The Dragon and the Scholar Saga: Complete Fantasy Romance Series Boxset by H. L. Burke

Author:H. L. Burke [Burke, H. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: k'12
Published: 2016-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Words Spoken, Choices Made

Shannon scrambled up the goat path, clutching a lantern. The weak moon offered little guidance. Her heart pounded.

What if I am too late? What if he is gone? What if there is no more Ewan?

It was one thing to give Ewan up, to accept that they would never be together, but imagining a world in which Ewan did not exist was another thing entirely.

She came around the bend in the path. The circle of lantern light fell upon what at first she mistook for a twisted, charred tree trunk, before recognizing it as a singed corpse. She quailed back. This was obviously Ewan’s doing. Perhaps that meant he had fought off attackers, but where was he? She approached the cave’s mouth. Her lantern illuminated the web and she gasped.

Setting down her light, she tried to cut through the net with Martin's sword. The blade sparked on the metal and came away dented. Dropping the sword, she squeezed through a gap on one side. There he lay, only a few feet in front of her, in the long shadows cast by the netting.

Shannon somehow managed to get his giant head onto her lap. She lay across him, stroking his ears, her tears pouring down onto his scales. He did not move. His scales no longer felt warm to the touch. Then warm breath rose from his nostrils.

“Shannon?”

She remembered what Donovan had said about the way Ewan pronounced her name and, for a moment, she could almost hear him draw out the syllables as if to caress them.

“I am here,” she choked out between tears. “How are you hurt? What can I do to help you? I forgot my kit. I need to get help.” She started to rise.

“No! Stay! Please stay!” he entreated. “Please, don’t leave.”

The agony in his voice shot through her soul. She lowered herself back down, her grip about him tightening. “I can't see a wound, but it is so dark. Please, tell me how they hurt you.”

“It is too late. The poison has been in me too long. Just stay. If I am to die, I accept that, but I need to feel your touch and smell your skin. Please. I don’t need life. I need you.”

“But you can’t die,” she wept.

“I have lived as much as I am able in this body,” Ewan whispered. “Please, just be with me while I fall asleep.”

“I will never leave you again, but please, help me save you. Where are you hurt? What did they do to you? Ewan, I can save you. I know I can.”

“To what end?” he said with what might’ve been a laugh. “Shannon, oh, Shannon, I have loved you for so long.”

Her entire being shuddered. Those words, so long desired, crashed through what remained of her strength like a wave of cold water.

“I love you, Ewan,” she whispered. “More than anything.”

“I know. I am sorry I couldn’t give you what you deserved, what you wanted. Lying to you was cruel. I

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