Page 41 of Between Despair and Hope

I sat up with a shock, my tears slowing even further, as I speared my divinity more accurately, listening to the surrounding creatures.

“What is it?”

“Their hearts beat with mine.”

I tried to sleep during that brief respite before dark fell, but I was still exhausted hours later when I took Dewalt to the rebels downriver.

There was no graceful way to ride on a dragon, especially without some sort of saddle. When we got back to Astana, I was going to have to figure out something. It wasn’t exactly comfortable being pressed so close to Dewalt on Irses’ neck. We were flying high to avoid being noticed, and we were both shivering, despite being pressed together. We were not remotely prepared for how cold it would be that high. Irses finally brought us to the southwestern outskirts of the capital, where the Shun River branched off to smaller creeks and streams. It turned out Nigel’s wife could manipulate water, and she would use those abilities to launch Dewalt and Shade upstream. The closer they got to the palace, the worse ‘Shit River,’ as the locals called it, would be.

Shade was waiting for us, having went straight there instead of coming back with Thyra. Dewalt’s arm shot out, pinpointing the home Thyra had told us to look for. When we landed, both Nigel and Shade came outside of a small run-down shack, which I was surprised still stood. Nigel hung back for a moment, hesitating as he saw Irses.

“Holy goddess’ ass. You really are the Beloved.”

I snorted as Dewalt slid off Irses behind me. I didn’t bother getting down; it was too much of a pain to get back up. I stared up the river where the palace was waiting for me, where Rain was waiting. It was still hours before dawn, but I was nervous as all hell. Thyra had brought back news of Declan’s gathered army, waiting just northwest of Darkhold, and I convinced myself we would be gone before they became a problem. I hoped having the element of surprise would turn the tides in our favor before they brought hell down upon us. Dewalt grabbed my ankle, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“I won’t be adding any rings to my tattoo. Don’t worry,” he said.

“What?”

“The bicep.” He flexed the arm in question, and I rolled my eyes. “The rings, for all the people I cared about who I’ve lost. I suppose I need to get one removed now though.” He grinned up at me for a moment, waiting for me to understand what he’d said.

“You got a tattoo for me? D, it’s not like I died.”

“No, but it’s not like you didn’t either. Anyway, neither of us should worry. One Shika tattoo is enough—I don’t have room for another. Besides, something tells me you couldn’t handle a tattoo.”

I frowned at him, ignoring his insult, and thought of the dragon I’d named after Shika. The stars in her constellation were supposedly the pieces of her and her husband, strewn about in the skies after Rhia and Hanwen brought down vengeance upon them. A story Rain had told me when we were young. When he’d pointed out each supposed body part and told the tale in gruesome detail. The dragon I’d formed had been made with the memory of my daughter’s death and her healing after. She was a deep, blood-red color, and there were shadows circling and wrapping around her, drawn to her, never dissipating as they had with the others. Her eyes were a molten black, as if made of the same shadows.

“Be safe.”

“If I get some sort of disease from this, you’re going to wait on me and treat me like a king, right?”

“Of course,” I said, smiling despite my fear. “Rain is lucky to have you.”

“We are all lucky to havehim, and we will get him back. I’ll see you on the other side, Emma.”

He squeezed my ankle again before he walked off with Shade, and they headed to a dock behind the house. I tightened my legs around Irses and said the wordupfor good measure. He seemed very bright; I wasn’t sure if he could understand me, but I wanted to teach him words all the same. Dewalt and I had calculated how long it would take the two of them to make their way up the river with the help of the rebel conduit, and I knew I had to hurry to provide adequate distraction to keep them safe.

Finally, after returning to the mountain where my soldiers waited, going over the plan one last time, we were off. It felt crazy to talk to the dragons, but it seemed they understood what I’d said when they flew in formation with me. I rode in the front with Lux, ready to lead the first attack on the palace. Shika and Hyše flanked me on either side, the two fierce female dragons made with memories of pain and terror. I’d chosen soldiers to ride them who were less needed for stealth than they were for their brawn. I had a feeling this would come down to hand-to-hand combat, and we wouldn’t be able to bully Darkhold with the might of dragons alone. We didn’t have enough of the beasts. Traekka flanked Shika on one side while Bly rode Ifash on the other. I’d instructed him to wait until after I’d attacked before using the fire-breather to bring hell down upon the soldier’s barracks. Irses circled above us, watchful, while the small dragon Shade had ridden circled below us.

As we approached the palace, seat of the Umbroth reign, horns rang out. Nestled in a valley between the mountains, the castle was surrounded by natural protection. A tall central tower sat in the middle with a wing off to either side of it. The stone was a dark-grey but appeared stark black at night, giving meaning to its name. Thick fog swirled, casting an ominous look upon the grounds. To the west of the palace proper, I spotted the barracks. They were less decadent but made of the same dark-grey stone. Soldiers ran out, spreading across the grounds, small as ants swarming a picnic from my vantage point. What I needed was on the eastern side of the palace though, and I wouldn’t take any chances.

They knew we were here, and we needed to be fast before they got to Rain. Thanks to the spies, I had a rough layout of the palace, and I cried out as I pushed Lux down, down, down, to the eastern wing which housed the dungeon. It was dark, the ground only lit by the light of the moon, and soldiers took cover as I dipped low. Bly on Ifash had darted west to the barracks, taking Shika and the two soldiers on her back with him. Shade’s dragon followed behind. Irses tucked his wings in tight, quickly descending to cover my empty left side. His sheer intelligence and understanding astounded me.

Though I didn’t give her any vocal command, Lux did what I wanted, leaving a trail of divine fire on our path toward the eastern wing, separating it from the rest of the palace. I hadn’t been paying attention to how cold I was, but now I noticed how warm my thighs were, pressed tight around her neck. Hearing a roar, I glanced to the west as the barracks lit up in my periphery. Shika was on the ground, bashing her tail into the debris that Ifash had brought down with his fire. I saw the silhouettes of her riders on the ground, one with his mace out, swinging at the soldiers fleeing from the burning building. Thyra had dipped as soon as Lux attacked, landing with Traekka as they both helped kill the Folterran soldiers roused from their beds. Part of me felt a pang of guilt—they were just soldiers, after all—but I pushed it aside. There was no room for that type of thinking. This was war; there would be bloodshed and death, and Declan was to blame for it. He had to have known there would be retaliation. Had to have known the cost of what he had done and the choices he made.

I shrieked, drawn out of my thoughts by searing pain across the top of my leg, an arrow the cause of it. Lux veered sharply the moment I was hit. I winced at the sudden movement; it was difficult to hold onto her with my legs because of the pain. Looking down in a panic, I breathed a sigh of relief when I discovered the arrow hadn’t sunk home into my leg, though the gouge it left behind was deep. I began to heal it, struggling to hold onto Lux while my divinity did its work. While I concentrated, Irses let out a tremendous roar and dove for the ground. I wasn’t sure what he was going for but had a feeling it was the archer who wounded me. Hyše was nearby, her rust-colored body staying just in my line of sight while her rider, Lasu—a dark-haired warrior with one eye—watched me warily, clearly concerned about my ability to stay on Lux.

He wasn’t alone in that.

The answer came to me as shadows skirted over my skin, and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. Coaxing those shadows up and out, I managed to brace myself as I finished healing the wound. Secured on top of Lux, Irses caught my attention. He held a man in his mouth as he flew up, higher and higher, until they were at my height.

And then he dropped him.

I heard his screams at first, and it cut off when Irses caught him in his mouth again, and threw the man once more. He repeated the process, allowing the archer to fall before he caught him, until finally I called out to him, unsure if he could hear me.

“Don’t play with your food!”

The dragon whipped his head toward me as he let the body of the soldier tumble out of his mouth and fall to the ground. I started laughing, unable to control myself. Hysterical. The surprise he heeded my directions, the annoyance in his eyes as he let the man fall, and the fact I now had dragons to feed with no idea what to feed them set me off.

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