Page 85 of Scorch My Lips
Feeling those bone-deep curses still eating away at Baldur’s flesh—devouring all of us.
“Think we can last the night?” Ström asks now, as we watch the unconscious Baldur and feel his curses draining us.
“We have to,” I say, just as stubbornly as Bjorn, as I look at Baldur. “You, Bjorn, and I weathered this before, with me being heart-cursed by the Black Dragon when Maryse died. We survived it then. We can this time, too.”
“But that was different.” Storm glances at me, knowing. “You weren’t heart-cursed by the Black Dragon; Maryse was, and you tried to pull it out of her after her death. This time, you actuallydidpull Baldur’s heart-curse out before it could kill him. You can counteract the Black Dragon’s worst spell, Rikyava—have you ever thought about that? Maybe the reason all this is happening with the Black Dragon… is because you are the only person who can counter its heart-curses, breaking that behemoth’s final spell on dragons. The one that kills them for good.”
As shock hits me to hear Ström’s words, I feel a blaze of light sear to me from the Void.
From Baldur.
Ström’s right, Rikyava,Baldur says to me now through our bond,though he hasn’t moved a muscle in his inert state on the floor. It’s as if he’s been listening to our conversation as he chimes in now, however, and we all hear it.Whenever my sister dreamed of you, she always said you had a special power. An ability to undo the worst curse the Black Dragon creates—the heart-curse it puts on dragons, which causes their ultimate death. Because that curse is something more than just a terrible way to kill them. Though my sister didn’t know what it actually does… she did know it needed a shining knight to come and break it.
“I’m no knight.” My throat chokes and my heart grips to feel Baldur’s unshakeable belief in me. “You saw me in that hall. I nearly became something like the Black Dragon myself when I shot up into my Wraith, trying to command it. Something beyond awful. Something diabolical, making you all Wraith out, as well…”
But then, the sweetest light curls all around me. Baldur’s voice comes to me like the brightest sunlight now, pouring through my body as he kisses me gently from his stasis.
I have faith, Rikyava,Baldur says, as he smiles at me through our connection. His dark blue eyes sparkle with their bright diamond-white and fire-opal fighting color now, fierce.I have faith that you can kill the Black Dragon and take Litha down for good. That you can hunt the False Council until every one of them comes to their reckoning and raise the True Knights back to their original hunt. That you can save your King, and all of Blood Dragondom, from blackest death. And that you can liberate us all, and free us from the immense shadow of this terrible beast.
With that, Baldur’s voice sighs away, but not before he leaves one last burning kiss on my lips.
Beautiful.
Everything inside me sears white then, like a thousand suns blazing, at Baldur’s words and his kiss. Despite it all, despite everything we’re up against and how horridly powerful our enemies and the Black Dragon are, he’s given me the most precious gift of all today.
It’s the kind of gift every warrior needs to keep soldiering on; the gift I once gave to Mikkel when I showed him his true light.
And Baldur just showed me mine.
I suddenly feel hope that we might win the day—if we play our cards right. I settle down in the fey hall, cinching close to Mikkel and Ström now as we cuddle in next to Baldur, waiting for Bjorn and Lærke to return. And despite everything, despite how much our chips are down right now, I feel a fierce spirit blaze inside me.
Because I’m not giving up—even though everything sucks.
That fighter’s spirit is just what we need, as Mikkel snarls now in the fey hall, and Ström chuckles darkly, the slightest smile even touching Baldur’s lips, as Bjorn growls from far away. That growl fills me up like wildfire, as I cuddle close to my drakes, determined to survive this night.
Because I know we’ll fuck up the black Dragon of All Souls and all our enemies tomorrow.
And tomorrow, and tomorrow…
However long our tomorrows might last.
