Page 80 of The Dragon Queen
I wanted her to say the words I wanted to hear, but I listened to her silence instead.
Her eyes glanced behind me. “We’ll know soon enough.” She stepped away and turned her back, her elegant cape behind her.
The brunette who had joined our conversation approached me, her dark hair lush and long, her skin tanned like she’d spent most of her time bathing in the warm sunshine. She kept a foot of space between us but continued her hard stare.
I memorized every feature of her appearance, put a face to a name, a memory to a person.
“You love my husband.”
The sentence made me tense, made me jealous and sick, and made me feel guilty like I’d done something wrong. I accepted that he loved someone else in the past, but that was before I was forced to look at how inexplicably beautiful she was.
“If you’re willing to risk your life and your soul to save him, then you must love him very much.”
The adrenaline pumped in my veins and made my breaths shaky. Made me sick to my stomach. “I do.” I considered Talon,Khazmuda, and myself as three members of a family. But he’d had a family before me. He’d had a wife…and a child.
She gave a nod in sad defeat, her eyes dropping before she pressed her lips tightly together. After a beat, she inhaled a breath then looked at me again, this time wearing the slightest of smiles. “I’m pleased to know that Talon has found happiness in the midst of such despair. Our love was deep and real, but it was also brief. I hoped that he would move on with a woman worthy of his heart—and I see that he has.”
I felt the tension in my muscles ease. Felt the fear fade like the sun over the horizon.
“I feel no ill will toward him for what happened. It was not his fault…even though I’m sure he feels otherwise.”
“He’s carried the guilt every day.”
She gave a slight nod. “He avenged me and Lena, and that pleases me. Once he’s free of Bahamut’s clutches I will know peace—because of him.”
I gave a slight nod because my body could barely move.
“Be good to him, because he is a good man.”
“I—I will.” My eyes watered from her warmth and kindness, the way she chose to love rather than hate. “You’re everything he said you were.”
She gave a slight smile before it slowly faded. “I need you to succeed in this endeavor. If I could go myself, I would. I would risk my soul for him the way he risked his soul for me. But unfortunately, I’m confined by the gates.”
“I’ll get him back. I promise.”
Her piercing eyes stared into mine, possessing intelligence as well as ethereal beauty. It was no wonder why he married her against his father’s wishes. “I will hold you to that, Calista Laurier.”
Chapter 22
Talon
I was shoved into the chair at the head of the table, the empty bowl on the surface before me. I’d been dragged here many times and subjected to his torture, the act of ripping my soul from wherever it was so he could devour it. It hurt every time, like skin being stripped off my body to expose the blood and muscle underneath.
Bahamut’s hand erupted in flames before he smashed it into my chest, adding another layer of burns to my flesh. Instead of riveting colors of red and orange, the flames were black and gray like in the sconces on the walls.
I suppressed the scream as I felt his tendrils dig into me, digging deeper than ever before, desperate to find my soul and rip it free. With more force than he’d ever exerted, he ripped my insides to pieces, shook the contents of my body like items locked in a trunk.
I will not let him take you.
Bahamut let out a growl so loud it shook the walls. He yanked me even harder, and if I weren’t already dead, the action would have killed me.
Hold on, Talon. They are coming.
The pain subsided for an instant when I heard his words. I was desperate to ask what that meant, but I refused to open the gates of communication, to let him know how much I suffered. Queen Eldinar would never break her promise to me, so he didn’t know where I was—and he would never know.
This time, Bahamut released a scream of frustration before he slammed me into the back of the chair. “Let him go.” He gripped me by the neck and squeezed me then slammed me into the chair.
I will never let him take you, Talon Rothschild.