Georg listened without flinching. He approached Perri gently.
“Little one,” he said, bowing his head in respect, “you will have a story to tell someday.”
She blinked at him, then placed her hand on his beard.
Georg laughed softly. “She approves.”
He straightened and signaled to an air witch passing by. I stared at her. Since when were there witches hanging out in Hoveria? The world was getting bigger all around me, whether I noticed it or not.
“Send word to Lyoness,” he instructed. “Tell them all are safe. And that we will return their kin when they are well enough to fly.”
The witch vanished in a swirl of wind.
Georg turned back to us.
“The gods do not often offer second chances,” he said. “And yet here we are. Hoveria has become ours again.”
His gaze settled on me with quiet gravity.
“You drakens left this fortress broken. Cut off. Without leaders to guide them. Many here suffered for it,” he paused, “but they also healed. Hoveria will rise again with the drakens.”
A long breath left my lungs.
Georg clasped my shoulder again. “Welcome home, Ronan, for however long you need.”
I bowed my head.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
For the first time in days, I felt warmth in my bones again.
And hope.
Chapter Twenty-Two
VESKOR
Idrifted in and out of an odd state of consciousness with no concept of time passing. Was I dead? Was this dying?
It wasn’t so bad.
But I was hot, too hot. Hadn’t I just been in the snow? I knew from the fighting pits that extreme heat in the cold was something that happened to other fighters right before they succumbed to the elements.
Not me!
I was wrapped in thick fur blankets, and a stone ceiling arched above me. A hearth crackled nearby, heat drifting over me in pleasant waves. An aroma of fresh bread wafted nearby. Someone had moved me. I was on my side, my wings carefully considered in the position I’d been put in.
No one ever cared about my wings. No one knew how sensitive they were. No one would know that except for drakens. Drakens had me.
No, saved me. No. Hadn’t they abandoned me in the snow?
My head hurt. I touched a hand to my temple, finding it wrapped in gauze.
Where was Perri?
My snarl ripped from me before I could help it. I surged to my feet, blankets falling away, wings flaring so wide they cracked against stone pillars.
Or tried to.
