Page 55 of Fire in Stone

“Well… Go, then,” she said softly, her voice small and fragile. “Go home, just as you wanted.”

She was setting him free. This was his chance to fly. Why did the weight in his chest make it feel like he’d never soar again?

“Is it goodbye then?” he croaked.

If only he knew what awaited him upon his return. If only he could promise her the life of a princess in Dakath—the life she deserved.

Instead, he would never know what her life turned out to be like here without him. The thought brought an unsettling feeling that he knew would stay with him for as long as he lived.

“I’ll never forget you.” She stepped into his arms.

The tears glistening in her eyes made him choke on his next breath.

“Amber…”

His one true spark of life. He grabbed her into his arms, wishing he’d never have to let her go.

Taking his face in her hands, she pulled him in for one last kiss goodbye.

It gutted him. The kiss filled the hollow in his chest with sorrow and pleasure. That was what Amber had been to him from the moment he met her—intense pleasure and heart-wrenching pain that grew stronger as the moment of parting from her neared.

She pulled away from him, breaking the kiss he wished would go on forever.

“You should go,” she panted, tipping her chin at the portal behind him. “That thing won’t stay open for much longer.”

“I don’t want to leave.” His own words shocked him. “Not without you—”

She silenced him by placing a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t. Please.” Her eyes glistened wildly, reflecting the storm raging inside her. “Decisions made in the spur of a moment can’t be trusted. Believe me, I’ve made those. A lot. And came to regret every single one of them. Listen to what your mind tells you, Elex, not your heart…” Her voice broke off. She swallowed hard before continuing with a renewed resolve. “That’s what I’m determined to do from now on, too.”

He stared at her. For once, his mind was very much in agreement with his heart. He needed her. But he couldn’t make this decision for her. She made it clear she wished to stay.

“Go…” She unclenched her fingers, peeling her arms from him. “Go, Elex. Please.” She made a tiny step away from him, her hands trembling. “You need to go.”

Her tear-filled eyes darted behind him to the portal, then aside…to something else.

Horror flooded her face, giving him a jolt of alarm.

“Chris,” she hissed through her teeth, then shoved at his chest with all her human strength. “Run, Elex! Fly away. Don’t let them get you!”

He whipped around.

Human men ran through the trees on the opposite bank of the creek. They carried weapons with long, thick barrels that must expel something large enough to shoot a dragon out of the sky.

No weapon made in this world would kill him. But it might incapacitate him long enough for the portal to close and for them to deliver him back to Ghata.

“Fly, Elex!” Amber screamed, taking off running.

She headed in the opposite direction from the approaching men and away from the creek with the portal.

The humans raised their weapons. Shots shuttered the peaceful morning. Metal whizzed past him with a whining sound.

His wings burst from his body at a snap of a thought, ripping through the red shirt he wore. Pieces of metal shot from the human weapons pierced the leather of his wings, searing his flesh with pain. Flames blasted from one of the larger weapons. Apparently, humans had a way to spew fire, too.

The flames reached across the creek, licking him with heat. He wasn’t impervious to fire in this form, but there was no time to shift.

The portal shimmered, thinning out.

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