Chapter 38

Hanna

Dare’s talons drew me up until I was cradled against the warmth of his underside, safe and warm. The wind whipped at my hair, pulling strands across my face that I couldn’t find the strength to tame. My eyelids fluttered, heavy as lead, but each time they threatened to close for good, the wind yanked me back.

I clung to Dare, my fingers tracing the ridges of his neck. His heartbeat pounded against my chest—a steady reminder that I wasn’t alone. The rhythmic flapping of his wings was a lullaby I hadn’t heard in a long time, since I was a child flying on Honor or one of her men’s backs.

I had my own wings, but sometimes I had missed being carried.

”Stay with me, Hanna,” he rumbled, his voice vibrating with warmth and concern.

“This is your chance to drop me,” I whispered, the words feeling as if they were ripped away by the wind. I cleared my throat. I was exhausted, my bones leaden and empty and aching. It was supposed to be a joke, but I sounded too fragile.

I thought he hadn’t heard me. I hoped he hadn’t, with the wind whipping around us and the powerful beat of his wings its own cadence.

“No.” The word was so terse. It was unlike Dare, who always had an insulting comment at the ready. Then he added, “Never.”

Each breath felt like a battle. The sky was an expanse of fading stars that watched over us with indifferent eyes.

“For Kaelan’s sake?” I whispered.

We dipped lower, and Dare’s grip tightened around me, protective and certain. In this vast emptiness, suspended between earth and sky, I felt small, yet cherished. There was something about the way he cradled me, like I was precious cargo.

Even though he told me, “Shut up.”

With his warmth seeping into me, fighting off the night’s chill, I surrendered.

But it wasn’t darkness and peace that met me when I slept.

Instead, another world rose up.

I was grounded, the harsh stone of Caer Far biting into my back. Blood slicked my arms, warm and relentless as it seeped from gashes too deep for my magic to weave shut. I let out a gasp as I realized I was looking down at a broad chest, powerful biceps, all slick with blood.

Kaelan. I was seeing through Kaelan’s eyes.

But was I dreaming?

Or had I crossed over into Kaelan’s dreams, carried away by magic?

I reached inside myself for my spark of healing power, but it flickered weakly, almost mocking. My hands trembled over wounds that refused to close, each breath sending stabs of agony through my borrowed ribs.

”Damn it,” I cursed, not sure if it was Kaelan or myself who had spoken, feeling his desperation. He was frantic.

Then it was definitely all him as he struggled to rise, failed, sank back to the ground in so much pain. Then he gritted, “Get up, asshole. Before Seraphine makes you betray Hanna again…”

My heart clenched. Gods, I wanted to be there, to tell him he wasn”t alone, to wrap my arms around him and pull him away from the brink.

He was terrified of being a danger to me. And I should be terrified of him, but his pain made me want to run to him.

“Kaelan,” I whispered. “I’m coming. Hang in there.”

His head snapped up, as if he”d heard my silent plea.

He longed for me. It rolled off him in waves, grief and longing and pain at having caused my suffering. His feelings were so intense they took my breath away.

They were emotions he would never voice to me. But I could feel them.

Finnias paced at his side, tail lashing back and forth, unwilling to leave his prince, but unable to settle in the chaos and danger.

”Kaelan,” I whispered, a ghost”s breath in the void between us. ”Hang on. I love you.”

Blood ebbed from Kaelan”s wounds, staining the cobblestones beneath him a sickly crimson. He grimaced, his fingers fumbling in a weak attempt to stem the flow. The blood was all over his hands, and they coated the ring I’d once stolen off him, the one he’d put on my finger… and now wore on his own.

That”s when she materialized. His mother, her figure as insubstantial as the cool mist from which she seemed to take shape.

”Mother,” he breathed out, the word a mix of reverence and pain.

”Kaelan.” Her voice sounded as broken as the crumpled walls of Caer Far, just barely visible through the shadows of her form. ”You”re hurt.”

”It doesn’t matter,” he said, though he was bleeding out and it seemed very much that it did matter. “At least I can’t hurt her…”

“Oh, Kaelan.” She sank to her knees beside him. “Please don’t tell me you’d rather die than fight.”

“This is how I fight,” he bit out. “By letting go. By letting her be free and safe with…” His jaw worked. “With someone who deserves her more.”

The words felt torn out of his chest. “Thorne would never hurt her like I have.”

She let out a shaky, desperate laugh, and I could see in her eyes how much she loved her son, how frantic she was to find the right words. “I’ve met that girl. That queen.”

“I have to protect her…”

“You know where love leads.”

“She’s not like Edric,” he said. “I know you were betrayed, that you see her as a threat, but…”

“If everything you’re going to say is foolishness, than shut your mouth and save your strength. No point dying to spit out stupid words,” she snapped. “She is your queen, is she not?”

“Yes!”

The word, full of certainty and love, pierced through my heart.

“She’s not fragile. You’ve always underestimated her, haven’t you?” She raised her hand as if she wanted to caress his face, but she stopped herself, ghostly fingers hovering above his cheek. She could never touch her son. “You’re a good man, Kaelan, but you’re still… stupid. Have you refused to see her as she is so you could feel strong? So you could feel like she needs you to protect her?”

“She does,” he gritted out. “And yet…. I’m also the threat…”

“You should protect her,” she admitted softly. “And you should trust her to protect you. To care for you. Don’t betray her by giving up, Kaelan.”

“You just want me to live,” he accused.

She let out a sigh. ”Your love for her… I might not approve, but I can’t deny it. It may be your salvation or your undoing.”

”Without her,” Kaelan whispered, ”I”m already undone.”

She studied him, her eyes icy blue, just like his. They were eyes that seemed to be filled with judgment, cold and distant. Just like his.

But I was beginning to remember just how much Kaelan’s icy exterior hid a depth of warmth and love. I thought she was the same.

“I’ll teach you how to reach out to her,” she whispered. “How to make the bond like… Edric and I had.”

Her voice shook on Edric’s name. She smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “You’ll write a happier story than mine, Kaelan.”

It sounded more like a desperate hope than certainty.

“I will,” he promised.

The air between us seemed to tremble, charged with the unspoken words of a mother”s cautious guidance and a son”s desperate need. Her eyes locked onto mine, filled with resignation… and pain.

”Focus on seeing things through her eyes, Kaelan.” Her voice was soft. ”The connection you forged on your wedding day is more than mere ritual. It’s a bond between your souls. But you can only reach it with… empathy.”

I closed my eyes, reaching into the depths of my feelings for Kaelan. Trying to see through his eyes, not through my own view of him. It was like grasping for sunlight beneath a surface of dark water, feeling its warmth but not seeing its source. ”I can”t find it,” I admitted, along with Kaelan.

”Patience,” she murmured. ”Don’t try to force it. Feel the way the other person loves you.. believe in that… hang onto it… and let it shape the way you see the world. Let it connect the two of you.”

Through the darkness that pressed in on us both—both wounded and vulnerable—I found the bright golden thread that was my bond with Kaelan.

”Good,” she said, a hint of pride surfacing through her sorrow. ”Now reach out with your thoughts. Gently. Hold that connection with her… the desire to know the world as it looks to her, to know her.”

Then, suddenly, there was no distance, no barriers. I could feel Kaelan’s love for me like a warm glow. One moment, I was in an enormous ballroom in my mind, alone. And the next, Kaelan was striding toward me.

”Kaelan?”

”Hanna.” There was a word of emotion in those words.

My mind, still entwined with Kaelan”s, felt the weight of his regret. ”I”m sorry, Hanna,” he murmured. ”For everything. For being the danger…”

My heart ached at his words, echoing in the corners of my consciousness. ”Kaelan, don”t. There”s nothing?—”

But before I could finish, before I could tell him that none of it mattered, that we were in this mess together, the world around me shifted. Dare”s talons, once secure and certain, tightened their grip as we descended rapidly. The wind whipped past us, tearing at the edges of my dreamlike connection.

”Kaelan!” I tried to reach out, to hold onto that fragile thread between us. But it was like trying to catch handfuls of smoke. The rush of air, the lurch in my stomach as Dare landed—it all dragged me forcibly back into the cold, hard reality.

”Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, my eyes fluttering open to a sky streaked with the first tendrils of morning light.

Dawn was coming, though it felt cold.

Stiff and disoriented, I peeled my eyes open to Dare”s massive form unfurling from around me. We were perched at the very highest point of a watchtower, its ancient stones cold and hard. My mind was still reeling from the connection with Kaelan, but reality hit hard and fast.

”I’m glad you’re awake, sleeping beauty. We’re in trouble,” Dare”s voice rumbled deep within his chest, the vibrations resonating through the air. ”We”re up high, on the dragon tower at the border. It”s swarming with monsters down there.”

I pushed myself upright. Far below us, writhing shapes slithered and prowled in the encroaching darkness—a grotesque tapestry of nightmares come to life. The Snake Queen”s army was a tide of shadows and scales, moving inexorably towards Caer Far.

”Can you fight them?” I tried to stand and swayed.

Dare”s green eyes flickered with concern. ”It”s... not that simple. Fighting, maybe. But both? You”re not a light burden, princess.” His tone wasn”t unkind, just laced with the reality of our dire situation.

A cold knot of fear settled in my stomach as I imagined us being overwhelmed by the horde below. ”Caer Far...” I began, the name of our home catching in my throat.

”Caer Far has defenses,” Dare reassured me, though his gaze remained locked on the advancing army. ”They”ll evacuate if they need to.”

“They do,” I said. “I saw… I saw Kaelan.”

Dare’s eyes sharpened on mine. “The marriage bond?”

I nodded.

He scoffed a laugh. “He tried to kill you, and you just love him, no matter what he does. It must be nice.”

But I barely heard his words. ”Thorne? Do you think he”s...?” I couldn”t finish the question, the thought of Thorne, fierce and brave, in the snake queen’s clutches.

”Thorne can handle himself,” Dare said, brushing a stray lock of hair from my face. He could see the tears welling in my eyes, the tremble in my lip; his pity was written on his face, and I glanced away, blinking hard. I couldn’t stand for Dare to see me fall apart. ”And Kaelan, he”s strong. Physically. Physically, he’ll be alright.”

I nodded, drawing in a shuddering breath. The desire to cry was there, pressing behind my eyes, threatening to burst forth. But I swallowed it down. Crying wouldn”t save us or our loved ones. I had to be strong, for all of them.

“I’m not as weak as I look, Dare,” I told him.

“You’re half dead,” he said wryly.

I couldn’t argue the point. “But I’m not… I’m not nothing like you’ve thought. I’m a dragon too, Dare.”

There should’ve been surprise that rippled across his face. I frowned. How had he known?

“I’ve never thought you were nothing, princess,” he said roughly. “An unrepentant pain in my ass, certainly. But never nothing.”

A surge of heat welled up from within me, fierce and unyielding. I clenched my fists, feeling the power thrum through my veins.

”I can fly. And it will help me heal when I do… It”s time to burn these snakes alive.” I’d burn down anything that stood between my men and me.

I was going to burn Seraphine alive for tearing Kaelan away from me in the cruelest way possible.

And someday, I would finish what Honor had begun with the Snake Queen.

Dare glanced at me, the edges of his lips twitching upward in a mix of pride and something else—a flash of admiration, perhaps. It was gone before I could read it. ”That”s my girl, princess,” he muttered, his gaze lingering on me just a moment longer than necessary before it shifted away, skirting the weight of his own words.

In an instant, the air around Dare shimmered, and the magnificent dragon replaced the man. His majestic wings unfurled, casting shadows over the watchtower as if to shield me one last time. He didn”t wait for me to second-guess myself. He knew better. And so did I.

I let the transformation take hold. My body stretched and contorted, scales erupting across my skin, wings tearing free from my back. The world expanded, details sharpening as my senses heightened. I was airborne before I fully registered the change, the rush of wind a fierce caress against my dragon hide.

Together, we cut through the sky, two dragons against a dark horizon.

The nightmares were alive beneath us.

But we were nightmares too.