My heart stops as I drag my eyes away from the cruel blonde retreating into the forest to stare up at my mountain. No.
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” I whisper as my body shifts. I beat my wings before they’re even fully formed, trying to reach my nest before it’s too late.
Chapter Twenty-One
I roll over to find the bed empty and I purse my lips in a pout. I don’t like that, waking up alone after making love. And suddenly, I feel guilty for the girls I’ve sent from my chambers before they could even get comfortable enough to fall asleep.
“Gods,” I mutter, rolling onto my back to stare up at the ceiling. How did I get here? Before I can ponder my feelings for too long, the sound of footsteps echo in the tunnel. Heavy footsteps. My eyebrows shoot up my forehead as I scurry from the bed, searching for a weapon. The dagger I took from Niressa’s hoard lays on a large rock by the door and I quickly grab it, pressing my back to the wall as I wait.
Who could be in the tunnels? And where is Niressa? She wouldn’t let anyone in here . . . I take a calming breath, trying to ignore all the worst-case scenarios flashing through my mind as I grip the dagger tightly.
Fear grips my chest as the sound of shuffling boots grows closer. My pulse pounds in my ears, drowning out the sound, even though I know it’s getting closer. Closer. When a dark figure enters the room, I rush forward, the dagger raised to strike.
The man turns around, his hand falling on my forearm before I can make contact and I look up into familiar green eyes and stumble backward, out of his grip. “Dary?”
“Taryn,” he hisses as he takes another step toward me.
“Oh Gods, Dary,” I murmur, rushing toward him. I throw my arms around his neck, shaking my head. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” he whispers, patting my back as the sound of more boots fill the tunnel outside my room. Someone grunts something beside us but I can’t hear them over the sound of my own heartbeat and Dary’s murmured words. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here.”
“I nearly killed you,” I gulp.
“You could never,” he scoffs, pushing me back away from him to examine me. “Are you well? Injured?” As his eyes roam my body they fall down to my exposed thighs. The blouse is long enough to cover my most important bits but it’s certainly not appropriate for a princess to be seen in. My cheeks flush as Dary’s do and he clears his throat.
“I’m fine. What are you doing here? The mage said Father was bringing the crown—”
“We have it,” he assures me before grabbing a pair of tights from the ground. “Get dressed. The men don’t need to—um—get dressed.” He pushes the bundle of cloth into my chest before turning around and guarding the entrance. Dary, ever the gentleman.
As I pull the tights over my legs and up to my waist, I ask him, “How did you manage to get in here? Where’s the dragon?”
“The Izvoras scouted the mountain. They claimed this would be the perfect time to come—”
My eyebrows cinched together as I wondered why they thought that. Did Niressa have some schedule I had been oversleeping and missed? Perhaps she went flying at the same time every morning . . .
“You have the crown, though?”
“Wythecliff has it,” Dary assures me as he takes my hand in his own, leading me into the tunnel. We follow several knights into the main cavern. A few fawn over piles of treasure while Wythecliff lays a bundle of cloth in the center of the floor. Unfolding it, he reveals Mother’s crown and the Lazoras crest.
My eyes scan the ledge for Niressa, for her beautifully colored scales, but she’s nowhere to be seen. My heart sinks as I realize I’m not going to get the chance to say goodbye.
I don’t know what I’d say, even if I could.
Perhaps it’s better this way. Goodbyes are hard. This . . . thing between us isn’t something that was supposed to happen, for a plethora of reasons. Not least of which is that we have no future together. A dragon and a princess? That story never ends well, does it?
“Are you alright?” Dary asks as the men begin making their way back toward the tunnel.
“Don’t linger over the treasure lest it tempts you, idiot,” Ona’s shrill voice calls into the small crowd. “The dragon is gone. What about that servant girl?”
“Gone as well,” I murmur, casting my eyes to the ground as sadness creeps its way into my chest.
“Mmm,” Ona hums as her eyes bore into me, searching for something I’ll never admit to. “Let’s go then, before the beast returns.” I don’t know what knowledge Ona thinks she has, but I can tell she believes she knows something by the way her gaze lingers on me, seeing far too much. Eventually, she breaks the awkward eye contact and moves away from us. As Ona and several of the knights file out of the room, Dary’s hand tightens on mine, drawing my gaze back up to his.
“Are you alright?” he asks again. “You look—”
“I’m fine. I’m just overwhelmed. I’m glad to be going home,” I murmur softly. And I am glad to be going home, to be returning to a life full of people—but as my eyes drift back to the ledge, I can’t help but wonder if I’ll miss what I found in the solitude of this mountain.
We follow the party through the tunnels, the knight who originally stole the crown leading the way. I’m quiet beside Dary, a fact that I don’t think he misses, as he keeps glancing at me in the dim light cast by their torches.
“My sister will be glad to hear you’re unharmed, Princess” a deep voice rumbles behind me. I crane my neck around to see Aeron of Izvora smiling at me in the dark tunnels. His presence here puts me on edge. For a king to accompany my rescue party instead of my own father . . . it speaks of their intentions.
Though, the King of Izvora hadn’t tried to woo me, his sister had made her intentions very clear. And he seemed to support them.
My head snaps forward as we make our way through caves until they finally give way to sunlight. Wisely, Dary doesn’t speak. If my rudeness to the king was noticed, no one says anything as we trudge through the snow toward the waiting horses.
It’s a long trek around the base of the mountain to head toward Vanir. The path is easy enough for the horse to follow on its own and I find my mind wandering. To Niressa. To all the things that have changed since she plucked me from the jubilee in her claws. To what my future looks like, armed with the information she’s given me about my own ancestors and how they handled an heirless monarchy. I can finally—hopefully—put to rest all my concerns about being forced to produce an heir of my own. It’s freeing.
As we curve around the mountain, my eyes rise to cliffside, to the ledge where Niressa sits, her brilliant scales gleaming in the sun. I pull Dary’s cloak closer around my shoulders, trying to ignore the hole growing in my chest.
This sinking feeling consumes me and I’m not sure if it’s guilt or something else, but I’d do anything make it stop.
Niressa doesn’t shoot a blast of flame into the sky. She doesn’t fly down to stop our party. She never moves from her ledge at all; she just sits there, staring after me as I move further and further away from her mountain.