Page 104 of Shade of Ruin

“Thank you for the dance, Lady Maeve,” Rhion says with a grin at me, and then at Cole.

“What did he say?” Cole whispers.

I say nothing for a long while. “He knows I’m more than just a Wyrdling. He knows I’m wearing the Forgotten Ring. He knows I owe three debts to the Shade. He knows that I’m notfrom Flame or Steel, and Cole,” I move closer to the man I’m betrothed to. “Cole, what House can poison people?”

Cole’s eyes widen as he takes my hand. “I don’t know, Maeve. The House of Green, possibly? They draw their powers from the living things around them, but if you weren’t holding a poisonous plant, that wouldn’t work. Most of the Houses keep their powers hidden from the outside world, and there are some examples of powers that only a handful of people can manifest. Rhion’s ability to create clothing or my ability to create cold flames. But that would mean…”

“That I have a second House,” I finish.

It’s a shock to realize. A true revelation. And it doesn’t matter at all. “Come on,” I say. “Leave it for now. We need to dance, or we need to leave, correct?”

Cole nods to me. “Yes. Dance or leave. We need to stay for at least a little longer. Just another hour or so before we can escape.”

I take a deep breath. “Then let’s get it out of the way. I’m ready to be done with this place.”

Cole gives me a smile, but something inside me tells me it’s as fake as any he’s given tonight. I want to correct myself. I want to tell him I don’t want to be done with him, but the truth is that when I leave, he’s going to stay. When I walk away from Draenyth, he’ll be standing and fighting. Maybe not today. Maybe not this month, but it’ll be sooner rather than later.

I remember that vision I’ve had every night that I’ve entered his mental landscape. That obsidian tower in that tormented place of razor-sharp surfaces and blazing hot winds. The tower that rose high into the air and stood against the pain that filled that place. It’s the thing that has helped him survive the life he was born into.

He won’t crumble. His desires won’t war against his obligations. He’s had hundreds of years of teaching andexperiences force that rule on him. He’s a tool, and while he’s a tool for what he believes will help the world, he’s still a tool. His desires don’t matter.

I stop him as he tries to walk away. Today is the last day we have together. My hand goes to his chest, passing through the flames that run along his jacket, and my nails dig into the fabric. “Cole, I don’t want you to think about tomorrow or the day after. Not for the rest of the day or night. I want you to treat today like it’s your absolute last day alive. I want you to spend every moment exactly how you want to spend it. Tomorrow, you can go back to being the Prince of Flames, but today, just be Cole. Just… stop trying to do the right thing.”

He looks down at me, and those eyes of his blaze orange. Bright and terrifying and so hot. Then he bends down and presses his lips to mine. Just like that night by the river, every bit of him washes over me. The emotional pain that weighs him down. The darkness of his past. The fear of the future. The joy of this moment together. It all runs together in a river of orange and red emotions.

We’re standing in the middle of a ballroom in the Keep of Flames. Hundreds of nobles are around us, the strongest and most important people in the entire world. People that should terrify me.

I don’t care one bit about them. Not right now, while Cole’s lips press against mine. His hands grip my arms so tight that I’m sure that he’s leaving bruises. I forget about everything in the world, just as I’d asked him to do. There is no tomorrow. No responsibilities. No Hazel or Calyr or King Casimir. Just us tonight. Just me and the man that I’ve continued to fall for.

Flames erupt around us. Not orange or red. Bright white. So hot that I worry about our clothes burning up, but I shouldn’t worry about that at all. Not when Cole’s the reason for the heat, because I know I can trust him with my life.

Every noble in Draenyth is watching the inferno that’s swirling around us, and I’m almost certain that at least one person screamed when those flames erupted. Those people don’t matter as Cole’s lips move to my neck. There’s no confusion about how Cole feels, and I certainly am not trying to stop him.

The drumbeat that I’ve tried to smother for weeks roars to life as his lips explore the skin above my collar. My panting breath is a payment to him, and the inferno grows ever hotter. My fingers dig into the fabric of his coat, and I wish I could rip those clothes off him. To shred them.

Tendrils of shadows roll off my fingertips, but they’re burned away almost instantly. There’s no way that I can hold the shadows back. Not even with my mother’s ring. His lips trace the curve of my neck, and his teeth lightly brush against my skin. I know that I’m helpless against him.

“If I want to do anything,” he whispers, “it’s to leave this place and show you how badly I’ve wanted you.”

“Then do it. Show me what it would be like to truly be betrothed to the Prince of Flames.”

There’s a moment of hesitation, and then he lifts me into the air. The flames around us die down, and there’s no way that anyone has missed us leaving the ball, much less what we’re headed off to do.

Maybe that’s the best way to keep people from asking questions after all.

Chapter 44

Before I hatched, there were stories. Beings that no dragon could face. Eaters. Hunters. Death. We thought they were impossible. What can kill a dragon? We were wrong. Only I have fought them and lived. Only I have showed them that they could be killed. Not before they killed my brood. Not before they killed my wife. My only regret is that I cannot destroy them all before I leave this place.

~Sidon the Strong, A History of Magic and Dragons

“Not here,” I whisperas Cole starts to pull and paw at my dress while we stand inside his room. “Even with the ring, I won’t be able to stop the shadows. Someone will find us.”

He snarls, looking far more feral than I’ve ever seen him. “Come on. I’ll fly fast.” When he turns to climb the stairs to thetop of the Keep, I run to keep up, just as ready as he is to escape the Keep and Draenyth so that I can let go. So that I can feel him. So that we can finally both be completely free together.

As soon as we reach the top, Cole steps behind me and wraps his arms under mine. There’s a moment of hesitation, and then he leaps into the air, massive owl wings stretching out on either side of us as he propels us higher into the night sky.

Cole’s arms hold me tight against him, and I can feel his hardness pressing against me. It only makes it harder to control myself. His muscles strain, not to hold me up, but to push us upward. Unlike the other times we’ve flown, he’s not soaring. He’s climbing, and there’s only one reason we’d be going up instead of out. We’re not going to the forests. We’re going up to Skycrest.

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