Page 119 of Wild Flame

“I’m sorry about Amir,” I said quietly.

His hand gripped mine even tighter. “He made his choices.” He regarded me. “I’m sorry about Leif. It appears his honor won out in the end.”

Pain lanced through my chest. “I still don’t understand how he—”

“I sent Harun to Halstaff to convince him to return. I wasn’t sure who else might be involved with Nilfren’s scheme, so I wanted someone outside of it all that could step in if things went wrong. He and his dragon waited with Azrun so Azrun could alert him if they were needed.”

Of course, Malik would have a contingency plan if things went wrong. “He must have seen how Azrun changed when the potion affected you both and realized something wasn’t right,” I said. “That’s how he knew.” I looked at Malik. “But how did you know you could trust him . . . after everything?”

Malik gave me a knowing look. “Given his feelings for you, I played a strong hunch that he would not betray you again. It seems I was right.”

I sat with it a moment before I asked, “Helene and the others?”

Malik sighed. “Fine. I kept them under guard until the effects of the potion wore off. Salim in particular is furious. He wants to meet, but I wanted to talk to you first . . . make sure you were all right.” His eyes met mine. “You should also know . . . we lost Selasi.”

My heart clenched at the news as the image of him and Yesh being knocked into the wall came to mind. My eyes watered and my throat constricted as I asked, “And Yesh?”

“Yesh survived with only an injury to his head, but Selasi . . . the healers said he broke something vital and . . .”

My heart broke for the warrior—for the brave man who deserved better. A tear ran down my cheek and I wiped it away before saying, “We will give him a warrior’s funeral.”

Malik nodded. Then ran a hand down his face, and I could see the exhaustion in every line of his frame.

“Come here,” I murmured, patting the empty spot beside me.

For a moment, I thought he would refuse, but then he stood and removed his boots and outer tunic. When he finally lay beside me, he pulled me into his side, careful of my bandaged wound. Azrun moved closer as well, resting his long head protectively across my feet.

“I think he prefers you to me now,” Malik observed.

I smiled faintly as Azrun huffed. But he still didn’t remove his head.

I began to run my fingers lazily through Malik’s hair as he slowly relaxed beside me.

Later, I would let myself think about all that had happened. Later, there would be meetings, and decisions, and funerals. But for right now, I was going to let myself soak in the fact that we had survived, and that the man I loved was lying beside me.

And for right now, that was enough.

Chapter Forty-Three

“Don’t you find it ironic?” Helene asked me as we both watched Zara chase Nalia around the palace gardens. The young child squealed in delight as she tottered precariously on her chubby legs, weaving through the many guests.

There was a smile in my voice as I replied, “Find what ironic?”

It was two weeks after the events of Amir’s attempted coup. After postponing it to give me time to heal and to allow everyone else to recover, we had finally had the promised Halmarish handfasting ceremony in the Temple of the Nine earlier this morning. We had planned to hold the reception at The Sphere, but considering what had taken place there, and all the damage, it was being held in the gardens instead.

Helene looked over at me. “Ironic that if you were a dragon rider, as you’ve always wanted to be, things would have turned out very differently. You would have been affected by that potion, same as the rest of us, and Amir’s plan would have worked. Malik would certainly be dead, and who knows whoelse, and no one would have been the wiser about what Amir had done.”

I stared at her. “What’s your point?”

She smiled and nudged me. “That all of it was only possible because of you, and the fact that you arenota dragon rider. And because you were clever enough to think of a way to counteract the potion and free Malik.”

“I only followed a hunch and was lucky it worked out,” I argued.

My sister glared at me good-naturedly. “Don’t downplay it. If not for that hunch, the future of our world would look very different.”

I supposed she was right. Not about assigning me all the credit, but in pointing out that, for once, being human had been an advantage rather than a weakness. We had won, but her words also made me think of what we had lost.

My heart still hurt when I thought of Leif’s death, and that of his dragon. Despite his involvement in everything, he had sacrificed their lives to save mine. Because of that, I had asked that he be given a rider’s burial, and Malik had agreed.

---