Page 125 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
“Get ready, Velda!” I shout as heat gathers just outside the window. Fire.
Malice intends to roast us alive.
I have no thoughts. No plan. Nothing but pure instinct and Velda’s previous insistence that curses are meant to be broken.
I press my hands against Bene’s chest and bow my head over his prone form. His heart stutters feebly beneath my touch.
Please, I pray.Help us.
Aloud, I whisper, “Na’theryn,” drawing in what strength I have left and letting it pour from me to him. All my love. Everyhappy memory we ever shared. Every midnight flight. Every letter.
“Na velar sha. Tir’anor.”
My glow returns, thrumming bright, burning away the stains Malice’s Shade has left behind. Beside me, Velda flares silver as she murmurs something over her sisters, calling to them with her undying love.
Just as I call to Bene with mine.
“Come back to me,” I implore, my fingers digging into the front of his shirt, burying themselves within the purple silk and holding tight. “Please,Na’theryn. I need you.”
The threads of the curse unravel, dissolving before my eyes.
But still Bene does not awaken.
Panic seizes my heart as an unyielding heat suddenly laps against my skin, seeking to scald me. To scorch me. To burn me alive. I look up just as Malice’s flame unfurls, exploding straight toward me through the window.
Straight toward us all.
“Bene!” I scream, my voice lost beneath the thunder of Malice’s roar.
I shrink back and curl around the pixies, seeking to shield them with my body as I desperately call Air to my command, trying to form a wall between us and the flame. I clench my eyes and brace for the worst. Bene will be safe. Dragons cannot burn.
But fae? I imagine we are terribly flammable.
Threads of Fire race past, the heat nearly unbearable through my wall of Air. But it doesn’t touch me. It doesn’t set me aflame.
A shadow passes across my eyelids even as the flames continue to fill the tower. But this shadow does not come with ill intent. It merely brings a blissful cold and a warm brush of strong hands against my cheeks.
Trembling, barely daring to hope, I blink my eyes open and stare up into a gloriously sapphire gaze—a gaze that burns asbright and hot with righteous anger as the crown blazing on his brow.
The gaze of my king.
My love.
Bene.
Chapter 41
Benevolence
Lavender strands of Air answer my call and swirl around us, keeping the blistering heat at bay. But still, tongues of heat lap against my back—dragonfire that dares to try to harmNa’therya.
Long-dormant rage awakens within me. Not the hot, mindless anger of a slighted hatchling. But the cold, crystallized fury of a dragon whosedrakirahas been threatened.
Aurelia. Aurelia is here. Trembling. Aglow like a candle’s flame—a beacon calling me home. A tired, courageous woman now in need of my protection.
Without a word, I gently gather her into my arms and bury my face in the curve of her neck, embracing her as if she is my last lifeline.
The moment I do, our previous bond snaps into place, stealing my breath all over again. Threads of Mind and Spirit seep from her soul into mine, securing me in a hold from which I never wish to be parted again.
