Page 390 of Elemental Becoming

Laughing.

A rough, broken sound tangled with tears and relief.

I pull back from Rowena and look at him. My breathing is still uneven, and every part of me trembles from the amount of magics I poured into the battle and fighting this blackness.

Tears stream down his face, unashamed and unstoppable.

I lift a trembling hand and brush them away. He leans into the touch, eyes closing.

The poison may be gone, but the fear of almost losing me still lingers between us. I can feel it in the bond, woven through the relief and exhaustion that pulse between us.

Thane rests his forehead against mine. His breathing is still uneven, and his heartbeat echoes through the bond.

Softly, I reach for him, mind to mind.

“I saw you reach for me. I saw your hand pull me out of the black water.”

His eyes squeeze shut. Another tear slips free, landing on my cheek instead of his. When he speaks, his voice is steadfast in my mind.

“I will always reach for you.”

I remember my arm and immediately look down. The right sleeve of my leathers is in shreds.

My first thought is, no. Not my new Elemental leathers.

Then my eyes widen.

The wound is smaller than I remember. Much smaller. I no longer see bone. What had been a gaping tear through flesh and muscle now looks more like a deep slash running the length of my arm, as though the edge of a blade had carved through it.

What happened?

Rowena pushes herself to her feet.

The grief and relief are still there, written plainly across her face, but she tucks them away beneath the steel spine she wears so well. Tears cling to her lashes, yet her voice is already shifting back into command.

She steps into motion as though a switch has been thrown, and suddenly she’s ordering her little brother around the way she always does when they aren’t standing in the middle of a battlefield.

“Thane,” she snaps, already turning toward the ruins and the wounded.

And just like that, the command shifts to her.

“Get her back to the capital. I’ll stay here and see to things with Garrick, Rian, and Jarek.” She glances back at him once. “Go.”

He nods, the movement sharp and decisive. Through the bond, I feel the urgency he refuses to put into words.

Then his arms slide beneath me, careful and stable. He lifts me as though I weigh nothing at all. Without another word, he turns and calls for Xaroth. Moments later, we’re airborne.

The wind rushes around us, cooler at this height. Far below, the battlefield begins to fade into the distance. Fires still smolder among the ruins, and smoke curls into the sky as we turn north toward the capital.

I sit in the saddle cradled against Thane’s chest, too weak to ride on my own. The dull throbbing in my arm makes my breathing shallow, and I find myself focusing on the steady rhythm of Xaroth’s wings instead of the pain.

One of Thane’s arms holds me securely against him while the other braces across the front of the saddle. Xaroth’s magics wraps around us. Enchanted straps lock us safely in place, and I can feel the power of them beneath me, alive and protective.

Even Calryx doesn’t protest.

She flies close beside Xaroth, wingtip nearly touching his, matching every shift in his flight as though she can feel each change in my breathing.

I catch glimpses of her through the drifting smoke. Her emerald eye remains fixed on me, watching from across the space between the dragons.