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And with each wave the shores were changed. Remolded. Renewed.

This ocean between Voski and me, this depth of love was healing. The cord that linked us, which had already felt solid and warm with heat, no longer tangled with wire, or echoed with distance. It was refined. Like the steel that enters the blacksmith’s fire, it glowed and expanded. The darkness and dirt were burned away, and what was left was stronger than before.

I didn’t understand how hurting with him was healing me, but it did.

I didn’t understand how the dark, frightening feelings could bring joy right alongside, but they did.

We had met the monsters side by side. We’d faced the loss and still clung. We’d been burned, but now we—and our dragons—healed together. Scarred, but stronger.

I don’t know how long we held each other, but when I finally drifted toward sleep, there were tears on my cheeks, and a smile on my lips.

Because life was hard and sad. But love was the most beautiful thing I’d ever experienced.

And love with him was worth all the rest.

Uneasy Footing

~ VOSKI ~

I lost all track of time in the hours—days?—that followed.

I didn’t know if it was night or day, morning or evening. The castle’s thick walls kept out most of the light, and my tunnel vision for Grace removed the rest.

I bathed her, and watched over her whenever they changed her dressings or administered tonics.

We slept curled together, sat with her in my lap, I held her while she wept, and laughed when she smiled. It was a blur. Precious, and painful.

The bond was a balm, a way to reassure myself that she was healing. And even though pain bounced between us like a childhood game of ball, joy always followed.

She was here. She was safe. And even if she was sad… she was mine.

Then, the summons came. A message from Donavyn. I blinked when I read it, remembering his instruction to see him when things were more stable.

Had it already been that long? Sometimes, I looked at Grace and it seemed like only hours since we’d landed on the dragons, with her asleep and bleeding.

Other times it felt like we’d lived in this little room that smelled like sharp herbs our whole lives, and shared our days with these healers since time began.

“What is it?” Grace murmured sleepily as I dropped into the chair next to her bed. Her bandages had just been changed—always painful and exhausting—and she’d seen the messenger I met at the door.

“Donavyn asked for me.”

Her brows rose. “You need to go.”

I shook my head, but her lips pressed thin. “Voski… we have a life. I want to have this life. I want you to have yours back. We can do this now. You should go. Speak with him. You said he had your pin!”

I didn’t give a flying fuck about my pin anymore. Not really. But I nodded.

“Then go!”

“I will… when you sleep,” I said, with a pointed look.

She grimaced. “I sleep all the time. I’m sick of sleeping.”

“You sleep because your body needs it. You rest. And when you do, I’ll go. By the time you wake up, I’ll be back.”

She gave me a warning look, as if I might be deceiving her, but she didn’t speak the words. Love rushed to me through the bond, and she snuggled down into her blankets, yawning. I sat there, watching her, the note in my hand forgotten.

Her eyelids drooped, but she still smiled. “You’re handsome, even when you need a bath.”