by Shae Ford
Let me help you, my love, the white dragon pleaded.
Kael’s chin ground against the floor as he shook his head. Kyleigh’s sorrow was leaving him slowly. If he could bare it a moment more, this horrible loss he felt would fade — just as the dragon’s anger had.
But he would never forget her story.
CHAPTER 35
Familiar Wounds
“… suppose I’ve got to trust you, haven’t I? Though I wish you’d just tell me what you’re up to.”
The silence and the darkness left him. Kael dragged in a shuddering breath when the storm winds blew across him. Its frozen moan startled the fog from his mind, and he slipped back into the present.
Kyleigh watched him curiously. Behind her, the clouds formed a looming shadow across the horizon. The storm’s blue-black light darkened her pale flesh, but somehow made the red of her lips more vibrant. Her eyes came to life in the gathering darkness: the hour when the world began to fade was the hour in which her fires burned brightest. They met the tempest’s fury with a danger all their own.
“Kael? Are you all right?”
The first drops of rain began to fall. They poured so thickly that he knew he must be soaked, but he couldn’t feel it. The cold and the damp couldn’t touch him: half of his mind still clung to the other world. He listened to the music of the rain as it struck Kyleigh’s armor — their hands twined together, his eyes wrapped in hers.
He took a half-step closer. All of the things he wanted to say, all of the things he’d felt and seen hung in a vapor before his eyes. If even a hint of the woman’s sorrow or the dragon’s anger flickered inside her gaze, all of these new, frightening things would come pouring out.
They would wash away the wall between them — a wall he’d had no idea existed before now. He would drag her in against him until their wounds touched, until the unscathed portions faced the world while the raw, aching gashes pressed together. He knew their wounds would never heal entirely.
But as long as they held each other close, their hearts would be whole.
He waited, breathless — searching for the sputter of flame that meant Kyleigh’s guard had fallen. Even if she couldn’t remember everything, perhaps she could see that he’d surrendered. Perhaps his vulnerability would draw the dragon out …
But it didn’t.
“What is it?” Kyleigh arched a brow. A drop of rain slipped from its curve, down her nose, and to her lips.
Kael brushed it away before he leaned in to kiss her gently. “I know your names.”
“What? How could you …?”
She dropped his hands and backed away. He looked at her through the hair that the rain had plastered against his forehead, as if its strands might somehow lessen the look of horror upon her face. But they didn’t.
The way Kyleigh glared made him feel like the worst sort of villain. His spirit shrank back and his temper rose in defiance. “You know very well it was the only way.”
“You could have asked me! You could’ve at least warned me before you crawled inside my …” She gripped the side of her head. Her knuckles went white and she spun away from him.
Kael knew what was coming. At any moment, she would burst into her wings and tear off into the skies. She would spend every hour until dawn hiding from him — as she always did when she was furious. But Kael wasn’t going to let her run any longer.
Two steps into her sprint, and he’d already tackled her.
They landed heavily upon the grass. Kael caught most of the force of their fall on his elbow. Kyleigh arched away from him with a growl. She grabbed his wrists and pressed the spurs of her boots against his legs in warning, but he didn’t budge.
“I know you won’t hurt me.”
She struggled for a while longer and Kael held on tightly. When she finally went still, he eased his grip.
It was a mistake.
The pouring rain slickened Kyleigh’s armor. No sooner had he relaxed than she tore from his arms with a burst of strength. He lunged for her, and he didn’t see her fist. In fact, he didn’t realize that she’d swung for him until he’d already gotten his breath knocked out.
He managed to catch her around the shoulders as she scrambled away. Kyleigh twisted again, and it was only by sheer luck that he caught her neck as she spun around. Soon they were stuck: crouched in the grass with the rain beating down upon them — his face squashed against the scales on her back, her head trapped very firmly beneath his arm.
And neither of them would budge an inch.
“Let me go!”
“No, you’re going to stay here and talk to me!”
“What are we going to talk about, Kael? The fact that you just spent Fate knows how many hours digging around inside my head without even asking first?”
“Well, had I asked, would you have let me?”
“No!” Kyleigh roared. “No, I wouldn’t have blasted let you!”
“Then you left me no ch —! Stop it,” he warned, when he felt her body swelling to take its second shape. “Don’t — Kyleigh!”
He jerked his head back when spines grew out of her armor, stretching the blackened scales until the stark white appeared beneath them. He grabbed the horns that curved out of her scalp and held onto them tightly.
His warrior’s strength swelled until he could feel it pressing against the edges of his skin. It filled the cords of his muscles until they became parchment-thin. Though he swore the blood was about to erupt from his veins, he managed to hold his ground. He forced his feet to stay glued to the earth and forced everything else to hold on to Kyleigh.
Her furious roar burst the insides of his ears; her wings beat him with gales made sharp by an icy lash of rain. She pressed her bared fangs against his forehead so that he could feel their dagger points — and the flames that churned behind them.
“I don’t care!” Kael shouted over her growling. “Burn me if you like, but I’m not letting you go. It’s too dangerous. Rua will kill you if he sees you like this. And I …” Kael grit his teeth against the memory, but he thought the black dragon’s words might be the only way to staunch her anger. “I couldn’t bear it if you died even a moment before me. Please … I couldn’t bear it.”
Her growling stopped immediately. Kael’s grip loosened as she shrank back into her human skin. He let her drag him down into the sopping grass, let her arms wrap about his shoulders and pressed his face against her chest. That’s what he told himself, at least.
The truth was that he’d had no idea how the mind-walking had exhausted him. Add to that his battle with a dragon, and Kael could barely hold his eyes open.
It helped when Kyleigh kissed the top of his head. The fires that began at his scalp raced down the back of his neck and warmed him against the slowing rain. The skies trilled more frequently than the drops came down. It fell at hardly a drizzle, now. He supposed they ought to find someplace dry to sleep.
“I’m sorry,” Kyleigh whispered. Her arms tightened about him — as if she clung to the edge of everything. “I was just …”
“Worried?”
“Terrified,” she admitted. “Scared out of my wits. But if you haven’t thrown yourself into the sea by now, I suppose I must not have been too horrible.”
“I would never throw myself into the sea. You know I can’t swim.”
Her laughter warmed him every bit as much as her kiss. She squeezed him again.
A long moment passed when they didn’t speak. Kael waited until her heart slowed to its usual steady thud before he spoke again: “I don’t suppose you’d want to know what I —?”
“Never,” she said firmly. “There was a time when I might’ve wanted to hear it, but that was before all this. I know where I belong, now. And that’s enough.”
Kael sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist. There would be a time to worry about the things he’d seen. But for now, he was simply happy to be back at her side. “That’s probably for the best. There was nothing much in there but some cobweb
s, and a bit of dust —”
“Shut it,” she said, half-laughing.
He grinned when she slapped his arm. Then he lifted his head so he could meet her eyes. “I love you, Kyleigh. Nothing will ever change that.”
She kissed him on the chin. “I know.”
Kael waited, wondering if she would finally say it — on her own and unprovoked. But then her hand slipped beneath the collar of his shirt and bumped across the scars that scraped down his right shoulder. Her fingers traced the four lines down to their ends … and they fit against them perfectly.
Her smile slipped into a frown. “I wish you’d erase this.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like being reminded that I hurt you.”
“We hurt each other,” he whispered. “But that night was the start of everything. I don’t want to forget it.”
He’d bent to kiss her when a monstrous shadow crossed over their heads. Kael looked up and groaned when he saw that Gorm had made himself comfortable on the hill just above them.
His face burned when the dragon’s yellow gaze scraped across their tangled bodies, but Kyleigh hardly flinched. She arched her head back and snarled: “Do you mind?”
Judging by the way the dragon settled his wings about him, he minded very little.
“He’s just going to sit there and stare at us all night, isn’t he?” Kael muttered.
Kyleigh shrugged. “Probably. But I’m not sure he can help it … dragons are rather curious creatures.”
“I’m certain he could help it. He’s just being nosy.” Kael rolled away and lay down beside her — close enough that their shoulders touched. “It’s not as if you go around watching everybody.”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Perhaps … then again, perhaps I’m just very rarely spotted.”
CHAPTER 36
A Secret Story
It’d been days since Rua first called them to the red mountains — and Kael spent the long hours of each one trying desperately to be patient.
He was beginning to understand Kyleigh, now. The time he’d spent with her dragon half opened his eyes: he believed her when she said she couldn’t bear to see him hurt. What she’d done to him wasn’t a selfish thing. It wasn’t even a part of her mischief.
No, it was a desperate attempt to save him.
They truly were tied together. He understood now that his worry made her miserable. The darkness that plagued his thoughts must’ve stung her as meanly as it stung him. Kyleigh must’ve been able to feel his anger, his frustration. But worst of all, she must’ve sensed the hopelessness he felt — the wave that rose in the back of his mind, growing taller and fiercer with each passing day.
And if he couldn’t push it aside, it would drown them both.
So Kael tried to keep his worries at bay. He shoved the Kingdom to the back of his mind and tried to stay busy. For now, he would focus himself on the task at hand … and hope to mercy that his companions were safe.
Finally, the morning came when Gorm called them into the skies. He flew out ahead, leading them back towards the arched red mountains of Rua’s domain. Kael could practically hear the glee in his brassy voice as he told the others of their coming. The morning light drew the blue from his darkened scales as he wove in towards the mountains.
He came so close to the summit that the muscles in Kyleigh’s back bunched together in anticipation of another fight. But at the last moment, Gorm seemed to think better of taunting Rua: he bolted down to the rocks at the mountains’ bottom and sulked while Kyleigh flew on.
“There are more of them,” Kael said. He peered around her horns and swore there were nearly a dozen more pairs of dragons perched atop the mountains’ arches. Their yellow eyes traced Kyleigh’s path unblinkingly. “What could they possibly be waiting for?”
They’re probably hoping I’ll be executed — slowly, and with a great deal of screaming.
“Don’t even joke about that,” Kael growled.
Kyleigh’s scales warmed with her rumbling laughter. I told you: dragons are curious. They might never have a chance to see such odd, two-legged creatures again.
Kael hoped curiosity was all it was …
But he doubted it.
The moment they landed, Rua’s daughters came scrambling out from odd corners of the summit — tittering as they rushed to huddle beside their parents:
They’re back already?
Do they have the answer, Father?
If they don’t, will you kill them?
No, don’t kill them! They’re funny little th —
Rua’s grunt jolted the earth with such force that Kael might’ve toppled over, had he not braced himself against Kyleigh’s wing.
Silence, daughters. Let your father deal with the humans, His-Rua answered in a whistling song. She lay between his massive arms, glowing with the sunlight.
Rua’s chin rested gently atop her back. He kept his eyes shut as Kyleigh slipped into her human form. Come closer, he rumbled.
“Absolutely not,” she said.
Kael couldn’t have agreed more. “We’ve done what you asked. We have the names.”
Speak them.
Kyleigh’s fingers tightened around his arm. “My human name was Riona.”
And the dragon?
“His-Dorcha.”
If Kyleigh felt strangely about having been a dragon’s mate, she didn’t show it. Kael had expected her to grimace, or to roll her eyes — or perhaps even mutter some insult under her breath. Instead, she’d done nothing more than shrug.
Which wasn’t like Kyleigh, at all.
Even now, her face was smooth and her eyes calm as she waited for Rua’s answer. Kael was more worried about His-Rua. He thought he saw the edges of her teeth for a moment, but then her snarl vanished as quickly as it’d come.
Instead, it was Rua whose scaly lips peeled back. You will not speak that name, halved one! You do not deserve to speak it.
“All right, we won’t speak it again.” Kael was growing tired of all this. Now, with the Kingdom closer than ever, his patience hung on by a thread. “We’ve done everything you’ve asked. I think it’s time you let us go.”
No, there is one more thing you must do. Rua’s eyes cracked open, and Kael swore he could feel the heat that burned within them. You will follow me. You will see with your own eyes what you’ve done to us. You will feel the full burden of your betrayal, so that it may never be done again. Then you may leave.
*******
Rua led them south. They flew past the great mountain in the middle of the island and into a new land beyond. Kael grimaced as they crossed beneath the mountain’s shadow — but he wasn’t sure why. The cave he’d noticed before stared after him again. There was an eeriness about it, a spirit that chilled him to his bones.
If Death had a heart, he likely would’ve kept it inside that cave.
But though the mountain troubled him, Kael felt … drawn to it, somehow. He could hardly look away. He craned his neck around to watch it as Kyleigh flew, trying desperately to figure out what it was about the mountain that made him itch. He was still watching when His-Rua dipped in behind them.
Her fiery gaze settled upon his without fear. The black slits carved among the flames widened, seemed to be trying to speak. But their meaning was swept away from him — lost like words upon the wind.
Just beyond the mountain’s shadow stood a ring of sharp hills. From above, it looked like the gaping mouth of a minceworm: their tops were jagged, and an iron gray. The hills sloped inward at such an angle that they draped the valley within them in a thick, black shadow. Kael wagered the only time it saw any light was when the sun stood directly above it.
Rua landed with an earth-rumbling thud atop the hills. His great claws wrapped around their jagged crests, holding him in place. Kyleigh landed beside him, while His-Rua landed far behind. Kael was sure to stand where he could keep both dragons in the corner of his eyes.
He didn’t trust either of them.
“Where are we?” Kyleigh whispered, once she’d donned her human skin. Her dark brows furrowed as she drifted up the hill. When Kael grabbed her hand, she held it absently.
You remember it. Surely you must dream of it, Rua grunted. The shadow of his massive head swept over them as he turned to gaze into the valley. A she-dragon’s nest is as dear a thing as her fledglings, as her heart. It holds a happiness too great for her spirit to bear.
Kyleigh’s glare deepened. “Well, I don’t remember it.”
Kael couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a tinge of red cross her face. “It’s all right if you remember. I understand —”
“I don’t,” she insisted, though the way she bared her teeth said otherwise. When she turned to Rua, her voice were harsh: “What do you want from me, dragon? Just tell me what I have to do, and let’s get on with it.”
Rua took so long to blink that Kael had to wonder if he was being slow on purpose. All you must do is step over to the edge … and look.
“Fine.”
Kael stumbled forward as Kyleigh dragged him up the hill. Her grip was impossibly tight. He had to scramble to keep her pace. Once she’d marched her way to the edge, she stopped. “What am I looking at? What did you bloody well want me to see?”
She came to the edge no more than a pace before him. It only took a breath for Kael to reach her side. But by the time he did, everything had changed.
Kyleigh still scowled. Her teeth were still bared. Her fingers nearly crushed him in their grip. She was absolutely livid in every place, save for one: her eyes.
Flames whipped dangerously within them. Their anger was locked in a desperate battle against another force — a force that rose from the embers and swelled. This second force met the fire’s rage with a depth that covered it to its sputtering top. Then, when her eyes could bear the rise no longer, they closed …
And tears rolled down her cheeks.
It all happened too quickly. Kael didn’t know what’d caused her tears, but he knew he wanted them to stop. He couldn’t bear to see her cry. “What is it?”
