Page 99 of Dragon Cursed
"I know."
"I wasgoingto lose this."
"I know,mo chroí.I know."
"I would never have known.I would have died and never — "
"Hush."He pulled her up against his chest.He pressed his face into her hair."Hush.You didn’t die.You are here.We arehere.The goddess saw what was in you and she stopped me from losing all three of us and she put the line's magic back into you andhere we are.Three of us.Three of us,a chuisle.Three."
She wept into his throat.
He held her.
He held her until her breathing slowed and the shaking eased and the chamber around them was quiet again, and when at last she lifted her head she was smiling — wet, ruined,radiant— and her gold-green-blue eyes were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his three centuries of life.
"We need to go outside," she whispered.
"Yes."
"I want to see the wood."
"Yes."
He lifted her to her feet.With a soft word and a flick of his wrist, his magic conjured simple clean clothing for them both — the magic effortless now, the curse gone, the long slow drain on his powerover.He dressed her himself.He took his time.His hands lingered on her skin, on her belly through the soft fabric of the dress he had made for her.
Then he took her hand.He laced his fingers with hers.
He led her toward the curtain of falling water.
The world that greeted them wastransformed.
The oppressive sickly air was gone, replaced by the clean vibrant scent of rain and new life.The forest floor — once brittle and brown — was now a carpet of impossible green, dotted with flowers that glowed with a soft internal light.Beneath it all, the small, good work of mushrooms and worms breaking down the dead things.Restoring order.Balance.
The curse was broken.
The forest washealed.
But they were not alone.
Standing just beyond the falls, as if they had been waiting, was a small group of beings so tall and graceful they seemed to be part of the wood itself.Sharp elegant features.Eyes the color of ancient silver.They radiated an aura of immense, quiet power.
Aos Sí.
The elves.
At their head — leaning on her stick, soft gray cardigan luminous in the new sun — Niamh.
"Auntie."
Niamh smiled.The expression was gentle and knowing and very tired and verypleased."Oh, child.You did it."
"I did it."
"And you cameback."
"I came back."
Niamh's sharp blue eyes had gone soft at the corners.They flicked once to Poppy's eyes — to the gold and green threaded through the blue — and then to the place where Poppy's hand was resting, without thinking about it, just below her sternum.
