“And now she’s told you that it’s nearly time. Bring the blade with you.” I sucked in a breath and spit out what I’d read not long ago. “The elder scales, the crown’s first claim, togetherbled, bound flame to name. Through kin of sky and earth combined, a kingdom renewed. A fate aligned.”
“That’s fromEmber’s Shadow.”
I nodded. “We didn’t understand it then, but we do now. Bleed for the dragon and align your fate.” I continued to quote from the book. “Where rivers twist, and shadows flow, a pledge of twin-born hearts was cast. You were once twin-born hearts.”
“Until you healed me.”
I stroked his face. “I believe it’s time for you and that dragon to heal the past. Only then can we find a future.”
Again, my wife is right.
My grin came out crooked.Duly noted.
With a yip, Farris raced ahead, entering a wide stone courtyard surrounded by low, icy hedges and skeletal flowering vines.
Lore’s gaze swept the area before homing in to where Farris stood beside a raised flowerbed, wagging his tail. He whined and peered over his shoulder at us.
“Frostwilla,” Lore whispered as we approached the nyxin. “Farris found the plant.”
As we drew closer, I saw what had killed the competitors scattered around the flowerbed.
The silver plant wasn’t just beautiful.
It was feeding Naveer’s insatiable craving.
Chapter 37
Reyla
The flowerbed had been constructed of brown stone. Slicked with frost, it was filled with gnarled stems and glittering crystalline leaves. The main plant with petals layered like clear sapphire grew in the center, reaching to chest height, and encased in a lacy spiderweb of ice.
Four bodies lay in the vicinity, one collapsed on the edge of the raised bed, two sitting and slumped forward, their hands outstretched toward the plant. One lay flat on her back, staring blankly at the sky, locked in place by roots coiling around her wrists and ankles, her gown and hair coated with hoarfrost. The expression on her face… Her death may have been quick, but I suspected it was painful.
These weren’t mere accidents. They'd been harvested. Each failed attempt had sent threads of energy spiraling back to Naveer, strengthening her while we walked into her perfectly orchestrated trap.
Lore’s voice echoed in my mind.I’ll tell you what little I know about plucking a frostwilla blossom. The danger isn’t just in the timing.The sunlight only hits it properly once a day, and only for an instant. And the frostwilla doesn’t stay still. It reacts like a trap, its core tracking the sunlight. The moment the sunbeam gets close, it begins to turn, avoiding the light. If left alone, it will twist out of alignment, and the sunlight won’t penetrate the petals at all.
How do we pluck a blossom without freezing to death if it avoids the light?
I think the trick relates to holding the stalk in place so that it catches the light at just the right instant, then snapping the stem.
What did the others do wrong?I asked, trying not to linger on the expressions of horror on their faces.
Plucked without the right light or the frostwilla plant fought back.
When you say fighting back, I assume you mean freezing me instantly.I pointed to one of the frozen lords nearby with ice embedded in his hand.
“What makes you believeyou’llbe picking this blossom?” he drawled.
I huffed. “Oh, there’s my arrogant husband again. I’ve missed him. Of course it’ll be me.”
“Why you in particular?”
Sunlight poked its way through the canopy, striking the flowerbed a short distance away from the stalk of the particularly beautiful frostwilla blossom.
“Because you’ve got enough to think about with the dragon.” It was all I could think of fast. “I can do this.” Maybe. Sure, I could. No, Iwould. “Because I love you and it has to be me.”
Frowning, he studied my face. “You sense this?”
