Chapter Text
When I wake up, my brain doesn’t process where I am outside of the soft, cozy blankets on the bed and the sun streaming through the parted curtains over the window. I stretch, confused as I find myself sore as hell. But before I can puzzle over that, I feel a hand entwine itself with mine and look up to meet Xaden’s intense gaze.
“Vi? How do you feel?” His voice is shaking , something I’m not sure I can remember happening before. His other hand that isn’t latched onto mine comes up to brush some of my hair behind my ear.
I run over my mental checklist, starting with my toes and going all the way up to my head. “Honestly every single muscle I have is sore beyond belief, and I have a decent headache. What the hell happened? Where are we?”
Glancing around, I take in the familiar magnificent windows and wall-to-wall bookshelves that line the bedchamber. We’re in Riorson House? How did that happen? The last thing I remember is…
“Oh gods. Varrish, Solas. How did we get here? How am I alive ?”
The exhale Xaden gives is wavering at best as he leans forward, pressing tender kisses all across my face. He switches to our mental link seeing as his lips are otherwise occupied. “We’ll eventually be having a very long discussion about that fucking reckless choice you made to wield. But right now all I care about is you are alive .”
“Hey,” I start, pushing him back for a second so that I can cup his face with my hands. He has at least a few days worth of stubble at this point, so I’ve been sleeping for a while. “We’ve established that you are my gravity just like I’m yours. This isn’t a one-way street where you get to be the only one to make foolish, self-sacrificing choices to save me. If there’s something in my power that I can do to save your life, it’s going to happen. Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise, and it’s something you need to accept. Like I’ve accepted the same thing about you being ready to burn the world down for me. We’re horrendously codependent, and I like it that way. Embrace it.”
His eyes flicker looking at my expression, before he lets out a world weary sigh and presses a kiss to the pulse point on both my wrists. “Fine. You make a decent point, and I still only pick fights that I know I can win.”
I smirk at him. “Well-the-fuck-aware.” My usage of his own unhinged response to me from my Threshing makes him groan.
“But really, how am I here? And in exponentially less pain than I was when I was last conscious? Did Brennan find a way to mend me?”
Xaden shifts to sit beside me, never letting up on our physical contact even as he shakes his head in what looks like bewilderment. “About that. No, Brennan couldn’t mend you. That lightning strike was enough to completely burn you out thanks to how weak you were. What was even more complicated was the way it exacerbated the stonefish venom that was still in your system. Brennan described it as all your body’s systems crashing at once from the devastation it had already started. Between the burnout and the toxin, you only had minutes.”
“But then Andarna ordered Garrick to wield us to the flight field. Tairn flew her there, and she announced she could heal you.” He parts the black silk robe I’m wearing to the side and there, just over my heart, is a new scar. It’s maybe three inches across and has the strangest spiral pattern along the outside, almost like a sunburst. I look up at him with uncomprehending eyes. “Her venom. Somehow it restored the magic you drained from your system that Tairn couldn’t replace. And it also healed a large portion of the poison damage. Something about venom given willingly to their bonded rider can pull off miracles. They didn’t offer many details; another one of those fun secrets dragons don’t deem humans worthy of knowing. Apparently it’s forbidden.”
My mind is struggling to process this. It seems too miraculous to be true. I can feel Andarna’s attention along our bond. “You really saved me? Even though it was in defiance of the Empyrean?”
Her bright voice is quick to respond as she ushers warmth and love to me. “As if those silly old dragons could keep me from helping you. You’re mine, Violet. And worth every sacrifice.”
Tears burn my eyes at her heartfelt declaration. “Thank you, little one. I cannot tell you how much I cherish our bond and being your rider.”
Grumbling comes through as she automatically protests being called little one, but she’ll always be that little golden feathertail in at least part of my heart.
Xaden has remained dutifully silent as I conversed with her, content to enfold me into his arms and trace patterns along my skin. But suddenly I remember a very important detail I hadn’t processed the implications of before, and I shoot upright and out of his arms.
“Holy shit. I killed a dragon. Is that even allowed? Is the Empyrean going to roast me alive?” My mind is whirling. Seriously, how much can one person be expected to grapple with after waking up from their second near death experience in a span of a couple days?
My onyx bond flares to life as Tairn’s resonating voice echoes into my mind. “As if I would ever allow them to do such a thing. Although you need not fear the consequences. The elders examined my recollection of the event as well as Sgaeyl’s and found your actions justifiable. You reacted to not only save the one you love but the rider of my mate who is also connected to you. It was therefore self-defense and you are not to be punished for ending the life of a corrupt dragon. I only wish you did not have to live with such a heavy mark upon your soul. It is a burden that should have been mine from the start.”
Meaning he regretted only taking Solas’s eye instead of killing him. “Sparring a life is never something to be lamented.”
He chuffs in response. “An admirable thought, although I have to disagree. Still, I am glad you are well, Silver One.”
With the way Xaden’s eyes were glazed, I can tell Tairn opened the link to speak with him as well. Maybe he wasn’t aware of the Empyrean’s ruling on my dragon slaying. He looks relieved at the news, and I can’t say that I blame him. Having to deal with one enraged dragon out for blood is more than enough. The thought of the elders ruling I needed to be executed was chilling to say the least.
“So how did we get here?” I circle back around to the last of my original questions. I’m thoroughly unamused by how out of the loop I’ve been. I may have long since left behind the potential life of a scribe, but I’m still a girl who thrives on information.
“Brennan led the riders who chose to stand with Tyrrendor to Aretia about an hour after Andarna healed you. Garrick stayed and wielded us back into your room in the quadrant; my wards were still impenetrable and no one was going to think to come looking for us somewhere we’d theoretically abandoned. We had no idea what the impact of the venom would be on your body, so we thought it best to give you some time to rest before making the flight. Plus, Tairn needed a little more strength to be able to carry Andarna the whole way. And Sgaeyl wasn’t budging until she found some green scorpiontail who was the donor for the venom that almost killed you.”
My eyes widen at that last part. Sgaeyl is ruthless as her natural state. Gods only know what she’d do when she was actively looking to exact revenge on another dragon for their contribution to the near death of her mate. Suddenly I’m thinking those Wyvern she ripped the throats out of at Resson had a merciful death compared to what that green might have faced.
“I can assure you it was my deepest pleasure,” Sgaeyl’s voice purrs in my mind. “She had the nerve to endanger what is mine ; what I left behind will more than serve as my message of warning to any other of my kin who dare to think of acting against my mate. It was a slight not to be tolerated.”
Xaden looks grimly satisfied at his dragon’s words. I wonder if she shared more details of what she did to that other dragon with him. It’s probably something I’ll sleep better with not knowing.
“Anyway, we left about a half day later. Brennan was taking the riot on an indirect course to Aretia to throw off anyone making reports about our movements, and with Tairn and Sgaeyl’s speed we caught up just as they flew into Tyrrendor. You stayed with me for the flight.”
“ What?” My head whips around to stare at him. “Tairn was alright with me flying on another dragon? Sgaeyl was willing to carry me? Has the world gone mad?” When I’d been stabbed at Resson, Tairn had actually tolerated Xaden flying with us to Aretia. He’s slightly faster than Sgaeyl and we needed every moment that could gain us, plus Xaden kept pressure on my wound the entire way. Not that I really have any memory of it, but I still consider it a miracle my dragon permitted such a thing. Hearing the reverse took place this time is just yet another concept to leave me flabbergasted.
An exasperated sigh comes from her blue bond. “I did it for the benefit of my mate and yours. Tairn was suffering enough with Andarna’s incessant squirming as she insisted she could fly on her own. And my rider would have made me wish for my own death had I been forced to listen to his fretting if you were out of his reach for so long. All things considered, it was the least objectionable alternative.”
“It is not something to ever happen again, Silver One. You are my chosen, and you belong to me. You may only traverse the limits of the sky when it is from between my wings.”
“Hey! Don’t you forget that someday she’ll fly with me, you grumpy, possessive old man. I don’t care what the elders think they know, my wing will be just fine!” Andarna interjects. I’m thankful for her claiming the attention of the other dragons as they dissolve into a quarrel. I was about to choke on emotion from the absolute love and gratitude I felt that these fierce beings considered me their own.
I’m brought back to the world in front of me as Xaden starts to press searing kisses along the curve of my neck and down my chest. “Hmm. What you’re doing is a little distracting.”
I can feel him smirk as he continues his path. “It’s meant to be. You have no idea how badly I need to reacquaint myself with every inch of your skin. Seeing you in my bed eradicates any thought in my mind other than the desperate need to strip off every piece of fabric separating you from me.”
My breath hitches and I actively shiver at his tone. Gods, it’s been too long. That incredible morning spent in his bed at Samara after his injury feels like it was eons ago. Then we were so busy with stealing the journals and me being fucking poisoned for it to even be a consideration.
“If that’s what’s about to happen, then I’ve never been so relieved to be feeling better.”
That pulls him up short. Shit, I shouldn’t have said anything to remind him of my less than stellar health. Not when it means his lips stopped their administrations.
“Are you truly feeling alright, Violence? You said you were sore.” He cups my face with both his hands, refusing to let me look away from him.
I cover his hands with my own. “I’m okay, Xaden. I promise. Yes, I’m sore. It feels like I was tossed around the sparring mats without bothering to warm up first. But the amount of pain I have now is nothing compared to what it was. This falls well within my normal range of tolerable, and I’m perfectly functional. From what Brennan said I’ll still have some work ahead of me to build my muscles back up, but I think Andarna already healed the worst of it.”
He studies me for a few seconds, eyes so intently focused on my own it makes my heart beat faster. Then he leans closer until our foreheads are touching. “You have no idea how fucking terrified I was when I thought I lost you, love. You stopped breathing and it was like the ground was pulled out from under me. I had no reason to exist.”
Maybe the fierce avowal should have been cause for concern, that he loved me so deeply life turned meaningless if I left him. But I couldn't protest because I felt the same way for him. Was it healthy? Probably not. Especially in this fucking messed up world where we could be ripped apart at any second by Navarre or venin or a thousand other things.
It’s just how we worked though. The second I saw him at the entrance to the parapet, my world shifted to revolve around him. He was my everything, the perfect complement of soothing darkness to my brilliant light. We made so much more sense together than we ever could apart, two hearts beating independently, yet entwined for each other.
Part of me thought about all the things that we needed to be doing right now. Bringing nearly two hundred dragons and riders to Aretia unprepared had been my grand plan, so it seemed selfish to keep Xaden locked away with me when the Assembly probably needed some direction of what the hell to do now. There was also the looming struggle to rebuild my strength and muscles after their agonizing torture of the last month, and uncovering how to raise the wards.
But the man I loved was kissing me so deeply it drove every thought out of my mind, his hands nimbly peeling the robe off my body. He’d risked
everything
to protect me, and for the moment, we were safe. Everything else could wait.