Page 5 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
Soon.
But I stayed there, stealing just one more moment intertwined with my mate.
Grae kissed my shoulder, his stubble scratching across my skin. In that sated rasp, he spoke as if hearing my own worried thoughts. “Sadie and Navin will have a dragon at their beck and call. Maybe even a dozen more monsters if Ora decides to join them. And Mina—”
“Mina stays with us,” I said too quickly. “I promised her she could remain with the Golden Court, and I’m not about to go back on my promises. Besides, having a Songkeeper by our side may prove useful.”
Grae hummed thoughtfully. “She may be of more use with Galen den’ Mora.”
“It will have to be enough without her,” I said, finally moving and climbing out of bed, my thighs sticky with Grae’s release, wondering at how my life could contain such pillow talk. I wasn’t frustrated with it, though. Rather, it actually made me happier knowing I could haveallof Grae—both his fantastic bodyandhis incredible mind. He was a confidant, lover, friend, and strategist all in one.
Still, controlling monsters had never been in my battle plans. It was far more likely that my allies would get eaten or seriously maimed by these monsters than have them marching off into battle for us. But I wouldn’t stop them from trying, not if it meant getting my sister back and ending King Nero once and for all.
I thought of Sadie at the ends of the world in a wagon filled with musicians and a bloodred dragon trailing her, and knew then, as bad as I had it, it could always be worse.
“Gods, I hope they know what they’re doing.”
Sadie
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU CONJURED A FUCKING DRAGON,” KIANsaid, holding a hand to the sky to block out the sun. His eyes trailed the flash of glittering carmine shooting through the sky.
We sat around a midday campfire, roasting a gamy lunch of squirrel and hare—a meal that I offered to catch seeing as I was the only Wolf of the bunch. I would’ve been happy to just eat it raw, but I was sure that would garner some unwelcome looks from the others. I was still on the back foot being surrounded by all these Songkeepers. We’d crossed the Stoneater River on Galen den’ Mora—the wagon now packed with seven of us, including Navin’s little brotherandmy sworn enemy, Kian.
I hadn’t had a good chance to look at Kian when he was in his Rook uniform trying tokillme, but whenever I saw him now, it made me grab for my knives. At the very least, he deserved for someone to pluck out an eyeball,but no, Navin said that would hurt the group morale. And now that Navin was the involuntary leader of this group until Ora returned, I didn’t want to cause any dissent...
Well, not publicly.
“Do you think there’s a reason it was a dragon,” another musician, Svenja, mused. She was a flautist with curly blond hair braided back off her temples, piercing ocean eyes, and a lithebody that she moved like dancing underwater. “Why a dragon and not another creature? Is it the way you sang the eternal song? Or is it like your own personal brand of monster?”
“Thatis one of the many things we need to figure out,” Navin said as he licked the grease from his fingers. “There will be much to learn from the temple of knowledge.” I heard the unspoken word: “hopefully.”
Navin looked back up to the dragon circling the sky like a vulture. She was every shade from rust to burgundy to bright scarlet, her scales every color of gore as if created from the Onyx Wolf blood itself, her body a reminder of the slaughter. I swore she’d grown twice the size in only a week. Already larger than a crishenem or samsavat, maybe she was still just a baby. The thought was terrifying. Maybe she’d be big enough in a few more weeks that just the swipe of her tail would topple Nero’s castle.
Maybe... a dragon would be all we needed to win this war.
But first we needed to learn how to wield her. Right now, Navin treated her as no more than a scaly red puppy trailing our crew. We had to find a way to make her a weapon.
“You should’ve never done it,” Kian said, easily commanding the attention of the group, still ever the soldier. His eyes were a cold hazel, his skin the same warm brown as Navin’s own. He was incredibly tall and lean, only slightly smaller than his brother—undeniably related. Both cunning and powerful in their own ways. Though where Navin was passionate and creative, Kian was nothing but cold stoicism.
“You’re one to talk,” I muttered, flicking my knife back and forth.
Kian frowned down at the blade in my hand. “Do you always do that when you’re angry?”
“No,” I snarked, “sometimes when I’m angry, I stab smug little boys.”
Kian was about to reply when Navin held up a hand to his brother. “Don’t,” he commanded. “Or even I won’t be able to spare you from her steel.”
I smirked at Kian, satisfied that Navin was once again demonstrating he was firmly on my side. Navin made a point of letting me know it at every available opportunity. He wouldn’t make the same mistake of defending his brother again, and it was clear there was no love lost between the two. Navin seemed to hate his brother even more than I did. Still, we needed every advantage in this coming war and that meant having Songkeepers to wield their magic.
“You should give her a name,” Svenja said, squinting up at the dragon.
“I already have,” Navin replied, dusting his hands down his legs. “Haestas. After the old Valtan song ‘Nanesh ahm Haestas.’ ”
“That is a song about a phoenix rising from the burning sands of Lower Valta.” Svenja gave Navin an incredulous look. “You named your mythical beast after a different mythical beast?”
“Haestas means firestorm,” Timon said with a nod. “Good name.”
The crew started breaking out into song around the campfire. And while “Nanesh ahm Haestas” wasn’t part of their normal rotation, I couldn’t stomach listening to one more evening ballad. Apparently, Navin couldn’t, either.
