Page 79 of Lady Dragon
Maybe fixing the Heartstone was never the solution. Sometimes things couldn’t be mended, but they could be rebuilt.
Perhaps, as had happened with the skull, those human spirits would dissipate if the stone was destroyed. But the stone wouldn’t be fully gone. Even if it had no will to direct it, the life in the stone still had a place to go…
The other half.
What Kirek was about to do would separate her from the human world forever—leaving nothing behind to swallow once more and let her be human again—but it was a risk she was willing to take.
Because Samansa was dead. Kirek didn’t want to be human without her, and attempting this wouldn’t hurt the princess, since she was beyond pain. Kirekwasn’tbeyond pain, and this might hurt, indeed, whether it succeeded or failed. But she’d rather be separated from Samansa in life than by death, unlike Raka.
Without further hesitation, Kirek whipped out with her tail, launching the blue stone into the lava pit. Fire burst around it, and cold light flared within it. As it sank, that blue light fractured and swirled into the air like strange sparks, or perhaps like frost.
Sparklingfrost that drifted over to Samansa. Where her cousin no longer loomed.
So you’re now Queen Mother, Valraka murmured over her shoulder.And it is my duty to challenge you for the title. To avenge my mother’s death, just as you have yours.
Kirek turned from Samansa’s body to face Valraka, bracing for the fight—a fight she wasn’t sure she could win, in her state. But she’d guessed it might come to this. Kirek didn’t want to be Queen Mother, and yet if that meant she could give Samansa a final gift with her own life, then she would do whatever it required.
Valraka’s tail lashed behind her spreading wings, a dark shadow against the glow, ready to blot out Kirek as well.
Even so, Kirek readied herself to charge. She would spend all that she had left to defend her position of authority, if only in an attempt to save the princess’s queendom—and Samansa’s mother—where Samansa could not.
With her last breath, she would fight for her love, however dead it was.
But then Kirek heard a loud gasp behind her—a lungful of air taken in as if after having been underwater for a long while. Afirstbreath.
A breath of life.
21
SAMANSA
Samansa sucked in a huge breath that, even though it was scorching hot and bitter, tasted better than anything she could remember. It was the flavor of new life, perhaps forgotten at birth. Because she wasalive. And she was most certain she had been dead.
She’d stabbed herself to stop Raka. Was she only alive because she’d failed?
Samansa pressed herself up from the hard floor of the cave into a seated position, clutching her chest. Her kerchief around her neck was still twisted out of the way, and above the ragged scraps of her gown’s neckline, she couldn’t spot any wound, but there was something else there that made her gasp again.
A stone was still buried deep in her chest, but fractured like a snowflake, or better yet a star. It was blue, gold, silver, and most fortunatelynotshining with any internal light other than what the glow of the cave threw at it, let alone any red.
These were almost her mother’s colors, she thought hysterically. Those of Andrath’s queen.
And then she remembered: her mother. Her queendom.Kirek.
Kirek was standing next to her—Samansa wasn’t sure howshe had missed the dragon at first glance, since Kirek was, well, rather big.
She also wasn’t the only dragon. Valraka was in the cave with them, pitch black and lurking behind Kirek, her red eyes watchful. But Samansa couldn’t focus on her for long, whatever danger she presented.
“Kirek,” she croaked, tears welling and spilling out of her eyes. “Kirek.”
The dragon knelt down on her forelegs and brought her snout to the crown of Samansa’s head, her breath gusting over her hair.Words cannot describe how happy I am to see you alive. Even crying. Even then. Give me only your tears, and I will be happy forever.
Samansa’s hand found the hard edge of Kirek’s jaw, heedless of the sharp scales. She looked up into those silver eyes, more magnetic than any pool of lava. “That’s terribly romantic, but no more tears for me, please.”
Kirek blinked.You can understand me, still? I didn’t imagine—
“Of course I can. But, Kirek, you’rebleeding.”
And it was true. The dragon seemed to be bleeding from everywhere, blood staining her purple-gray scales red.
