Page 439 of Kingdoms of Night

“I know.” He left the bowl where it was. Hopefully she didn’t drown herself in the middle of the night. She looked so tired that she might fall asleep mid-sip and then plant her face into the bowl. “I’ll leave you alone, Tanis. I’ll be back first thing in the morning, though, and then we’re going to get some food into you. Don’t go back into the caves without me.”

He turned to leave and then froze at the sound of his name.

“Rowan.” Was it the first time she’d called him that? Tanis always called him elf, nothing more.

He took a deep breath and forced his chest not to swell with too much pride. “Can I do anything for you?”

“Stay.” The word echoed in the cavern. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Oh, and if his heart didn’t break hearing her say that.

He walked back to her head and sat down beside her. Somehow, it was no longer strange that her entire head was the same size as his body. She just... was. Tanis tilted her head to the side and gave him room to lean against her cheek.

Without a thought, he stroked her jaw, then moved up underneath her sensitive eyes, and down the bridge of her nose. “Sleep now,” he said. “I’ll watch over you.”

He’d never thought he would sleep next to a dragon. And here he was, cuddled up against her side to stay warm in the chilly cavern she called home.

CHAPTERSIX

CHAPTER 6

Weeks passed, though at least Tanis had a helper forcing her to eat and drink. That made it easier to stay awake for the messages and memories that passed through the crystals.

They were all terrible reports. Her people were fighting against an invisible enemy they could not fight or burn away. Some witch or warlock had discovered a weapon not only that would burn through their scales and destroy their flesh. It could not be washed off, and good warriors were wasting away days after the original attack.

So many of their kind were dying from a weapon created in some warlock’s dreams. They were trying to come home. So many messages through the crystals whispered of dragons who wanted their last breath to be with their loved ones. Memories of how much they wished they hadn’t come to the Umbral Kingdom.

Those lands were supposed to be a second home for their kind. The journey took days of flight, and most dragons couldn’t make it that long without a rest. But if they could make the trek, that kingdom should have been another territory that they could flourish within.

Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case.

Tanis never would have made the journey herself. She didn’t have the wingspan to survive it. But she had such hope for those who wanted to start another life, full of adventure and wonder. She even had seen some of the original eggs in that kingdom hatch.

Her favorite had perhaps been a young crimson dragon who would protect those who came after him. The ferocity in his gaze gave his mother good reason to name him Abraxas. A name which meant Great Chieftain, and he would become one someday. A leader and protector of all dragon kind.

If he survived.

She hated to see the memories her people had endured, and she hated it even more that she had to record all of them. Tanis would spend the rest of her life weaving these memories around others so that no one would ever forget the time when the dragons had died.

History like this made her hate her job. Made her hate being what she was. A Memory Keeper could only suffer so much before their minds snapped.

Thankfully, Rowan was beside her for much of it. He made her eat. Drink. Sleep. He moved into her cave so she wouldn’t be alone when the nightmares struck her. He was a blessing in this time of darkness, and she hadn’t thought it was possible for him to be that.

Yet, here she was. Incapable of functioning without him at her side, making sure she was well and alive.

Damned man. He slept by her head every night and woke her when she started having nightmares. What would she do without that now? Simmer in the madness that was caused by seeing so many of her loved one’s die?

Sighing, Tanis made her way to the back of the cave where most of the messages had been coming through. Many of those crystals had a twin living in the Umbral Kingdom. But they were difficult to find, and even harder to connect with. It took all of her power to make sure she knew who she was even talking with.

Her belly scraped on the ground, and she was reminded that she hadn’t laid her clutch in a long time. How long ago had she agreed to carry these eggs? It felt like forever ago, but she didn’t know exactly when. Was it time to lay them by now? She didn’t know.

Tanis had only laid one other clutch in her life, and that had been unsuccessful. The eggs had come out of her malformed and unviable. The egg shells surrounding a dragon babe were made of a hard substance like a gemstone. Her eggs had been nothing more than a liquidy membrane with tiny dots inside them. Not quite dragons. They never would grow to be ones either.

So they had tried again because there weren’t many amethyst dragons left, and dragon females were more likely to lay eggs of their own color.

But how much longer would it take for them to grow? Would she know when to lay them?

She lumbered through the cave until she made it to the crystal where she had connected with Attor only a few days before. He had gotten most of the remaining dragons to the highest parts of the Stygian Peaks, but then they were attacked again. The humans were relentless in their desire to see all the dragons removed from their kingdom. But too many of the dragons there were exhausted from their journey to reach the Umbral Kingdom. They needed time to rest and regain their strength.

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