The Forsaken King

My fingers ran through her hair, comforting her in the only way I knew how. Her tears were like drops of acid—and I had to drink them.

“Without his wings…he’s nothing.”

“Can you heal him?”

She shook her head, the words too difficult to say.

“You just told him you would try.”

“And I will. But I don’t have the resources. I can heal broken bones and internal bleeding, but this is…a complete regrowth. I’ve never done anything like that before. I need to go back to the library. I wish you had told me the situation before we came here…would have saved us a lot of time.”

“The library? In Delacroix?”

“Yes.” She finished dabbing her eyes, finally back to calm.

Now my heart sank like an anchor from our ship. “You know I can’t take you back there.”

“We have to. It’s the only way.”

Now I stepped back, a heavy dose of unease in my heart. “How do you know you’ll find what you need?”

“I don’t. But there’re a lot of books—you’ve seen that library.”

“Been a long time,” I said, full of bitterness.

“Huntley, we have to.”

“I’m not stupid, Ivory.”

She stilled when I used her actual name, something I hardly did anymore.

“This was probably your plan all along.”

“All along?” she asked incredulously. “I had no idea that their wings had been sawed off by fucking maniacs until just now. No, I didn’t plan this.”

“You probably had this idea before you even saw them.”

Now her eyes flashed with a new level of animosity. “You really think I’d see something this heartbreaking and use it to my advantage? You really think I would leave this island, knowing I could have fixed them and simply chose not to? If you really think that…then you don’t know me at all.” She grabbed her bag from the ground and marched off, even though she had no idea where she was going.

We were so far away from the main part of the island that we could make a fire, roast some fresh meat, and have a real dinner for the first time since we’d set sail. She sat on one side of the fire and I on the other.

We hadn’t spoken since she’d marched off. She wouldn’t even look at me now.

I couldn’t stop looking at her.

“I’m going to fix their wings whether you help me or not.” Her eyes stayed on the fire. “I’m not going to abandon them here, forsaken, not when they aren’t even real dragons anymore. They’re fucking mutilated. Who the fuck would do such a thing?” Angry tears burned in her eyes.

If she was lying, it was some of the best lying I’d ever seen. “Is there another way to get the information you need?”

“Not unless you know a healer. And I imagine you don’t—because you wouldn’t need me.”

She was right.

“Maybe this information exists elsewhere, perhaps in the Grand Library at the Capital, but Delacroix is a lot closer.”

“And how would this work? I return you to the castle, you slip inside and get what you need, and you just leave?” I asked incredulously. “Your father must have men searching for you everywhere, night and day.”

“I’ve been gone a long time, so he probably assumes I’m dead at this point.” Her eyes dropped.

“It’s too risky.”

“Ryker.” Her eyes lifted again.

“What about him?”

“He can smuggle out what I need.”

I gave her a stare of pure incredulity. “You really think your brother would cooperate when you’re my prisoner?”

“Wouldn’t Ian?”

I stared.

“You have a brother,” she said quietly. “You know they’ll do anything for you.”

“But this is different.”

“I’ll tell him I’ll return later. But I just can’t right now.”

“Who said anything about you returning later?”

Her stare turned cold. “You’re just going to keep me forever?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care.”

“After everything we’ve been through together—”

“That’s exactly why.”

Now she tensed, her eyes turning still.

“I know you feel the same way. Don’t pretend otherwise.” Her words made me snap. When I imagined returning her to Delacroix and leaving her there…it drove me insane. She’d been a thorn in my side, a weed in my garden, but that weed had turned into the most beautiful flower I’d ever seen.

There was a long pause, as if she didn’t know what to say. “My family deserves to know that I’m okay.”

“Then tell them before you go.”

TWENTY-THREE

Ivory

We returned to the other side of the island, and it was such a relief to see that our boat was still there, bobbing in the water on the small waves that rolled to shore. We strode through the water, climbed aboard, and then set the sails to return the way we’d come.

I watched the island slowly disappear behind us, growing smaller and smaller until it started to fade in the sunset. There should be a large dragon in the sky above, powerful wings beating the wind to carry its heavy mass to the clouds.