Page 76 of Taloned Heart

This was her family. Her people who waited for her back home. And oh, how she loved them. Their wild antics and their laughter as they all told stories about what she and Abraxas had missed. They all flailed their arms about and made the stories seem all the more wild and messy. But she knew what they were doing.

Because Nyx’s eyes never left her. Her daughter saw too much, just as Lore had seen too much in her own mother. Perhaps when she died, Nyx would get this power and she would become a dragon goddess who razed the kingdom to the ground as her mother had not been able to do. But that was not Lore’s path. Not yet.

Hyperion and Draven were performing a small battle that apparently they had learned together, as Draven wished to fight dragons now. For whatever reason. Abraxas leaned low and muttered in her ear, “Isn’t it better when they’re all involved?”

“It is.”

“Don’t you think it would be better if they were here with us?”

Her heart fluttered in her chest, but then she shook her head. “Ah, I do not know. I need them safe, and safety is not in this kingdom. Not for anyone in our family.”

“Look at them, Lore. You have a young elf who can fight dragons now. Two full grown dragons who may not be adults yet, but who are capable of fighting. Another full grown dragon, an ancient elf with knowledge of fighting that neither of us could dream of.”

“And three children who need their parents.”

He hummed low under his breath. “Perhaps we can lose the guidance of one elf, then. Let the dragons come to Umbra, Lore. It is time that we let them grow up.”

And as she watched them all, Lore thought maybe he was right. As much as she wanted to shelter them, they were larger than before. Grown up while she wasn’t even there to see them. And did she want to miss more time with her children, even though that meant spending time with them in the middle of a war?

“Tanis,” she interrupted, speaking for the first time in a while. Everyone froze and looked at her. “Are my children ready to fly?”

Tanis gazed back at her with what looked like respect in her eyes. “They are, goddess.”

“Then I would like you to send them to me. Abraxas will guide them, and he’ll meet you halfway in case they need to rest. I find I want my family around me now, more than ever.”

And though they all stared back at her in silence, Lore could feel in her heart this was the right choice. It was time to bring her family back together. To show them her home.

CHAPTER29

He hated saying goodbyes. Abraxas could handle almost anything, but goodbyes had never gotten easier over the years. Especially saying goodbye to these people, these companions, who he had only seen for a short amount of time.

He wanted more time to hear what they had to say about their lives. Abraxas had so enjoyed listening to their laughter and their stories and watching them together. Beauty and Zephyr had built a relationship that he respected. That he actually liked.

They were sweet and kind to each other. They cared if the other was well, and how many relationships had he seen like that?

Even the deepmongers made him nervous to say goodbye to. After all, they were now going to be the sole people taking care of the most precious thing in his life.

Lore let him gather her up in his arms and hold her close to his heart. She snuggled her face into the base of his neck, her arms wrapped around him just as tightly.

It wasn’t goodbye forever; he told himself. He would find her again, even though they had only just gotten to be with each other after the worst experience of their lives.

“I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “I will love you for the rest of our days. This is not goodbye.”

“I’ll see you very soon,” she replied, then leaned back to press her tear slick lips to his. “You will be safe, dragon. You will come back to me and you will keep our children out of that damned ocean.”

“No leviathan will touch them.” Abraxas trailed his clawed hands down her cheeks and blew out a long breath. “You will not take any unnecessary risks. You will stay alive for me.”

Her eyes filled with more tears. And likely everyone watching thought them ridiculous, but he refused to even think about that when his woman was in his arms and needed him.

Lore nodded. She looked fierce and determined, as though what he had asked of her was an impossible task. “You will come back and you will not find a single scratch on me, my love. I will stay alive for you.”

“Good.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then forced himself to take a step back. He’d already said his goodbyes to the others. Tearful, heartfelt goodbyes that had made his stomach twist in his chest.

None of them could ever promise that they would forever be well. Not in a kingdom like this, while they were all being hunted by the best of the elves. But they were all so used to this kind of goodbye now.

If he had his way, this would be the last time they ever had to say goodbye like this again.

Stepping away from all the others, he let the change flow through his body. Red scales dusted over him, covering him from head to toe as wings burst out of his back and talons ripped from his hands. He surged forward into the world as a crimson dragon, the protector of all those he loved. And he refused to be anything but that. He would keep his family safe, from now until the bitter end.

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