Page 69 of Fated Flames: Volume Two
I’ve created a whirlpool in the most cantankerous water I’ve ever encountered and placed myself at the bottom of it.
Sun, the water demands.
Sand and spray lash my face and bare skin.
Soon, I say, my arms numbing.Soon—
A figure, white as moonlight, appears in the opening above. My mouth trembles into a smile.
I knew he’d come.
He dives, landing not as a dragon but as a man.
A completely unclothed one.
I nearly lose my focus on the water, but somehow I keep it and my eyes where I intend.
“Is everyone—” I begin, but he cuts me off.
“Everyone is safe but you,” he snarls, and it’s ridiculous, but a delirious giggle escapes me. Smirking and shaking his head, he crouches just in front of me. I let out a squeak.
“What are you doing?”
“Grab my wings,” he shouts over the din.
“What?” There are no wings.
But suddenly, there are great wings arcing out beneath me, and I feel both the power of the water’s churning and the power of the dragon emerging beneath me.
Sun, the water rumbles.
It will come, I say.
And as the water washes over my feet, Soren leaps, transforming as he does, pearly-white scales racing out beneath my hands. We burst from the whirlpool, he snaps his wings open, and we rise into the night sky. I grip him tight for three powerful flaps before leaning to look over his side.
A sparkling expanse of water stretches out beneath us. I let out a shout of pure joy.
“Soren! Look.”
He glances back at me, then down below. I feel his sides swell, and then he looses a trumpeting cry that thrums through my bones. Below, the crowd gathered around the new lake cheers in reply. I grin like a fool, flinging my arms open to the wind, and Soren’s tail lashes.
I can’t believe it. It’s done.
There’s water for all of Tirenth.
Twin bellows sound from the south. I drop down low over Soren’s back as I spot two dragons angling our way, but Soren only dips a wing and flaps toward them. I squint against the frigid wind. The dragons, who appear to be a deep, emerald green, look almost identical. Could they be Rally and Ty?
If they are…
Glancing toward the port, I see the telltale colors of a Vasnan flag snapping in the wind. It’sThe Siren, Mother’s ship. My spirits lift even further.
Until my eyes are drawn to the blackened horizon, where an entire fleet of warships approaches.
Epilogue
I’m in my study. Ty stands before me, the lone lantern on my desk cutting sharp lines across his already grim face. Glittering sand trickles down the throat of the recently turned hourglass that rests between us.
It’s just as it was the night he told me of her.
