Page 143 of Wrath of the Dragons
“You didn’t save me. If you die it will all have been a waste. I won’t stay in this world without you.”
“Zale can’t heal the poison,” she whispers. “He can only heal what he can identify.”
I yell through clenched teeth like a wounded animal, setting her down gently to unsheathe a knife from my thigh. Though I hate hurting her, I slice open her palms and do the same to mine, not even feeling the bite of steel. I clasp our hands together as she did before performing the ritual, but nothing happens. There’s no force locking our flesh together.
“It’s not going to work,” she says softly.
“El, my love.” Tears begin sliding down my cheeks. I didn’t even think I was capable of crying anymore. “Please don’t leave me.”
“You remember what I said at our wedding? I will wait for you in every lifetime, Cayden Veles. I’ll see you again, and I’ll love you again.”
“No, you won’t.” My tears worsen, dotting her cheeks with rivers of sorrow as I cradle her in my arms again. “I won’t get this lucky again, so you have to stay here with me.” She laughs, but it’s weak, and strained, and all wrong. “We’re going to have our future together just like we talked about last night. I’m going to smother you with gowns and pastries and books, and we’re going to have boring days together.”
She nods, the corners of her lips rising as her brows knot. “Keep talking.”
“We can have a cottage in the mountains and the sea just for us. I know how overwhelmed you get when surrounded by people, so we can go there to escape court. We’ll be happy, just the two of us, and if you decide you want to have children, I’ll pull myself together to be good to them and do right by you, but I need at least a decade with you before anyone else joins the picture. I’ll give you anything you want, angel, you just have to stay with me. I don’t care what my life looks like as long as you’re in it. That’s all I need.”
Life leaks out of the woman who has always been so full of it as she stares up at me with stars in her eyes. “I know you think yourself unworthy of me, but I need you to know that I could never love anyone the way I love you.” Nyrinn runs through the trees with Braxton and another soldier at her side, the general falling to his knees when he sees the wounded queen in my arms, removing his helmet to press it against his chest.
The other soldier mirrors his actions, but it’s different for Braxton. He was the first soldier to step forward and swear himself to Elowen after she was attacked in Ladislava. He was the only soldier who stepped forward to address the way Ailliard treated her. Braxton never had children, and though Elowen is a grown woman, I think guarding her fulfilled some part of him.
Elowen continues even after Nyrinn kneels beside her, keeping her eyes on mine. “Never doubt that I wanted everything with you. I’d have spent my life proving you’re worthy in all the ways you think you’re not.”
I cradle her face, kissing her forehead again. “Shh, love. Save your breaths.”
We’ll have it all.
We’ll have everything.
Nyrinn does her best to keep the emotion off her face, but her shaking hands give away everything.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time, my girl?” she asks, gently.
“At least I’m far away from your pretty floors.”
Nyrinn offers a strained smile, wrapping her hands around the first arrow, and looking at me with a tortured expression. “We have to try.”
I bite my tongue, knowing this will be excruciating for Elowen, but I can’t let her die. I don’t know where Zale is, I don’t even know if he’s alive. Nyrinn pulls a heap of fabric from her pack, and I lean Elowen against Sorin’s cheek. Elowen looks around to all her dragons, her eyes glowing gold as her lips quiver and she sucks in a shuddering breath.
“Stop saying goodbye,” I command.
“I have to.”
I take the fabric from Nyrinn, balling it up tightly and pressing my arm across Elowen’s chest to keep her from thrashing. “I have to make this as quick and clean as possible,” Nyrinn says. “Cayden will press the fabric to try to stop the bleeding, but we need to get these arrows out of you.”
“Mhmm,” Elowen mumbles, her blinks growing slower as does her pulse.
Nyrinn sucks in a sharp breath, wrapping both hands around one of the arrows. I press my lips to the side of Elowen’s head, murmuring against it, “I’ve got you, angel. It’s my turn to heal you and you’ll be back to tormenting me in no time.”
“Tell Finnian I love him,” she says.
Nyrinn rips the arrow free, and Elowen screams through the blood gurgling up her throat, spilling down her chin. I press the wad of fabric against the open wound but there’s so much blood. Too much blood.
It coats my hands until I can’t see my skin.
The dragons cry out, their screams mingling with her agony.
“I’m so sorry, my love. Just hold on for me a bit longer.”
