He shrugs, then let’s go of my hand to wrap his arm around me and pull me in tighter.
“I think the blue dragon may be right,” Kezra muses, also tilting her head thoughtfully at the pile. “It seems too simple.”
Daegan nods in agreement. “Also, Maethrel gave me this at the battle.” He pulls out a vial from his pocket, showing it to us. Raef pauses to look back and listen in.
“He gave you another vial of his blood in the middle of that battle? Why?” I ask.
“After. And I didn’t think about it at the time, but now I’m thinking he must’ve known this wasn’t going to work…”
“Is his fire going to destroy all the relics though? Before we break the curse?” I ask, panicking.
Daegan rubs at his chin. “It shouldn’t if we do it quickly…”
“So…” Raef looks at all of us with a quirked eyebrow. “Am I doing this or not?”
We all look at each other. “Let’s just give it a try. We’ve come all this way,” I say finally.
Everyone is in agreement.
Raef turns around, pulling his shoulders back, and I turn my head away, covering it with my hand instinctively. I feel the heat before I hear it. I wait a few beats, then I look back into the clearing.
The fire is already out. The items are still there, looking slightly charred, and we all take tentative steps to look closer. Everything is still intact, except for the vial of blood. It’s shattered and the blood has spilled out.
We all seem to look up toward the veil at the same time, waiting. The silence around us is deafening as we all wait for… something. Moments pass, no one speaking or moving.
“Damn. It.” Raef says. Everyone looks as defeated as I feel.
“I knew it. That fucking—” Daegan stops himself, running his hands down his face.
“Why didn’t he just tell us we were going to fail?” I muse.
“I think he pretty much did.” Raef picks the sword back up and inspects it.
“I’m so tired of that fucker and all of his mysteries,” Daegan growls. Daegan’s normally so in control of his emotions, never overreacting or lettinghis anger get the best of him, but he paces around the clearing now, looking genuinely bothered and angry.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say softly, approaching him.
His eyes soften when he looks at me. He pulls me in and kisses my forehead. “We have time,” he mumbles.
So we stay in the clearing, sitting in a circle, ready to make a new plan.
“What do we do now?” Raef asks.
Silence falls over us. No one knows.
I stare off into the trees, thinking about the passage. The curse was cast in Torrynth. In the fires of the Eternal Pit, more specifically.
“We go to Torrynth,” I finally say, breaking the silence.
“We can’t just go back to Torrynth. They’ll be looking for us there. They might even be torturing our people for answers by now,” Daegan responds.
“Well, we’ve been working on gaining more allies this past year. Trying to inspire people to join us. It’s been… difficult. We’ve had some interest but not a lot. But I have people still working on it back home,” Raef says. “Maybe if people hear about how two badass dragons, a rogue elf, and a skeldaryn-elf hybrid kicked the elves’ asses recently, it will give them a little more courage.”
“Maybe. But the king is still pissed. There’s a good chance he makes a move on us soon,” Daegan counters.
“Maybe,” I say. “Or… maybe not.”
Daegan raises his eyebrows.
