Page 64 of Blood of Dragons
“That’s not fucking good enough.She deserved to live, and I deserve to die. You should have saved her. You should have saved my wife…my child…and let me burn to ash like the rest of my kin.”
His black eyes focused on me and didn’t blink.I’m sorry for your loss?—
“You couldn’t possibly understand my loss.” The tears came again, along with the pounding headache. “My losses…”
I lost my kin too…
“Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you because I don’t give a fuck about anything. Burn me, eat me, I don’t give a shit.” I lay back on the ground and stared at the ceiling of the cave, the tears streaking from my eyes to my ears.
I will do none of those things.
“Then I’ll do it myself.” My eyes went dry, but the last tears I had slowly made their way down my cheeks to the earth underneath me.
The dragon went quiet.
We sat there in the cave together, silence stretching on, complete darkness outside.
Wherever we were was colder than my home by the sea. I felt it in the ground, felt the chill in the air, but I didn’t care enough todo anything about it. Maybe I would freeze to death and it would all be over.
My name is Khazmuda.
I stared at the ceiling.
You’re Silas or Talon, but I’m not sure which.
My brother’s screams echoed in my mind. “Talon…”
I would make a fire for you, but I fear they’ll see it.
“I’m fine.”
It’s cold. Your skin is pale.
“I’m fine.”
If you rest under my wing, the fire in my belly will keep you warm.
“I said I’m fine.” I sat up and looked at him. “Tomorrow morning, we go our separate ways. Go back to the Southern Isles and get your revenge.”
And what will you do?
“Put myself to the sword.” I lay back down again and stared at the ceiling once more.
No woman would want that for her mate.
“I’ll never know what she would want—because she’s dead.”
The night was the hardest part.
Every time I fell asleep, I saw fire and heard screams. I saw them die over and over, one by one, in a different order each time. I was jerked awake again and again, gasping for breath like I’d been held underwater for minutes.
When the morning came, I was dead tired but too scared to sleep.
I looked outside the cave at the trees that were unfamiliar, the sky partly cloudy, the cold noticeable in the dry air. Wherever we were was far away from home. “You must have flown far.”
I flew hard and fast for a very long time.
“I have no idea where we are.”