“I know.” He took a step toward me. “It’s hard to believe. Impossible, even. All the dragons were killed, right? Well, I’m here to tell you they weren’t. One survived, and his name is Tahir.”
“More than one survived,” I told him.
“The talon you found?” He sighed and ran his hands along his horns, shaking his head. “I believe someone has discovered why I’m here. They planted the talon as a warning of some kind. It explains all the other coincidences, too. Someone has it out for me.”
“Hmm. Well, you might be right about the coincidences, but you’re wrong about the dragon.” I nibbled on my bottom lip, unsure if I should tell him. But he’d come clean to me, and if he was here to save a dragon, then I knew I could trust him with this information. “Four others have survived. They’ve lived inthe Isles for well over a decade. And they’re adolescents, growing rapidly every day, which means they want to spread their wings and explore. I think one of them came here.”
“Wait. You have four dragons on the Isles?” His voice was flat, his eyes dark. For a moment, I wondered if I’d read him very, very wrong.
And then his entire face lit up. “Do you know what this means? Tahir won’t be lonely anymore. Once I heal him, he came come here. He can soar through the clouds with his brethren.”
17
ASTRID
Several hours later, Tormund and I perched on a rock overlooking a waterfall. Water rushed by us, swirling with froth, the sound filling the cave with a constantshhhhhh. I leaned back and pulled my knees to my chest, watching as he nibbled on a heel of bread, his eyes distant.
We had not come to an agreement on the deal. After we’d shared dragon stories, we’d started off down the tunnel without question or comment, like we both knew we had to find this gem, one way or another.
My emotions warred for dominance. For as long as I could remember, I’d longed for freedom and to feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I’d learned of my curse when I’d been only two or three years old. Finding out was one of my first memories. I remembered Jostein sitting me down and explaining to me what it meant. Then he gave me a moss cake and a pat on the back, promising he’d always be there for me.
“But I want to go outside,” I’d told him.
Smiling in that fatherly way of his, he’d replied, “Perhaps one day you will, but for now, you have all of us down here.”
A couple years later, I’d found the story of the Everstone in a book. That night, when I’d fallen asleep, I’d dreamt of getting my hands on the gem and sailing the salt sea with the beaming sun on my face.
Over the years, I’d grown more determined to find it. And to willingly walk away from it now felt like the unravelling of my soul. Everything I was and everything I’d planned to be—it all went back to the Everstone and my freedom. Who was I without it? What would I become?
I had nothing else, I realized. Nothing but my plants, which had taken over my home, and my mining job. Both of those were pretty great things, admittedly. I loved what I did, and tending to my plants and watching them thrive mademefeel alive. And I had my friends, of course. This community in the dwarven mountains. I was never alone unless I wanted to be.
“You seem deep in thought,” Tormund said, nudging my knee with the back of his hand. His knuckles skimmed my trousers, but something about the intimacy of his touch made it feel like we were skin-to-skin.
“So do you,” I pointed out. “What’s on your mind?”
“The dragons,” he said wistfully. “I’d love to see the sky full of wings.”
“Yes. So would I.”
“You will,” he said. “We’ll find the stone, I’ll fix Tahir, and then we’ll find a cure for you.” He leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs. From this position, he didn’t tower over me like he usually did. We were eye to eye, and it was unnerving. “Think about it. This would save the species. Rivelin’s dragons—the ones you told me about—they are siblings. They’ll never breed.”
I nodded. “Lilia has mentioned that to me a time or two. She’s beside herself, really, since she’s so attached to one of them. She hates the idea he’s one of the last of his kind.”
“He doesn’t have to be,” Tormund said quietly, his words nearly drowned out by the rush of the waterfall.
Tormund was right. Fates be damned, I hadn’t thought of it that way before now, but there was no mistaking the truth in his words. If Tahir could leave his mountain, he could come here and ensure a future for dragons.
“What if we took Rivelin’s dragons to Azraak instead?” I asked, offering the only other option I could think of.
Tormund shook his head. “I worry they’d succumb to the same affliction.”
“Bloomin’ fates,” I muttered.
A slight smile lifted the corners of his lips. “Does that mean you’ll agree to my deal?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip, then cursed again. “Yes, fine. I agree to your deal. But I need you to understand I’m doing this for the dragons, not you. I want a sky full of wings, too. After everything Isveig did to them, I want to see them thrive.”
Tormund held out a hand, his eyes burning into mine. Shadows swirled around each of his fingers. Swallowing, I slid my palm into his. A searing heat whipped across my fingers, followed by the coolling touch of his shadows. I couldn’t help but stare at them. They swirled around me, twisting up my arms and tracing circles against my skin, sensual and electric. And something about the way Tormund’s hand held mine made it feel like a promise of things to come. Or aninvitation.
