Dawn of Arcane Destiny

Chapter Seventy-Four

They rolled onto the castle grounds just before dark, two days later. The journey home had been fairly uneventful, thank Non. Drayce was grateful but couldn’t help but feel on edge. He would have expected it to be harder on the way home. No had tried to stop them. They hadn’t saw a single Soulless. They had the Sword of Amasar wrapped in an old blanket. But no one had commented, no one had even inspected the wagon.

Drayce stretched out his legs. His right leg was splinted, bandages wrapped firmly around it. It ached terribly, but not as bad as it had been in the cave. At least he had the leg to ach. He still felt utter disbelief that they had all survived. He didn’t remember much after the cave collapsed. Lillia and Caelum had filled him in though.

Lillia had killed a demon. Holy Non that was hard to believe. Not that he didn’t think her capable of doing so. Anyone who saw Caelum would be astounded she had accomplished thus. He glanced at her. Her hair was down, tied in a loose tail that cascaded down her back. It was loose enough that it covered her ears, as she had lost her hat somewhere along the way. Despite what anyone said, Drayce thought her hair was beautiful. It was borderline scandalous for her to have her hair so loose, but considering the way she was dressed, that wouldn’t be the worst of it.

She caught him looking at her and smiled. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She didn’t seem to be able to manage anything else lately. She opened her mouth to say something, then froze. Drayce felt instant concern. “What is it?” he asked.

She touched her rounding belly, then burst into tears.

“Lilly!” Drayce said, astounded at the turn of events. “What’s wrong?” He moved awkwardly and sat next to her. She buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, not knowing what to make of her unexpected outburst. Was all the stress just crashing down on her? The wagon slowed as they approached the stables.

He let her cry for a moment before pushing her back so he could look at her in the face. Her leaking eyes were bloodshot, making her green irises stand out more than usual. “What has you so upset?” He asked firmly, but gently.

“I felt it, Drayce.” She said shakily.

“Felt what?” He asked confused.

“The baby. It’s still alive.” She said giving him a watery smile.

Drayce gasped in surprised and very nearly started crying himself. “That fantastic! Oh, thank Non.” He pulled her close again. “You have no idea how relieved I am!”

“I think I’m the only one who does know how relieved you are.” Lillia said, her head leaning against his shoulder.

“Alright you love birds; I will leave you here if you don’t get out.” Caelum said to them.

Drayce laughed, carefully getting out of the wagon. Caelum steadied him and ducked under his arm. He still couldn’t put any weight on his leg. It was healing, and thank Non he wouldn’t lose the limb, but it was a slow process. Even with speed healing, a crushed leg didn’t heal as quickly as he would like.

Lillia hopped down and walked with them back up to the castle. Drayce glanced at Caelum as they started their painfully slow walk. He had told them that Zraa had tried to slowly incinerate him. That could not have felt good. His skin was still blistered but was doing better with the salve that Hanelle had given them.