A weighty pause. “How many memories have you relived?”
“Two.” Okay. Time to part with him before I inadvertently admitted something about phantoms. “Well. We should probably—”
“Which two?” he insisted.
He wouldn’t leave my side until I told him, I realized. To hurry things along, I said, “The day Leonora and Craven met, and the night he informed her he was kicking her out and wedding someone else, after he had been intimate with her.”
“You sound offended on her behalf. Did you not see what happened just before that intimacy occurred? Craven walked into the room to speak with her about parting. He hadn’t been with her for weeks. He started talking, and she dropped her robe. She...took matters into her own hand.”
My cheeks blazed white-hot in a mere blink of time. “No, um, I didn’t see that part. And I wasn’t defending her actions at any time, in any way. She’s a monster. I was just pointing out the fact that Craven was a monster, too, and he bore some responsibility for the war. Now, let’s say goodbye and—”
His arm shot out to pull me against him. As I flailed for purchase, startled, he took flight. Realizing he was flying me home, I let my body meld to his. I didn’t want him at the palace, but I didn’t want him to drop me, either.
“You can’t go inside the bedroom with me,” I informed him. “I’m tired, and I need my rest.” Truth. As Saxon’s body heat enveloped me, a wave of fatigue swept me up, up.
No, no. I couldn’t rest. If Leonora walked me back to Milo...
I suddenly wanted to vomit. I yawned instead.
“You do need rest,” Saxon said with a nod. “Your fatigue and strain are palpable.”
“So you’ll drop me off and go?”
“No.”
Deep breath in. “We can talk later. Yes, later sounds good.”
“Do you fear me, Asha? Is that what this is about?”
He asked the question so softly, so gently, that I flinched. “I’m not afraid of you.” I’m afraid of what I can do to you. Afraid of what you can do to my dragons. Afraid of what we can do to each other. “I could be having, uh, female problems.” It was an excuse I’d heard other women use upon occasion. For some reason, it never failed to send a man fleeing. “That happens.”
As Saxon sputtered, I relaxed, certain I’d headed off disaster. “You can drop me off at the front door,” I told him.
His brows knitted together. “Why not our balcony?”
Our balcony? “I believe there’s a rule, somewhere, that states a boy should never fight in a tournament for one girl and fly another to her balcony.” My tone developed a bite at the end.
His whiskey-colored irises glittered with an emotion I couldn’t name. “Can he kiss this other girl?”
Kiss? What?
Kiss?
He took me straight to the balcony. Because Saxon. I couldn’t bring myself to complain. I hadn’t wanted to let go of him yet.
I still didn’t.
Would he kiss me goodbye?
What am I doing? I couldn’t allow myself to discover the answer to that question.
As soon as he set me on my feet, I flattened my hand on his chest to hold him back. “Good night, Saxon.”
As calm as rock, he said, “I think I’ll stay.”
I gave him a stronger push. He didn’t budge. “Fine. Stay there all night if you want.” I faked a yawn, but a real one quickly supplanted it. “I’ll be sleeping inside. Alone.”
He clasped my wrist, asking, “What don’t you want me to see in the bedroom, Asha?”
“I...” Well, first of all, I wouldn’t panic. Second of all, I couldn’t bring myself to lie. Through some strange twist of fate, Saxon and I had forged some kind of tentative truce, and I hoped to preserve it. An untruth would be the equivalent of a fireball to the face. “I don’t want to tell you.”
“All right.” He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles.
Saying goodbye? Oh, thank goodness.
“I’ll find out on my own.” The ruthless avian released me, walked around my shocked-cold form, and entered the bedchamber.
I couldn’t let this happen. Panicked, I raced past him, and scanned the room. I would throw myself in front of... Pagan? Pyre? They were nowhere to be seen. Nor were Noel and Ophelia, who had fixed the furniture before they’d left. Ugh. I was going to have to pay for that.
Had Noel sensed we were on our way and bailed? I’d happily pay double for that.
Where were my dragons?
“Hmm.” One word from Saxon. No, not even a word. A sound. And yet, it dripped with disappointment. What had he expected? Naked forest nymphs cavorting about?
“Well, you should probably go,” I told him as breezily as I was able. The second he was gone, I would go hunting for my scale-babies.
A commotion erupted outside the door—no, the banging and shaking was coming from inside the walls. What the—I floundered as a hidden door I’d never noticed suddenly burst open, the dragons spilling into the room, midwrestle.
The pair spotted me at the same time and popped apart to fly around me, buzzing with excitement. Smoke curled from their nostrils.
I grabbed my dagger and faced off with my adversary. “I won’t let you hurt them, Saxon.” I would die first.
He didn’t spare me a glance as he slowly drew his sword. “How did you retrieve the eggs from Noel and Ophelia?”
“I’ll tell you, after you put away the weapon.” I backed the babies toward the wall, hoping to lead them to the window. “If you harm the dragons in any way, I will hate you. I will hurt you back. I’ll demand reparation, and when I do, I’ll make Leonora look like a saint.” I was a momma bear, and I’d been woken in my cave.
“You took the eggs from the realm’s most powerful witch and oracle. Apple babies.” His irises flashed incredulous and fury. “Something only Leonora could do.”
I lifted my chin. “I did not take the eggs. The girls gave them to me and returned the other two to the earth. The night your family arrived, the eggs hatched and the dragons became my babies forevermore. Our bond is unbreakable.”
He exhaled with force as he looked between us. Me. The dragons. Me.
Both Pagan and Pyre sensed danger and squawked, flapping their wings at a greater speed. Thin rivers of molten lava glowed between their scales, brightening as they opened their mouths to blow sparks and plumes of smoke in Saxon’s direction.
Valiant effort, my loves.
He coughed, but maintained his battle pose. “We have talked about this, Ashleigh. The first and second Leonora kept dragons, too. She used them to destroy everything and everyone I’d ever loved. Knowing this, you still choose to help history repeat itself?”
“I’m not the one who led the other dragons, and I’m not responsible for the damage done. Leonora is. I might have her memories, but I won’t let myself become her. You can doubt me or you can trust me, I don’t care. But you can’t deny Pagan and Pyre are innocent of any wrongdoing. They are children, and they’ve never harmed you. Would you punish them for crimes committed by their ancestors?” I petted their scaled heads and added, “These precious darlings haven’t had a chance to live. What if they grow up to aid our world in some way?”
“They will never aid a world that hates them. One day, they will attack.”
No. Wrong. “Do we murder living beings for what they might do now?” My voice rose in volume, but I didn’t have to worry about being overheard, thanks to Ophelia’s spell. “How will we know what they’ll do unless we give them a chance, Saxon?”
He stood in silence, his chest rising and falling.
The tips of my fingers began to heat, and oh, oh, oh, but I did like using Leonora’s magic. I couldn’t deny it. If Saxon attacked, I would have a seriously good chance of defeating him. The power at my fingertips...
One
minute bled into another, indecision stamped all over his face. He closed his eyes and breathed. With a heavy exhale, he faced me—and sheathed his weapon.
My fingertips cooled, and I slowly lowered my dagger. “Now, now, girls. All will be well. The warrior isn’t going to harm us. Are you, Sax? Say the words aloud so the whole class can hear.”
He jolted at the name Sax. Then he growled, “I vow I will not harm you—as long as you do not harm me or mine.”
I knew how loyal he was. Despite everything, I trusted his word.
“Go on, go meet him,” I urged, and the dragons waddled over to give him a good sniffing.
He stood stiff and silent, letting them do it. His tension mounted when Pagan nipped at his feathers, then doubled when Pyre sniffed and licked his boot. But again, he didn’t comment.
“We will raise them together,” Saxon announced, and nodded. “They will be our dragons. Yours and mine. You will not use them against me again.”
“I would never—” I pressed my lips into a thin line. I would never use the dragons against him, but Leonora certainly would. “How can we raise them together? We’re going to part in two weeks. Aren’t we?” Did he want to stay...together?
He jerked as if I’d elbowed him in the stomach, a violent reaction I didn’t understand. “You will continue to live in the palace. I will return to the Avian Mountains, but I will visit often.”
I didn’t know what I’d hoped he would say, I just knew that wasn’t it. A keen sense of irritation sharpened. With a wry tone, I told him, “How nice of you to take over my father’s role and plan my life for me.” Did I want to live in Sevón with my dragons? I didn’t know. Did I want to see Saxon, my fated one, every day?
Yes. No thought necessary. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Withering roses.
“You expect to live in the mountains with me?” He shoved the question past clenched teeth. “Only a fool would welcome the Burner of Worlds into their home. My people would revolt.”
Ouch. I’d known it, and I even agreed, but the insult still hurt. “I might decide to return to Fleur and only visit on holidays.” I would move wherever my dragons were safest. I was a mother now and sacrifices had to be made. I knew the terrain in Fleur, having stared out at it for years from my bedroom window. I knew the seasons and traditions. Sevón was a mystery to me.
If I believed with one hundred percent certainty that Saxon would protect Pagan and Pyre for the whole of his life, though, I would absolutely make Sevón my forever home, despite the risks.
“We’ll find a way to make our situation work. Together.” He sounded resigned, but also...lighter, as if he’d shed a boulder he’d been dragging around. “So, we’re parents now. That’s a first for us.” He eased onto the edge of the bed.
I hated to ask but... “The children you had with your wives.” The families he’d made after parting with Leonora. “If they died, how did your family line continue?”
“At least one avian with Skylair blood has always survived the turmoil, as if magically blessed in some way.” He scoured a hand over his face, leaving a glaze of shock behind. “Who else knows about the existence of the dragons?”
“The oracle and the witch, of course.” I bet he’d been an amazing father. Protective to the extreme. He would never send his child away for inadvertently hurting someone. “Maybe, um, Milo? Although, if the warlock knew, he would have told my father, who would have demanded answers.”
Still and stiff again, he quietly asked, “Why is there a chance Milo knows?”
I couldn’t tell him about the nighttime meetings. I just couldn’t. Not yet. His willingness to work with the dragons had me rethinking my never-admit-the-truth plan, but I wasn’t there yet. Especially since he admitted he believed I was different from Leonora. He’d misunderstood the details, but the concept still applied. “He’s powerful, and he could know things,” was all I said, and it was the truth without being the full truth.
Saxon didn’t relax in the slightest.
When the dragons took flight, their wrestling match revived, the avian scanned the room. “Soon they’ll be too big for this space. They’ll need a place of their own to create nests.”
Nests. Of course.
“Tonight, after everyone has gone to sleep, we’ll fly them to the stable I mentioned. The one I planned to have you clean.”
“And where is this stable located?”
“The Enchantian Forest.”
He couldn’t be serious. “No. Not happening.” I shook my head for emphasis. “Anyone could stumble upon it and hurt them.”
He flicked his tongue over an incisor. “Ophelia used her magic to hide the stable from anyone uninvited. The dragons will be fine. And I will pay for a magical doorway between the secret passage and the stable, allowing us to visit the dragons anytime we wish, without anyone the wiser.”
“How do you know the secret passage can hold a magical doorway?” I didn’t know how big or small it was, or even where it led.
He gave me a little grin, making my heart flutter. “Before your father’s invasion, this was my room.”
I’d been sleeping in Saxon’s bed all this time? The fluttering worsened in the best way. “What if someone finds the secret passage and therefore the doorway?”
“None of your father’s people can find the secret passages in this palace, for good reason. King Challen had battle magic. He saw wars coming years in advance and formed strategies to win before the enemy ever even considered striking. One of those times, he paid a royal witch to prevent anyone but his immediate family and a few select others to even see the doors. The same spell was used to hide the stable.”
Okay. All right. This was shaping up to be a plan I could support. I knew how well the secret passage had been hidden. I’d been trapped inside this room for six days, and never noticed it.
One last worry kept me from agreeing with his plan. “Why are you being so agreeable, Saxon? What’s happened? What’s changed?”
He came to me then, stopping just in front of me. “I don’t want to be your enemy anymore, Asha. I don’t know if we can be friends, considering everything that’s happened, but I think I’d like to try.”
“You would?” I...couldn’t... The fairy tale was unfolding right before my eyes? This was happening?
He gave a brittle laugh. “I’m being as foolish as my past incarnations. I don’t know if Craven can ever fully forgive Leonora for what transpired in their lifetime, and I don’t know what I’ll do if you betray me in mine. But I know I don’t want you harmed.”
It was. He liked me. I’d charmed him somehow. A slow grin spread, and he scowled at me. My grin only widened.
If he was willing to work with a reincarnated version of Leonora, he might be willing to work with the girl possessed by her spirit. Time would tell. I would wait, and I would watch. If he’d meant what he’d said, if this wasn’t some kind of trick, his actions would prove it, and I would disclose the full truth about my circumstances.
And oh, wow. How drastically my life had changed between one minute and the next. This morning I’d been a single mother on the hunt for jobs. This evening, I had a dragon father and a tentative friendship with the avian handpicked by fate.
What part of the fairy tale would come true next?
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’d very much like to be your friend, Saxon.”
He nodded, satisfied. “Then we’ll head to the stable at midnight.”
18
The future both is and isn’t fixed,
the past and the present intermixed.
SAXON
For hours I sat in the backless chair at the desk, riveted by the sight of Ashleigh and the dragons. Anytime she glimpsed them, love shone in her emerald eyes, and it looked as if stars had fallen in a lush meadow. The tenderness, awe, and reverence inherent in her every touch fil
led me with envy. When she held the dragons, she acted as if she held a priceless treasure. Had anyone ever viewed me in such a way?
Had I ever viewed anyone in such a way?
Even though exhaustion clung to Ashleigh, she readily played fetch anytime the dragons brought her a toy—like a hand-carved clock or a priceless antique. The trio was already a family. The kind of family I’d always desired for myself. They were so at ease with each other, secure in the knowledge that one belonged to all, and all belonged to one.
Was this the reason Noel and Ophelia had given two dragon eggs to a reincarnation of Leonora, risking my wrath?
Pagan trotted over to me and sniffed my leg. My first instinct was to jerk away, but I bit my tongue. She flapped her wings and lifted to eye level, staring at me, unnerving me. I’d only ever seen Leonora’s dragons after they were fully grown—monstrous beasts bigger than giants. These little dragon pups, though... I hated to admit it, but they were oddly adorable, their scales as smooth as glass.
I maintained eye contact until Pagan decided to fly a circle around me and perch on my shoulder. She kept her gaze straight ahead, as if I wasn’t even there. Heat radiated from her, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
Would she grow up to wreak destruction across the world? Or, was Ashleigh’s love strong enough to change the future, holding history at bay?
The latter was...possible. The princess didn’t love me, and yet she’d already changed me; I would be a fool not to bet on her success.
Keeping my movements slow and measured, I reached up to trace my fingers over Pagan’s foot—scales, talons. Upon first contact, she tensed, but she didn’t try to stop me or fly away. I petted with a bit more pressure. I could feel every individual scale, one stacked next to another.
As time passed, no one came to the door. I grew incensed. Surely King Philipp had heard about Ashleigh’s attack at the tournament. Why did he not send a servant to check on her? Why did he not check on her himself?
I’d heard rumors suggesting he was sick. Still. He should care enough about his daughter to check. Instead, he treated her as a nonentity.
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