tightly wrapped in the grip of a creature’s massive claw.
“Please… don’t… eat me,” I wheeze out, genuinely surprised I can speak.
The dragon doesn’t respond, doesn’t give me so much as a glance. I doubt it can hear my pathetic croaking over the rush of air around us anyway. But for the briefest moment, I can feel its fear.
That fear washes over me in waves, pulsating from the center of my back and licking up my neck to weigh heavily in my skull. It’s cold and frantic, mixed with an overwhelming anguish. I wish I could calm its worry somehow, but my body is in rough shape. It’s frankly a miracle I’ve even opened my eyes.
I’m unsure where we’re going or how long we’ve been airborne.All I know is that the winds are terribly hot and dry, which tells me we are no longer in the warm, sticky climate of the Southern Kingdom of Jian. I panic for a moment. Is the dragon flying me to its lair? Will it devour me whole while I’m at my weakest?
Before I can think more on it, sleep drags me under.
I’m in and out of consciousness for Gods know how long. Days? Weeks? Full moons? I have no sense of my surroundings, no idea what time of day it is. I’m barely coherent enough to register the soft blankets upon which I lay, plus the gentle hum of a woman’s voice.
It’s a beautiful sound.
Magical and otherworldly and again sofamiliarthat it causes my chest to ache. I know this voice, and yet I do not. I know this song, and yet I swear I have never once heard it in my life. It’s a wordless tune, pulling directly at my heartstrings. Its sweet notes resonate, vibrating in my very bones.
I’m caught somewhere between waking and a dream. I see them again, visions of myself free and in flight. The clouds are cool and refreshing against my body, the wind warping around me as I move through the skies with abandon. I’m proud and brave and strong, protecting everything between the mountaintops and the Heavens above. And at my side, my beautiful wife.
“Jyn,”I wheeze, delirious.
I don’t know why I say the name. Surely it’s the fever.
