Page 39 of Taloned Heart

Lore wanted to say that she was taking a walk with Abraxas. That the two of them were going to talk strategy and perhaps they would figure out the best way to attack this situation headfirst.

But she knew there was only one thing she wanted to do right now. Her gaze turned back toward the battlefield and to the section of that ground that she would never forget.

“I need to pay my respects,” she whispered. “Before we do anything or take another step forward, I need to tell him how far we’ve gotten. He’d be proud of us, you know. He’d be rushing in with an axe flailing over his head the moment he realized Zephyr had been taken.”

“Ah, no he wouldn’t,” Beauty breathed. “Goliath was too smart for that. He’d have figured out a plan by now, though. He was always so good at making plans.”

Sort of. But Lore had seen a different side of him than Beauty. Goliath had been her best friend, but he had worked at Beauty’s side with Margaret for years before Lore had ever involved herself. And certainly that meant she knew him better than Beauty, but also... perhaps she didn’t.

Sighing, she pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead as though that might press back the headache that had already bloomed. “Either way. He deserves time with me. Just as much as the rest.”

Abraxas pressed his hand against the small of her back and steered her toward the field. “Come on, then. Let’s go say hello.”

Hello? Tears burned in her eyes. Was it hello if she was the reason he was dead? Perhaps it was more of an apology. She had to whisper it into the ground where he’d died because she didn’t know where they had buried him. She didn’t know if there was even a memorial or a headstone.

Throat closing up, she looked up at Abraxas and begged him to take this weight off her shoulders. “Is there a grave?” she asked.

His gaze turned troubled, and he glanced away from her. “I do not know. We could not find his body in the aftermath. Draven remembered where he was, but there were so many bodies and he was so small. It was hard to find anyone in the chaos, and no one found him after we’d cleaned it up. We assume one of Margaret’s people found him and brought him back to the castle. But it’s hard to say.”

Who would have known who he was? Even to the magical creatures that fought at her side, he was just the dwarf who had arrived with her. Lore had never made it clear how much he meant to her or how integral he had been in getting them to the point of battle.

This was her fault. The fact that he had no resting place was all her fault.

Her stomach twisting and her breakfast rolling up into the back of her throat, she made her way onto the battlefield while memories plagued her. She remembered the shouts and screams of horror. The dark splashes that had painted her body as she’d cut through Umbral Soldiers that bled like people but had no soul inside. She’d done everything possible to stop them, had given her own life, and it still didn’t feel like enough.

“You remember it all,” Abraxas said as he strode beside her.

“I do.”

“I was so far away from you at this point that I didn’t see anything happen.” He lifted one shoulder uncomfortably. “I don’t remember when or how he died, only that you did eventually as well. The rest is a blur after that. I didn’t... I didn’t take any of this well.”

“The memories are hazy for me as well,” Lore replied. “So much has happened between then and now and I haven’t gotten a single moment to grieve him or think about him at all. I just... I thought I had gotten over this, but now I’m realizing I don’t think I ever will.”

They reached the spot where he’d died and she felt her heart squeeze in her chest. The uncomfortable feeling didn’t go away, not even when she rubbed at it. She’d thought for a moment that she could relieve the symptoms of grief. She knew better.

Lore knelt on the ground, feeling the wet squelch of earth soaking through her pants. She placed her palm on the ground as though she might feel him deep underneath. “He stood between me and a mace. The Umbral Soldier was huge and strong and I just didn’t see him. Goliath did.”

She squeezed her eyes shut at the memory. It hurt to think about. To remember the life leaving his eyes until his body was just a husk in her arms. It wasn’t him. He wasn’t left at all after he’d gone. She hated that her last memory of him was like that and not them on some wild adventure together.

Abraxas knelt beside her and sank his fingers through the soft dirt. “He kept you safe when I could not. I will never forget the gift he gave me in doing so. But you have to know, Lore, he wanted you to be safe as well. He wanted you to live, even if he wasn’t there to see it.”

“He wanted me to save this kingdom.”

“Oh, he didn’t care about that all too much.” Abraxas smiled at her, the expression soft and kind. “The best way you can repay him is to continue living. Don’t you think?”

“I do. And I will make sure that he didn’t die in vain.” Lifting her hands, she pressed a kiss to both of her palms before placing them back on the ground. “He was the best friend I ever had. I’ll never forget that.”

They both stayed like that, remembering the dwarf who had given so much for them.

Until Lore froze as another voice interrupted their quiet respect.

“You’re a long way from home, elf.”

CHAPTER15

Abraxas wanted to say he spun around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, turning around on his heels with his teeth bared. Ready to protect Lore at all costs because who would dare to speak with them during this quiet moment other than someone who intended harm?

But he’d heard that voice and his mind had disappeared into a time when he’d still had a short friend beside him. A young dwarf who had seen the world in all its shades of good and bad and still wanted to save it.

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