Page 7 of The Flame King's Queen

“Zabriel, don’t say that,” I whisper through my tears. I wipe some of the blood from his lips. He’s a proud king, and he wouldn’t want to look wounded in front of so many people.

When I glance at his ravaged ribs, a sob rises in my throat.

Zabriel’s lips are moving, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. I lean close to catch his words.

“Tell my baby I will carry their heart on the wind.” His red eyes are dull and lifeless. “Tell them…tell…”

“Don’t try to talk. Just keep breathing.”

Zabriel coughs and struggles to speak. He manages it slowly. Haltingly. “Tell them…that the fires of Maledin burn bright for them, and that I am there in the—in the gleam of their dragon’s scales.”

He’s telling me how much he loves our baby in the Maledinni way.

“No. Don’t say that. Stop it.”

“Tell my baby I love them always. I love you. My little dragon. My fierce witch.”

I squeeze his hand in both of mine. “Don’t talk like you’re never going to see me again. You can’t stop fighting.”

He’s struggling to stay conscious. There’s so much fear in his eyes, and I know he’s afraid that if he closes them he’ll never see me again.

“I don’t want your—your flame to die out. Esmeral…Scourge… Be with them…”

I seize his shoulder, my fingers digging in as I shake from pain and grief. This can’t be happening. We brought my family home, but this is too great a cost to pay in return.

“Zabriel.Zabriel.” I shake him urgently. The light fades from the ruby depths of his eyes.

I look around helplessly at theHratha’len, but none of them seem to know what to do. They all stare at Zabriel and each other helplessly.

There’s a scream overhead, and a dragon dives through the open roof of the Flame Temple. A dragon who is far too big to be indoors, but Esmeral has never cared for rules. She seizes a nearby knife with a wickedly honed edge and drops it at my feet. Esmeral pushes the knife urgently toward me with her snout. Her sharp trills are filled with urgency, and she’s frantic trying to make me understand something.

“What do you want, Esmeral? I don’t understand.” Esmeral keeps nudging the knife toward me, and an image appears in my mind. “You want me to cut you?”

The image grows stronger. She wants me to slash her scales and allow the blood to fall on Zabriel’s injuries. I can’t hurt my dragon like that. It doesn’t make any sense to make her bleed.

“Omega blood,” the crone says, as if waking from a trance.

“What about it?”

“Omega blood can work like Alpha saliva, but on wounds such as these…”

Zabriel has stopped breathing. His eyes are closed. His scent is fading.

I seize the knife and grip the handle. I don’t care if this kills me, because he’s dying. Omega blood means my blood too, and I slash my forearm. Several of the Temple Mothers gasp, and outside the temple, Scourge roars so loud that nearby objects rattle. Blood drips from my arm onto my mate’s wounds.

The only person who isn’t horrified by what I’m doing is the Temple Crone. The crone seizes my arm and holds the wound to his lips instead. Blood drips into his mouth.My blood on your teeth.My Alpha has always craved my blood. It’s how he saysI love you.

“Is it working? It’s not working,” I say through my tears. Zabriel hasn’t moved or breathed. He’s covered with my blood as well as his own. “Zabriel, you can’t leave me.”

I don’t want to live without him. I can’t live without him.

If Zabriel’s right, then I’m carrying his child. My blood carries the baby’s scent as well as my own. I can think of nothing more powerful than the two of us to draw my mate back from the brink of death, but only if he hears us. I have to make him hear us.

4

Zabriel

Isavelle is lying across a body as she sobs her heart out. I reach down to her, but my fingertips pass through her hair. I stare at my hand, wondering why I feel nothing. I’m floating above her, and all the world is filled with mist and made from muted colors.

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