Chapter 119

Chapter 119

             The next morning, we left for the elven forest. Lyle and Dayanara insisted on coming with us. The dragons weren’t ready to leave yet and would need another day. There was no point sitting around and doing nothing, and Dayanara thought her powers might be helpful.

The world spun below—a blur of green valleys and the jagged blue teeth of rivers—while Squall's dragon wings cut huge swaths of shadow over the earth. I was pinned between Darren's chest and the obsidian curve of Squall's back, his arms a cage around me, his breath burning a line behind my ear every time he exhaled.

I hadn't let go of him since the moment he kicked down the palace doors. It wasn't just the mate bond, though that felt like a current too wild to ever fully contain. It was the way his hands never stilled, always tracing some invisible constellation across my ribs, my belly, my thighs. As if anchoring himself in the only reality that mattered.

Last night, we reconnected in every way possible. We didn’t get a lot of sleep, but it was exactly what we both needed. Physically and mentally fulfilling. Darren told me about his time in the Void, and I told him about everything, from being abducted to being saved by Squall.

"How long till we reach the elven border?" I shouted, squinting against the glare as the sun ricocheted off Squall's scales.

"Not long," Squall called back, his voice a deep rumble that vibrated through the beast’s body beneath us. "The woods are already changing." He was right. Below, the straight lines of dragon-claimed land blurred into the feral, dense wilderness of elven territory. The trees were twice as tall, their canopies stitched so tight that only thin spires of light made it through. Even from above, the forest felt alive … watchful, like it was waiting for us to try something stupid.

Darren’s hand crept up, finding my fingers, then lacing them together over my thigh. He nudged my ear with his nose, the intimacy of the gesture sparking heat straight to my core even now, after everything. “If you want more time before doing this, you don’t have to rush. Especially now, after everything.”

"Are you asking if I’m afraid? Because I’d need a lot more than angry elves to rattle me at this point." I leaned back into him, grinning. "Besides, I’ve got my own personal warlord. What could possibly go wrong?"

His lips pressed against my hair, laughing in a way that was mostly a growl. He shifted, and his other hand slipped a small weight into my palm. "You’ll want this". I looked down. The pocket watch. It buzzed with a strange, low thrum, like a heartbeat pulsing through my skin. The metal was so hot, it nearly burned.

Next to us, a flash of gold and white caught my eye. It was a griffin, its wings broad as a cathedral, sailing on the same course as us. I looked over at Dayanara and Lyle. Dayanara seemed to be in good spirits, but Lyle didn’t even pretend to be enjoying the ride. It seemed like something was bothering him, and I wished I had a moment to talk with him.

"You want me to cloak us? I can—" Dayanara shouted but Squall cut her off.

"No point," Squall boomed, angling his neck so one of his eyes was fixed on the griffin. "The elves can sense a ripple in the air from a thousand miles off. And if Allissa’s mother is there, they already know and will be expecting us." His voice dropped, thoughtful. "Besides, we’re not exactly subtle."

The trees parted below, revealing a vast, shimmering lake, fed by a waterfall that thundered out of the cliffs above. A meadow unfurled beside the spray, wildflowers exploding in every color, but even they seemed to twist away from the water’s edge, wary of the mist that curled off its surface.

As we dropped lower, the pocket watch’s pulse intensified, every throb a tiny jolt that set my teeth on edge.

Darren’s arms cinched tight around me as Squall banked into a steep dive. "Hang on.” There was a narrow area where a dragon could land, but it meant coming in straight down. We landed hard, the dragon’s claws tearing up wet earth as the shockwave of impact flattened the wildflowers for a hundred yards. Squall’s scales shimmered with the mist of the waterfall. Before I could hop down, Darren’s arms scooped me up to his chest. With ease, he hopped off Squall and landed on the ground.

Dayanara and Lyle touched down a moment later, the griffin’s wings folding with a sharp, papery snap. Dayanara was off in a blink, tossing her hair behind her back. Lyle followed slower, scanning the woods with a soldier’s eye, every muscle coiled and ready. Squall shifted to his human self, his eyes scanning the area as well.

Squall moved to the front and began to lead the way to the lake. "The elves aren’t fond of company." His voice was lower now, almost conspiratorial. "If we’re lucky, they’ll just watch. If not …" He let the words hang.

The waterfall crashed into a pool so clear you could see the stones glittering at the bottom, but the surface writhed with rainbows, like oil and water forced to coexist. The watch in my hand burned and began to pull me like a magnet.

I glanced over at Lyle. His jaw was a solid block, and his eyes kept cutting to the shadows between the trees, never resting long. For a second, I just watched him—watching me, watching everything. He hadn’t said more than three words on the trip, and even those came out flat and thin, like he’d run out of air. Lyle was a lot of things: obnoxious, stubborn, infuriatingly loyal. But he wasn’t quiet, and he sure as hell wasn’t scared. Something was bothering him. Something that made him seem … sad.

Lyle … are you alright?

I noticed his eyes flickered in my direction, but then he quickly went back to scanning the area.

I’m fine. Just staying alert. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

That was when it hit me. He was still blaming himself. I wanted to comfort him and slap him. However, at that moment, the watch began to burn and vibrate. It became insistent. Darren paced me stride for stride, his hand never straying far from the small of my back. I got the sense he was half a heartbeat away from tackling me into the mud if something so much as rustled funny in the woods.

The water was louder here. It stole every thought, filling the world with its violence. It was beautiful, but in the way a wildfire is beautiful. It was untamed, uncaring, and absolute. The mist stung my eyes and soaked my hair, and every few steps I had to wipe the wet off my cheeks to see straight.

We stopped at the pool’s edge, the others fanning out in a loose ring. I could see my own reflection, fractured and warping in the foam. The pocket watch was a solid, hot ache now, the case rattling so hard.

"Whatever I’m supposed to find, it’s close. But not here. Not exactly." I turned in a slow circle, scanning the banks, the rainbow arcs in the mist, the impossible lushness of the grass.

Squall crouched by the water, swirling his fingers through the freezing current. "Anything?" he asked, his voice so soft it nearly vanished in the noise.

The watch throbbed, then steadied, pointing me. Not north, not south, but straight down, to the place where the falls vanished under the surface. The urge to move was powerful.

“There.” I whispered.

"You want to swim in that?" Dayanara said, tilting her head at the deadly current. "Even I’m not that masochistic."

I stepped up to the edge, feet sinking in the mud, and peered down. The water was so clear, it looked like you could fall through air all the way to the stones below. I could see pockets of darkness, little voids under the ledges where the light refused to go.

Darren was at my shoulder, his hands keeping a grip on me. "You think it’s down there?"

“Yes, that is where it’s pulling me.”

Squall was already stripping off his boots. "I’ll go first," he said, tossing them into the grass.

Dayanara whistled. "Death wish. I respect that."

“I think … I have to go.” I felt Darren’s hands pull me back away from the water.

"I can’t lose you again." He turned me to face him. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’m coming, too.” Lyle left no room for objection as he removed his shoes and shirt.

“I heard that you have a lot of power.” Squall turned and looked at Dayanara. “Do you think you can create a bubble for all of us?”

“Afraid to get wet?” Dayanara smirked but then reached down to touch the water. “It’s freezing! How is the water this cold? Yeah … I can do something about this.”

“So we’re all going?” I looked around, seeing the small smiles on their faces.

“We can’t let you have all the fun.” Squall rolled his shoulders. “Besides, I can keep the bubble warm.”

Suddenly a pearl-colored substance wrapped around us, placing us all on the water, and we floated weightlessly on the surface. It was like being in a large bubble. Dayanara smiled and moved her hands. “Going down.”

Water splashed over the sides, and suddenly we were underwater.