Page 111 of The Forsaken Heir
I had no words for that. Nothing I could think of sounded like an adequate response. I let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know that I did much. Not really.”
“Oh, you did,” he said with a smile. “The fact that you’re being so modest shows me that what’s going on between you and Aurelius is sincere and real.” He shook his head sadly. “I wish peace were an option. I hate how separated we’ve become as shifters. We keep building these walls between each other, stoking hate. In another world, your relationship with my son might be more accepted.”
Sighing, he took another sip of his tea. “I worry about the imbalance of the wellsprings. If we lose, then things may reach a tipping point.”
A thought had been percolating in my head for a while, and now it was bubbling up to the surface. It might give the dragons the extra help they needed. I was sure they’d probably thought of it as well, but most likely cast it away as a lost cause. But what if a wolfalsohelped? Would that sway them? There was only one way to know.
“Elle? Are you all right?” the king asked, his brow furrowed.
I snapped out of my reverie and grinned at him. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I have an idea.”
25
BRIELLE
Icy wind whipped through my hair. Beneath me, Vincent’s dragon muscles flexed as he flapped his wings. Some twenty yards away, through the clouds obscuring the dawn sky, I could barely make out the outline of Rasp with Delphine on his back. She looked utterly terrified where she lay flat against Rasp’s back, clutching at the spines and scales on his hide.
Below us, the lights of towns and highways flickered and waned as the sun began its slow rise. Vince and Rasp kept us high enough to be almost invisible to the humans below, but that meant staying in the clouds. The moisture and frigid temps made me shiver, and the warm clothes I’d put on before leaving an hour ago was no help at all.
Flying before day fully broke didn’t require the spells they used to cloak the dragons from human eyes. That was good, because as amazing as it was, it would have freaked me out to be sitting on a basically invisible creature. Looking down, I’d have seen nothing between me and the ground but the thousands of feet of open space.
“Are you sure about this?” Cassius had said as we stood on the parapets. “The fae have always prided themselves on staying neutral. They’ve already declined to speak with Karinius and myself.”
“Let me talk to them,” I’d said as I climbed atop Vincent’s back. “Part of why they remain neutral is because of the divisions between shifter races. If I speak to them, maybe I can persuade them to help. A wolf speaking on behalf of dragons might get the job done. They have to know something needs to change. Like you said, the wellsprings will become unstable and deplete even faster without dragons around to balance them.”
He’d nodded, but I’d seen the worry in his eyes. “Do what you can. Either way, we will be here when you return.”
And now, here I was, gliding through the air on a dragon’s back toward the tribal lands of the Hikshil fae. They chose to reside far away from most human cities and towns, unlike shifters and other fae tribes, which made them all the more mysterious and harder to understand. I’d only spent a few minutes with Jolon before he was killed, but in that time, I’d been struck with how calm and approachable they were. I could only hope the others were the same way.
Once we were far away from any prying human eyes, Vincent made his descent, bringing us parallel to a small, paved road that led to the Hikshil encampment. Rasp and Delphine cruised through the air behind us.
No matter how many times I did this, it always shocked and amazed me that dragons could be so large and powerful, yet graceful at the same time.
The Hikshil tribal lands appeared through the canopy of the trees as we drew nearer. From above, it looked like any other small rural town. Streets, buildings, and houses, were all arranged within the deep forest. A bizarre location, sure, but mostly normal. It wasn’t until we got closer that the strangeness set in. The street signs were etched with weird runes instead of words. The houses all had bizarre collections of crystals and stones set above their doors and windows, and there were only a few cars here and there, much fewer than would be anticipated with a town of this size.
Vincent landed near a large building that looked like a community center. By the time I’d slid off his back, a small group of fae had come to check out the new arrivals. I was thankful to see mostly interested looks on the faces of the people coming near.
Delphine nearly tripped over her own feet as she got off Rasp’s back. “I hate it. I’ll never get used to that.”
“I think it’s fun,” I said.
“You would,” she cried, eyes wide. “You like rollercoasters too. Crazy woman.”
“Greetings.”
I turned to find a small group of Hikshil fae walking toward us. An older woman stood at the head of the group. I’d figured they’d all be dressed in some sort of ceremonial dress or robes, but she was wearing slacks and a button-down blouse. In fact, everyone was wearing regular clothing.
“Hello,” I said as Vince and Rasp shifted to their human forms. “My name is?—”
“Brielle Laurent,” the woman said, cutting me off. “King Decimus sent word you were coming.”
“He did?” I asked dumbly. “How? Did he send an envoy?”
She grinned and tugged a cell phone from her pocket. “As much as we don’t like what human technology is doing to magic, there are times when it comes in handy.”
“Oh, right.” My cheeks burned. “Uh, these are my companions. Delphine, Raspion, and Vincent.”
“We’ve met Vincent before,” she said, craning her head to look over my shoulder at him. “Your car is still here, by the way.”
