Page 39 of Enchanted Crown
Dra Skor had already lost far too much.
“Prince Keiran,” Zaire said from behind me.
I turned my head over my shoulder.
“Thank you for this.”
I exhaled. “If I do this for you and you do not do everything in your power to help her, if you end up knowing even a speck of information about who the real traitor is here, I am going to flay your skin.”
“I would let you,” Zaire said with a nod.
Malachi was suddenly between us, in his human form. “Before we get started here. I have to know. Why the change of heart? Keir might not have known you our whole lives, but I have.”
Zaire’s eyes darted away before they went back to Malachi. “Look. I have messed up. I have messed up a lot. Being kept from my drake form... it made me a person I am not proud of. Now that Dra Skor is healing, I want to be on the side of things that is helping, not hindering.” His eyes went to mine. “I know it’s too late for me to get Esta back, a fact I will grapple with and deal with on my own, but it isn’t too late for Dra Skor. Let’s end this civil war and heal.”
“And if we heal you and I ask you to keep an eye on Morana?” Malachi asked. “Also your ex?”
He gave him a nod. “I’m not involved with her anymore, I’ll do it. Whatever it takes. Dra Skor will heal.” His eyes went back to mine. “We may have been at odds vying for Esta, but we are not at odds when it comes to Dra Skor. It took Serkan’s death and youputting up a mirror to my actions for me to see that. I am sorry, Prince.”
I let my magic flare and roar to the surface. I was still angry and grieving my friend. I hadn’t known Samori as well as Esta, but I had known Savanna. Savanna who had helped save me the day we rescued Kian. I let the power pulse and take over, flaring even in my eyes. And then I unleashed it to Zaire.
I didn’t let him try it out. I didn’t reassure him. I just wasn’t in the mood to be kind.
It took me a few minutes to seek out all the poison, it seeming to be everywhere, just like with Amory. “When you see me begin to yank on the magic, try to shift.”
“If I remember how.” Zaire shifted his weight.
Was he nervous?
“It’s not something we forget,” Malachi said kindly before shifting, ready to help me like he did with Amory.
The weight of the poison was enough to make my forehead sweat. I wanted to hiss out from the heaviness of it, or let out a groan, but for Zaire I would do neither. He did not deserve even one bead of sweat upon my brow.
The moment I had it all, I began yanking, Malachi shoving at my chest. Nyx looked on curiously.
I heard a roar at the same time I sent more magic out to destroy the black mass in the water.
Zaire was formidable, I would give him that. For as smooth and handsome as his human form was, his dragon one seemed to be more like his soul, jagged around the edges. What looked like two horns were pinned back on his head adding to his sinister look. While Esta was smooth and beautiful, Zaire looked more like Serkan had. Rough. Built for destruction. The iridescent hue to his scales was red, adding to that even more. He looked birthed from hell, ready to unleash it upon us all.
Zaire put out his wings and spun around, clearly pleased. Had he been a canine, I was sure his spiked tail would be wagging.
And then just as soon as he shifted, he shifted back, sinking onto his knees as he did. “Thank you.”
I was exhausted, but I let my Enchantment flare one last time. “Donotmake me regret this, Zaire.”
“All of themen from your ship have been interrogated and cleared,” Amory told me.
Esta had put Zaccai and his team in charge of that. I didn’t trust many people in Dra Skor, but Zaccai was one of them. I wished I had the time to interrogate all the crew members myself. Yet there just wasn’t enough time in the day. I couldn’t be in two places at once. Unfortunately. “Good.”
Esta was asleep in my bed while Amory and Malachi checked in after the evening patrols. Zaire was healed and in his lair. I was doubtful he’d be able to keep it a secret until we needed him; I felt it was going to be too hard for him to resist the urge to go flying.
Though we had seen Kian in Keld today, he was still grieving and not in the mood to wave ride. We’d just sat with him for a while instead. Between healing Zaire and a trip to Keld, it had been a long day, but a worthwhile one.
“We are going to need to make a decision about our Agrian spy in custody before Agria gets any more suspicious than they already are,” Amory added.
I looked to the balcony, wishing we could go back to moments before the news of Savanna and Samori. The moment Esta was happily flying in the dark with my magic lighting up her scales. The moments we had stolen in the sunset and sand to just be.
“Keir?” Amory asked.
