“Nein.” I closed her lids with gentle fingers. Her sweet face no longer radiated raw sorrow. “She had a message of her own.”
Her final words echoed fractured and haunting. Hand shaking, I stroked the soft fur of her snout. “Stone. Heart. Take. Do you think she meant the words literally?” My voice cracked, low and fragile.
Taron’s expression of concern appeared carved from steel. “There’s only one way to find out.”
I gulped. “I don’t want…not sure I can…”
“Let me. Please.”
I chewed my bottom lip. Here I was, a dragon berserkatrix, and a queen to boot. Rooting around a dead body wasn’t new to me, but I nodded, more tears falling. “Everything is catching up to me, I think.”
“I understand,” he offered with a heavy tone. He withdrew a dagger.
“I suppose I identify with Leah’s plight. When I lost Leopold, I lost my entire world.” And now…
My gaze landed on Taron. Now, I was going to lose someone I craved but shouldn’t.
“You loved him,” he said, voice still so heavy.
“Ja.” Of that, I had no doubt.
A muscle jumped beneath his eye. “That… none of us knew.”
He got to work, motions quick and efficient, handling Leah’s body with a respect that comforted me.
Dang him. Without meaning to, I slipped from tolerance into something far more dangerous. I doubted I’d ever be able to go back to being enemies at war. If we severed the bond and said goodbye—whenwe severed the bond and said goodbye—I would remember him here, like this. The friend who’d helped me through a difficult situation.
“You were right.” Taron freed our prize.
My heart thudded at the sight of the lament stone. A small, round, transparent rock, glittering as if it contained a collection of tears.
The dragon prowled through my mind, its desire clear. Give her a warrior’s ending.
I glanced down at the dear thing, who’d guarded the stone with her life until my arrival. Oh, ja, of course. Leah had served the queen of her homeland well, and she deserved a warrior’s death.
As Taron cleaned up the lament stone and added it tothe cloth holding the other ingredients, I gathered materials available inside the pen and built a makeshift pyre of sticks and rocks.
With my hand on Leah’s face, I spoke my thanks. Not just to her, but to all those who’d served me and died in service to the queen. “You will forever live on in the hearts you helped.” Then, I blew a gentle stream of my hottest fire from her head to her paws. The flames licked over her body and worked fast. Within minutes, she was ash, floating away in the breeze.
Finally, Taron whispered, “It’s time.”
Ja, with all three ingredients in our possession, itwastime for us to return to the palace and brew our potion. And stay alert, expecting Lorik to attack.
At my nod, Taron extended a hand and raised me to my feet. We didn’t speak as we strode through the village, our pace matched without effort, not stopping until we reached Vogler, who patiently waited for us.
“You have been a gracious host, Staffholder,” I said. “Expect an invitation to the palace. We have much to discuss, including the needs of your citizens.”
He nodded his thanks and extended his arm toward a gate past the village garden. “The launch pad is this way.”
“Are you ready to fly again?” I asked Taron.
“Always.”
The silence resumed as we wrapped our arms around each other. The feel of him…his strength and the intensity of his presence screwed with my composure, but I hid it well. I was sure of that. One hundred percent. Holding his stare, I unfurled my smokewings, lifting us off the ground. Another flap and we soared higher.
I released him as soon as my wings caught a current. We glided through the night’s dark sky, now lit up withstars. A beautiful sight for a victorious journey, and yet, I felt as if I was flying straight to my doom. I tried to shake it off, but that only intensified the impending dread. Worse, my dragon still prowled through my mind, once again demanding,Burn him.
Cinders! The need to test him in my flames blazed, fierce and sure. I’d never been able to resist in the past, and shouldn’t have been able to resist now, with Taron. A difference I didn’t understand. Unless…
