No.I don’t accept it.
“Did you find your dragon?” she asks.
I swallow a ball lodged in my throat. “Yes. I found a dragon.”
“Did you bring it back with you?”
My gaze drops to my hands in my lap.
Hot tongues of shame lick my chest and up my neck. The tips of my ears are burning.
“I fucked up.” I finally manage to get the words out. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“What happened with the dragon? Tell me.”
I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. The sight of Kazh’s palm resting between mine in my lap blurs. I blink. Heavy tears roll down my cheeks, clinging to my jaw.
“It refused me. Showed me awful things about the future I’ll bring to Ekios,” I croak.
Kazh is silent for a long time.
“It…showed you things?”
I nod weakly.
“Dragons don’t show visions lightly.”
I already know.
The images are seared into the backs of my eyelids…
Jax. Vera. Noire. All of them, gone.
A path of corpses I carved myself.
“If it showed you something…then it gave you a warning. What was it?”
The words sit heavy on my tongue. I don’t want to say them out loud. Saying it makes it real.
“It showed me what my choices will cost me.”
The silence that follows is suffocating.
A severe cough rattles Kazh. I pick up the water jar on the nightstand and refill the cup before carefully bringing it up to her mouth once she’s over the fit.
Kazh clears her throat. Her eyes find mine, sharper than they have any right to be for a dying woman. “Heed the warning.”
She sighs and closes her eyes.
“Kazh.” I squeeze her hand.
“I’m tired now,” she says weakly. Her fingers twitch as if she wants to squeeze my hand but doesn’t have enough energy. “I’m…proud to call you my apprentice. It’s an honor to have you as my last.”
Tears stream down my cheeks. I can barely see clearly. “I’m proud to call you a mentor. Thank you, Kazh. For everything.”
Her lips curl into a smirk.
I sit there, silent tears streaming down my face until Kazh’s fingers stop spasming.
