Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(104)
The price is paid, his End said, her voice huge in the way he’d experienced only once before. The future is bought. The brushing feathers moved closer as the pigeon gave him a final peck on the cheek. Thank you for sharing your present with me.
Then she was gone, her touch vanishing like the shadow it always had been, and in the place where she’d been was a short, golden chain.
Bob grabbed it out of the air with a snap of his teeth and shoved it into Julius. The golden links vanished the moment they touched his bloody feathers, and then Bob was knocked out of the sky as the new future forced its way into place. The sudden jolt caused even more of Julius’s body to crumble to ash, but as he felt apart, Bob finally spotted what he’d been waiting for. In the center of Julius’s chest, an ember was still glowing.
The last ember.
That was all Bob had time to make out before he opened his mouth and engulfed them both in fire. Not normal fire, but life’s fire, the core of the flame that made him a dragon. He breathed as much as he could force out, breathed until his heart stuttered and his wings faltered. Then, just as the world started to go dark around him, he felt something flare.
That flash of hope was the last thing Bob saw before his fire ran out. Without even enough magic left to fly, he began to plummet, wrapping his wings around what was left of his brother as they crashed into the churning water of Lake St. Clair, which, much to Bob’s surprise, rose up to catch them.
***
“Bob!”
The scream made Marci jump. She hadn’t had the presence of mind for anything but weeping, but Ghost must have carried her to shore at some point, because when she looked up, they were standing on the wreckage-strewn beach where Algonquin’s lake met her Reclamation Land. Marci was still trying to figure out what was going on when a shadow whooshed over her head, followed by Chelsie’s black-feathered body as the enormous dragon landed in the sand right beside her.
“Marci, help me!” the dragon yelled, her green eyes frantic. “Algonquin just ate Bob!”
“What?” Marci said, blinking slowly as the absurdity of that statement pushed its way through her grief. “What do you mean she ate Bob?”
“I mean her water reached up and grabbed him out of the sky!” Chelsie snarled, the words coming out in dangerous puffs of smoke. “You were just talking to her. Make her cough him up now, or I’ll…”
She trailed off, the smoke fading from her breath. Across the beach, the cloudy blue water in front of them was parting, the waves giving way to dry land as a woman made of water walked out to meet them. She moved slowly, dragging the lake water behind her like a train. It wasn’t until Algonquin knelt in front of them, though, that Marci saw why. The spirit wasn’t trailing water. She was carrying a dragon.
Bob’s multicolored body was cradled in her water. He was curled up so tightly, his feathered tail was wrapped around his nose. He didn’t move when the spirit released him, or when Chelsie charged toward him across the exposed lake bed. It wasn’t until Marci ran over as well that the seer finally unclenched himself enough to reveal what he was cradling in his claws.
It was a fire. A sputtering yellow-and-green flame no bigger than a candle’s. But despite its tiny size, the warmth it gave off was strong. Strong and familiar, a heat Marci would know anywhere.
Julius.
“What did you do?” Chelsie roared, her fangs dripping fire as she turned on Algonquin. “I swear, spirit, I will set your lakes afire if you—”
“It wasn’t her,” Bob gasped, coughing up water as he struggled to his feet. “It wasn’t Algonquin, Chelsie.”
“Then who did this?” his sister demanded.
Bob was still coughing too much to answer, so Algonquin spoke for him.
“Julius did.”
The spirit spoke slowly, lifting her face to reveal a fall of water so sorrowful, there was no human expression that could match it. “He gave his life to save me, to give me a second chance.” Her water dropped as she finished, and then Algonquin bowed, dipping so low before the flicker of Julius’s fire, she nearly merged with the mud. “A mortal’s life is the greatest treasure they possess. Being immortal, I have no death to give in return, but I…” Her beautiful voice began to shake. “I am sorry. For what I’ve done. For what I put all of you through. For my selfishness and anger, I am sorry.”
The words were soft, but they darted through the quiet air like fish, because they weren’t just for Julius. Algonquin was apologizing to her own banks and creatures, and to those watching beyond. Now that things were quiet, Marci could feel them all around. The little faces peeking from the grass and mud, the birds that landed in the reeds and trees and the deer that watched fearfully from the woods beyond—the Lady of the Lakes was apologizing to all of them. She might even have been apologizing to the dragons. If that was the case, though, it fell on deaf ears, because Chelsie was already rushing back to the shore where the Qilin was waiting with their daughter on his golden back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I have to get Amelia,” Chelsie said quickly, spreading her wings for takeoff. “She’s the one who knows the most about preserving dragon fire. You stay with Bob. Don’t let Julius go out before—”
A blast of wind cut her off, knocking Chelsie back to the beach. Even Marci was blown off her feet as a black shadow appeared above them. It happened so suddenly, her first horrible thought was that the Leviathan was back. When she looked up, though, she realized she was only partially right. It was a giant monster from another plane, just not the one they’d been fighting.