Bastian slipped below deck. He returned with skin paler than a sheet of parchment. The vampire’s hands were visibly shaking.
"Luella isn’t here," Bastian said lowly.
The words hit like a blade.
The dragon roared overhead, colored with grief—the sound Az wanted to make but couldn’t.
They didn’t have time to move before the fire ate up the sails, quickly burning down the mast and the deck. It crackled as it burned everything it touched. The heat was sweltering.
Hands gripped Az’s shoulders. "Get up. Get up now, Azgorath—" Tharen yanked him to his feet. "She wouldn’t want this.Go?—"
The ocean loomed below. Fire kissed his back. He was shoved over the side of the ship and into the sea.
The world went dark with salt—and shame.
Az swam upward, chasing air, desperate to feel the storm on his skin. She was okay. It was still raining. She was okay, then.
She had to be.
They’d find her. She would be okay. She was alive.
Tharen jumped after him, dropping into the sea. Graves hovered, wings beating sharply. Bastian’s eyes were wild, unlike him. His usual calmness had been replaced by ruthlessness. Even the swipe of his arms through the water as he kept himself afloat was sharp.
They watched the ship burn, taking the dead Umbra and violent evidence of their failed rescue with it.
All while the dragon circled.
When more than half the ship had turned to ash, tipping into the ocean, the dragon roared. So loud that the water vibrated.
His course shifted as he began to fly to the islands.
Bastian gasped. "No—he can’t go there. He’ll fucking burn everything for her. Anything in his path will be gone."
"Make him sleep, Bastian," Graves demanded hoarsely. "Our King’s lost himself to the bond. Stop him before he destroys everything."
Az wanted to scream that Vale wasn’t his King—that he followed Luella only.But the words wouldn’t come. He was too busy watching the onyx dragon tear through the clouds, flying over a lonesome island.
Bastian’s eyes rolled back, and he went limp in the water. Tharen caught him and kept him upright.
They watched the dragon fall, his roars fading into the thunder. The trees rattled and birds took to the skies as the dragon fell against the ground with a thundering boom.
63
TINY THREADS OF RED
LUELLA
When Luella awoke, all she felt was pain.
She lay on something hard. She tried to move her head, but could not. She couldn’t even open her eyes. It hurt to try, as if her lids were stuck together.
Sensations came slowly, rising over the pain. It was too much to sift through—the pain and agony, all over her body. Her wings were crushed beneath her. Then came a touch at her right wrist. She thought she screamed. Her jaw cracked from the force of it.
The sound was distant, however, like it wasn’t really her screaming.
This was all a dream.
It had to be.
