Asense of rightness and peace washed over me as I stood on the beach and stared out at the waves, inhaling the familiar sea air of my homeland. My hair whipped in the breeze, mostly loose around my face. I had only bothered to braid it back the barest amount before making my way from our seaside inn to the beach. Malik had rented out the entire inn for our privacy, but we were returning to Zehvi today. I wanted to soak it all in one more time before we left.
I pulled out my talisman, laying it flat in my palm, and stared at it as it gleamed in the dawn light. The smooth pinkish stone encasing the flower that still appeared so clean and hopeful—I flipped it over—and the scarred side that had blackened that horrible day when I nearly lost everything.
The Maiden and The Assassin.
The young, optimistic girl I had been . . . and the weapon I became.
Everything has its opposite,indeed.
I wasn’t a dragon rider, and I wasn’t even an assassin any longer, but that night and all my experiences afterward made me who I was now, and I was finally at peace with that.
And for the first time, I found myself wondering if both gods hadn’t had a hand in saving our lives that night. I knew it was borderline blasphemous to think I could divine a deity’s emotions, but I could have sworn I felt the approval of both my patron gods at the thought.
I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of the waves as I began to hum a soft melody that came to mind.
I had only hummed a few notes before a pair of long arms encircled my waist. I clutched my talisman tighter in my fist as I was pulled back against a broad chest.
“I should have known I would find you here,” Malik whispered against my hair. “You are a siren, after all.”
I grinned. “I didn’t want to miss it,” I said, clasping my hand over his arm. “There is nothing quite like the sun rising over the ocean.”
He grunted in answer as we both watched the sun crest the horizon against its pale backdrop. We stood like that for a long time as the world around us awoke and color bled into the sky.
A bone deep sense of happiness and contentment overcame me in that moment as I turned my head to stare up into those amber eyes—that dragon’s stare that I loved so much.
Grinning, he leaned closer and whispered against my lips, “You’re smiling,isholet.”
I just smiled wider and kissed him.
