Page 128 of Wrath of the Dragons
“All hells,” I say in a daze. “What did you do?”
He shakes his head, still keeping an arm around me as we swim through the burning wood and bodies. “I didn’t speak to it or command it as you do your dragons.”
“You did something,” I sputter. “You never told me you speak fish.”
He stops his paddling to glare at me. “Don’t start.”
“I’ve already begun and will not cease.”
His sigh echoes against the water as he begins swimming again. “All it did was look at me.”
“Maybe it thought you were pretty.” He groans in response like he’s debating leaving me behind to fend for myself in the sea, but he tightens his hold, smiling in spite of himself. “Do you know what monster that is?”
His eyes ping to Thirwen’s sails, many of them burning in the aftermath of Zale’s efforts. “I think…it’s the kraken.”
“I’m never swimming in the gods-forsaken ocean ever again.”
Cayden manages to get us back to our ship and shoves me onto the ladder. The dragons sink their claws into the ships of the final line, sinking them as we enter open ocean again. I pull myself up and tumble onto the deck in a heap, and Cayden isn’t too far behind. I’m too exhausted to even care that the wood is covered in blood, or that it vibrates as people surround us. I crack my eyes open, and Saskia, Finnian, Ryder, Zale, and Zarius are all staring down at us.
“This is my own personal hell,” Cayden states as he sits up to avoid their gazes, but I remain reclined.
Zale shakes his head and is the first to break the silence. “You crazy bitch.”
I’d be offended if his words weren’t drenched in a mixture of astonishment and respect, and instead, I laugh.
Chapter
Sixty-three
Elowen
My coat fans out onthe upper deck as I lie on my back and stare up at the stars. They’re so bright tonight that my dragons’ scales glisten as they fly. I couldn’t sleep which isn’t unusual, but it’s our final night on board. Aside from the battle, it feels as if we’ve escaped into our own world when we’re on the ocean. I’d like to see more of Ravaryn when the war is over, and though the challenges will always come, I look forward to the day when I can wake up and enjoy my life.
I’ve never fought for glory or to be known as one of the greatest warriors in the history of Ravaryn when scholars simplify my life into a few paragraphs. I fight because I was hurt, as were the people and creatures I love, but I long for the day when I won’t have to worry about whether they’ll make it to the next. I want mornings in my garden, afternoons beside the lake, and evenings by the fire. I want to read all the books I consistently save for another day and try the recipes I’ve written on parchment.
I want to live, not just survive. If war was preferred, we wouldn’t crave peace in the midst of it.
I pull the fur-lined fabric tighter around me when a breeze blows off the sea, and I’m thankful I remembered gloves before leaving the cabin. Cayden had to run a plan by Zarius, and I know I could’ve gone with him, but I wasn’t in the mood to speak. Sometimes I crave silencelike air. But aside from that, hearing Cayden’s battle plans reminds me of what we’ll face when we dock and it’s like an invisible hand wraps around my neck. My breathing always picks up, as does my pulse, and the walls feel like they’re closing in on me.
I couldn’t lie in bed, in what was suffocating silence, and needed to find a quietness that calmed me. Cayden can fill me in on his plans when we dock, but I just want one more night of pretending we live the kind of life where I don’t have to fear him dying from a blade. In another life, I’d really like to be ordinary with him.
The door below me squeaks on the hinges, and I know it’s Cayden when his scent floats up to me.
“Wife,” he says by way of greeting, claiming the spot beside me and placing a wrapped box between us. He rests an arm over his bent knee and places his other hand by my head. “Before you say that I buy you too much, I don’t care, and this is your winter solstice present. So just open it.”
“You have such a sweet way with words,” I say while sitting up. “Your present is wrapped and under the bed.”
“Is it lingerie?” he asks.
“Why? Do you want to wear something pretty for me?” He tugs on one of my curls, and I smack his hand away. He laughs, and I don’t know why I’m taken aback by the sound. Maybe because it’s so rare to see a smile on his face…but to see one so entirely unburdened is even more so. I hoard them like little treasures in my mind, keeping a portrait gallery of all the moments I pray I’ll never forget. “Behave and I’ll give you what you want.AfterI give you your actual present.”
I had Blade forge a sword from an obsidian steel found in the caves deep in the southern Seren Mountains. The pommel has an oval sapphire framed by two dragon wings. He scratches the back of his neck, and his smile becomes tighter. Maybe one day it’ll be easier for him to receive gifts, but I doubt it’ll be anytime soon.
He avidly watches my fingers untie the lavender bow and unfold the matching fabric keeping whatever is inside hidden from me. Heswallows and runs a hand through his hair again, plucking a knife from his thigh to twirl it between his fingers.
Gods, what’s in here?
I lift the lid, revealing a thick leather-bound book with five dragons burned into the center and vines along the edges. My curiosity mounts as I hoist the heavy gift from the box and trace the divots. I flip the cover open, revealing a single word written in delicate script:Hatchlings.
