Page 61 of Where Broken Wings Fly

This time, it was intentional when he looked at my face. Grabbing onto my hand, he set the flower against my palm and curled my fingers around it before I could object.

He squeezed his hand around mine tighter, his face soft and open. “Keep it, Olivia. Let it guide you when you feel no light surrounds you.”

With a traitorous, quivering lip, I nodded at the Prince.

There was a beautiful gleam to his eyes as they dropped from mine and found my lips. His pupils widened for only a breath before he shook his head. “May I be honest with you, little human?”

The return of his strange nickname made me smile. “Yes.”

“I often wish it had been me that found you.”

22

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Raegan and I made it back to the rest of the group just as they all started their slow return to consciousness.

Niamh was halfway through a stretch and in the midst of a yawn when she looked at Raegan and hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “The red one wants to talk to you, apparently.”

Raegan made to move past me, the subtlest of touches to the small of my back with his hand as he maneuvered around us. Biting down on the innards of my cheek, I looked for anything else to focus on.

“You can hear them?” I asked Niamh, who somehow looked more radiant in the early hours of the day.

“Oh, no,” she chuckled as she stretched out her leg. “He just kept huffing at me whenever I got near to him and followed it up with a sharp screech. Then when I’d try again the grey one growled at me. I just assumed they wanted Raegan, not me.”

“Oh.” I nodded along, watching her as she walked across the cliff-ledge and began stroking Sonus.

“I wish, though. Dragons are well known for their inability to develop caraid with anyone. Other than Raegan, the only other one that we know of was his ancestor, Rian. And that was…” She blew out air with her lips before continuing, “Gods, at least several centuries ago.”

I tried my best to allow enough of my shock through for genuine surprise at her statement, but not so much that it could give away my utter disbelief. So Raegan hadn’t told them about me and Urram, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Whatever the reason was, if his lips were sealed about it, I’d make sure mine were too.

All I could manage to mutter out was, “I wonder why.”

Niamh shrugged as she glanced over my shoulder, noticing an approaching Killian. I turned just in time to see the darker shadow of his stubble before he let out a yawn.

“What you did last night…” he whispered as he stepped close to me. “It was magnificent.”

“T-thank you.” Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do with my hands. Instead of possibly making a fool of myself, I wrapped my arms around my body and tucked my fingers within them.

A low bout of laughter echoed through the cave behind us, and Urram’s head popped out just as it finished. His neck stretched long and high as he tipped his horned snout to the rising sun, the scattering of light across his metallic scales shimmering in every direction.

Then his eyes fell to me.

Please don’t talk to me–

“Thank you, Little.”

All too aware of Shea, Niamh, and Killian being near me, instead of responding I dipped my chin to the mighty reptile.

“Gliocas will live, because of you.”

Trying my best to cover my answer with a cough, I lifted my hand to my mouth. “It was my pleasure.”

“What?” Killian popped his head around to look at my face. “Did you say something?”

The slippery eyelid of Urram slid down over his bright eyes as he watched us. His staring was ended only when there was a loud thud in the midst of the cave, followed by more laughter from Raegan.

“What are they doing in there?” I made it look like I was asking anyone, but it was truly directed towards Urram.