Page 42 of Fae Reckoning

Elowyn glanced at him before answering gently. “He’s dead, Rush. Died in the Sorumbra.”

“Motherfucker.” I breathed in, out. Tightened my hand on the grip of Ivar’s cutlass. “Damn.” And I still owed him a debt for finding Elowynwhen the queen had locked her up in the human dungeon.I’m so sorry, Finn. May your memory live forever. May your essence voyage to the Etherlands.

She sighed, laden with lament. “The green dragon didn’t make it either. We left him behind in the dungeon. We’ll have to free him when we go back.”

Only the somber tone of her voice suggested what I already suspected: there was no saving the green dragon. The queen had broken him in ways that could never be repaired.

“Is that it, girly?” Edsel interjected. “I gotta get back to the others. It’s not lookin’ good.”

Elowyn glanced at me, seeming to notice the blood matting the hair at my temples, layering on top of the blood that had already been crusted there. “Do you need looking at?”

“Nah. I’m fine. But what about you? You have cuts all over you.” A snarl ripped through me before I could stop it.

“I’m okay,” she said, around a smile that suggested I was exaggerating.

If anything, I was underplaying the situation. Slices, scabs, and healing scars slashed along the small bits of bare skin I could make out around her fighting leathers. The flesh at her nape that wrapped around to her collarbone was a mottled black, blue, and yellow.

I dipped my eyes to catch the goblin’s. “Thank you, Edsel. For all you’ve done to help here, and especially for helping Elowyn. I owe you a debt for your care.”

Surprise flashed in the goblin’s eyes before he concealed it, nodding sharply.

“Yeah,” Elowyn said. “Thanks, Edsel. I appreciate anything you can do to help Xeno. He’s very important to me.”

My heart squeezed in jealousy I hoped I’d never have to admit to … until I noticed Xeno’s stare upon my mate. His dragon eyes were shiny and morose, as if he wanted her as badly as I did and he understood he’d never have her. The spike of rivalry waned, replaced by compassion. I didn’t want to imagine how it would feel not to be able to have her beside me. I needed her so intensely—so savagely—I might break if I didn’t get to have her.

I’m sorry, Xeno, I projected to the changeling, knowing I’d never say it aloud.

I wanted to run away from all our problems and spend the next century at least making non-stop love to Elowyn. But since I was a boy I’d been learning that my responsibilities as a drake meant that the needs of my subjects came before my own. Now I needed to give priority to the needs of every person and creature of the Mirror World. Even so, I wanted to at least feel her lips upon mine. To taste her while I pulled her body against me.

But Xeno’s eyes were too sad, too defeated, even though I suspected he didn’t realize how much of his emotions he revealed. I pressed a kiss to her crown instead, then nodded to the male in his dragon form.

“I’ll go with Edsel to check on the others,” I announced.

And though it pained me to leave my mate with a pining male, after a wary glance at the black dragon who occupied most of the sizable clearing in front of the cabin, I trotted after the goblin, noticing his gait was odd. I considered pretending I hadn’t noticed his legs were different, but the goblin seemed to appreciate straightforwardness.

Drawing up beside him and shortening my step to match his, I gestured to his wooden-like feet. “The queen?”

He stared at me for a long moment before a blunt, “The queen.”

“We’re gonna kill her,” I vowed, uncertain why I continued to feel so certain. How I could still have faith when our greatest victories so far had been merely to escape her?

A single look back at El, who was talking in soft tones to Dragon-Xeno, and I understood why.

Edsel’s gruff voice cut into my thoughts. “She’s remarkable.”

Brows arched, I glanced down at him. “She is.”

“I’d lost hope of seein’ a better world ‘fore I leave it. I only thought to survive, ye know. Make it through enough days to take care o’ my gran’gobbler—that’s Pru—try to give ‘er some kind of future. But after meetin’ your mate?—”

My brows jumped again. “How do you know?”

Hetskedand scowled. “I been ‘round a good while. I know things.”

I chuckled despite myself. “Noted.”

We’d reached the others. Edsel hovered on the edge of the group of friends and the queen’s captives laid in rows among them. They obviously needed him more than I did. Even so, I hesitated to let the goblin go.

I lowered my voice so only he would hear. “I really think Elowyn can take her down.”

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