Chapter Sixty-Eight

Poppy.

Everything was dark. Midnight black.

I stood in a vast, endless land of nothing. I took a step, my arms outstretched but only the chilled air greeted my fingertips. .

The last thing I remembered was handing Jeremiah to a dragon, getting dizzy, and falling toward the floor.

Did someone catch me? Had I hit my head on something hard and killed myself?

Was this death?

God, I hoped not.

I searched again, this time my fingers touched something hard, like a wall. Was I in a room somewhere?

I blinked, hoping it activated my eyes somehow.

“You’re not as panicked as I thought you would be.”

I spun around in the darkness to find the person responsible for that voice. However, it sounded oddly familiar. It tingled the back of my mind. Where did I know that from?

“Where are you? Who are you?”

His chuckle hit the back of my neck and I turned around toward the voice. The lights came on swiftly, and I braced my forearm up to hide from it.

“I’m going to go blind,” I complained. “Someone help me.”

Strong hands touched my forearm and lowered it toward my side. I blinked at the blinding light and stared up at Jeremiah’s face.

My mouth opened in shock. “I—are you alive? Where are we?” I launched myself at him and wrapped him in my arms.

Jeremiah brought me to his chest and kept me there for several minutes. Lifting my palm to his chest, I searched for a heartbeat, picturing it there but felt nothing.

“It’s not there, Poppy,” he said, pushing me back to look at him. “I’m not alive.”

Despite his declaration of death, his eyes were still bright and full of happiness. “I was hoping you’d come back.”

Jeremiah smiled. “No, I wanted to thank you for naming your baby after me. That was sweet.”

“I am sweet,” I said.

“That you are,” he said, grabbing my hands in his. “I want you to give my brother a message for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Tell him I love him. Tell him to keep his chin up because love is coming for him.”

I lifted both brows. “That’s promising,” I said. “Who is it?”

“That’s not important,” he said. “Tell Daegal that it’s going to take a long time to get the kingdom back together but not to fret. It’s going to be better than before.”

“We miss you,” I said.

Jeremiah cupped my cheek. “I know you do. I miss you as well. Now, you need to get back. Your baby needs you. Daegal needs you.”

Was the fight over with? Had Daegal beat Kelli.

“All I remember is darkness. Did Daegal win? Is Kelli still alive?” I asked, grabbing the sleeves of his dark T-shirt. Jeremiah slipped from my grip and began to walk into the distance. “Where are you going? Don’t go? You didn’t answer my questions!”

“Wake up, Poppy! Or I’ll turn the lights out again," he yelled.

“Please don’t,” I said, tears running down my face.

I was pulled from my dream and I sat up straight in my bed. Several female dragons sat around me. One had a crying Jeremiah in her arms. “He’s ready to eat again, Poppy. Are you okay?”

I blinked back the tears in my eyes and wiped away the few that made it down my cheeks. “I’m fine,” I said, my voice dry. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long,” the dragon said, handing me Jeremiah.

I took him in my arms and pulled the top of my shirt down. It took me a few minutes but he finally latched.

I seeped down against the pillow. “Where is Daegal? What happened? Do we know what happened?”

Tessa emerged from the other room. “We haven’t heard from any of them.”

A lump trapped itself in my throat and I attempted to swallow it. There was nothing left in me to cry. I was sure my tears would dry out soon if they hadn’t already.

“Can’t someone go check on them? What if they’re trapped under the rubble? Or hurt—,”

One of the dragons touched my ankle. “Poppy, calm down. Jeremiah can sense all of your unease. You need to calm down. We were given strict orders to keep you here and do not leave under any circumstances.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. I needed to know that Daegal was okay.

I turned my eyes away from them, irritated that no one seemed as desperate for an update as me.

Several minutes passed when Jeremiah pulled away and fell back to sleep. “I need to use the restroom,” I whispered. “Do we have somewhere to put him? A bassinet or a crib?”

I was sure my crib was long gone. It’d been in the living room when Kelli arrived and turned our castle into a tornado.

“Here,” Tessa said, taking him from me. “We have a pallet on the bed for him.”

She walked him over to the bottom bunk of a bed and put him between giant pillows so he couldn’t fall.

They helped me to my feet and showed me down the long hallway. The bathroom was small with a tiny stall and a shower without a curtain.

I relieved myself and looked around at the lack of windows due to it being a bunker. I stepped out into the hallway, and luckily, found it empty.

I tip-toed down the opposite side of the hallway and toward the kitchen close to where we entered. A few dragons were cooking in there, so I slid along the wall and stopped at the end of it.

I just gave birth, so I knew my quickness wasn’t anything impressive at the moment. I tip-toed toward the doors, hearing movement as I grabbed the handle and attempted to open it.

A bigger female dragon leaped forward and shut the door as I began to open it. “Queen Poppy, with all due respect, we have to stay here.”

Frustration built in my chest. I hated myself for wanting to cry. The baby was out, why was I still so emotional?

I began to cry and she wiped my cheeks. Her blonde hair was twisted into a tight bun on her head, and she looked uncomfortable at my sadness. “I hear the emotions are normal, Ma’am. Please don’t cry.”

“Poppy,” Tessa said, pulling me from her. “Come on. Let’s go sit down—,”

“I don’t want to,” I pleaded. “We have to see if they need help—“

The doors to the bunkers opened, and we stepped back to allow the door to swing inward.

Daegal stepped into the doorframe and my resolve broke into pieces. I flung myself at him and he cradled me to his chest. I listened to his heartbeat, making sure this wasn’t a dream, and he picked me up into his arms.

The dragons left us alone in the entranceway as he bent down and kissed me deeply. I cupped my fingers around the back of his neck, letting myself feel him for the first time in what seemed like forever.

“They wouldn’t let me leave,” I whispered. “I was so afraid that you didn’t make it. Is everyone okay? What happened—,”

“Shhh, Ember. Calm down. I’ll tell you everything. Where is Jeremiah?”

He sat me down and wrapped a strong bicep around my waist. I led him toward the room with the bunkbeds, and everyone turned to look at him. He ignored their curious faces and walked toward our baby.

He stopped and reached down to touch his face. When he pulled back, his eyes met mine. “Everyone is alive. We have some dragons that are in critical condition but nothing some rest won't heal. Selena is badly burnt. She’ll never recover from this physically. She’ll always wear the scars. Melinda made it out with me. The kingdom is in shambles. I’m not sure about our next move at this time, but I would like a room alone with Poppy.”

Tessa cleared her throat. “There is a room down the hall and to your left.”

She kept her eyes down, but when Daegal passed her, he said, “Irion is fine.”

She smiled to herself and wrapped her hand around her mouth.

Daegal guided me toward the empty room and shut the door behind him. He rested his back against the door and barricaded his face into his palms.

I sat down on a chair in the corner. “The kingdom will be fine,” I said. "Better than ever after we reconstruct it.”

He wiped his face and stared at me. He looked younger than ever at the moment. His wings were folded against his back, but I could see the damage to both of them.

His body was bruised and beaten. He’d been through Hell.

“Yeah, and how do you know that?”

“Jeremiah told me,” I said.

“Our one-day-old son told you that?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I fainted and had a dream where Jeremiah came to me. He told me that and something to tell his brother.”

I wasn’t sure if Daegal trusted that or not. There was so much defeat on his face that I knew it was true. Jeremiah knew he’d feel this way and wanted me to tell him to keep his chin up.

He walked over and bent down in front of me, resting his head against my lap. I stroked his ebony hair in my fingers. He was bloody and dirty, but he was alive, and at that moment, I couldn’t have found anything that made me more happy.

The Dragon King won.