Multiple lacerations ripped through Zikee’s body. She could feel the heat from overusing magic burning her from the inside out. Yet as she looked at the still dripping blade in her hand, she knew that she’d accomplished what she’d set out to do.
With a heavy crash, she heard Ty collapse onto the ground behind her, the halfling shrinking back to normal size.
Zikee dropped her sword to the ground, her own body following suit.
“Dammit. Damn you, Silver.”
It seemed the terrible feeling only magnified as the aftershocks of overuse rocked through her body. Zikee could only fall on her back and writhe through it, the world dead silent around her save for the sounds of gradually burning out flames.
“Andiz.”
She hated that simply saying his name was enough to make her do so, but she felt her chest tighten. It was moments before tears ran down her face.
“Why? Why him? Why did it have to be him?”
She felt pathetic hearing herself talk, but it was all she could do now. It was all she had left.
The body of her greatest enemy lay in a puddle of blood not far from her. She’d won. She’d avenged Elenor’s death. But that feeling in her stomach hadn’t gone away in the slightest. Even now it was like a pit rising within her that would never be filled again.
She hated herself for it, but she recognized the feeling of regret.
Regret that she hadn’t realized sooner, yes, but there was more than that. She regretted letting that halfling into her life. She regretted growing so attached that she saw her as a friend. She regretted knowing that through all the fighting for clues and hunting for founders Ty had never once told her the truth. That she preferred to die over anything else.
It shouldn’t have hurt. None of it should have hurt. She was a warrior. A fighter! A powerful force of nature who regularly took down dragons powerful enough to rend cities to dust! And yet this was all it took to reduce her to a sniveling little girl.
“Dammit. Damn you, Ty.”
She only had enough strength to lay back and cry. To curse herself and the hand she’d been dealt. Her eyes shut against the cruelties of the world as if that would somehow relieve her of her burdens. As she did so, a hand ran over her cheek, the whisps of magic gradually flowing into her.
“I tried to stop her,” a familiar voice said.
Zikee opened her eyes despite being afraid that she’d grown delirious. But that wasn’t the case. Though his face was bruised and she could see him struggling with the efforts to heal her, she saw her husband. His own injuries had only marginally recovered. But it was him. Her gentle wing. She couldn’t help how much the tears seemed to flow faster upon the sight of him.
“I wasn’t strong enough,” Andiz said, his gaze somber despite how happy she was to see him. It made the pit of regret only rise within her.
“She’s dead, Andiz,” Zikee finally spoke. “They both are. I…I…”
She couldn’t find the words no matter how much she tried. But Andiz seemed to understand, kneeling over to hug her head to his chest.
“It’s okay to cry, Kiki,” he said. “I know it may not help the hole fade, but neither does holding it in. Just know that no matter how big it seems, I’m willing to share it if you’d let me.”
If not for the pain running through her body, she would have squeezed him back and never let go. Given her current state, she could only lean into his embrace and let the emotions flow out of her.
How long had it truly been since she’d let herself cry? Since she’d let the emotions grow. She’d always said that once it was over, she’d finally put Elanor to rest. That she’d finally be able to move on. But it wasn’t until that moment that she realized just how much she’d been clinging to those memories.
All the hatred. The anger. The savagery. She’d done it all to get to Silver. And now here she was regretting that kill deeply.
Elanor could finally be put to rest. She was finally free. And all it had cost was the life of the one dragon she’d learned to call friend. She buried herself in Andiz’s chest as she found herself breaking down further, unable to do anything else but grieve for the first time in years.
The Silver Dragon was gone. And even despite everything, she found herself wishing she could have known her longer.
