Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
“You alright?”
I gave a nod, rendered speechless by that look.
From behind him came Queen Rolfe, Commander Dawson, and his brother Ian.
My eyes shifted to my mother-in-law.
She wasn’t her same regal self. Her clothes were ripped in many places, and half of her face was bloody from the battle. One of her forearms was secured in taut gauze tied to a wooden plank. She looked at me with the same stoic expression that Huntley wore at times. She should be on her knees, thanking me for what I’d done for her city, but the gratitude never came. Instead, I received a long, hard stare.
And then a nod.
Huntley looked at Pyre. “Go ahead.”
Pyre sucked the air into his lungs before he released it as fire, torching the pile of dead Runes. The blaze turned into an inferno, and the flames leaped up high into the sky. The flames were so hot that they burned the flesh before it could start to smell.
Storm engulfed the other pile in flames.
Even from the distance we stood, the flames were hot on my skin, as if they were right against my face. The crackles and pops of the fire weren’t subtle and soothing like they were in the fireplace. They were loud and explosive, violent. We all stood there and watched the flames burn the bodies to ash.
Huntley left his family and crossed between the two pyres toward me. The heat must have been unbearable that close, but it didn’t seem to bother him in the least, not when his look was hotter than both bonfires.
He came to me, his large body blocking out the flames behind him the closer he drew. I already knew what would happen once he reached me, but I was just stunned that he would do it. Though, when it came to Huntley, nothing surprised me anymore.
He wrapped his arm around the small of my back and gave me a deliberate tug against him, his other hand sliding into my hair and pulling it from my face as he kissed me. It wasn’t quick. It wasn’t appropriate for an audience. But as if his own mother wasn’t watching, he kissed me like nothing in the world was going to stop him from having me.
The dragons were fed and then escorted to the empty cavern in the mountainside. It was bigger than the one they had at the island, so there was plenty of room for both of them, away from the rest of society.
Neither one of them seemed to mind the accommodations, not after everything they’d been through, and they were both tired, so a long night of sleep with full bellies was all they cared about at the moment.
The rest of us went to the castle at the top of the cliff.
What I wanted most were a shower and some sleep, but everyone else had been fighting for their lives all night, so the last thing I would ever do was complain. We made it to her study near the back window, the place I’d seen her when I’d been inside the castle before.
Commander Dawson was still at the gates, cleaning up the destruction the battle had caused. Uninjured soldiers helped, putting HeartHolme back together as soon as possible, as if nothing had happened in the first place.
It was just us, Ian, and Queen Rolfe.
She sat on her throne, her hair a mess after being stuffed underneath her helmet, the feathers crumpled in different places. Her armor had been removed, showing the full damage to her clothing underneath. She looked like a beggar on the street, holding out a cup for a few coins. “I’m a woman of many words, but now, I have none.” Her eyes dropped for just a moment, weary. “Without the dragons, HeartHolme would have been claimed by Necrosis. Every man, woman, and child would have perished—their souls as well. I set you on this journey in the hope you would succeed, but never the expectation.”
It was finally a version of her I liked, a version that wasn’t hard like iron, but vulnerable and deep.
“We lost many people tonight. Many perished before they could witness the fire in the sky. It’s not a victory I can celebrate, not when I didn’t protect every single soldier who pledged their life to HeartHolme.” Her eyes dropped again.
“It was an army of ten thousand,” Ian said. “Maybe twenty. Our inability to prevail had nothing to do with you as a leader and everything to do with the numbers.”
Queen Rolfe looked at him, her eyes still hollow. “A ruler doesn’t make excuses.”
“Not an excuse,” Ian said. “It’s a fact.”
She turned her gaze to Huntley. “While we won this battle, it still feels like a loss. HeartHolme will need time to recover before we march on Delacroix, and I’m sure you need to recuperate from your arduous journey.” Her voice was still full of solemnity, her heart burdened by the dead. “Time is of the essence more than ever, now that we know Necrosis wishes to wipe us from the face of the earth. I will take command of the dragons and take back all the Kingdoms.”