After My Husband Abandoned Me, I Rule All Dragons novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: Five Years

The bronze dragon came round over the lake, screaming, and dived at the village.

Its fire lit the water orange.

A thatch roof went up below the wall.

I ran to the parapet.

This time I didn't hum.

I put both hands to my mouth and sang the pot song as loud as I'd ever sung it in my life.

Then I sang his name over it.

"Drystan! Drystan!"

The whole yard heard me.

The whole village heard me.

The bronze dragon pulled up out of its dive so hard its wings cracked.

It hung in the air over the burning roof.

Its head turned toward the wall.

"Drystan," I sang. "Come down. Come down to me."

It came.

It landed on the wall walk, just where it had landed an hour before, and the stones groaned.

Its eyes cleared.

It shrank.

Drystan was on his hands and knees on the wall, naked, shaking so hard his teeth rattled.

Nobody was hurt.

Drystan raised his head and looked at me.

He'd heard that song for five years.

He'd never once heard it out loud.

I watched him understand.

The realization dawned on his face, slow and sick.

"That was you," he said hoarsely.

"Yes."

"On the moors. Last winter, when I thought I'd lost it over the river."

"Yes."

"At the Emberwatch. On the way in, before I landed."

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Five years," I said. "Every fight. Every long flight. Every time you lost your temper on your own back."

He stared at me.

"I thought that was me. I thought I was strong."

"I know you did."

"You never said."

"You never asked what I was doing back there. Not once."

He sat back on his heels on the cold stone.

"Come back," he said. "Alys. Please. I'll do anything. Celandine can't, she's never, she doesn't sing to me. I've nearly gone twice since you left. Please. I need you."

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