Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

M alachi caught me as I stumbled back a step, the pain in my wings catching up to me. I'd dribbled a bloody trail the entire way out here.

He shifted to his human form and held me up. "We need to get you a healer."

"No," I argued. "We need to make sure the hostages all got out of Esta's lair and are okay. And then we need to destroy this tunnel."

Esta landed and pressed her large head against me.

"I'm fine," I lied. It hurt fiercely and sharply now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the threat taken care of. "You need to get them to cave in that tunnel, Es. Otherwise The Drak will have an unpredictable entrance and exit."

She turned and let out a roar which had the shifters all landing. Some had to land at the bottom of the ravine, a few smaller sized ones in the trees, as there were too many to count. If I had to guess, it had to be close to a hundred. The winged shifters and land shifters alike all lowered their heads as a silence blanketed all of them .

Esta turned her dragon head to me. Tell them what needs done. They will help.

I looked to her, wondering why she was asking this of me. You can.

You are the reason only one hostage life was lost today. Tell them what needs done, Keir.

"The tunnel needs to be collapsed," I began. "The hostages need to be looked over. Esta's lair needs to be checked for further weapons or traps. Check all the other lairs as well. Who knows how long she had been holed up here, how many other lairs she dared to enter. I'll put Nyx and Zaire as the leads on that, since they are well familiar with The Drak."

There were numerous sounds of disgust, none directed toward me, but at Morana's cowardice and dishonor.

What do you want done with her piles of treasure? I asked Esta in the pause.

Give it to the hostages and their families.

"The treasure of Morana's lair needs to be removed so that the other dragons can go through it and make sure nothing of theirs was stolen. Then Esta wishes to give what remains to the families of the hostages Morana took," I continued. "And then." I paused to swallow. "Then we cave it in. No one will ever use that lair again. No one will ever threaten Dra Skor like this again."

Esta granted a few teams temporary entrance to The Drak and with that, Dra Skor's shifter army got to work.

Esta flew me back over to The Drak and went to check on the hostages and her lair. Her lair with one such hostage dead. I wondered if she'd be able to stay in this lair, or if she would take Serkan's.

As soon as Mina saw me, she moved toward us.

She looked dirty and exhausted, but I noted no burn marks on her skin. No blisters like Morana had. "Are you all right, Mina? "

She gave her head a shake as she patted my arm. "I am shaken up, otherwise fine. What was all the noise? Did you find her?"

"Morana has been dealt with. A death without honor."

Her eyes welled with tears, so I reached out to give the poor woman a hug.

As I did so, the farmer Ronan gave me a nod. "Thank you, Prince Keiran."

"Thank you for fighting with us, for warning us, though I do regret you all had to be here."

Esta in her human form moved to check on each person. The hostage who had died was covered with a blanket, waiting to be taken to the castle. Learning from the remaining hostages how Morana had been starving them, she immediately ordered food be brought to The Drak for them. She insisted they stay at least the night in the castle infirmary for observation.

Within the hour, we stood near the purple lake and watched as the land and winged shifters alike worked to cave in Morana's lair. They used rocks first to close in the tunnel, then the winged dragons and land dragons smashed the cave from the top.

I smiled as I watched Kian, who had arrived only a few minutes ago, throw his monstrous body into the side of the cave, dirt and dust falling under his weight.

At one point it got aggressive enough we had to call the rest of the shifters off, as we didn't want to cave in any of the other lairs in the area, only this specific one. From that point on, the winged dragons took turns dropping down onto the top of the cave and crushing it.

And then finally, with a final land from Jagen, Morana's lair finally gave out, the cave collapsing.

Every shifter cheered in that moment. I did as well, but I found I was taking in huge pulls of air, glad that the threat was finally gone. A huge problem taken care of. I wished like hell it hadn't had to end with both Morana and Oziel's deaths within hours of one another, Oziel's entirely unnecessary, but in the end, he had made his choice. As had Morana.

This darkness had started with one person. One person who could recognize it in others and use and manipulate that to her advantage. She fed on that darkness within herself and others until she used it to attempt to destroy Dra Skor from the inside out.

And though she may have been successful dividing Dra Skor in life, as I sat on a boulder to catch my breath for a moment and watched the army of shifters work and move around me, I decided she had united Dra Skor in death. United it against her. The real enemy within.

The rather intelligent enemy who had always had a way out, but in the end found none.

Dra Skor was victorious. And so long as there was blood in my veins and breath in my lungs, it always would be. The scars would remain, as would the pain of those we lost, but the war was finally over.

We need to get you home, Esta said from her dragon form.

I can't shift my wings back, I admitted to her. The pain from where I was stabbed was still too great.

Leave them out, she demanded. It doesn't matter. The distraction of when they shifted forward might have very well saved your life. It was exactly the distraction we needed.

I moved to stand and stumbled a step, wondering how much blood I had lost out of my wing.

I am getting you to a healer immediately, Esta snapped as she caught me with her large dragon head.

She turned to a few shifters and evidently demanded one of the healers who had been checking out the hostages come over to look at me before we headed back to the castle.

So bossy, I told her.

I listened when you needed me to, she offered lightly.

Had she not breathed fire on us like I had commanded telepathically, Morana would have likely killed either me or another one of the hostages. Our bond had saved this day. Saved our people. I was sure I would relive the scene from her lair a hundred times over in the days to come.

The healer put some healing ointment on my wing and wrapped it, telling me I would need to keep my wings out so it could heal faster, and I would need to sleep it off.

After this long and bloodied day, a fresh new dawn sounded great.

I turned to Esta. Take me home, wife.

I woke to the smell of food and soft singing around me. Esta was singing along with Emric, and much to my horror, she was teaching him a new sea shanty. As I listened in, I knew it was one I hadn't ever heard before.

"Beast nor storm shall ever tear. Wills alone the only snare. Together as we ride."

I had to admit their voices together sounded good.

"Oh, good afternoon, Prince," Emric said as he looked my way.

"How do you feel?" Esta asked as she reached for her teacup.

"I feel as if you've been holding out on us," I told her. "That sea shanty is far better than the other."

Her lips twitched. "To be fair, it is more of a war shanty than a sea shanty."

I rolled onto the side of my good wing and up to sitting, realizing with my wings shifted, the things took up the entire damn bed. "Is Nana all right? When Avril came in, I'd just taken her to the healers."

"She is," Esta stated. "A bruised tailbone, and a broken heart, otherwise as feisty as ever."

"How long was I out? "

"Just a very long night," Emric offered.

"Do you have healings today?" I asked him, rubbing a hand across my forehead and rising to stand.

"No. And tomorrow the week-long celebration will begin, so long as you were awake."

I quickly used the lavatory and freshened up. "So long as I was awake?" I finally repeated minutes later. Had he just said a week long celebration? Words were happening so fast and I was trying to grab onto all of them, but it was too much.

"You are a guest of honor, Keir," Esta told me as I made it back to the edge of the bed to sit. "Along with Zaire and the hostages. Nyx too. We are celebrating the death of our enemy. Across all of Dra Skor. A bonfire a night in each of the cities and another ending here in Halikaara Keep with the largest. We were waiting on you to wake."

Knowing how Dra Skor liked to celebrate victories, big or small, I was shocked last night there hadn't already been one. "You could have started them without me."

She gave her head a shake. "No. We couldn't. Not when you saved us in my lair. You are the reason Morana is dead."

"Pretty sure I cannot breathe flame, nor do I have talons," I argued.

"Neither my flame nor talons would have had the confidence to do what was needed without your guidance and belief in me. In us."

Emric asked kindly, breaking apart our martial spat. "Should I go tell Amory he is up so she can send word that the bonfires can begin tomorrow? She was all but poking him awake earlier."

"That would be helpful," Esta agreed. "Can you have her send Keir more food as well? He has that look about him which I have learned means he's going to destroy everything in his path."

Emric looked to me at the foot of the bed, the food, and where she was sitting on the other side of it as if to imply she was also in the path. "I'll go ahead and take the long way, I should think. Might get lost for a bit too. It's a big castle, after all."

"A wise man," I muttered. As the door clicked shut, I added, "I'm a deprived man."

"You need food," Esta demanded.

"I watched a dagger put to your throat yesterday. Come here," I demanded right back. I could see a small red mark on her neck from where it had happened.

We sat there in a stare down for a moment, and I released a tendril of warmth to chase along the floor and then race up her spine. She could have stopped it with her own but didn't. It pleased me far more than it should have.

"Come here," I repeated with a grin.

"Always so demanding." She stood and grabbed a plate of food and glass of water, bringing both over to the nightstand.

As much as I did need food and water, the need to touch my wife and confirm every inch of her was unharmed by recent events overwhelmed everything else. Was it all truly over? Was it all going to turn out okay? We hadn't had a moment to ourselves since Lennix's death. Not a single damn moment.

I gladly drank the water she handed me, pulling her closer until she was on my lap as I did so. "Do we have anywhere to be today?"

"No," she responded as she sat the now empty glass on the nightstand. "I've given us the day off."

"Good."

"Oh. And our wedding has been planned for a month from now. I've demanded a weeklong honeymoon following the elaborate Dra Skor ceremony."

A week of you to myself? I asked impressed.

Hopefully your wing will be healed so we can do some flying. She moved to run a finger down the veins of my good wing.

It felt like the breeze kissing my skin. I was somewhat worried if she did it in the space between where my wings met, I might just start kicking my leg like a damn dog.

I need food, but I also need you, I told her as I rolled us, careful to keep my hurt wing free of everything.

"Keir, your wings," she gasped, eyes wide.

"Will be fine," I finished for her.

"You always were stubborn. From the very start." Her lips pulled into a smile. "The only man in a decade with the courage to touch me."

"I'll always have the courage to touch you," I whispered. "In fact, I am feeling quite courageous at the moment."

She laughed, her lone dimple springing into action. "Insufferable prince." But instead of sounding like an insult, it came out with an air of reverence.

"Dragon queen," I said the same exact way. I trailed my fingers slowly down her neck until I could feel her beating heart beneath my palm. The rhythm as strong and true as ever.

Forever my annoying moon, she added.

Forever yours, I promised as I began trailing kisses along her skin. Your insufferable prince. Your fool. Your love. Your moon.