Page 57 of Upon Buried Embers (Upon Buried Embers #1)

Elf

Entering The Glade this time, I don’t feel wonder and excitement like before, I feel… strange.

Pain rattles through my stomach, like a sickness, and I press a hand to it. Rohan stays at my back, axe in hand, wary and alert.

“Stay close,” Rohan says, and I nod. Drogonah flies overhead, but with how thick the trees are, we can barely see him.

Something is wrong though.

A man was seen. Wearing the king’s sigil.

What Sigrid said could be true. The king’s involved somehow.

I suck in a breath, the air not… clear. Not… pure.

I stop in my tracks.

“What is it?” Rohan demands, turning and looking at where I’m holding my stomach. “What’s wrong?”

I swallow, taking shallow breaths. “The thing that hurts the dragons? The poison that sends them to sleep? What is it?”

“Nighturn?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“It’s like a green vapor. Asseya once told me she used a certain kind of plant on a person that sent them to sleep to heal them when she was with a demon. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing, but it’s harmful when our dragons inhale it in the air, why?”

“It feels wrong here.”

“What do you mean?” His eyes drop to my stomach as a sharp pain spears through it. “Did I hurt you?” He asks, jaw tight as he places a hand on my stomach. “Fuck, did I hurt you, Elf? Last night…”

“No, no,” I reassure him. “It feels like something’s here that shouldn’t be, but also pain. There is so much pain in here, Rohan.”

“In the dragons?”

“I think so.”

“I knew you could sense their emotions. It’s how you talk with them, isn’t it?”

I nod. “I can feel it. Hurt, angry.”

Rohan looks around, jaw tight. “Where do you sense this?”

I glance through the trees, not really pinpointing a direction. “I don’t know, it feels everywhere but not.” He looks at me sharply. “I don’t know, Rohan.” My voice takes on a desperate lilt, worry and nerves rattling through me.

“Fuck, it’s okay, we’ll find it.” Rohan tilts my chin up. “You’re okay. Let’s keep walking, just let instinct guide you.”

My fingers curl. “What if I can’t? What if I take you in the wrong direction? What if—”

“Breathe, Little Whisperer.” I do, looking up at Rohan as he places a gentle kiss on my forehead, holding the back of my neck. “You can do it, breathe and focus.”

I take a breath and nod. If Rohan believes I can do it, then I can.

We walk through The Glade and it’s so eerily silent. There are no distant roars and rumbles, no snapping of branches or trees as the dragons pass, no flapping of wings as they take flight.

I’m scared for myself and Rohan, but more than that, I’m scared for the dragons here.

Sudden anger overwhelms me, and I grab Rohan’s arm, halting him just before three dragons come barging through the trees, surrounding us, teeth bared, growling. Rohan puts me at his back, protecting me as he spins us in a circle slowly, raising his axe in front of him.

A blue dragon has blood seeping out of his shoulder, and the smaller green one has a limp.

“Calm!” he orders them, voice full of dominance.

Roar.

“You will have to get through me before you get to her,” he growls low, twirling the axe in his hand. “And you will never hurt her.”

The red dragon in front of me opens his mouth, a glow in the back of its throat.

Ignis, their fire is dangerous. He’ll set the whole forest ablaze.

“Hey!” Rohan spins us, putting me at his back and points the axe at him.

“Fucking try me!” The dragon’s mouth shuts, tilting his head at the forceful command.

“We’re not here to hurt you, but I will if you put her in danger.

” Growls. “You know who I am, I’ve been here many times before so calm, the fuck, down! ”

But the hurt has already been done. I can feel it from them, a fire of pain burns in me.

A dragon.

They’re hurting.

Being hurt right now.

I spin around, glancing at each dragon, and though they hurt, it’s none of them.

Rohan continues to calm them down, his words muffled as my heartbeat thrums in my ears.

Where.

Where are you?

“Rohan…” My eyes water as I turn to the left of us, just past the green dragon.

My breath hitches, causing me to freeze for a moment.

“Elf?”

I don’t reply, I can’t as I take off running in that direction.

“Elf, stay next to me!”

I run past the trees, hearing Rohan curse as he catches up to me in no time, but he doesn’t stop me.

Not when I run through bushes and scratch myself, not when I turn sharply to the left and nearly collide with a small cave wall when the pain suddenly disappears, and not when we come to a stop in front of a red dragon whose wings are curled around itself.

“No,” I whimper, seeing the blood leaking from some sort of wound at her neck.

Rohan rushes over, dropping to his knees before her and putting a hand on her neck, trying to stem the bleeding.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. No!” He shouts, going to her face and placing a hand just beneath her eye. “Come on, Frelia. You have a hatchling, remember? They’re going to need you. Come on, wake up.”

Her baby. Oh Gods.

“Frelia,” he growls, but it’s full of pain, shaking her a little. “Come on. Don’t do this.” He starts pushing at her chest, trying to get her to stand up. “Don’t do this and get up.”

But she’s not getting up.

Tears track down my cheeks, because she won’t open her eyes, and her chest is still.

So, so still.

I stumble toward her, my legs giving out as Rohan continues to try and rouse her. I place my hand on her leg and flinch.

She’s so cold.

“Frelia, please!” The grief in Rohan’s voice breaks me. To see such a formidable man, hunched over and begging her to wake up is enough to crush my heart even more.

My shoulders shake harshly with sobs, because I know she won’t be getting up, I know she won’t answer Rohan’s pleas.

She can’t.

She’s dead.

“I wasn’t quick enough.” I choke out, holding onto her. Rohan’s head bows, resting against hers, hands full of blood. “I wasn’t quick enough, Rohan.” The guilt makes me feel nauseous. “I felt it. I felt something was wrong and I wasn’t quick enough!”

Rohan takes a moment, but then he stands and comes to sit behind me, his legs on either side as he hauls me back into his trembling body, arms wrapping around me tightly.

I feel selfish. How long has Rohan known her? And here I am, having him comfort me when he’s the one who must be in so much pain.

I try to turn around, try to stop myself from crying, but he holds me tighter, burying his face in my neck. I put my hand in his hair, stroking.

His voice is gruff, pain filled. “It isn’t your fault, but I will find who is doing this. I’ll find them and remove their heads from their bodies.”

A roar sounds overhead, one I recognize, Drogonah.

“He feels it. The loss of one of his own. Though they’re not in the same clan, the dragons of The Glade are natural and wild. Clan dragons have respect for them, and to have one lost…”

And Drogonah lived here with her.

I blink away tears and see Drogonah passing overhead, a stream of fire releasing into the sky, others quickly following, the agony in their roars clear.

We sit in silence for a while, feeling the loss of such a magnificent creature, one who was becoming a mother.

A mother.

“Rohan! You said she had an egg.” As if on cue, a quiet growl comes from ahead, and we both focus on it. When it comes again, I scramble out of Rohan’s arms, and gently lift Frelia’s wing.

I gasp as yellow eyes peek at me, the shell of what must be the egg cracked around him.

“Her baby,” Rohan rasps.

I look at the position of Frelia and her wings. “She protected him.” I sniffle.

Rohan nods, swallowing roughly.

I look back at the little dragon, who is eyeing me and Rohan warily.

“It’s okay,” I say when it crawls back, frightened, and I lift the wing higher, Rohan helping me. “Come on out, we won’t hurt you.”

When it does nothing, Rohan says, “Come.” And tentatively, the little red dragon crawls out from under his mother from the command.

The little dragon looks behind it and a cry follows.

I place the back of my hand to my mouth to stifle my cries as Rohan grabs my other hand and we hold it out for the baby.

He eyes us warily, and then he moves closer to us on wobbly legs, taking a tentative sniff.

When he licks my hand, I can’t help it and I pick him up, holding him to me.

It’s no taller than my knees, but still big for a baby.

“Elf, be careful, babies are unpredictable,” Rohan says softly.

I stare down at the dragon, his little ears twitching, yellow eyes blinking up at me.

I sit back on my knees and turn to Rohan. “He’s in pain.” I sniffle as the dragon hides its face in my neck. “He’s in pain, Rohan, we can’t leave him here.”

“Elf, I know how you must be feeling, I feel the same,” he says, stroking the hair away from my face. “But the dragons here are one big family, we can take it to another.” He eyes the dragon. “I will make sure he’s safe.” He looks back to Frelia, and my heart beats painfully.

“No,” I say firmly, shocking myself and Rohan as he eyes me.

“Now is the time you decide to stoke the fire within you?”

I sniffle. “He’s coming with us.”

“We are not taking in a baby dragon.” His tone is as firm as mine. “He’s better off with the others.”

I soften my voice as I take his hand in mine. “Please, Rohan?”

His jaw clenches. “No.”

Sparks. That’s what I named the little red dragon.

He’s curled up in my lap as we eat. Rohan sits next to me, scowling.

He’s been grumpy since we came back from The Glade three days ago now, and broke the news of Frelia’s passing as well as the other injured dragons. No one was found in The Glade.

They managed to get in and out, and no one knows if any more dragons are hurt or missing, or if any eggs were lost. Every time I walk in there, all I feel is grief and pain.

That same night, Frelia’s body was burned by Drogonah’s fire and sent to Morana to fly in her skies forevermore.

I stood there, sobbing with Sparks in my arms until the flames went out and there was nothing left. Rohan, a pillar of strength at my back.

“He’s harmless,” I say to Rohan.

“He needs to be with his kind.”

I nod, agreeing. “He does, which is perfect because he can be with your dragons.”

“Elf.” He warns, scowling. I look down at Sparks as he sleeps, his little chest rising and falling with a bubble coming out of one nose.

“I feel it Rohan,” I whisper softly, stroking down Sparks’s spine, feeling the little bumps which I’m sure will become spikes. “He needs to be with you to stay safe.” I look up as his jaw tics, and I grab his hand in mine, bringing it to my lap where Sparks nuzzles into him.

Even in sleep this baby dragon knows who it belongs to.

“Frelia was the first one to greet you when we landed in The Glade. You were safe for her to do that. I felt it. She would want you to look after him because she trusted you.” He looks away, inhaling a deep breath. I swallow over the lump in my own throat. “You know I’m right.”

“Fine,” he grumbles. I beam up at him, and his eyes flare, grabbing my chin and placing a rough kiss to my lips that heats my body. “But you owe me.”

“I do?” I say breathlessly, squirming where I sit.

“Mhmm. Yes, and I know exactly how you can repay me.” His eyes darken, scanning down my body and I shiver.

“Rohan…”

“Want. That’s what you said. You. Want. Me .” My cheeks heat. “Say it.”

“I want you.”

“So have me, tonight. You will repay me for keeping the little shit.”

He would have done it anyway. “I don’t like that.”

“Like what?” he asks, eyes sharp, like he will remove whatever I dislike.

“A repayment for my body.”

He pauses for a moment. “It was in jest, but I won’t do it again.”

I nod. “The other Masters would do that. Loan out slave women and men for repayment in the underground.”

His fists clench in my lap. “Tell me what you can about it.”

“Why?”

“Because they will all die.” I jolt, taken aback as his eyes turn deadly. “And your Master is first on the list.”

“I… I didn’t ask you to do that.” His eyes are serious. “Rohan, you can’t.”

“You gave yourself to me, I don’t take that lightly.

You’re mine, but now, I’m yours. You think those who hurt you will walk the lands much longer?

No.” He shakes his head slowly, deadly, like a predator.

“They’ll die for ever touching you, for ever dimming your fire.

They will feel the wrath of a Dragonbond.

” His hand comes up to my throat, gently stroking over the abused flesh before bringing us just inches apart.

“I would burn it all to the ground and I wouldn’t let a single flame touch you, Little Whisperer.

Do not doubt what I would do for you, for it would be everyone’s undoing. ”

My breath hitches as his words send fear through me, but most of all, safety. I have someone who will protect me, and most of all, someone who’ll keep me.

Because that’s what he said. I’m his, not because he took me, but because it changed into something so much more between us. Something I never thought possible and it drives away those ugly thoughts I have sometimes.

“Why Little Whisperer?” I question, leaning forward to boldly place my lips on his. It’s soft, gentle, conveying my feelings and he encourages it, a hand on the back of my neck massaging softly.

It’s freeing to touch him like this, and I want to do it as much as possible with The Games looming. We may never get another chance, and for once, I’m taking instead of having things taken from me.

“You whisper to my dragons, to my horse, even to yourself, though sometimes I’m not sure you notice.

” He runs the tip of his fingers against the point on my ear.

“You should have a name. A proper one,” he breathes.

“One that is meaningful to who you are. You may be small, but you have fire inside of you. I told you I will breathe life into it and I meant it, so let’s start with a name. ”

My heart flutters, emotions welling up inside of me.

“Rohan.” I whisper, just as a sneeze comes from my lap, followed by a small stream of fire.

“Fuck,” Rohan shouts, shaking his hand out as Sparks stands and stretches, his tail up in the air.

I laugh, covering my mouth. “That’s the second time you’ve been burned by a hatchling now.”

“They’re all conspiring together, trying to take me down,” he fumes.

“What?” I splutter, giggling at the ridiculousness of it.

“They are!” he growls, glaring at Sparks. “They’ll all burn me alive one day.”

I fall onto my back, unable to keep my laughter in, my happiness as Sparks crawls up my chest, sitting there and looking down at me.

“It isn’t funny,” Rohan grouches, but as he turns his head away, I catch the small grin on his face.