Page 83 of The Broken Prince

A faint smile moved on to her lips. “Make it back, Ian. I kinda love you and shit.”

I smiled back. “I kinda love you and shit too.”

She stepped closer to me and hugged me tightly, gripping me the way Huntley gripped me.

I didn’t want to let go for a while, so I didn’t. I held her for nearly a minute before I released her. “See you soon…”

“Yeah.”

I turned away and approached Jeremiah. “You sure you want to do this?”

He was a decade younger than me, built in the same way as Huntley, but he had far more arrogance than he should. “I wouldn’t have volunteered otherwise.”

“There’s a strong chance we won’t return.”

“And there’s an even stronger chance we’re all going to die if we don’t figure this out.”

I nodded in agreement.

“King Rolfe may be the King of Kingdoms, but Steward Ian is my king—as far as I’m concerned.”

All I could do was stare, too touched to react.

“As far as we’re all concerned. If you say this is the way, then this is the way.”

I still didn’t know what to say.

His hand clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

We left before darkness and, more than likely, just an hour before Huntley arrived in HeartHolme. We flew across the mountains and slowly watched them disappear, fading as the sun set, and brightening again when the moon replaced the sun.

The only sound was the flap of our dragons’ wings, making us glide across the quiet sky. The peaks were visible in the moonlight, the rivers that ran between the valleys. The mountains were impenetrable from the west, but they became more hospitable to the east.

I had nothing to pass the time—except my own thoughts. Thoughts of my wife and daughter. Thoughts of Huntley’s reaction when my mother had told him what I’d done. The Kingdoms were coming to HeartHolme for protection, but the steward had long left.

We passed the mountains at the very beginning of dawn, when the sky changed from black to midnight blue. We had less than an hour to observe the land without being seen, digesting the terrain in limited light.

We flew past where Huntley and I had landed initially and flew farther east.

The ring of fire was still there, so intense it looked like a thousand pyres combined into one. It looked the same as the last time I saw it, and I began to wonder how those flames were sustained… perhaps they were sustained by magic rather than wood.

The dragons flew hard, trying to cover as much of the land as they could during the small window of opportunity. Most of the world was covered with snow, but farther east, it started to dissipate.

Jeremiah spotted the ruins before I did. “Steward Ian.” He pointed down to the earth.

I saw it right away. A massive pile of stone, so much rubble it looked like all the Kingdoms combined together. Not a single structure remained—and it looked like a graveyard for the biggest battle that had ever taken place. “Palladium…”

“What?”

“The sun is coming. We need to land.” I turned Nightshade to the right, getting him away from the rubble in case anyone was watching. There was less snow there, so I directed him to the fields that were lined with lots of trees.

He landed as quietly as possible, and then Jeremiah joined me.

We both sat in silence, listening for the sounds of oncoming enemies. We both gazed at the tree line, both regarded our surroundings for hours, listening for the slightest noise.

Jeremiah was the first to leave his dragon. “We’re alone.”