The Dragon Queen (Death #4)

19. Calista

Chapter 19

Calista

I felt it again. Like someone trying to rip my scales off my back…but from the inside.

“Did you try speaking to him again?”

I’ve tried many times—with no reply.

“I wish I knew what this meant. I wish I knew what you felt.”

It’s like someone is trying to rip a part of me away. I can’t explain it better than that.

I stood by the campfire, plagued by an anxiety that wouldn’t disappear. I felt like I was racing against the clock to achieve something, but Talon was dead, so his life couldn’t be spared, no matter how hard I ran.

Queen Eldinar should at least let us speak to Riviana—especially after what Talon did to protect her.

“I agree.”

Then go back—and demand an audience.

I nodded in agreement.

Calista.

I lifted my gaze to look at him.

No is not an acceptable answer.

I returned to Riviana Star the next morning and arrived at the royal chambers. I was led to the same hall where Queen Eldinar was ready to greet me. She was in a different dress with different flowers in her hair, but she looked exactly the same otherwise—like a living dream.

“Calista, is there something you needed?—”

“Khazmuda feels someone pull at him. He said it’s like ripping scales off his back—but from inside.”

Queen Eldinar stared with her stoic expression like that news was unremarkable.

“It must be related to Talon. He’s never felt such a sensation in his life, and now he’s felt it twice.”

She remained quiet.

“Khazmuda can still feel Talon’s soul, and it’s like someone’s trying to take it away. After everything Talon has done for your people, I demand to speak to Riviana. She’s the only one who can make sense of this.”

Her eyes shifted back and forth between mine, and her pale face somehow turned even whiter. Even her lips were bloodless. Her eyes usually twinkled like sunshine on the surface of the ocean, but they’d dulled like an overcast day.

“I will not take no for an answer, Queen Eldinar. I understand Talon is gone and I can’t bring him back, but something tells me his soul needs help. There’s a warning in my heart that I won’t deny. Khazmuda won’t deny it either. So, grant me an audience with your god, or I will demand one myself.”

In her elegance, she was always poised and refined, never allowing the greatest emotion to overtake her logic. When the tree had been overrun by dark elves and her life nearly claimed, she’d kept her composure.

But she didn’t keep it now. Her hands tightened against her flat stomach, and she took a noticeable breath, gave a clear sigh, the first sign of emotion I’d ever seen her express. Then she turned away and walked toward the table, her white cape trailing behind her. She looked out the window that was framed by jasmine, the white flowers blossoming against the green vines. Even through the glass their smell was potent.

“Queen Eldinar?”

Her small shoulders slowly rose higher and higher, her lungs filling with the deepest breath she took take. Then she let it out, her body slowly deflating back to its petiteness.

The pulse pounded in my ears like drums. I felt my body take a step forward as I became drawn to her. Something pulled inside me, a whisper against my ear, a grip on my arm. I knew I was on the precipice of something without proof. “You know something…”

She stared out the window another minute, making the silence insufferable as it became heavier with her unease. “As Queen of Riviana Star, my virtue is of the greatest importance. My word is my honor—and it kills me to break it.” She slowly turned back to look at me, a hint of emotion in her eyes. “But I think there is more at stake here, more to lose if I choose to uphold my oath.”

I stepped closer and felt the tremor in every single fingertip. “Tell me.”

She bowed her head, the shame visible in her heavy eyes. “If I’m going to share this with you, I need to share it with Khazmuda as well. It’s only fair for him to hear it directly from me rather than a secondhand account.”

My breaths had been gentle though painful, but now they turned laborious and strained, my world starting to turn when I’d barely gotten my feet on the ground. “Then let’s hurry.”

When Khazmuda spotted Queen Eldinar in my company, he lifted his snout from where it lay on his talons. The campfire was cold because the fire had gone out after I left. He hadn’t left once to hunt, his lack of appetite permanent.

We climbed off our horses, and my uncle took them by the reins and escorted them into the clearing so they could graze on the lush grass of the plain. He was out of earshot, like he knew he wouldn’t be a part of this conversation.

I stopped before Khazmuda and looked at Queen Eldinar.

Khazmuda shifted his gaze to me. Your skin is the color of stone.

“Queen Eldinar says she has something to share with us. She said we both deserved to hear it directly from her.”

He turned his snout slightly to her. I’m ready to listen.

Queen Eldinar had changed clothes before she’d mounted the horse. Now, she wore her traveling attire without her armor and swords, like she believed that peace had truly settled on these lands. Her head bowed for a moment as she considered the words that she would choose. “I despised the Death King long before I made his acquaintance. And when our eyes met, I despised him even more. But his selfless act of heroism showed me there was more to the man who commanded the dead. A friendship was formed—and it deepened with a secret. A secret he’s shared with no one else but me.” She raised her chin to look at Khazmuda.

I dreaded her following words but was desperate to hear them all the same.

“He couldn’t carry this secret alone—so he asked me to carry it with him. Carry it to my grave. I gave him my word, but in these current circumstances, I feel compelled to break my word. I don’t do that lightly.”

Tell us this secret, Queen Eldinar. The desperation was audible in his voice when it boomed in my head as well as hers.

Her hands stitched together as her waist. “Talon Rothschild was not blessed with the command of the dead—he paid for it. Many years ago, he sailed to Bahamut’s lands and asked for this gift from the God of the Underworld himself. Khazmuda, you must know this tale.”

I looked at Khazmuda.

“You knew him before he was the Death King,” she said. “And knew him after.”

He told me he came across Bahamut during his travels as a pirate. He said very little about that interaction, just that the powers were granted freely. He’s never deceived me, so I accepted his tale without doubt.

She gave a slight nod. “Those powers were not given freely, Khazmuda. They came at a heavy price.”

“What was the price?” My voice quavered as the words left my mouth, almost too afraid to let them fly.

Queen Eldinar’s eyes dropped for another moment. “His soul—for all eternity.”

I gasped for breath like I’d been without air for minutes. My feet carried me backward for space that I didn’t need just seconds ago. My palm went over my mouth, and I slowly dragged it across my face.

Khazmuda bowed his head and gave a quiet whine that seemed incapable of coming from a dragon. No…

The queen kept her eyes down like she couldn’t bear our reactions. “He made that decision under grave circumstances when he barely wanted to live another day. Once he had something to live for, he regretted it with every fiber of his being.” She lifted her gaze and looked at me. “But unfortunately, that decision was ironclad and irrevocable.”

“Why didn’t he tell us?” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

Khazmuda began to cry too, tears the size of boulders in the corners of his eyes.

“He wanted to spare you the pain of his misery.” She looked at Khazmuda again. “You said that you could still feel him, Khazmuda. That it feels like someone is trying to rip your insides from your body.”

He blinked, and that was when the tears rolled down his snout. Yes .

“I suspect that Bahamut is trying to harvest Talon’s soul, but the bond between you is too powerful. For as long as Talon’s soul remains fused to yours, it can’t be taken. The strength of your love is what keeps him free.”

I looked at Khazmuda, seeing the only being who could understand the depth of my despair.

“Bahamut’s attempts will not cease,” Queen Eldinar said. “He will continue until he has Talon’s soul in his grasp.”

He can try all he wants—I will not yield. Khazmuda halted his tears and straightened. The harder he pulls, the harder I fight.

“Why are you telling us this?” I asked. “Because he’s right. We’re better off not knowing.” I could barely breathe, knowing he was a prisoner in the underworld, condemned to suffer for all eternity. Even if he’d made that choice freely and without manipulation, it killed me. It killed me because I would never see him again, not even in Caelum.

Queen Eldinar turned her blue eyes on me. “Because there’s a chance we can save him…”