The Raven Girl

The Raven Girl - chapter 46

Death came to all eventually; even immortals could not escape it. That was the nature of finite beings. The dragon had lived many years and it was a great sadness she had so terribly in the final chapters of her life. I lay on the cold floor vaguely aware of the dull throbbing in my hand. I had torn my hand open on the pane glass in my futile attempts to beg for the dragon’s life. Drifting in and out of consciousness I watched the pale winter sunlight peak and fade away, giving into the moonlights bright rays.

I dreamed of the dragon’s spirit soaring through the frozen night finally free of her prison. I imagined her travelling to the mountainous forest where I was raised and there meeting the souls of other dragons that had met bloody ends too. She was the last to join their group, they had waited centuries for her- the last of the old dragons finally reunited with her comrades. I woke up smiling because I was so happy that she was free. I opened my eyes wearily and noticed how wet the floor was. Looking up at the ceiling, I found it hard to focus. I tried to sit up but blackness fell over me and moments later my head was back against the wooden floor.

I kept thinking it was strange, because I hadn’t heard rain during my time locked in the room. Just as I was thinking that the door opened and someone stepped in.

“Ebony?” Dante’s voice called out to me.

“Hello.” I murmured weakly.

“Why can I smell- oh god.” Dante footsteps ran to me, but my vision was so blurry I couldn’t see.

“Yes, the water. I don’t know where it came from. Leaky roof I guess.” I babbled away.

I felt Dante’s arms wrapping around me and lifting me carefully off the floor. He was something either to me or someone else but my mind couldn’t focus on the words. It was probably some rant about me being a witch etc. Cutting through his sentence with a question I asked,

“Are you going to execute me now?”

Dante swore and the world blurred around me. I felt sick and so cold. Blackness fell over me and slipped into unconsciousness.

The first noise I heard was the sound of the fire crackling. A log was splitting in the hearth under the intense heat. A heavy blanket was laid over me and I felt something warm in my hand. I opened my eyes and looked blearily around. I was back in my chambers. Luna was peacefully sleeping by the fire and all was as it had been before. Next to the bed was a silver trolley covered in bright red and white bandages. Immeadiatly my mind flicked back to the dragons blood on the snow. Blood on white. Blood and innocence. My intuition sent me funny shiver down my spine and I looked away. I gazed down to the other side of me and saw Dante fast asleep next to me.

Was this a trick? I slowly took my hand away from his and edged off the side of the bed. Luna cocked her head as she saw me slide off the bed and padded towards me wagging her tail. I froze wanting to keep noise to a minimum but with in a few seconds I found myself pulled back down against the bed.

“You should be resting.” Dante said.

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped pulling away from him.

Dante threw his hands up, “I know I owe you an apology, yesterday I over reacted. I shouldn’t have thrown you into tower. I realise that you are mad at me, and I don’t expect your forgiveness right away but I hope that in the future you can forgive my tiny errors.”

I lifted my eyes to meet his and replied incredulously, “You consider branding to be a tiny error?”

“My thinking was impaired after the accident. My memories of you had completely vanished and I couldn’t believe what people were telling me. It wasn’t until an old friend talked some sense into me this morning that you were my wife. After that I rushed to the tower to save you. I couldn’t believe you would try to take your own life.”

I blinked, what was he talking about?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I found the glass you had used to cut your wrists open.” He replied.

“No, I did that accidentally. My friend, the dragon was-”

Dante raised a hand to silence me. His eyes hardened and his whole aura changed.

“Dragon and friend is not something I want to hear in the same sentence.” Dante said.

“But the dragon was my friend she-”

Dante abruptly stood up, “You’re delusional again,” He said. “I’ll fetch the doctor.”

“For crying out loud Dante, I’m not delusional! I’m trying to tell you the truth!”

“I’ll fetch the doctor. In my absence you can convey your gratitude to the man who convinced me that we were married.” Dante said opening the door.

Rolling my eyes I waited for Henry or Lord Manfred to walk in. I stared vacantly at the adjacent wall in silence. Dante had no idea what he had done allowing an innocent dragon to be slaughtered like that. I was so annoyed I did not turn my head to greet my supposed saviour who had been invited in by Dante. A cold shiver vibrated down my spine and I heard a voice- his voice…

“Hello sister.” My brother greeted me pleasantly.