Turning within, I dare to look at his remaining ember, barely glimmering with life. My own side is lit with only the single flame he gifted me; that tethered us together and kept me alive at a time my heart had given up.
Without second thought, I lift the flame that binds us, its molten roots pulling taut.“Ew tua zin-ath—ooshá.”
You can still survive.
I move to pass it back to him and sever us for good. To give him enough energy to move somewhere hot. Perhaps one of the fresher moonfall sites—
He feeds me a memory. Vision of me smothered in blood, clinging to the Elding Bird as we tumbled through the warring smog. As he urged me to let go and save myself, only for me to refuse, screaming,“Aburr—ath tuíl, Rygun.”
We’re in this together.
Then, he slams a scaled wall between us, blocking me out.
Feeling his jaw clamp down on me would hurt less.
“Ruif!”
The plea sputters with more blood.
I wobble.
With a thunderous groan, Rygun scoops me into his claw. It’s only once I’m off my feet that I realize I had nothing left to keep me upright.
That my body is failing, too.
I relax into him, letting my muscles loosen for the first time since Raeve slumbered close on our journey through the Undercity. Beforeeverythingchanged.
“Lukith át—utun ath tah—tuíl, Rygun. Ruif.”
Let’s go to the sky together. Please.
Rather than lift his wings, he pulls me to his chest. So close, I’m pressed against his cold scales, the slowthud-umpof his heart hammering beside me.
He makes a droning sound that tells me everything. That he very much wants to bury us in the above—together—but lacks the energy to try.
My heart cracks as he uses what little he has left to shift in small but mighty motions, bundling into a loose knot reminiscent of a moon. He sweeps his wing around me, leaving a shredded window to the sky barely visible through the dense smog. But there. Something for me to focuson while humming the song Mah so loved to hear. The one I played for her while she was bringing Veya into this world, hoping it brings Rygun some sense of peace.
But I also hum it for a different reason.
So I can tune out the sounds of his staggered breaths, not wanting to live these closing moments wondering ifthiswill be the final thump of his heart. Ifthiswill be his final inhale.
Not wanting to hear the sounds of him solidifying around me, down here in the snow, so very far from the sky.
Wanting to, at the very least, believe we’ll drift off at the same time, swaddling myself in ignorance until the moment we’re cleft apart.
I think of Raeve. Think of our daughter.
Pray to the Creators they’ve found each other at last—that they’retogether. A thought that bolsters me as my lids grow almost too heavy to keep open.
Something shifts above. A piked shadow so big I’d almost mistake it for Rygun’s spirit soaring skyward … were it not for the silver scales glinting from the light of the scattered moonshards.
A mighty roar cleaves the silence before a gentle darkness takes me.
Iturn the dial on the lantern dangling from my hand, filling the cramped sleepsuite with warm light. Illuminating Ahvi, curled in the center of the large pallet that’s pressed into the corner of the room. Looking peaceful,safe …were it not for the bulky Fate Herder coiled around him like a fluffy silver nest.
I sigh, set the lantern on a small side table, and toss out a folded blanket. Leaning over the beast’s twitching tail, I drape Ahvi in the thick throw, tucking it up over his shoulders. As I do, the Fate Herder pulls a deep breath, released with a low rumble. Earning himself my seventeenth side-eye since I discovered he’s wedged his way into our unorthodox family.
Just when I thought I’d shaken the troublemaking asshole, Ahvi informs me he’s a sort ofpetof his. Now I guess we’re stuck with him.
