Page 62 of Kingdom of Ashes & Bone
The king turned to me, and my heart skipped a beat with anxiety. I knew I wasn’t solely responsible for the princes leaving, but it still felt like I was partially to blame. I took a small shuffle step toward the king, who only tsked at my skittishness and hugged me, picking me up and twirling me around.
“I owe you the most. All those dreams we talked about … I can’t believe the time has come,” he whispered into my ear. Before I could respond, he continued with more urgency, “Try to find out more about Hoveria, our birthplace. I will be busy here for quite some time, and in the large mess of things I don’t want to waste any scholars on it. It’s too personal.”
I nodded, understanding.
“I want to learn more about where we came from, if our land still exists, and pass the heritage onto those of Hoverian descent. If you happen to learn anything on your travels, can you send it on?”
It was appalling he even had to ask. “Of course!” I burst out, unable to help it as the tears freely flowed. The king was a good man who wanted to make everything right.
And it would be right. It would be OK.
The king gave my cheek a kiss and broke away.
“Well, we’re going to go so we don’t linger and make this any more awkward or emotional than it already is,” Zariah announced. “Make way for the dragon!”
Alarmed, the other Fireguards on the platform didn’t bother to use the stairs as they flung themselves off the platform and rolled when they hit the ground.
I tried hard to smother my laughter, and lost.
In moments, Zariah jumped off the platform and shifted, golden scales filling my vision as the king watched from the platform. Seeing their sovereign unalarmed at the massive dragon that just appeared, the people around him stopped screaming and stared in interest.
“Are you going to take turns flying?” I asked Zion as he helped me climb up Zariah’s side and grasp onto his neck spikes.
Zion flushed. “My wings are … not yet healed. The amount of blood likely needed will put all of us out for a while. We want to find a new home and get settled before we try. Zariah will carry us where we need to go.”
With a mighty lurch, Zariah leaped into the air, his heavy wings pounding hard on either side of me. We rose into the air as he took a few laps around the kingdom, giving us all one last looking before heading east.
I gazed down at the Seat, waving in the hopes that Leilani or Freesia would see. My heart reached out as we flew over three identical mounds on the outskirts of the kingdom, flowers lovingly strewn on top.
My mother would be happy I was seeing the world, and I’d like to think Ell would be proud, too. I didn’t much care what happened to my brother, but Shava’s unsolved death still haunted me.
As we flew, I remembered the strange sounds I'd heard coming from the tunnels when I’d discovered Shava’s body. But that was insane, wasn’t it? All the demons were dead. Weren’t they? Just because I hadn’t seen the bodies didn’t mean it wasn’t true. There were many people who had simply disappeared in the chaos and haven’t been seen since: Heather, Hyacinth, and Zephyr.
My thoughts reached out toward Zion and Zariah, normal conversation impossible with how hard the wind whipped around us.
Zariah? Zion? Any idea of how many demons there were down in the tunnels?
I wasn’t naive enough to think I’d seen all the tunnels and caves and mines; it was more likely that I’d only seen a fraction.
Zariah grumbled.I don’t know. The curse broke and no one has seen any, so not a problem as far as I’m concerned.
I bit back a retort as Zion had a more reasonable answer.
I’m sure there were some alive, but all the entrances are caved in. Not even our dragons could dig them out. Perhaps it’s for the best.
A lot of people had been saying that lately, me included. Was it though?
As the sun set at our backs, I tried to focus forward on the future. In a place where the landscape was lush and green, and there was water as far as the eye could see. I imagined somewhere my dragons and I could live in peace without fear of being hunted down or exposed.
I even thought about what a child between the three of us might look like.
Smiling to myself, I relaxed against Zariah’s warm scales and Zion’s steady chest behind me.
Perhaps it was all for the best.
ChapterSeventeen
The trip was long, and we took many breaks. We flew over vast portions of desert, the sands so red it looked like liquid fire. Zariah did all the flying, and I worried over him pushing himself too hard. He never quit until he found a place ‘suitable enough’ for us to rest, a place with food and water. Sometimes that meant he flew straight into the night.
