Page 112 of Dragon Blood

The old woman offered him a tunic and trousers as well. “They won’t fit right, but, well, it’s something.” He thanked her for her kindness.

Kai held the recovered seal out to Astred. “Bayn found this in the sand near where we were.”

She hesitated, turning wide eyes on him before slowly reaching for it as though it might dissipate before she could grasp it. “No one has seen this in centuries.”

The dragons stopped digging.

Chapter 39

Astredgrippedtheseal,staring dumbfounded at Kai.

Nearby, Odson and the others stopped digging.

Breath held, Astred rushed forward, pressing the seal to her chest, hiding it with her scales as she’d done with its sister just days before. She dropped down onto the cleared slab that covered the vault her mother would have been removed to before the attack reached the citadel. Her hands brushed over the seams, seeking the lock.

“Marli? Someone bring Marli!” She twisted around, searching the faces of the onlookers.

“I’m here, Astred,” she appeared at the top of the displaced rubble. “Here,” she tossed down the heavy gold ring Astred had given her before she took off with Kai.

Astred pressed the ring to the spelled lock, willing it to still work despite the blast that had razed everything in sight. After an eternal moment, the tumblers clanged, and the slab dropped. She leaped off as it slowly slid aside. Heart pounding, she dropped into the dark hole as it was barely open enough. Kai was close behind.

“Astred,” Odson called after her with a worry filled voice.

She raced forward in the darkness, hands skimming the stone walls, stumbling her way down to the thick oak door. Seeking with her palms and fingertips, she found the next lock. With one hand, she felt for the holes while she shifted the other into a claw. Gasping, fumbling, she worked in the dark to jam her claws into the finger holes.

Finally, after several tries, the locks pricked the flesh, drawing her blood into the mechanism. More tumblers thunked. Withdrawing her hand, she stepped back. The door slid into the wall, revealing a brazier-lit room.

The drawn faces of the two shamans tending to Regina, gripping sharp daggers in their fists, crumpled with relief at seeing that Astred was the one to open the door. She ignored them both, eyes on her mother’s pale face, staring back at her.

Astred launched into her mother’s arms as though she were a child.

Regina gripped Astred tight, kissing her forehead, whispering, “Everything’s changed.”

Astred leaned back, searching her mother’s haunted face. “It has.”

Regina’s eyes slowly closed as she inhaled and nodded, stroking Astred’s cheeks. “We will gather the survivors and honor the fallen.” She released Astred so that she could stand.

“You won’t be alone,” Odson said from the threshold. He darted forward when Regina wavered on her feet, catching her before she stumbled.

“We never were.” Her voice was a whisper as she turned her face to his. Ignoring the shamans, he drew her up into his arms to carry her out. They immediately followed, leaving Astred and Kai alone in the chamber.

He turned to allow her to precede him back to the surface.

She stopped before him, looking into his eyes. “Your arms and back?”

“Mending, thanks to Bayn.”

She nodded, her gaze sweeping the bronzed planes of his face. The flickering light from the braziers cast his features in golden light and shadow.

She linked her hand with his, drawing it up between them, inspecting the strong lines of muscle and bone. “These magical hands…” She smiled up at him. “Seems there were a few things you didn’t share with me, either.”

“A few,” he allowed. “Discussions for later, when you visit me—after we clean up here, of course. I expect we’ll be busy for quite some time—”

Astred pressed her lips to his, unable to hold back any longer. Her hands slid up to cradle his precious face, as emotion threatened to cut off her words. She swallowed the growing knot in her throat, breathing against his warm lips. “I love you, Kai.”

He’d been at her side, trusting her lead every step of the way. He’d handed her incredible power. He’d fought to protect her with magic and spirit, flesh and bone and scale, to keep her intact and unscathed.

He smiled against her lips. “I know you do.”

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