Page 27 of The Dragon King

Silence trickled by. My thoughts heavy.

She continued to stare at me.

“What is the gift?”

“You never knew whether you had a son or a daughter. I can answer that for you.”

I hadn’t expected her to say such a thing, and the mention of my unborn baby immediately brought tears I fought back. I felt my lips tremble. Felt my throat grow thick and wet. How did I lovesomeone so much that I’d never seen? All I’d felt was a little kick in the womb…and I fell so deeply in love.

“Would you like to know?”

I couldn’t speak, so all I could do was nod.

“A daughter—just as you thought.”

I inhaled a deep breath as the tears welled in my eyes. “Is—is she there?” My voice cracked at the question.

“She is.”

The tears became too much and streaked down my cheeks.

“All she knows is peace.”

Chapter 6

Calista

The battle ended.

There were too many injured and too few healers. A lot of people lay on the ground outside, bloody and broken, with no one to attend to them. Dead bodies littered the forest floor, both friend and foe. Those who were able-bodied began the painful duty of moving their dead to the graveyard and placing them in shallow graves. There were no headstones, and their bodies weren’t covered with earth so their loved ones could identify them.

The slain enemy were carted outside Riviana Star to be buried in a mass grave. Fire had wounded the forest enough so there would be no pyre to extinguish their bodies.

Hours had passed, and I still didn’t see Talon.

I knew he was alive because his body wasn’t at the base of the Great Tree. Perhaps he searched for me. Or perhaps he needed space. I didn’t know why he would need it, but something told me he did.

I returned to the healers to check on the queen. They’d worked on her through the night, and now that it was dawn, I hoped foran update. I hoped she would pull through, not just for the elves she ruled, but for my uncle.

The room was full of other injured elves, so the queen wasn’t alone. She didn’t have a private chamber to recover, choosing to be among her own in this time of tragedy. I spotted her across the room in a bed in the corner, Uncle Ezra at her side, her hand in his. He was still in his armor, like he’d been there all night.

I approached and waited for Uncle Ezra to look at me.

When he did, he gently pulled his hand away and let it rest on the mattress. She appeared to be asleep, so she didn’t notice when he stepped away to speak to me in private. We walked outside under the morning sky.

“How is she?”

“Gravely injured,” he said. “But they think she’ll live.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“The magic in her blood allows her to heal quickly.”

“Magic?”

“The Realm of Caelum is in Riviana Star because the elves are descendants of Riviana, the God of Caelum. Queen Eldinar’s bloodline makes her a direct descendant.”

“You’re telling me elves have the blood of a god?”