Chapter 202: I Thought
>>Drakkar
The trees around us swayed under the pounding rain, branches snapping in the wind, but I barely noticed. My arms were locked around her, around my mother, and the warmth of her blood was already seeping into my clothes, hotter than the air, hotter than my panic.
Her legs... they weren’t there anymore. The torn stumps at her thighs kept spilling, and every drop that left her felt like it was taking my breath with it.
"Hold on" My voice cracked. I tightened my grip, as if that alone could keep her from slipping away. "I can get a healing stone, just hold on, please."
She shifted slightly, weakly, her head pressing against my chest. "No magic stone will work for me now," she whispered, the words barely reaching me over the sound of the rain.
"Yes it will, I’ll find one, I’ll-" My voice trembled. "I’ll get Aelin, she can heal you"
But she let out a faint scoff, bitter and knowing. "No," She was against the idea, "I don’t want to live a life rotting in that tower again."
I swallowed hard, rain dripping into my eyes, my chest tightening until it hurt to breathe. "I’ll talk to Draegon, have her take you out. We can,"
"That will never happen," she cut in, though her voice was soft. A flicker of something passed through her eyes, guilt, maybe. "Not after I kept Seraphine imprisoned all those years."
Her breath caught, and she gave a quiet, humorless laugh. "Ironic, isn’t it? I couldn’t bear a few weeks there, yet I made someone else suffer for years..."
My throat felt raw. "We can find a solution," I said, but it came out too desperate, too fragile.
She didn’t answer but she said something to herself, "How humiliating, to die twice..."
"Mom, you won’t die, I-" I noticed something off
Her eyes stayed on mine for a long, aching second, then seemed to drift past me, losing focus, losing light.
"Mom...?" I shook her gently. "Mom!"
The rain was relentless, striking her pale skin, running in rivulets down my hands as I held her tighter. But her chest no longer rose. Her gaze no longer met mine.
The forest went quiet in a way that didn’t feel real.
Even with the storm above us, all I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears.
I pulled her closer, my claws digging into the earth beneath us, and the only thing that left my lips was a low, trembling, broken sound that the rain swallowed whole.
***
>>Aelin
From the moment I saw him take to the skies again, my heart couldn’t decide whether to race or stop entirely.
Draegon’s massive form cut through the air, wings beating powerfully despite the blood streaming down his scales. He closed the distance in seconds, hovering before the railing where I stood.
The massive eye behind him finally decided it was time and it closed.
Then disappeared.
The wind from his wings whipped my hair back, stinging my cheeks. I lifted a trembling hand, reaching out over the carved wood until my fingertips brushed the warm, battle-roughened scales of his cheek. The moment my skin met him, his movements stilled, just for me.
I let my gaze roam over him, my chest tightening at the sight. Gashes ran along his neck and shoulders, deep claw marks where Reagen’s strikes had landed. His breathing was labored, his left wing trembling under its own weight.
"You’re hurt," I said softly, my voice nearly lost to the rush of the wind. "Come inside."
For a heartbeat, his violet gaze locked on mine, unreadable but heavy with something unspoken. The wind roared again as he gave a small, deliberate nod.
In the blink of an eye, light flared around him and his form shifted, scales melting into skin, large wings vanishing into small ones. Then he was standing there, bloodied, breathless, and far too close.
Before I could even draw a full breath, Draegon closed the space between us in two long strides and pulled me into him, arms wrapping around me with such desperation it stole my air. His body was warm despite the cold outside, and I felt the hammer of his heart against mine.
"I’ve never been so scared in my life," he murmured into my hair, his voice raw. "I thought I’d lost you. I thought-" His words caught, choked with emotion.
For a second, I froze. Draegon rarely showed his emotions like this, never like this. But the way he held me, as though he’d shatter if I slipped away again... it broke something open inside me. Slowly, I let myself melt into his embrace, my arms winding tightly around him. I closed my eyes, breathing him in, letting the warmth of him drown out the chaos beyond these walls.
"I’m alright," I told him
"I lost it when Reagen said you were dead," I felt his form tremble. The sensation was unexplainable for what it did to me.
But the coppery scent of blood lingered far too strongly. His wounds were still open. I parted my lips to tell him we needed to tend to them,
Only for him to suddenly pull back, his eyes scanning me with fierce urgency.
"Aelin... how did you get hurt?" His gaze dropped to my chest, then to the streaks of blood staining my clothes, my mouth.
I blinked, caught entirely off guard. "I-" The words stuck in my throat as his expression darkened, a dangerous edge cutting through the worry.
It hadn’t even crossed my mind until now that in his eyes, I might look just as battered as he did.
"I’m fine," I said quickly, shaking my head before he could spiral further. "Completely fine. Fully healed. All this-" I gestured to the blood on my clothes and at the corner of my mouth "Is from before. Every wound I had is already gone."
His eyes narrowed slightly, as if testing my words against his own instincts, "How? Are you sure you’re fine?"
"Yes," I nodded, "You, on the other hand," I pressed, "are still bleeding."
"Aelin, I’m-"
"No." I caught both of his hands in mine before he could finish, ignoring his stubborn tone. "The last time you told me you were fine," I said, tugging at him until he stumbled a step forward, "that did not end well."
He raised a brow but didn’t resist as I pulled him down. I kept going until he was lying on the airy wooden floor, the open corridor framing the sky beyond him. The breeze ruffled his hair, and the contrast between that softness and the angry, bleeding wounds along his skin made my chest tighten.
"You’re going to let me heal you," I said firmly, settling beside him.
For a moment, he was silent, just watching me. The quiet in his eyes wasn’t resistance this time; it was something deeper, something that almost felt like trust.
Finally, he asked, "And those injuries of yours? Did you heal them yourself?"
I nodded, brushing stray strands of hair from my face. "I’ll tell you everything... while I’m healing you."
