Page 104 of Bound By Roses

Jade dives into the pit after her and, for a heartbreaking moment, they both disappear into the blackness. Thundering wingbeats match the pace of my heart as Jade shoots upwards back into the sky with the small wolf in his arms. He sets her down on solid ground quickly and then backs away is if he’s afraid she’ll burst into flames. And then I realize that’s exactly what he’s afraid of. He was the first one to notice what she was doing and the only one quick enough to stop her.

I drop to my knees, and Fern jumps into my arms, nearing knocking me over. “What were you thinking?!” I don’t want to yell at her, but she almost died!

‘I’m sorry. I thought I could make it.’

“Are you hurt?” She shakes her head. It seems not even a single hair on her body is singed. I look up to Jade, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. “Thank you.”

“I told you not to thank me,” he says before turning his back on me. The scars that mirror my own send the same chill down my spine as they always do. “She shouldn’t even be here.”

I can’t argue with him because he’s right. She shouldn’t have been here, and I was the one to let her stay. Seamus trots over to us and he doesn’t need to speak for me to know why he’s here.‘I’ll make sure she gets back to Tess.’

She goes with him willingly, but races ahead just on the off chance he’ll do what I threatened and carry her.

“Are you okay?” Merrick asks, his voice gentle.

“She’s not even my kid and I feel like she’ll be the death of me.”

He laughs, but it’s strained. “I know the feeling.” I know he’s talking about Jade—who is staring down at one of the chasms he created.

As if he knows I’m looking at him, he turns his head to me. “I can’t close it.” His hands are out in front of him, palms up and fingers splayed wide. “Merrick is right. All I’m good for now is destruction.”

I close the distance between us and kneel down at the ledge. The darkness below twists my stomach, but I force myself to focus. Laying my palms flat against the earth, I summon the roots from nearby trees forward. They weave together, interlocking as they spiral into each other between the gaps. “Then it’s a good thing you have me.”

There’s a sadness in his eyes, but I can tell he’s relieved that no one else will fall in so long as Terranous’ magic holds. And I have no doubt that it will.

When he doesn’t say anything, I gesture behind us to the gathering of wolves. “You’d better get back to work. Just no more pits this time.”

He nods once and then jogs back to them. When I turn around, I find Merrick has moved to the large rock Jade landed on when he arrived. He’s sitting casually atop it, wings gone and his head in his hands.

“Are you okay?” I ask when I reach him, mimicking his earlier question.

He laughs and then reaches out a hand to help me up. I make myself as comfortable as I can beside him and find it’s a pretty nice view of the wolves from up here. I can’t hear what Jade is saying to them, but none of them are looking like they want to kill him, so that’s a good sign.

“I don’t know how to answer that.” Merrick’s answer is more honest than I expected.

“Is it Nuri? Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” he says quickly. “She’s good. They both are.” There’s a small smile playing at his lips, and it seems to erase some of the hard lines that have formed around his eyes after years of stress.

“I haven’t seen her in a while.”

He points behind us and to the left. “We moved into one of the larger buildings on the far side of Marein. By we, I mean all the dragons. There’s enough room for all of us, and it’s easier to protect her there.” He doesn’t need to add that he means all the dragons except Jade. I don’t know where Jade has been spending his nights, but I’m willing to bet that it isn’t there.

“Does she need protection?”

He sighs and rubs at his eyes like he hasn’t slept for many nights. He and some of the others were patrolling the beach last night, but this kind of tired goes beyond that. “It’s a dragon thing. So long as she carries the heir, we have to protect her. It’s part of the magic in our blood. It’s the same reason any of them would give their lives for me. Even for Jade. It’s just stronger when they’re young.”

“How long do dragons…?” I let the question trail off because I suddenly realize it might be rude to ask.

“Cook?” His answering chuckle calms my nerves. “A little over a year, usually. You know, I can’t say I ever really wanted to be a parent. It was always just another duty to protect the bloodline. But now that I actually have a child on the way, I can hardly think about anything else. We have to win this war.” The joy in his eyes turns serious.

“We will.” I let that statement settle between us as if it will only strengthen the truth in it. “I never thanked you. Any of you. For giving Quinn a night to be human.”

“You can thank Rhett for that. He was unusually insistent, but it wasn’t hard to agree. If Quinn needs another night after everything that happened today, just ask.”

“Oddly enough, I think today may have been good for him. He may not have been himself mentally, but he didn’t lose control. Not in the way he thought he would. And besides, you look like you could use the rest.”

He rubs at his head again. “I wish I could.”

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