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A few minutes later, Zabriel places me gently on my feet and straightens up, cupping my face with his large hands. “Are you feeling better?”
I reach up and touch his wrists. “I am, thank you. Can you tell me what happened to Damla and Tish?”
His lips press into a grim line. “Something made Damla fall out of the sky, but I can’t tell what. Just as concerning is the fact that herriestais missing.”
“What ariesta?”
“A soul core. Every dragon has one deep within their chests. It’s where a dragon makes its fire, but it’s also what gives a dragon their scent, designation, and the ability to bond with Maledinni. Everything that makes a dragon strong, powerful, and unique is contained in that core. If a soul had physical form, it would be ariesta.”
Someone went to the trouble of cutting a dragon open and stealing a powerful organ? That seems ominous. I move back around Scourge, but Zabriel squeezes my hand.
“You can stay here with Esmeral. Let her comfort you. You don’t have to look.”
Esmeral moves close to my other side, flanking me. His offer is tempting, but I’ve never closed my eyes to life’s horrors, and I’m not going to start now. “I’m fine now. I’d like to see.”
When we move around Scourge, I see that Captain Ashton and my bodyguards have arrived on their wyverns and are gazing solemnly at the downed dragon and rider. Nilak is a little way off, as still as stone with her head bowed, and a silvery dragon stands beside her. Stesha is crouched down by the gaping wound in Damla’s chest. A female dragonrider has Tish’s head in her lap and she’s weeping. A lump rises in my throat at the sight of her despair. I wish this war would be over already.
“Will we take them back to Lenhale for a funeral?” I ask Zabriel.
He shakes his head. “Riders who go down with their dragons prefer different last rites. Together, as they always were, and will always want to be.”
Stesha gets to his feet and moves back, and his eyes are bleak and hollow when they meet Zabriel’s.
Crying softly, the female rider kisses Tish’s brow and arranges the woman’s arms so that she holds her sword in her hands, and then she draws back to stand with the wingrunners.
After a few moments of stillness and silence, the deep rose of dusk begins to fade into night, and one by one, stars appear in the empty sky.
The dragons move to surround Damla and Tish. Scourge on one side. Nilak and the silver dragon on the other. There’s a flash of turquoise and gold, and I realize that Esmeral has moved up beside Scourge.
Zabriel reaches out to hold my hand. His expression is bleak as he gazes at the rider and dragon who died for Maledin. Who died for him. What a heavy weight the crown must be in moments like this.
There’s a muted rumbling sound, and I feel heat coming off the dragons. They open their jaws, and fire bursts forth, bathing Tish and Damla. Scourge’s stream of fire is the thickest, and Esmeral’s is tiny in comparison, but the four of them work together until dragon and rider are fiercely ablaze. The dragonfire eats through flesh at a rapid pace and burns white-hot.
“Forever flying,” Zabriel murmurs, and I hear the words echoed by Stesha, Ashton, and the female dragonrider.
I must be squeezing Zabriel’s hand as he leans down and murmurs, “Does the fire make you afraid,sha’len?”
I shake my head. I’m a little nervous, but I don’t feel panicked as I know no one here wishes to toss me into the flames.
A short time later, the two figures are no longer recognizable as what they once were. A little while after that, all that remains of Tish and Damla is a heap of glowing embers. All the dragons line up on one side and begin to beat their wings, sending the embers and ash high where they’re snatched on the wind and fill the sky with golden points of light. It’s a simple ceremony, and I’m touched by the beauty of these final rites. Damla and Tish are now ash on the wind, forever flying.
Zabriel squeezes my hand. “We should go back. It’s not safe out here in the open.”
I follow him to Scourge’s side, and he crouches down so I can wrap my arms around his neck. I do, and he pulls me against his body and straightens up until my feet leave the ground.
Our eyes lock. Zabriel doesn’t move. Our faces are very close.
“This is the first time you and I have worked together for Maledin, and though the deed is bittersweet, I hope it won’t be the last. I’m fiercely grateful that you’re by my side. And I’m proud of you,sha’len.”
I shake my head, feeling a lump in my throat. “I didn’t do anything.” Anything except throw up and cry.
“I don’t think Damla and Tish would agree with you. We were able to give Tish and Damla the farewell that they would have wanted.”
“But we were too late to save them. If only—”
Zabriel presses a swift but gentle kiss to my lips. “Noif onlys,sha’len. You did everything that you could with love and courage in your heart, and that’s all anyone can expect from a future Queen of Maledin.”
A future Queen of Maledin. Terrifying words. Beautiful words. Intimidating words. I don’t feel like I’m anywhere near living up to them.
