Page 71 of Caress of Fire
And he wasn’t murdering Henron on sight.
Nyra stared at Henron, her blue eyes so alien, Marielle couldn’t decipher the feelings behind the reptilian façade, then she bent her head and her muzzle brushed Henron’s forehead. She turned and flew away, the precious egg cradled in her claws against her chest.
Henron’s head turned up to the sky as Nyra left, then his eyes went back to the brown dragon. The beast’s only focus was on Henron, like he was waiting for something. Or, more like he was still making up his mind on an important decision.
Too-dark eyes filled with savage intent bored into Henron and the beast rushed forward.
Time felt suspended as Marielle screamed, held back by Fedryc’s strong arms. Except the feral dragon didn’t maul Henron with his talons. He didn’t snap him in half with his fangs. Fire didn’t spew fire across the platform in a mighty rain of death.
The beast stopped inches in front of Henron, his mouth opening wide and a screech straight from hell encompassing the platform.
Then talons long as knives wrapped delicately around Henron’s body and he was lifted into the sky in a blur of earth-colored wings and fury.
* * *
“Henron!”Fedryc screamed the name of his friend as the brown dragon shrank in the distance, flying fast with his large, mighty wings.
The sounds faded to a remote drumming as he watched, an icy hand of fear wrapping around his chest, squeezing the life out of him.
Beside him, Marielle also screamed Henron’s name, struggling uselessly against his hold. He wouldn’t let her go. Would never let her go. Red hair was strewn across her face and tears streaked her cheeks. She was crying and screaming but he couldn’t hear her words.
Thoughts pushed themselves inside his brain but there were too many, and he had trouble grasping one long enough for his mind to understand any of them.
Nyra came back.
Henron is gone.
Nyra laid an egg.
Henron is gone. Gone.
Fedryc blinked at the diminishing forms of Nyra and the brown dragon, now so far away they looked like flies in the sky. His heartbeat drowned out the shouts of the guards invading the platform like ants. They were useless now, would have been even more so before. A few dozen guards would not threaten two dragons. A few thousand were barely a challenge.
In his arms, Marielle collapsed, her screams turning to wails of grief and rage. He held her close as the tiny speck of the brown dragon vanished in the sky. His best friend, his only friend apart from Nyra, was gone. Henron was gone. And he wasn’t going to come back. Henron had sacrificed himself to save Marielle.
There was a black hole in his heart, gaping and bleeding, pulsing with pain.
Fedryc crushed Marielle against him as the pain of loss washed over him like a tide of lava, scorching everything else. In his arms, Marielle protested, pushed against his hold, but he held on. He had nothing else but her now. A pained whimper reached his ear and with great effort, he loosened his hold on his Draekarra.
Then his mind circled back.
Henron hadn’t just sacrificed himself to save Marielle. He sacrificed himself to save Marielle and something else. Something that Fedryc should have realized as soon as he saw the shimmering surface of the blue egg cradled against Nyra’s chest.
He pushed Marielle away, holding her by the shoulders. He locked gazes with the gray eyes that looked up at him with pain and fear. She exhaled, then bit her lower lip.
“You are with child.” Fedryc spoke low, like saying it any louder would break the spell that held him tethered to the ground. Tethered to reality in the midst of the worst pain of his life.
“Are you pleased?” Her eyes were red and her cheeks wet, her voice shaking with doubt, but also with a hope that ripped at the remnants of his heart.
Fedryc went to his knees at her feet, wrapping his arms around her, carefully burying his face in her belly. Her dainty fingers ran through his hair and he inhaled the scent of her, the female, lush scent of his mate.
“My heart,” he whispered against her. “You are my heart.”
Marielle wrapped her arms around him and they stayed like that, indifferent to the guards around them who were watching with surprise in their eyes, but too scared to approach.
“So you are happy?”
“Happy?” Fedryc chuckled without humor. “There is no greater gift. You mended me from the inside out, Marielle. Yes, I am happy. More happy than I could say.”
