25. Vale

Chapter 25

Vale

B lood-red scales slammed into my shoulder as I landed on Rune's giant back.

"Hold on," he roared, twisting in the air as the ground rushed to meet us.

I skidded, barely hanging onto the slippery spines as gravity threatened to steal me away. Wind whipped at my eyes, and then we crashed into the earth, the jarring impact loosening my grip. I flew, a scream tearing from my throat before his enormous talons plucked me from the air and clutched me to his chest.

Heart in my throat, I hung onto his claws as I tried not to throw up.

"You're bleeding," Rune whispered inside my head. Or maybe it wasn't a whisper, it was just that my ears were ringing, and the world was fuzzy.

"I don't care. Let me down so I can get to them," I croaked, my voice a husk of what it used to be.

Rune gently set me on my feet, but I immediately wilted to the ground, my hands gripping the gloriously cold snow as my body burned. Too hot, too tight, my leathers suffocated me, and I ripped at the fastenings, sucking frigid air into my lungs as soon as I was free.

Staggering to my feet, I trained my glare onto the councilmember holding Lumentium on my men. Lip curling, my power shot out of me in a wave of protection, knocking them away before I fell to my knees. I barely registered them falling to the ground before Freya and Dorian flew from the water, swords drawn, prepared for battle.

Coughing, red spattered the snow, and I knew I was in real trouble.

The world around me shimmered and faded, as I tried to get back to my feet.

"My Queen?"

"Are they alive? Did I make it in time?"

Strong hands plucked me from the snow, and I saw Xavier's white hair before a slash of healing magic nearly had my back bowing in renewed agony.

"Not this time, gods dammit. You cannot take her from me." Xavier's voice roared in my head, comforting me, even though he was so sad.

The world tilted, swayed, but I still caught the flashes of blades clashing as the roar of two dragons vibrated through my chest. Golden power flew like vines wrapping around men, lifting them in the air, the councilmembers losing their weapons as Kian and Rune circled them like prey.

I made it. They're safe. I did it.

"Stay with me, Vale," Xavier ordered, and I wanted to follow it.

I did.

But my body was heavy, and I was so tired. He ripped off the remainder of my leather corset, leaving my upper body in just a thin silk camisole. Snow sizzled against my skin as he rested me on the ground before his hot hand pressed into my middle.

Searing power filled me again, and I screamed at the brutal agony of it, even as it healed my lungs, my organs, my heart. His eyes glowed as his long white hair floated around his head, his nose bleeding as sweat dotted his brow.

"I won't lose you, Vale. You are staying with me one way or another. I will not watch you die."

I reached for his face, cupping his cheek. "I'm okay. I'm alive."

Blue eyes flashed in reproach. "You were coughing up blood. You nearly burned up."

He wasn't wrong, but there were more pressing matters at hand. "Help me up."

The roar of a dragon had us both freezing for a single moment before he plucked me from the snow, clutching me to his chest as he brought us to the impromptu execution of men desperate for power.

Black swirls of magic filled their mouths, their eyes, their faces flickering from normal to monsters and back.

"Can you see them? Can you see the magic?" I whispered, wanting to be nowhere near them. They were almost as bad as the dead Luxa up on the cliff.

"What magic?" Idris barked, fury stamped on every line of his face.

My gaze shot to Freya. She could see it, too. "Death magic, they draw on the dead Luxa. Like Fenwick. Like Arden."

Maybe it was because we were touched by their magic, but even Dorian's frightened eyes were on them like he'd never seen something so horrible in his long life.

Freya nodded. "They are covered in it. It's poisoning them from the inside out."

"It's like they're rotting," Dorian whispered before covering his mouth a nose like he was about to lose his breakfast.

Idris drew up to his full height, his chest bloody, his eyes hard. "That's all I need to hear. For the crime of high treason against the crown, you are hereby sentenced to death by dragon fire." His gaze cut to the four remaining councilmembers. "Any objections?"

The bowing men all shook their heads, but I knew this couldn't be all the rot in this kingdom.

Another roar shook the earth as Rune and Kian enveloped their darkness in flames. And the most unsettling part?

They didn't even scream.

The only place that felt safe was Idris' rooms, and that was due to Briar's tight warding. Freya and Dorian sat at the dining table, large glasses of blood in their goblets as I sat curled in a blanket on a large comfortable chair. Kian sat on the floor to my left, playing with the ends of my braid while Xavier sat on the ottoman, his hand not leaving my ankle.

Even Rune was nearby, perched on the turret like an overgrown pigeon.

"Take that back. I am at the very least an eagle or a falcon if you're insisting on making bird analogies."

I giggled into my wine, my fourth of the night, and I planned on drinking a whole barrel soon enough.

Idris stopped his pacing, his eyes glowing for a moment before his lips curled into a smile for a second. I felt him in my mind, reading me as he'd done over and over again these last several hours. Kian and Xavier and Rune did it, too, and I was getting used to it. I'd consider putting a stop to it once my buzz lifted, but for now it brought them peace.

While Freya, Dorian, and I had been up on that cliff, the real coup had happened down at the falls. All three of them had been blocked from me behind a wall of Fenwick's death magic, and it scared the shit out of them collectively.

I, personally, was trying very hard not to freak out. Over half the council was dead—either by their own hand in Fenwick's case, or by execution. Dorian of all people was a good guy. The scroll Fenwick carried was gone, and now we had no idea how to break the curse. Oh, and nearly everyone I cared about was nearly killed and there was a war coming.

This wasn't over.

Not hardly.

"Tell me what he said again," Idris asked, his paused pacing doing little to ease my nerves.

"She told you three times already," Freya griped into her goblet. "The curse has something to do with completing the mate bond. That's about it. Other than ‘war's coming,' there is nothing else."

But he needed to hear it, even if I didn't want to say it again. "He said that they've been here this whole time. That they've been tearing this kingdom apart since the beginning. And with every dead Luxa, we're losing more and more magic. He threatened you and Nyrah and…"

"You have to move up the wedding," Kian murmured. "As soon as possible. Complete the bond, and see if that helps break the curse. If it doesn't, if war is coming, you need all the protection you can get. A royal title will protect you. I didn't think so at the engagement, but even when you were fighting for your life up there, they still hesitated to hurt Idris."

But not me. They hesitated to kill him, but I was cannon fodder.

"And you think a title will save me?" I asked, staring at those burning amber eyes.

His nod was almost imperceptible, but it was there.

"Xavier?"

His hand squeezed my ankle. "It needs to be public and big. Invite the townsfolk as well. Have a feast. They need to see you, love you."

My gaze drifted to Idris. Hope was in his eyes, but also resolve. He agreed with them.

"The soonest I can get it put together is ten days, a week at a push," Freya mused.

I tilted back my cup, swallowing the rest of my wine.

"It is for the best, my Queen," Rune murmured, his tone the softest I'd ever heard.

He'd always called me "his Queen," and soon, it would be all too true.

"Let's do it then," I whispered, staring at my knees as I reordered my life in my head.

When I'd accepted Idris' proposal, I'd never really considered that I'd actually marry him. It was a far-off concept, a fantasy, an ephemeral notion never to come true.

Now, we were getting married in a week.

I did not see that coming.

Not at all.

"I think I'm going to need more wine."

Thank you so much for reading Ruined Wings.