The Last Light (The Wandering Inn, #5)

by Pirateaba

Now his voice echoed around the cave, whispering. Frantic and old. “—breathe. The death magic must be dispelled. But the heart—where’s my scroll of regeneration? No time. I’ll have to reconstruct it—what do Human hearts look like?” He turned and began to search around his cave as Ryoka watched her chest continue to rise and fall. Something was happening in her chest. Ryoka knelt by her body and felt her heart start to assemble itself, flesh and blood melding together. “I can’t find my compendium of anatomies! Another heart? A magic one? No, no. Just heal the damage. It’s just a death spell. Simple to fix. She will survive. Of course she will.” He was old. And worried. And tired. Ryoka looked at the old man as he paced back and forth in his tiny home, his cave of rock. And then she saw a Dragon. His scales were bronze and shone like the sun. They looked closer to gold in the half-light of his cavern. The Dragon was huge, taller than any creature of the land or sky, majestic. His mane flowed like molten metal, his claws were like razors.

I guess her pain, trauma & sacrifice was worth it to get him back into the game.