Page 108 of The Flame King's Queen

But when we’re over what looks to be the deepest, darkest part of the ocean, with no sign of land around us, we keep flying.

On the distant horizon ahead of us, a small, smoky speck appears. It seems as though that’s where we’re headed, and as it grows larger I see that it’s a low conical shape like a mountain with smoke belching from the peak.

“What is that?” I ask Zabriel.

“It’s called a volcano,” he tells me over the wind. “I flew here once when I was a boy, and it seemed to me the remotest, most forbidding place in the whole world.Sha’lenla, if we drop the lich’s soul into the molten magma, will it finally be destroyed?”

I glance down at the lead bottle clutched in my hand. It’s vibrating harder than ever and I wonder if Caraxmorenas can hear what we’re planning. Below us inside the volcano roils bright yellow and red magma, which must be melted rock and metal from deep within the ground.

“There’s nothing in that volcano it can possess,” I say, thinking out loud. “The lead bottle will melt away, and the heavy, seething magma will hold the lich’s soul down in the depths of the volcano until it’s burned away to nothing.” I lift my eyes excitedly to Zabriel’s. “I think it might work.”

He nods decisively. “Then Scourge will get as close as he can. Be ready.”

The heat from the volcano is scorching. Scourge flies against the winds and then banks around, so that the worst of the smoke and heat are being blown away from us. When I’m certain that the roiling magma is directly below us, I reach out with the wildly rattling bottle and let it drop from my fingers.

We watch it fall down and down, turning end over end, the runes glowing white hot. It falls into the magma and disappears from view.

Scourge circles the volcano, and neither Zabriel nor I say anything. I think we’re holding our breaths.

The volcano rumbles ominously.

My fingers tighten on Zabriel’s arm. From the way it is shaped, I would guess that the volcano periodically erupts, spewing molten rock and metal from the depths of the earth. I wonder if it’s going to reject the lich and blast it back at us, and I almost wouldn’t blame it.

But the rumbling settles down, and there’s not a trace of green magic anywhere. I picture the lead bottle sinking down and down into the magma, trapping and destroying the lich once and for all. Even if it somehow survived the vicious heat, there’s not a living thing in reach for it to possess if it escaped the volcano. Without a body to tether it to this plane, it will dissipate and be gone forever.

When several minutes have passed and all is peaceful, I wrap my arms around my mate. “We defeated it, Zabriel.”

My mate meets my eyes, and I’ve never been more thankful to see them burning a bright, fierce red. His stormy brow clears as this sinks in. “It’s truly over?”

“It’s over. Maledin is safe.”

Scourge opens his jaws and roars even louder than the volcano. He twists in the air and surges forward, heading for home.

“Does he need to rest?” I ask.

Zabriel is grinning now. “Scourge’s wings are powerful, and he wants nothing but to be home.” His grin fades. “I remember there was fighting before it forced me up the steps to our room. We must fly back and see what is left of our home and our city. The people were fighting bravely, but I fear there must have been many losses. And Esmeral. Where is Esmeral and her hatchlings?”

“I couldn’t feel her anywhere after she left me.” I feel a knot of worry in my stomach. I’d know, wouldn’t I, if something had happened to her? Zenevieve felt it when Minta was killed. The pain was so terrible that she lost her mind.

“Scourge doesn’t know where she is either. The lich blocked out everything but its own will when it possessed him. But we will find her,sha’lenla.”

I burrow into Zabriel’s arms and hold him close. He wraps his cloak around us both and holds me tight, and I’m enveloped in his comforting scent.

It’s many hours before the spires of Lenhale come back into view. They are shrouded in smoke, but the sounds of fighting have dissipated.

Two dragons are patrolling the skies, and when they see us, they fly in defensive formation. Sundra on Merrex and Calliope on Verdun. The last time anyone saw Scourge and his rider, they were possessed by the enemy.

Scourge shoots flames into the skies, showing them that they are red flames and not green. We hear cries of relief and happiness from the women, and they wave their arms in greeting as we head for the dragongrounds.

Scourge lands close to the nesting caves, and as soon as his talons hit the ground, Zabriel holds me close and slides to the ground. I run for the entrance, hunting for my dragon’s presence, hoping to find all the hatchlings safe.

I see her before I feel her. There are dozens of scattered skeletons at the cave’s entrance, their bodies torn apart and bones broken so they could not reform. Among the bones is Esmeral standing guard at the entrance. Her snout, neck, and front legs are scratched and bloody. Many of the cuts are still oozing blood.

Her fierce eyes brighten when she sees me running toward her, and she chirrups.

Hatchlings appear from the darkness of the cave, both her own and a dozen more. She has protected all the hatchlings in the nesting caves while their mothers were fighting.

My breath catches in a sob as I fall to my knees before my dragon. I want to hug her but she’s so injured, and so I cup her face and tell her how proud I am, and how thankful I am that she’s alive.

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