Page 189 of Once the Skies Fade

Pushing up onto my elbows, I winced as the movement pulled at my injuries. Calla hurriedly moved some pillows into place behind me, taking my arm to help me sit up.

“Thank you?” It came out a question despite my better judgment—offending a pair of nightwalkers was probably not the best idea—but they didn’t seem to mind.

“We do hope the accommodations have been satisfactory,” the female said. Her voice held a more subtle hint of danger to it than her companion’s, though it still made me uneasy. Not that fae and nightwalkers were enemies by any means––mostly due to fae blood being lethal to vampires. They were also notorious hermits who preferred to remain neutral in most conflicts, hence why they had fled to this dreary island when Connor’s uncle had inadvertently started the war all those decades ago.

I offered them as easy a smile as I could under their disconcerting stares. “I was unconscious until just a moment ago, but the last several minutes have been a significant improvement over my most recent lodgings. May I ask who healed me, though?”

“Not one of our kind, if that’s your concern,” the female said.

“Seems like that would be more a concern for you than for me,” I noted, earning me a dry, humorless laugh from the male.

Calla lighted her hand on my arm. “It was Ami. With the help of Asher and his brothers.”

“Ami? As in the healer-turned-traitor? You didn’t—” Her quick shake of her head stopped me short, and I pulled my lips into a surprised frown. “Since when is Asher a healer though? Or are his brothers?”

“They helped in a slightly different sort of way, you could say,” Calla said around a sheepish smile.

“Why all the mystery? Nervous I’ll be mad that they saved my life?”

“No,” she said quickly, her eyes darting away.

“Well, that was downright unconvincing, Killer. What did they do exactly?”

Pursing her lips, she slowly lifted her shoulders into an apologetic shrug before pulling the blankets back to reveal my abdomen. Where my guts had once been leaking out of my body, they were now—presumably, since I was still alive and felt relatively normal—stuffed back inside, with the wound covered by gold, bronze, blue, and purple scales. But they weren’t simply laying atop my skin; they were embedded into me, as if my skin had merely been peeled back to reveal a layer of dragon armor beneath.

Reaching my hand behind my neck, I crept my fingers toward the space between my shoulder blades. Sure enough, instead of a bloody section of skin missing, I found a set of scales fused to my body.

“Well, that explains the itching as these heal,” I muttered. Shooting a sideways look at my mate, I asked, “And they offered these pieces of themselves willingly?”

Another shrug. “It was Asher’s idea. They have to remain in their dragon forms until the scales grow back. We couldn’t use them on your ears, unfortunately, but Ami assures me those will heal easily on their own and don’t carry the same risk of infection as the other wounds. They’ll forever be rounded though.”

The male cleared his throat, drawing our attention to him. “Queen Vael, we wanted to once again extend our deepest thanks to you for sparing our man.”

“Of course, Niko,” Calla said with a dip of her chin. “I know having us here isn’t ideal for you, so we will be heading home as soon as Matthias feels healed enough to fly.”

With quick nods, the pair gave a crisp turn on their heels. As they exited, I leaned toward Calla’s ear and whispered, “I know a way we could test to see if I’m fit enough to ride a dragon.”

I half-expected her to scoff and swat at me with the back of her hand, but instead she peaked a brow, her eyes falling to rest on my mouth. Tucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she rose from her chair and slid up onto the bed, gracefully lifting her leg to straddle me, careful not to lower her whole weight. My body reacted at once despite the layers of bed linens separating us, and my hands found their way to her hips as if they’d been called there by some beacon.

Fisting the edges of her tunic, I kept my eyes locked on hers. “You’re not going to break me, you know.”

“You were nearly gutted, general.”

“Key word,nearly.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. Cupping my jaw in her palms, she drew out her shadows to caress my face and move my hair from my forehead. They traveled lower, over my bare chest and down across the new scaly addition to my midsection, before slipping beneath the blanket that sat between us. I tensed in the best possible way at the feel of her cold magic against my skin, which made it difficult to get my words out without gasping.

“Do you treat everyone you hate to this…torture?” I asked, barely able to finish the thought with how her shadows pressed along my length.

Calla wet her lips and donned a fiendish smile as she leaned forward. “I hate no one like I hate you, Matthias.”

“I—”

Her lips pressed to mine, cutting off my words and transforming my voice into a low growl. Whether her shadows stilled or not, I didn’t know—my full attention focused on the taste of her tongue as it swept across mine.

This was no mere kiss. I’d had my share of kisses, many good ones, in fact, but all faded from memory as Calla—my mate—led me in a new stars-blessed dance where our delight and wonder and desire crashed together along the bond.

Chapter 95

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