And with that thought came a wave of fury. Not at Dash, but at how they’d met. The nightmare of that afternoon in the meadow.
Her own desperation.
Most importantly, her quest that had started all this. “Where’s the dragon slayer?”
“He escaped.”
Those words only made her rage burn higher. “He what?”
Ronan winced. “Someone broke him out of the dungeon.”
She glared at Ronan. How could that be? “I have to find him.”
Determined to search every corner of the kingdom, she headed for the door.
But no sooner had she entered the hallway than a loud commotion sounded.
She had no idea what it was until the main doors flew open of their own volition and a whirlwind whipped through the hall, tearing at tapestries and weaponry, sending both of them flying. One moment she was in the hallway, and in the next she was carried away to a room somewhere else in the palace.
By the time everything stopped spinning and she could catch her bearings, she was in a dark bedroom. The crown above the bed and lavish furniture told her that it must belong to Dash.
Why am I here?
She turned around slowly, then saw Dash lying in the large bed in his unicorn form.
Joy filled her. Until she took a step closer, and his mother materialized beside him. Tears streaked down Naomi’s face.
In that moment, Tanis knew exactly what had caused her awful feeling all morning.
Dash was near death.
“What happened?” she asked, choking on her own tears.
“That bitch had Renata’s horn. She stabbed him with it.”
Even more confused, Tanis didn’t understand why Naomi was crying. “He’ll be fine. He can heal himself.”
“Not against a golden horn, he can’t. He will be in agony until the wound kills him.”
No. Tanis refused to believe those words. “What?”
Sobbing, Naomi couldn’t answer.
Ryper materialized beside Tanis. He stared at Dash as if he’d never seen him before. Even so, the grief in his blue eyes was searing.
Tanis struggled to breathe. “Tell me this is a jest.”
He shook his head. “This is his one weakness. A gold wand can kill any unicorn.”
Even though she knew that, she shook her head in denial. “No. No! He will awaken.”
Determined to prove them wrong, she went to the bed so that she could sit beside him and pick Dash’s head up. “Listen to me, beast, you will wake up. Do you hear me?”
He didn’t move.
A surge of raw, unmitigated agony tore through her. “Wake up, Dash! I can’t lose you, too. Do you understand? You promised me! Wake up, damn you! Wake. Up!”
Then the sobs came. They were so horrific that she couldn’t breathe. All she could do was lay her head down on his neck and cry.
