Page 147 of Enchanted Crown
“As do I,” Esta added.
“And me too.” Amaya’s voice was thick with emotion. “We were all so busy doing our royal duties that somewhere along the way, words became barbed and being right was more important than being family. We forgot to love one another. All of us.”
Reyald reached for his wife Nyra’s hand and walked over toVashti. He reached a hand out for her, and it was like we all collectively inhaled, waiting to see if she’d take it.
She placed her hand in his, and reached for Nana’s, who had already moved in. Esta took Nana’s other hand and reached for Jagen’s. Jagen grabbed Charlotte’s hand, and Charlotte Amaya’s hand. Amaya held Nyra’s hand, completing the circle.
“Keir,” Nana barked. “My cane is feeling awfully twitchy. Get your derriere over here.”
“Apologies,” I said immediately. I was fairly certain the reason we all feared Nana wasn’t because she was scary, but because we feared her disappointment. Even in the smallest of doses, it was absurdly uncomfortable. I moved in, resting a hand on Nana’s atop her cane, the same one Esta held, and Esta moved to let me in the circle.
“Once you are in this family,” Nana snapped, looking to Vashti with a smirk. “You’re in.” And then Nana began singing the Dra Skor battle song, the same one Esta had taught to Emric just a week ago.
He gladly joined in from where he stood.
I swallowed hard, listening to them sing together, mourn together, find some semblance of peace together. This was a family torn apart. Shredded by greed. By jealousy. By murder. And somehow here they still were. All was not forgiven nor forgotten, but there was the hope that eventually, time would begin to heal their wounds. The darkness was painfully torn from this family, and this was simply what remained.
They were each fractured and broken, but if there was a thing I had learned from Dra Skor it was what warriors they were. How they showed up and fought for one another and with one another. How they wore their scars with grace.
So before any healing of the Mallicks took place, a different sort of healing began. All of us would have to come to peace with what had happened. And all of us would haveto move on. But we would do it the Dra Skor way. With honor.
As soon as the song ended, Esta turned to Vashti. “No harm will come to you as you take the time to heal and recover.”
After everything Lennix’s family had put Esta and Jagen through, reassuring a member of his family was likely the last thing that they wanted to do, yet Esta had done so anyway.
I had always known the dragon queen was fierce. Fiercely powerful. Fiercely strong. Fiercely kind.
“Thank you,” Vashti said with a slight bow.
Reyald stepped back into the water, walking toward Emric.
“Let’s get some more dragons back in the sky, shall we?” Emric cheerily offered.
As I leaned in and kissed her forehead, Esta whispered to me, “I am really going to miss him when he goes home.”
“Heard that!” Emric called as he sent his magic out to Reyald.
Nana, of course, waited to go last. The others were all healed, passed out, and in the carriage with the healers to head to the castle.
I stood before Nana and explained the process, letting my magic travel along her hand to get used to the feeling.
“Oh, get on with it,” she urged. “I’m not getting any younger.”
I let out a laugh. She had just watched the others be healed so I supposed she understood enough. “All right.”
With my wings still out, I released my power to Nana, willing it to seek out the poison. Esta had a meeting with the healers, and all of them assumed Isolde would need extra time to sleep things off, but the healing would not harm her. If anything, it would only add a few years to her life.
I sent more and more magic out, wrapping around the old woman. “Still okay?” I asked once she was covered.
“This is more action than I’ve had in years.” Her voice sounded bored. So bored I wondered if it was a farce.
“Is that a yes?” I laughed.
“Yes.”
A few minutes more, and I was tugging on that poison. As I pulled it from her body and Esta urged her to shift, I had the thought that her cane, the bottom of which was in the water, was about to get even more soaked. I sent out more magic to catch it, holding it where it stood.
Another of the team members blasted the poison once it hit the water, and Nana shifted. Her black scales had that turquoise tint to them that Esta had told me about. I noted that Esta’s form looked like Nana’s. They were similar in that they were sleek. Warriors built more for speed than destruction, like that of Nyx and Zaire’s forms.
