Page 82 of Taloned Heart

“There had been no elves visiting it for years by the time we had gotten there.” Still, it wasn’t enough. Abraxas looked at Rowan and nodded. “That’s where you come in. If you can change the spells, make them more your own than the old elves. I think it would be very difficult to find.”

“It sounds like it was already well hidden,” Rowan replied. He tapped a finger on his chin, as he always did when thinking. “Perhaps it is doable.”

“You must have cast such magic before?”

The older elf shook his head. “I was no enchanter. I was a scout at best, and it has been a very long time since I’ve touched elven magic. But, I suppose it should be easy enough to figure out, as long as the person who created it had wished for elves to manipulate the original spell.”

Likely, the original elf had not. But Abraxas still had hope. “The spells are very old. Most of the castle is no longer there, but from what I could see, there is a mural in the old courtyard that depicts Lore. I think, perhaps, the old elves wanted her to be there. And if you can use that to your advantage, it may be best for all of us.”

“Ah.” Rowan nodded again. This time the spark in his eyes looked a little more hopeful. “Then there is certainly reason to try. And if I cannot change the spells, then I will set wards around the place. Elven scouts are very good at those, and they will let me know the moment someone comes near us. I can run with them, if I must.”

Abraxas felt a little better knowing that the children would be safe at least. Or Tanis’s children would be. He needed his own children to fight with them.

Sighing, he looked at Tanis, and he knew the other dragon had seen what was in his mind.

She tilted her head to the side, eyeing him and the armor that covered his body. “I know you wish us to fight with you.”

“There is to be another battle, and I believe it will be the one to end the war.”

Draven shuffled his feet on the ground, drawing everyone’s attention to him as he took a deep, steadying breath. “Why is Lore not ending this? She has the power to do so, does she not? She could wave a hand and crumble the entire castle to the ground if she wanted.”

“Then it would be hers.” Abraxas remembered the conversation they’d had in the darkness, where she’d bared her soul to him the night before he left.

He had known the deep fears inside her. He’d seen the darkness that lived within her heart as she sent all the elves in that prison to their doom. As she’d enjoyed the feeling of blood and the splatter of death that surrounded her. His Lore had changed with the powers that came from inside her. It had made her more wild, more feral, more a goddess than an elf. And he knew that was a dangerous place for her mind to be.

“She has changed,” he said quietly, trying his best not to sound as though he were judging her for it. “Lore’s mind is not at the place it needs to be to run a kingdom. And if she wins this battle, she wins the throne. I do not believe she would give it up, and neither does she.”

“Would that really be so bad?”

“Yes,” he growled. “She would lose herself in this power. Lore battles for this kingdom and also to remain herself. We are going to be there for her, fight for her, with her, let her know that there is still a place for who she was before this power was gifted to her.”

It wasn’t that Abraxas was all that worried. Lore would be fine. She would be his no matter how many times she changed and turned into a newer, better version of herself. He’d be there for all of it and love her all the same through every step of the way.

But he refused to see her hate herself. He refused to watch her turn down a dark path that she never wanted to step down in the first place. Not for this kingdom, for their children, for anyone.

And so they would all do their best to ensure her safety and her life were well preserved.

Grinding his teeth, he eyed Draven, who stared up at him with sadness in his eyes. “So the prophecy,” the elf started, clearing his throat. “It could be true?”

“There is no prophecy about Lore. Only about a half elf who changes things. The elves saw a future they did not like and so they spread fear throughout their ranks.” He lowered his head, so he was on eye level with Draven. “And I need you to hear this now, deepmonger. She is not a monster. She will not become a monster. The kingdom she leaves behind will be better than it was before.”

Draven nodded. But he still swallowed hard and looked around himself as though hoping someone would agree with him. “If the prophecies are correct, though, she might need...”

“They are not,” Abraxas growled. “Prophecies are what we allow them to be. We can all stand here, fearing what Lore would do and then abandoning her because we no longer trust her. Or we can all say fuck the prophecies, she is ours. Our mate. Our friend. Our mother.”

He looked over Draven’s head and met Nyx’s gaze, who had paused in her play to listen. To show him the shadows in her own eyes because she had known.

Of course she had known.

He straightened, his wings flaring wide behind him. “She is ours,” he repeated, and the words felt like a new kind of prophecy. “And we will not let her go.”

And all he saw were his family and friends nodding along with him. They were here. They were going to stay and fight and love Lore through all of it. Just like he did.

His heart thudded hard in his chest as hope filled him up near to bursting. They would fight with her and she would not leave again. She wouldn’t dare leave when there were so many people arriving at her side to love her. As they all should have from the first day they met her.

“Abraxas,” Tanis said as the elves returned to their fire. “I did not come only to fight with you. I am not the kind of dragon who fights, but there is something I think would be best to do before we arrive back with Lore.”

He would have lifted a brow if he had them. “You wish to delay our return? Even more than it will add to get to the mountains?”

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