Page 64 of Dragon King's Cursed Mate

“Is she going to live?” Dain asked, never more terrified in his entire life than he was now.

“I don’t know. I’ll do my absolute best, you know that.”

Dain slid into the chair by his cot and held Seraphina’s hand. “Please. You have to come back to me.”

Seraphina was unconscious for the next two weeks. Valon stayed by her side almost constantly, pouring as much of hisenergy into healing her. He only returned to his tent to catch a few hours of sleep.

Dain never left her side, except when he absolutely had to. He told her how much he loved her, told her stories about his life before Malakar betrayed him, and how it would be once they won.

At one point, when he thought she’d never wake up, Goddess Elyria filled the tent.

“King, you did well. Seraphina will return to you.”

Before he could say or ask anything, she disappeared. He rubbed his eyes, wondering whether he’d hallucinated her.

Finally, Seraphina woke up. She reached up and touched Dain’s face gently. “My love. I knew you’d come for me.”

He brushed a kiss across her lips. “I’m here,” he whispered.

She smiled weakly at him, and Dain swore he’d get revenge for what Malakar did to her.

Valon returned at that moment and smiled. “She’s awake. She’ll live.”

“Thank you, Valon. I owe you my life.”

“It was an honor, Oracle,” he said and bowed to her. “I know what you did and why. You took a great chance because your love for him was greater than your love for yourself.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“All’s well now. I’m going to bed. If I don’t crawl out of my tent for a week, don’t worry about it.” He kissed her hand and left.

“What is Valon talking about?”

“In order for you to face the storm, you had to feel an emotion so powerful that it came from the very depths of your soul. The only way to do that was for me to sacrifice myself.” She held his face in her hands. “You are the only direct heir of the First Dragon King. He lived inside of you.”

“That’s why the voices kept telling me to look inside myself.”

“Yes,” Seraphina said. “You had to recognize who you truly were to be able to destroy the darkness that threatened you.”

“Where did that darkness come from?”

“Magic, as old as the First Dragon King. Think of your brain as a battleground between good and evil.”

Dain sighed. “I just as soon they take their fights elsewhere from now on.”

“You’ve won. The darkness is gone.”

He shook his head. “What about the curse? A dragon shifter cannot mate with an oracle or he’ll go mad.”

Seraphina smiled at him. “That’s the other part of the prophecy. Remember I told you there was more to it that I didn’t know? You carry the blood of the First Dragon King. That magic makes you immune to the curse. Our mating will break it for all oracles and dragon shifters.”

Kael tapped on the tent pole. “I heard you were awake. Welcome back, Seraphina.”

“Thank you,” she said.

He looked at Dain. “Do you have some time now?”

Dain looked at Seraphina.

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