Page 92 of A Storm of Fire and Ash
“Who says she is always underneath?” Gavrin’s words caught all of us off guard, even Eryn, and we all laughed.
“How do you sleep at night, Gavrin, with such a beauty?” Makar asked as he winked at Eryn.
Gavrin wrapped his arm around Eryn’s waist. “Fully satisfied, and naked. And if anyone walks in, they can kiss my black ass and thank me for the privilege,” he said.
We burst into laughter—deep, breath-stealing laughter. Even Gavrin grinned, shaking his head. The ache in my chest loosened just a bit more.
Here, in this moment, with these people—my people—I wasn’t just a girl with magic, or the one who carried scars. I was just Elara. And fornow… that was enough.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I leaned back in the chair, feet kicked up on the table, a half-eaten peach in one hand and theTides of Bloodbook in the other. The light blue dress Fintan had given Yara a while ago hung from the armoire, its garment bag discarded beneath it. It shimmered like morning frost—stunning, elegant… but not me. Not anymore. I tucked it back in the armoire.
I sighed and took another bite from my juicy peach.
That’s when I felt it.
The hum. That telltale surge of energy in my chest, the sudden stir of magic in the air. And then—Zayn.
He walked in, holding a large box. The sight of him made my heart plummet and my pulse spike all at once. Of course, he looked effortlessly deadly: his long white hair tousled, eyes sharp and wild, his dark clothes clinging to the sculpted lines of his body.
I scrambled to sit up. “Hey,” I said awkwardly.
Without replying, he stalked over to the table and placed the box down in front of me. His gaze scanned my scattered stack of books until he plucked one out from underneath—Legends of the Flame.
“How do you like this one?” he asked with a smirk.
I tilted my head, confused. “It’s interesting… why?”
His eyebrows lifted, eyes going wide. “You—wait—you mean to tell me you read it?”
I nodded in suspicion. “Yeah?”
He held it up. “You read this book?”
“Yes. Do you want me to read it to you?” I teased.
His jaw practically hit the floor.
“What?” I asked, grinning.
“Elara… this book—” he tapped the scaled cover, “—this is written in a language no one can speak. No one but—”
He stopped as I started to laugh.
“No, it’s not. Look.” I grabbed the book, flipped it open, and pointed to a section I’d just marked. I cleared my throat.“When a dragon bonds with its person, their souls intertwine—power shared, destinies fused. What one becomes, so does the other.”
His mouth hung open. Again.
“See? Reading’s easy,” I said lightly, placing the book back down.
Zayn reached out and gently grabbed my wrist, his voice hushed now. “Elara… that book is written in Dragonic.”
My heart stuttered.
“Eryn gave me this…”
“Yeah! Probably as a joke!”
