A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(138)

“You are a good person, Sam of Wilds,” Ruv said. “Na?ve, I think, but good. I believe you will do what Vadoma thinks you will do.”

“Um, thanks?”

“Of course he will,” Ryan said, sounding grumpy. “Sam is the best person I know.”

“And he does what he says he’s going to do,” Gary said.

“And he makes me happy,” Tiggy said. “And I love him.”

“And he takes care of us,” Kevin said.

I was a little choked up at that.

“Plus,” Kevin added, “he’s got a really great ass.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. There, under the stars. So far from home, I laughed. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zero in the shadows of the dome, listening to every word.





Chapter 19: The Magic of Zero Ravyn Moonfire


EVERYONE WAS asleep except for me, Ryan’s hand lying loosely on my waist, Tiggy sitting up against Kevin with Gary in his lap. Ruv was lying a little ways off from everyone, but that was okay. The embers in the fire still burned, a tendril of smoke rising up toward the night sky. The air was cool but not uncomfortable. I felt small here in the middle of nowhere. Overwhelmed by everything that had happened and everything that would come.

I looked over at Ryan, whose mouth was slack, soft little snores on each exhalation. His brow was furrowed, like he was concentrating on something difficult. I reached over and brushed a finger from his forehead down between his eyes to the tip of his nose, the lightest of touches. He relaxed under the touch, and I hoped that whatever dream he was in didn’t hurt. I couldn’t stand the idea of him being hurt.

I sighed and was about to close my eyes to try and force away the whirlwind of thoughts in my head when I saw a pulse of light coming from inside the dome. It was soft and low and it pulled on my magic, but not in the way I’d felt when we’d first come to the island. This was a caress, a question instead of a demand.

I carefully shifted away from Ryan, putting my small straw pillow in his arms so he had something to hold on to. He frowned in his sleep until I leaned down and kissed his forehead. At the press of my lips, he made this little hum deep in his throat that squeezed at my heart. Maybe I had lied a little to Ruv when I said I’d still be here for everyone even if they’d turned against me. Maybe I would. But I was mostly here for him. Because I refused to believe the future was written in stone.

The light pulsed again.

And the whispers in my head began again.

I rose and left my friends behind, moving toward the dome.

The closer I got, the more it pulled, but it remained gentle, even as the magic in the air thickened. I wondered if my eyes were red again, wondered how Zero was able to do what he did. Because I thought maybe the forest inside the dome was his doing, that he grew the trees and the grass and the flowers the moment he started to wake. That he made something beautiful out of a place of ruins.

He had to know I was coming. I knew he felt me as much as I felt him.

If I’d had any doubts remaining about this whole destiny thing, that was the moment I finally began to believe.

I hesitated, briefly, at the entrance to the dome.

But there was no reason I could think of to not continue on.

So I did.

There was the moment, that little pinprick in time, when I passed from the desert into the dome. Where the air changed, became damp and cool, the smells of a wild forest all around me. I didn’t know how Zero did this, how it was possible for something so frightening to make something so beautiful, but I didn’t know that it was my place to ask. I needed Zero. I knew that now. He fit somehow. Even if he was already a pain in my ass. The rest of them were as well, but I loved them fiercely. Surely I had room in my heart for another.

And it wasn’t as if I had a choice in the matter.

(Which of course led to thoughts of the mated mountain dragons and the Great White, but I pushed that away—one day at a time. That’s all I could do, because anything else would become too much.) I found Zero coiled up toward the south side of the dome. He was awake, but he didn’t turn his head toward me, even though I was making enough noise to make him aware of my approach, just to be safe. I maintained a careful distance, because even if I thought Zero wouldn’t hurt me, he was still a large fucking snake dragon with big-ass fangs, and I didn’t want to take the chance. Plus, he scared the shit out of me, though I was trying to keep that at bay as best I could.

The pulse was brighter now, that light I’d seen from outside the dome. And now I could see where it came from, my heart felt like it was stuck in my throat.

There were little balls of light, almost like they were fireflies (terrible, terrible things, those), flitting about in front of Zero. There were dozens of them, and they brushed along Zero’s face, swirling around the spiked horns on the hood. The lights were of varying sizes, some as small as specks of dust, others as big as a coin. There wasn’t anything ominous about them; in fact, the exact opposite was true. They felt warm and safe, like they wouldn’t—couldn’t—hurt him or me. Or anyone, really. I was sure of that, though I couldn’t say how.

I also didn’t know if they were sentient. It didn’t seem like the right way to describe them. I thought maybe the lights were a part of Zero, his will or dragon magic manifested into something tangible. I thought the lights were Zero, like my magic was me.