“Can he hear me?”
“No, but I am having a conversation with him right now.”
She ties her fur-capped cloak and grabs my hand, summoning her shadows that coax mine like bees to fucking honey.
“Shadow walk us, Killian. The gardens.Now.”
I grouse, half pissed, but oblige without haste. The polished wood floors vanish from under us, solid ground coated in a thick layer of snow forming beneath our feet.
There’s an eerie calmness in the air; the deserted garden slumbering under the white dust that blankets everything. The sky bleeds soft pink hues, only a black dot blotting the horizon, growing bigger with every passing moment.
I hear the thunderous flapping of his wings before that blurry speck of coal becomes a beast in all its glory.
“Majestic,” Aimee whispers in childlike awe, her eyes transfixed on the approaching dragon. From its claws, a contraption dangles in the wind like a massive, gilded bird cage, two silhouettes strapped inside.
The creature lowers the cage gently to the ground before circling the castle once, twice, and landing in the middle of my garden. His enormous tail knocks over the marble fountain in the middle, snow and chunks ofstone flying everywhere. That fucking fountain has been there for centuries and he tore through it like it was made of straw.
“Show off,” I mutter through clenched teeth as Aimee snickers.
“That’s for calling him names,” she giggles before breaking into a run toward the dragon.
The cage door opens with a creak, and Kahlya and Celine step out of it. The redhead claps with unrestrained excitement, while her lover looks like she’s about to hurl the contents of her stomach all over the place.
“I’m never doing that again,” she says in between heaves.
“Why in Imiryion’s name have you done it in the first place?” I ask, puzzled. “Couldn’t he have carried you on his back?”
“A dragon only allows his soul bonded to ride him,” Aimee answers from where she’s scratching K’haram’s jaw, the creature nuzzling its giant snout against her dainty palms.
She presses her forehead against his scaled muzzle, a silent conversation passing between them. She then turns her head toward us, an excited glint of mischief shining in her eyes. Whatever has her bursting with giddiness, I already know I’m not going to like it.
“Welcome to Sangeries, Kahlya, Celine.” She nods at them reverently before continuing, “Killian will escort you to your chamber to rest. We can discuss our next steps after you’ve regained your strength from the voyage.” She unties her heavy cape, letting it fall to the ground in the puddle of muddied, melting snow at the creature’s paws. Steam is coming out of his nostrils, and I swear his mouth extends in what could only be described as a challenging grin.
“What are you going to do?” I ask suspiciously.
“Fly with my dragon, but of course,” she says before lifting her chemise, baring her toned legs to the frigid air and climbing up K’haram’s leg to nestle between his shoulder blades.
Only my umbra would think to ride a dragon in nothing but a nightgown and a fierce smile.
Chapter 30
Aimee
NothingI’veeverexperiencedin my life can hold a candle to the exhilarating feeling of being high in the skies, weightless like a feather on K’haram’s back. We pierce the empyrean like a spear thrown with no apparent target; the winds biting into my skin and throwing my curls every which way. I should be freezing in my skimpy attire, but K’haram’s blazing heat seeps into my bones, a warm fuzzy feeling coiling around my limbs.
A distant part of me—remnants of my previous life—tries to break free, and I scream into the heavens.
Not out of sorrow or despair.
No.
Out of unadulterated joy.
It’s not so much a memory as it’s a feeling. Of completion. Having Killian and K’haram in my life, I finally feel whole, no part of me missing or hiding.
I’ve always thought I was missing something. That I was made of little broken pieces, shattered into a million specks of dust at the cruel hands of my own blood. And no matter how much I rearranged those jagged shards into a functioning being,something was always left askew. An emptiness I couldn’t name, only taste.
Now I know my soul was longing for both of them.
