Page 86 of The Dragon Queen
“He loves her.”
He loves us more.
I shifted my gaze to look at him, the tears escaping as liquid diamonds down my cheeks.
His eyes moved away from mine and to the doorway behind me. His dark eyes didn’t dilate or contract the way ours did, so he wore no expression. Couldn’t move the muscles of his face the way humans and elves did.
I looked behind me to see what had caught his stare.
Instead of Talon like I hoped, it was Riviana, her brilliant red hair like living flames. In a white gown with gold heels and accents, she looked too beautiful to wield a sword the way she had with Bahamut. “Calista.”
I stilled at my name and felt the dread drop into my stomach. She’d returned to speak to me—to tell me that Talon had decided to stay in her lands. Perhaps he’d given her a message to give to me…one that I would rather not hear.
I rose from the grass and slowly approached her, seeing the way Queen Eldinar watched her with a guarded expression, like she expected bad news as well. My chin dropped because I couldn’t look at her, the way the accused couldn’t look at their executioner.
“It was a greater challenge than I expected. To reunite a tarnished soul with a broken body requires an energy in excess of what I have and experience I simply lack. But I pursued it relentlessly and succeeded where others would have failed.”
“What—what are you saying?”
She gave me a long stare. “Talon Rothschild lives.”
I inhaled a deep breath then looked behind her, expecting him to leave through the doorway that I’d crossed myself. But he wasn’t there. My heart gave a scream in disappointment because it’d been a lifetime since I’d breathed the same air as he. “Where is he?” I demanded. “I want to see him.”
Her eyes shifted to the left across the clearing.
Bumps formed along my arms. It was a warm evening, but I felt a shiver down my spine. I didn’t dare draw breath as I turned to look in the same direction. That was when I remembered that the coffin that carried his body had been taken to the cemetery in preparation for the burial neither Khazmuda nor I were ready to hold.
I saw him in the distance, coming closer through the lights of the fireflies, in the same black armor he’d worn in battle, the crest of the dragon in the center of his chest. The hilt of his large blade was visible over one shoulder, his dark cape sliding across the grass behind him like silk.
Speechless, I watched him come closer, his hair dark like the night, his eyes dark like the underworld. He carried his tall frame with strength, like there were no wounds beneath the surface. His features were on full display when he came close to the fire—and his eyes were both soft and intense.
And they looked at me and no one else.
When the strength returned to my legs, they carried me toward him, my hands shaking in anticipation, my fingertips on fire from sheer desperation, my heart so full it was about to explode inside my chest.
My pace quickened, and I ran the rest of the distance, slamming into his chest as he caught me with his strong arms. We came together like a hurricane and a tsunami, our colossal forces melding into one.
I broke into sobs as my forehead rested against his hard chest plate, squeezing him tightly, like someone might try to take him away from me again. I heaved with the overwhelming emotion, a cry so heavy it brought ugly tears that made me hide my face even more.
He squeezed me and rested his chin on my head, letting me mourn the man I’d lost, letting me allow myself to believe he was really back. He moved his hand into my hair as he cradled me like a heartbroken child.
The tears finally subsided. My breaths turned normal. I knew my face was puffy and red and hideous, but I pulled back to look at him anyway, to cup his handsome face and stare into his beautiful eyes forever.
He cupped my cheek, and like he had so many times, he swiped his thumb over a fallen tear. “I’m here, baby.” He brought his forehead to mine and held me close, letting his proximity heal every broken part of me. “I’m here.”
Khazmuda released what could only be described as a whine, like a dog with a wounded paw. He did it again, a small shriek behind his closed mouth. I’d heard it multiple times in the last few weeks…and knew it was the sound of a crying dragon.
Talon released me, and we both looked at Khazmuda, tears the size of coconuts in the corners of his eyes, while others slowly streaked down his smooth scales to the grass below. Talon’s eyes immediately glistened at the sight of his emotional dragon before he moved to him, both of his hands sliding up the dragon’s snout before he raised his forehead against him. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
Khazmuda closed his eyes and continued to cry, his scales pressed against Talon’s palms.
I came to his side and touched the hard scales that were smoother than pebbles at the bottom of a river. His breaths came out shaky and strained, so much emotion with nowhere for it to go. It made his body tremble in chaos.
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Talon whispered.
I love you the way a dragon loves his hatchling.
Talon closed his eyes as he listened to his dragon cry, his own tears coming free. “I love you the same, Khazmuda.”