Page 44 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

Aurum , I warned. The next time he pulled me through, I clung to his mind, and he finally got a grasp. I looked through his eyes, but nausea churned in my gut back in the field. Don’t do that without my permission again.

We landed on the ship, heavy enough to rock it. Waves billowed through the water in every direction as Iaso, Ewan, and Terran staggered.

Not Terran.

Drakyth.

I tried to get a better look at him, but Aurum turned to Iaso.

As she strode over, his shimmering gold scales reflected sunlight over her brown skin. She smiled, murmuring to him, and he pushed into her hand.

But then, he lifted a wing, and decay wafted from the carcass in his talons. My nausea doubled. He tossed it onto the deck, and it landed with a sickening wet thud. It looked like a fish, of sorts, the bits and pieces left by the predators of the sea.

Why? I groaned. Why am I here for this?

“Again?” Ewan asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The hatch opened, and Thana emerged with a shadow on her heels. Vulture, their creature of night, bounded to the rotted fish. He’d grown taller, his lanky body almost bony, but he’d developed the same scales as his mother, blacker than midnight with an iridescent sheen.

No shadows seeped from his eyes, his sockets empty.

Thana held the hatch open as Delphia climbed up, gagging with a hand over her mouth.

Aurum turned his attention to Vulture, who consumed his meal in seconds, the sounds of bones crunching and flesh tearing causing bile to rise in my throat.

“You’re so sweet,” Iaso murmured to him. “You love V, don’t you?”

Aurum bumped her with his snout and huffed out a breath, blowing her hair away from her face.

Vulture licked at the stain on the wooden deck, then ran toward Aurum, jumping around him. We matched his movement, but a wyvern was much too large, and the ship rocked again, swaying under his weight.

“Whoa, now,” Iaso said. “Easy, child.”

Aurum, why am I here?

The elder human appeared with a plate of food in his hands. Someone had called him by name in King’s Port. Godwin? Godfrey? Godrick. His name was Godrick.

“So, they’re—” He stopped short when he spotted Vulture. He stiffened, breath hitching. “What, in the Goddess’s name, is that ?”

Before anyone could answer, Godrick startled at the sound of the hatch opening again. His plate flew into the air. The dried meat and fruit rained down around him, which caught Vulture’s attention.

Lee and Livvy climbed up, and Livvy immediately gasped as Vulture slunk over the ship toward the food, mere feet from where they emerged.

Livvy climbed Lee like a tree, her legs around his waist and hands planted on his shoulders like she couldn’t get high enough, and Lee bit back a laugh.

“He’s not going to hurt you,” he murmured, patting her hip.

“He’s been with us for the entire journey,” Thana said. “Have you not noticed him?”

Godrick’s eyes shot to her for the briefest moment. “Do you think if I had, I’d be on the verge of a heart attack?”

Thana’s lips twitched with stifled laughter. “I suppose he does favor the shadows. He doesn’t particularly like the sun.”

When Vulture disregarded the dried meat and sniffed Godrick’s pant leg, he whispered, “I am too fucking old for this. I am going to have a heart attack.”

Seemingly satisfied, Vulture rubbed the length of his body along Godrick’s leg, leaning a bit too hard, and Godrick stumbled back a step. “This is it. This is how I die.”

“Unless you’re already dead, I can assure you V has no interest in your flesh.”

Godrick narrowed his eyes at Thana, then at Iaso, who chuckled under her breath. Livvy now sat on Lee’s shoulders, his chest shaking with stifled laughter, his hands on Livvy’s knees.

“In case you all forgot, I’m human and nearly seventy years old.

I am practically on my deathbed. He certainly senses that, knows breakfast is near.

” Vulture didn’t leave Godrick’s side, a deep rumble emanating from his chest as he ran his body along his legs.

“Now, see. That’s the sound of a killer, a vicious beast, a?—”

Lee’s laughter burst from him. Livvy gasped as he doubled over at the waist, but he caught her and straightened again as she clung to his head.

“He’s purring, actually,” Thana corrected.

Godrick’s eyes fell to the creature, and he held a cautious hand out. When Vulture arched his back to run along his palm, Godrick released a breath and whispered, “What a ferocious house cat.”

Ara hadn’t moved at my side, nor had Guardian, so I didn’t pull away, but I asked again, louder, Why am I here, Aurum?

Drakyth cleared his throat. “Do we know where they would’ve gone?”

Livvy’s face snapped toward Iaso. “We still don’t know? It’s been a full day.”

“They made it through the lightning and landed somewhere safe,” Iaso said with another glance at us. She met our gaze and paused. Her head tilted, eyes flashing. “Aurum wouldn’t be here like nothing is wrong if something had happened to Rogue.”

“We should continue to Draig Hearth,” Drakyth said. “They’ll make their way there, yes?”

“I would assume so.” Iaso fidgeted with a strip of green silk and stepped to Ewan’s side. “I hope so.”

He cupped her cheek and turned her attention to him. “They’re all right. Ara’s smart.”

“Ara…” Godrick murmured. “I would very much like to meet her.” He faced Livvy, who now stood at Lee’s side, and wrung his hands in front of him. “I would very much like to meet you as well.”

Her brows furrowed.

“My name is Godrick Stirling, and I had a daughter once—two daughters, to be exact.” He took a step closer to her. “Their names were Elora and Alivia.”

Stirling? As in the royal bloodline, Stirling?

Godrick Stirling.

My blood ran cold.

I stared at the former king of Auryna—and he had a daughter named Elora.

Godrick’s throat bobbed. “I believe… I believe you are the daughter of Alivia, yes?”

Livvy had blanched so fiercely, I thought she might faint, but she held her chin high and nodded.

His entire body sagged, his breaths turning ragged. “Yes, well, that is…” He sniffled and harshly wiped his cheek. “That is wonderful, very wonder?—”

She threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. “I wasn’t sure at first, but I remember you, Grandpa. It wasn’t so long ago you’d sneak that sweet stuff to me behind Mama’s back. Was it molasses? Or syrup? No, honey. It was honey, right?”

He wrapped his arms around her in return. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me, and everything your father did…or didn’t do. I’m sorry, honey. I cannot apologize enough. No words could ever capture how much I regret leaving. I?—”

“Stop.” She squeezed tighter, and he let out a choked laugh. “I don’t want apologies. You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

“You’re her daughter all right.”

She finally released him, her lips curving in a smile. “And your granddaughter.”

“Do you enjoy seeing old men weep?” He threw an arm around her shoulders and roughly wiped his face again.

Livvy was Godrick’s granddaughter.

An idea bloomed, another strategy to stir dissent in Auryna. The people might not believe their king was a Fae, but another Stirling heir? That they could believe.

I pulled my mind from Aurum’s, and he released me without resistance. Opening my eyes, I checked on Ara. She was still asleep, as was Guardian.

Did you know they were related? I asked Aurum. Is that what you wanted to show me?

No , he finally replied. No, I… I’m scared, and you’re a strong king, a good king, and I don’t want to be alone.

You’re not alone , I replied, rubbing my knuckles over my sternum. I forgot just how young Aurum was. You’re never alone. I’m always here, and so is Iaso.

The weapon… He drifted off as his anxiety swelled again. A weapon that can kill anything could kill us all.

No , I said. I swear to you, I won’t let that happen.

He didn’t reply, but his fear eased as he slipped from my mind with one last flash of Iaso lying her head on his shoulder.

Guardian’s steady breaths blew strands of Ara’s hair around her face, but she didn’t seem to notice.

My poor girl hadn’t felt the warmth of the sun in months—she hadn’t felt any warmth in months—and she looked painfully content.

Without thinking, I ran my fingers through her hair, and she stirred. She peeked up at me, eyes half hooded, but a beam of sunlight hit them just right, illuminating her silver irises.

Another breath from Guardian, and Ara looked behind her. She froze, her eyes wide as she scooted away from him and consequently, into me.

“This is the wyvern you named Guardian,” I whispered. “He saved you once upon a time. Now, he insists you two are friends.”

She glanced back at him, gasping when she found his eyes open and staring at her. He inched closer, bumping her with his snout.

If you get any closer, you’ll crush her, or at the very least, terrify her.

He didn’t acknowledge me as he waited for her reaction.

“You know what? I think…” She sat up to see the rest of him, head cocked to the side.

“I think we do know each other. I remember him—well, I remember that I know him in some capacity, but I don’t remember how I know him, which usually means we met through you.

It’s more than that, though. It’s a feeling. He knows me .”

“Oh,” I breathed, Alden’s words coming back to me with a painful tinge. “Months ago, you used your magic to control a creature of night during battle, and in doing that, the beast kept a part of you. She remembered you when you returned.”

“Did I…” She looked at the wyvern, meeting his gaze, and reached a hand forward. When her palm met his scaled skin, he released a deep rumble, and I rolled my eyes. The bastard was practically purring. “Did I control you, too?”

He didn’t answer her. He couldn’t, even if he wanted to—and he would want to. The obsidian crown gave me the ability to speak with them by filtering my words into sounds they could understand, but without it, they were speaking two entirely different languages.