Page 46 of Wrath of the Dragons
“I fought.” I clear my throat. “Because I knew you existed. I kept telling myself to survive until I found you. The princess with a bond to five dragons who was wronged by the same man who ruined my life. I thought of you on my worst nights, and you kept me alive.”
I lean forward to kiss Elowen’s tears away, brushing my thumb over the sapphire ring she only takes off to bathe and sleep. “This belonged to my mother. It’s passed down to the women in my family. I could never part with it, no matter how starving or cold I was.” I pulled it off her finger as the soldiers yanked me away. It was covered in so much blood they didn’t see it in my hand before I shoved it in my pocket. “She’d have loved you.”
“You should keep it,” she whispers, so much emotion in her voice it makes my heart ache.
“I don’t want it.” I bring her hand to my lips, kissing the jewel. “I want you to wear it.”
She licks her lips, determination shining through her eyes. “You are Cayden Veles. You are not a bastard. You are Asterin’s son. The greatest blessing in her life. You are a survivor. You are the bravest and strongest man I know. You are the king of Vareveth, and the only conqueror in our world.”
My heart is beating out of my chest, and all I can do is look at her. I searched for her in every part of Ravaryn. I’ve been to all the kingdoms, the southern isles, and unmarked islands, and she was worth it. She’s wortheverything.
“I don’t care what you’ve done to survive,” she whispers. “I only care that you did.”
“Thank you for being the reason I did.”
Even when I had nothing.
I had the thought of her.
“We’re going to take everything from Garrick,” she says with afierceness like no other. “We’re going to take his throne and erase his name from this world. His legacy ends with us.”
“You’ll take the Imirath throne?”
The iron gates to Veles Manor creak open, but Elowen doesn’t turn, never drops her eyes away from mine even as a guard greets us and lights a torch to alert the house staff of my presence. “Queen Cordelia of Galakin hasn’t answered my letter, so there’s a chance we’ll be fighting two kingdoms for a throne that most won’t want me to ascend, but it will be ours. I am the Princess of Imirath, and I will fight for my birthright.”
Chapter
Twenty-three
Elowen
I trace my thumb over myring.
Asterin’s ring.
Nothing he has ever bought me could mean so much. My heart feels like it’ll burst out of my chest as I make a silent vow to Cayden’s mother, promising that I’ll keep both this ring and her son safe.
My shoulders loosen as the long road bordered by a wintery forest littered with frozen streams ends, and Veles Manor stands in all its glory. The dark wood and stones that create the exterior are bathed in moonlight, and the stained-glass windows are illuminated by flickering candlelight within. Sharp turrets spear the night, topped with dragon statues that match the ones atop the fountain at the center of the circle before the main entrance, fashioned to look like all five taking flight with their tails wrapped around a pair of crossed swords. That fountain has been there since before we were betrothed, I realize. The statues atop the turrets are new, but somehow, I’ve always existed here even before we met.
“Why did you have that made?” I ask as his hands bracket my hips and he helps me down from the horse. “It resembles our sigil, but I remember it being there when I first came here.”
“It served as a reminder,” he says, drawing my eyes back to his. “That you were somewhere in the world, and I would not tolerate areality where I didn’t find you. I also perceived the dragons to be a symbol of Garrick’s weakness. Brave men don’t chain things they have the courage to face or tame.”
He nods to the stable hand who takes the reins, but I continue looking up at him as the stars shine enough to emphasize the harsh lines of his face. His anger is like the sea; its power is evident even when it seems dormant, and once a storm comes, only he decides when the destruction will cease.
“Are you sure the Imirath throne is what you want?” he asks.
Claiming the Imirath throne isn’t a matter of want, it’s a matter of how far I’m willing to go to protect myself and the ones I love, andthatis limitless. “My life has been a series of men putting me in cages or keeping me in the dark. They will have only themselves to blame when I burn their world to the ground and build a new one upon the ashes. Our enemies have ensured that peace will never be an option, so we must make them realize that all the years they’ve lived have been a mercy from us when we come to end their existence.”
“You were never able to live in their world, and for that they will die in ours. I will not stop fighting until everyone who abused you is dead,” he says, green eyes simmering with intensity. “Garrick will not survive the hell we unleash upon him, nor will anyone who stands with him.” His fingers wrap around the back of my neck and I’m unable to look anywhere but at him. “I’m with you, Elowen. This is not another task you must accomplish on your own. Unload all your worries onto me so you don’t have to bear the weight of them alone.”
I hold on to the steadiness his presence offers, honing it like a blade and sheathing it on my thigh. The Imirath throne belongs to me, and I will claim it with my father’s enemy at my side and dragons flying above.
Light pours down the front steps like spilled water as a servant opens the main entrance, but I latch my hand on Cayden’s arm as he tries to step toward it. Rising to the tips of my toes, I press my lips on his scarred cheek, needing him to know that I see him, all of him, and I’m not leaving. His pupils dilate as he scans his eyes along myfeatures, and my yelp bounces off the walls as he slides an arm beneath my knees and around my back and hoists me in his arms.
“Did you know my legs work? Because it seems you forget quite often.”
“I’m exercising my husbandly privileges.” I wave at the servant as we enter, and the warmth feels sublime after several hours of flying. “Carrying my wife over the threshold of our home.”
