My focus was briefly pulled elsewhere as Nira knelt down by my legs. She still had tears in her eyes, and she brushed the back of her hand over her cheek to wipe away an escaped one. “You’re a right asshole, you are,” she scolded, her voice wet as she lifted my knee to tie a strip of cloth over the wound in my calf. While the hole in my chest was gone, my arm and leg were still bleeding, and I could feel a throbbing in my cheek. “Lucky the gods saved you, or I’d cross over to kill you once more for scaring us like that.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, reaching out and giving her forearm a grateful squeeze for bandaging my leg, but I couldn’t look anywhere but at Ava for long. Her deep blue eyes were still full of relieved tears. “You did it,” I told her, reaching up to cup her face, and I thumbed away another stray droplet. I finally used the opportunity to get a complete idea of her injuries. She had cuts and bruises from different weapons, as did all of my companions except for Denig and Skif, but she was alive. We’d all made it. “You ended the war,” I said. Ava’s gaze fell, and I recognized the guilt in her expression when she passed a look in Hazlitt’s direction. He was the only person she’d ever truly killed, but even after everything he’d done to her, I don’t think she’d have wanted it that way if she had a choice. It was a burden I’d have gladly carried for her. One I wished I could because she was finally, completely free of him, and she didn’t seem ready yet to rejoice in it. “Will you be alright?”
Ava leaned her forehead against mine, shutting her eyes tight to squeeze out the remaining moisture. After a moment she nodded and pressed a kiss to my lips, saying in a soggy whisper, “I want to go home.”
“Let’s go,” I agreed, giving her one last kiss.
She stood and offered me her hand, Nira doing the same on my other side, and they helped me to my feet. I was hardly standing again when Rhien finally paced over, curling her arms around my middle in such a tight hug that it almost knocked me down again. I laughed, grateful that Ava set her hand on my back to help me balance as I returned the embrace. Once Rhien let me go, we all started up the stairs of the dungeon. Ava and Nira helped me walk with my arms over their shoulders. Denig and Skif supported the king, and Destrian and Rhien aided the queen.
By the time we reached the castle yard again, the sun was setting beyond the wall. There was victorious shouting filtering over the stone a short distance away, and a handful of horses appeared between the buildings, a mix of the Vigilant green and Cornwall’s blue and gray. Kingston was amongst these riders, with Haunt following after him, and he jumped off his horse the very moment they came to a stop. His armor was scratched and dented and in desperate need of repair, there were spots of blood all over the shimmering steel, and his helmet was missing. Even Haunt’s gray fur was tinged red, and she was limping from a gash across a front limb, but they both appeared as healthy as the rest of us.
“We’ve done it?” I asked him. Though I could stand just fine on my own and Nira let me go once we’d stopped walking, Ava’s arm was still clutched firmly around my waist. I knew that it wasn’t as much to offer me support as it was simply to feel me, but I wouldn’t make her let go even if I didn’t need the help. Not ever.
Kingston nodded with a massive grin on his face, noticing the king and queen and bowing at them. “Your regions’ armies arrived just in time,” he told the royals. “What’s left of Hazlitt’s army has surrendered.”
Though still weak, the king left Denig and Skif’s support to stagger forward, offering his hand to Kingston. “We couldn’t have survived this without you.” And as Kingston shook with him, he passed a look around at the rest of us. “Without all of you. Thank you.”
“My King,” one of the horse riders prompted, hopping down to lead his horse forward. It was pulling a cart. “The physician is waiting for you.”
The king nodded, said another thanks, and then went with the queen to sit on the cart and be taken for medical aid. The prince stayed behind, and as his parents were driven away, there was a swift shadow from over the wall. Pine Shadow came swooping into view and thudded down next to Denig, but the dragon didn’t slither beneath his hand for affection. It had something curled in its tail. Something that it set gently on the ground in front of us.
“What is that?” Nira asked, squinting at the scaled oval that was a familiar swirl of black and blue.
“A dragon egg,” I answered, but I didn’t have the energy to explain. “Night Phoenix.”
Denig strode forward, picking up the egg that was twice as large as his head. “It needs to be returned to the mountain…” It seemed obvious that it was he and Skif who should return it, and their home was merely a short dragon ride away. Still, he studied the egg for a long minute in deep consideration, looked from it to us, and then extended the egg to Skif.
“Why are you giving this to me?” Skif asked. “You’ll get closer to that cave than I will.”
Denig shook his head. “I’m not going back. Not yet.” His lips pursed apologetically at the confused look Skif gave him. “Nira was right when she said that our way of protecting the dragons was shortsighted. People know now that they’re still alive, and we need to do more than hole up on the mountain.” He reached out to put his hand on Pine Shadow’s head. “At least one of us needs to stay… as an ambassador for the dragons and Dragonkin.”
Skif’s expression softened with understanding, and it was clear by the way he stared back and forth between Denig and the egg that he was torn on whether or not he wanted to stay too. “Well that’s a lot to think on, isn’t it?” he said eventually.
Kingston laughed. “I think we all deserve a rest from just about everything for the night.” He motioned to the two remaining horsemen who were pulling more carts. “Volunteers to take you back to camp.”
“Here, here,” Nira agreed, eagerly passing us to plop onto a cart. “I hope we’re feasting tonight.” And Rhien, Denig, and Skif followed after her, and they were wheeled away just after sitting.
Kingston looked down at my wounded leg, seemed unsure of what to think about the hole in the chest of my armor, and then scanned Ava for injuries. “I’ll send Sevedi to your tent as soon as she has the time,” he said. We both nodded, and he hesitated for a long moment before setting a hand on each of our shoulders. “Not sure I’d have survived going home without you,” he chuckled, giving my shoulder a fond squeeze. “Your mother certainly would have killed me.”
“Lucky for us both,” I laughed, not having the heart to tell him just how near that fate had been.
“Get some rest,” he said with smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
We watched him get back on his horse and ride away toward the wall, and then I realized that the prince was still here. He clearly had something to say, and came to stand in front of Ava and me to get our attention.
“You saved my parents’ lives,” he said, looking at both of us. “And mine. Thank you.” He inhaled a deep breath, his gray eyes falling seriously on Ava. “I don’t know what your intentions were last summer, but I don’t care. Whatever it was, it’s forgiven. I would like to think that though your affections may not have been true, your friendship was.” He paused, scanning Ava’s face after that last part as though he was wildly unsure of himself. For such a strong, noble-looking man, he appeared rather self-conscious, and I tried not to smile at the boyish hope in his eyes.