Page 29

Chapter 29

Cyrus

A t some point, I must have fallen from the sky because now I’m lying on the ground, looking up at the stars. I should move to check my wings for damage, but I’m unable to even lift an arm, let alone get up. A shiver rolls through me like a wave, another one right behind it. Over and over.

I turn my head—the only thing I can do at the moment—and see stone walls, ivy growing over an old well with a broken bucket, and a row of arches within a time-worn structure. I’m at the ruins outside Leafshire Cove.

It’s fitting that I die here, I suppose.

“At least, I have you to keep me company, cousin,” I say weakly to the ghost. Whether he is here or not, I don’t know.

Every beat of my heart sounds like her name. Kaya. Kaya. Kaya.

A light shimmers above me and finally takes form as the ghostly dragon shifter who showed me the map.

“Ah, hello,” I croak out. I feel like part of the cold ground at this point. Like I’m already dead. “Might be joining you shortly. Can I get a room with a view? I’d like to look down on her from time to time if possible.”

The ghost studies my face, his expression unreadable. He disappears, and I’m alone again with nothing but the pain and the love I have for my true mate.

Before the darkness eats me up, I hear an odd sound. Something that doesn’t belong with the hoot of the owls and the chirp of the night’s insects. It sounds like a cat’s meow…