Page 183 of Cursed Evermore

No.That had to be my mind playing tricks on me. One last taunt before I met my end.

The world twisted and whirled as the dragon's powerful wings beat once, twice, lifting us both into the air, its grip around my waist not crushing but firm enough to steal my breath. Then we soared up, up, up.

Bright light greeted me as we broke through the darkness and climbed into the sky. I gasped at the sudden change from pitch black to pure light.

We continued to climb higher and higher, then, in one fluid motion, the dragon flipped me onto its back, right between its shoulder blades where its scales were warm and solid beneath my trembling hands and quivering body.

“Hold on, my Lady,” a smooth voice rumbled through my mind, sharp and commanding.

The remnants of my tattered survival instincts snapped into focus, and I grabbed the ridge of scales in front of me. Themoment my hands clutched the overlapping armored plates, I somehow felt more secure, as though something held me in place so I wouldn't fall. It was then the truth hit me.

The dragon spoke to me.

It spoke to me in my mind. And its voice resonated through every fiber of my being, as if our souls had found a frequency only we could hear.

My panicked thoughts slowed, confusion replacing terror, then the realization crashed over me that it wasn't going to kill me.

The dragon hadsavedme.

“Where shall we go, my Lady?” it asked, the voice coursing through my mind, smooth as the song I'd previously heard, and I nearly fell from the shock.

“What?” I rasped, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we were speaking.

“Your destination, my Lady.” It glanced back at me briefly, those golden eyes locked on mine for a few heartbeats that changed my world with several realizations.

The first was that I couldtrulyhear the dragon speaking to me. And I was flying through the sky on its back.Me. I was riding a dragon soaring through the skies.

Blessed Mother.There were no words to describe this encounter. Calling it wonderfully strange and unexpectedly amazing seemed inadequate.

“Shall I do Lord Nightblade's usual flight route?” The voice was steadier now.

“Yes.” My barely-there voice stuttered.

“Hedion at your service, my Lady.”

Hedion.That was the dragon's name. And he was male. I remembered Wolfe saying his dragon was a girl.

“Her name is Pyrion, my Lady,” he clarified in answer to my thoughts. “We are twins, carved from the same side of the moon. We are the last of the Ochia Aetherflame dragons.”

“It's... great to meet you.” I didn't know what else to say.

But it was true. Itwasgreat. And this was a dream come to life.

“It's great to meet you, too, my Lady.”

Warmth radiated beneath his scales and I stared at the magnificent head before me, allowing my brain to catch up.

“Hold tight, my Lady. We are approaching the Fenwyn Mountains. The wind is roughest there.”

I barely had time to secure my grip before we shot upward like an arrow released from a bow. I screamed again, but my terror dissolved into breathless wonder as my gaze swept across snow-capped mountains that rose around us like sleeping giants, and endless valleys that stretched beneath us in waves of green and gold.

The world below unfolded, becoming a tapestry of impossible beauty that captured what little breath I had left. This wasvastlydifferent from the view Wolfe had shown me when I first arrived in the magical realm.

We soared higher, and I risked lifting my chest so I could get a better look.

Rivers snaked through valleys like silver ribbons. Ancient stone circles crowned distant hilltops, their weathered monoliths reaching toward the sky like fingers. Their magic hummed in the air with a power that felt so old it made my soul tremble with recognition.

Waterfalls plunged from impossible heights, their mist creating fleeting rainbows that danced and vanished through the air. The forest stretched to the horizon in waves of vibrant green and groves of silver-leafed trees that glowed with an inner light.