We’d gathered quite a crowd, and a cheer rang out. Braxton tossed the head behind him before speeding toward me. I met him halfway, throwing myself into his arms. Our kiss was hot as hell, his tongue stroking against my own. Still, my joy was short-lived. There was no time now for the make-out session which I was dying to have. I needed to get to the queen of the dragons.
Braxton must have sensed that need, because he spun and started to run. The sky was darkening, an unnatural shadow descending across the land. The death of the king and the breaking of his curse had fractured some of the magic from Faerie, and the end result was a magical storm.
We reached the golden beast in seconds, and Braxton let me go free to fling myself down beside her. My dragon, who’d been quietly waiting, started to mourn again. Tears streamed down my face at the aching keen of her cry.
Mother, we cried, and those large red eyes flickered open again. I saw the history of our land in those jewels, so much knowledge, so much power.
Child, well done. You have achieved so much. Your strength makes all of us from the royal line proud. You’re a true queen, and so is your friend Jessa.
I was still crying and trying to push myself back so that my dragon could be as close as possible to her mother.
I’m dying, my child. There is no reversing the injuries. They were fatal from before I crashed into the ground … I did not tell you … better you focused on ending Larkspur. I held on long enough to speak with you, but now my souls are ready to be released to our gods in the great blue sky.
No! No, she couldn’t die. The world needed her leadership, the dragons needed her. There was no other to take her place. My dragon strained against me, and I wished so hard that I could let her go. It hurt my heart more than I thought possible to consider losing her and our bond, but I would let her go in an instant if it were possible.
The queen’s voice was faltering, her eyes barely open.
Josephina and Jessa, you have a choice to make. My dragonling, there’s a chance that your soul can take the place of mine. If Jessa releases the bond, there will be enough energy to repair the dragon body. It would be a great sacrifice, Jessa. You would lose much strength, and the ability to shift to dragon. More importantly you will lose the ability to have dragon babies.
Am I pregnant now? Will it hurt my child?
Her reply was so faint I had to strain to hear. You are indeed, twin souls. And no, they will be … healthy. Perfect. So much responsibility…
My dragon swirled inside of me, and I could sense that she wasn’t sure what the right decision was. She didn’t want to leave me, but in the end the decision was mine to make, my hard choice.
I don’t know what made me look over my shoulder then, some sort of sixth sense that knew eyes were watching me. Sure enough, standing along the line of trees in the distance was a row of jinn, a black and red line of death. There were at least fifty of those fortune-telling asstards there, and I remembered the message from the jinn in the labyrinth. They would not interfere if I made the right decision. Was that what they waited for?
Turning back to the golden queen, I clenched my hands so hard that my fingers ached. There was really only one choice I could make in this situation. Josephina deserved to be free.
The golden dragon faded away then, but in one last burst of energy she placed in my head the knowledge of touching and removing dragon souls.
I pretty much hadn’t stopped crying since I’d knelt at the queen’s side, and as she left us in a flash of bright light and ancient power, I screamed out in pain. The agony of her death was enough that for a moment I lost all sense of time and space. My dragon was in the same place, her hurt fueling mine further. In the end it was the wolf soul which gave us focus, reminding us that we needed to act now or lose the golden dragon body forever.
Breathing deeply, I let the knowledge of how to free Josephina wrap across my mind. It was almost easy to open up the part of my soul which belonged to my dragon, and before she could protest I tore her beautiful, glowing energy free. Somehow I didn’t die in that moment when the pain of a thousand fires flooded me. Weakness tore along my limbs and struck through my heart.
My dragon cried out, her soul fighting the parting; we didn’t want to lose each other, but there was no other choice. I found myself curved around the golden body, clinging to her, sobs ripping from me. I felt lost and broken without my dragon, empty inside, like I was half a supernatural now.
My wolf soul wrapped around me, using pack warmth to offer whatever comfort she could. Arms enveloped me also, and with a snap like a rubber band, the bond between Braxton and I sprang to life, hard and complete for the first time since the sanctuary. I gasped as his energy flooded my mind and heart, visible ties which bounced free before disappearing completely.
Baby… His voice was filled with something that went beyond joy, like pure awe. This is right. We’re truly bonded.
We were, but I was no longer dragon mated, and that small part of my soul felt like it was dying. I was not so far gone in my own misery that I didn’t notice the group of jinn cast me one last look before fading back into the trees, taking with them that uneasy feeling of eyes crawling all over me. Seemed I had made the right decision after all. I’d righted the wrong from so many years ago. I just wish it didn’t hurt so badly. My soul literally ached.
The golden limb closest to us started to twitch. I huffed in and out, my breathing rapid and shallow before stopping completely as the golden dragon lumbered gracefully to her feet and lifted her snout to the sky. She roared, smoke flowing freely, and followed with a long plume of red hot flames tinged in blue.