The Dragon Queen (Death #4)

23. Calista

Chapter 23

Calista

I stood before the Great Tree, on the wooden dais the elves had erected there, the one where we’d fought the dark elves before they reached the door to the Realm of Caelum. Queen Eldinar remained with me and my uncle before the clearing, the place that had grown bigger since all the trees had burned down in the battle. The stumps had been cleared so new life could begin again.

When we’d left the underworld, Riviana brought us here, but we hadn’t seen or spoken to her since. It’d been hours and she didn’t reappear.

Neither did Talon.

I looked up at the sky and saw how the location of the sun had changed with the passage of time. Our eyes had been connected briefly, our hands locked together before they were savagely ripped apart.

Was that the last time I would ever see him?

“I don’t think he’s coming back.” I watched the light shine through the canopy, looked at the birds as they hopped across the branches and sand their song. A painful chasm opened in my heart.

Queen Eldinar came to my side. “Give it time.”

“It’s been hours…”

“Time passes differently across the veil.”

“How differently?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just know it’s different. Perhaps several hours here is just minutes there.”

I found the strength to look at her directly. “Do you think he’ll come back?”

She hadn’t answered my question before, and the hardness in her expression made it seem like she wouldn’t answer now. “I won’t deny that it’s a difficult decision to make. Not only will he be healed of his scars in the Realm of Caelum, but he’ll be reunited with the woman he promised to love for all his life.”

I looked away when I pictured her face, how devastatingly beautiful she was. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen…besides you.”

“Love is deeper than beauty.”

“She’s kind too. She could have greeted me like an enemy, but she welcomed me like a sister.” I kept my eyes on the ground, but the image of her bright eyes filled with kindness remained in my mind.

Queen Eldinar was quiet for a long time. “If he does choose to stay with her, does that change anything?”

“I don’t understand your meaning.”

“If you knew he would stay, would you have risked your life to save him?”

My eyes remained on the ground as they filled with tears. “Of course…”

“Then whether he returns or not, his soul has been saved—and that’s what we wanted.” Her hand went to my shoulder, and she gave me a gentle squeeze. “And if he can never tell you how grateful he is, just know that he is.”

Fireflies floated in the clearing and through the trees, casting gentle illumination through the entire forest. Fires weren’t permitted in the forest, but I built a bonfire from fallen branches and lit it ablaze.

Queen Eldinar didn’t challenge it.

I sat on the grass and watched the flames, so many hours gone that it was almost a new day.

The sound of wings came from above, and when I looked up, I saw the reflection of the fire on Khazmuda’s scales as he joined me in the clearing, managing to fit in the center of the trees as long as he kept his tail curled toward his body.

We are not fused, but I can feel your pain the way you feel the heat from this bonfire . He rested his chin on his talons, his dark eyes on me.

“I don’t think he’s coming back.”

I think he will.

“I saw Vivian when I was in the Realm of Caelum. Couldn’t blame him if he chose to stay. Couldn’t hate him.”

I know he loved Vivian deeply. But that was a long time ago.

“Love doesn’t just die.”

Then why do you assume he won’t return?

“Because it’s been a very long time, Khazmuda. Almost an entire day.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not coming back, Pretty.

I did my best to suppress the tears, but they bubbled inside me and made all the muscles in my jaw tighten. My sinuses burned.

I know he’ll come back to us.

“He loves her.”

He loves us more.

I shifted my gaze to look at him, the tears escaping as liquid diamonds down my cheeks.

His eyes moved away from mine and to the doorway behind me. His dark eyes didn’t dilate or contract the way ours did, so he wore no expression. Couldn’t move the muscles of his face the way humans and elves did.

I looked behind me to see what had caught his stare.

Instead of Talon like I hoped, it was Riviana, her brilliant red hair like living flames. In a white gown with gold heels and accents, she looked too beautiful to wield a sword the way she had with Bahamut. “Calista.”

I stilled at my name and felt the dread drop into my stomach. She’d returned to speak to me—to tell me that Talon had decided to stay in her lands. Perhaps he’d given her a message to give to me…one that I would rather not hear.

I rose from the grass and slowly approached her, seeing the way Queen Eldinar watched her with a guarded expression, like she expected bad news as well. My chin dropped because I couldn’t look at her, the way the accused couldn’t look at their executioner.

“It was a greater challenge than I expected. To reunite a tarnished soul with a broken body requires an energy in excess of what I have and experience I simply lack. But I pursued it relentlessly and succeeded where others would have failed.”

“What—what are you saying?”

She gave me a long stare. “Talon Rothschild lives.”

I inhaled a deep breath then looked behind her, expecting him to leave through the doorway that I’d crossed myself. But he wasn’t there. My heart gave a scream in disappointment because it’d been a lifetime since I’d breathed the same air as he. “Where is he?” I demanded. “I want to see him.”

Her eyes shifted to the left across the clearing.

Bumps formed along my arms. It was a warm evening, but I felt a shiver down my spine. I didn’t dare draw breath as I turned to look in the same direction. That was when I remembered that the coffin that carried his body had been taken to the cemetery in preparation for the burial neither Khazmuda nor I were ready to hold.

I saw him in the distance, coming closer through the lights of the fireflies, in the same black armor he’d worn in battle, the crest of the dragon in the center of his chest. The hilt of his large blade was visible over one shoulder, his dark cape sliding across the grass behind him like silk.

Speechless, I watched him come closer, his hair dark like the night, his eyes dark like the underworld. He carried his tall frame with strength, like there were no wounds beneath the surface. His features were on full display when he came close to the fire—and his eyes were both soft and intense.

And they looked at me and no one else.

When the strength returned to my legs, they carried me toward him, my hands shaking in anticipation, my fingertips on fire from sheer desperation, my heart so full it was about to explode inside my chest.

My pace quickened, and I ran the rest of the distance, slamming into his chest as he caught me with his strong arms. We came together like a hurricane and a tsunami, our colossal forces melding into one.

I broke into sobs as my forehead rested against his hard chest plate, squeezing him tightly, like someone might try to take him away from me again. I heaved with the overwhelming emotion, a cry so heavy it brought ugly tears that made me hide my face even more.

He squeezed me and rested his chin on my head, letting me mourn the man I’d lost, letting me allow myself to believe he was really back. He moved his hand into my hair as he cradled me like a heartbroken child.

The tears finally subsided. My breaths turned normal. I knew my face was puffy and red and hideous, but I pulled back to look at him anyway, to cup his handsome face and stare into his beautiful eyes forever.

He cupped my cheek, and like he had so many times, he swiped his thumb over a fallen tear. “I’m here, baby.” He brought his forehead to mine and held me close, letting his proximity heal every broken part of me. “I’m here.”

Khazmuda released what could only be described as a whine, like a dog with a wounded paw. He did it again, a small shriek behind his closed mouth. I’d heard it multiple times in the last few weeks…and knew it was the sound of a crying dragon.

Talon released me, and we both looked at Khazmuda, tears the size of coconuts in the corners of his eyes, while others slowly streaked down his smooth scales to the grass below. Talon’s eyes immediately glistened at the sight of his emotional dragon before he moved to him, both of his hands sliding up the dragon’s snout before he raised his forehead against him. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Khazmuda closed his eyes and continued to cry, his scales pressed against Talon’s palms.

I came to his side and touched the hard scales that were smoother than pebbles at the bottom of a river. His breaths came out shaky and strained, so much emotion with nowhere for it to go. It made his body tremble in chaos.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Talon whispered.

I love you the way a dragon loves his hatchling.

Talon closed his eyes as he listened to his dragon cry, his own tears coming free. “I love you the same, Khazmuda.”

I never want to be apart again.

“Then we shall live together, side by side, man and dragon, for eternity.”

Yes .

Talon opened his eyes and rubbed his snout, trying to console his dragon’s sadness.

I didn’t let him take you—and I will never let anyone take you.

Talon paused his hand as he looked into Khazmuda’s large eye, seeing a love so powerful and visceral. Talon’s eyes were still misted with emotion, and he swallowed as he tried to find the words to convey everything he felt. “I’m here because of you.” He looked into his dark and glistening eye. “I’m here because you forced me to live when I wanted to die. I’m here because you carried me across oceans and defeated Constantine so I could defeat Barron. I’m here this very moment because your love is more powerful than the might of the gods. Some have hailed me a hero—but the only one who deserves that title is you.”