Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

SELENE

T he beating of wings and fierce cries filled the mountain air as dragons soared through the sky towards the Castle of Gambriel. Keva's laughter trailed out of her as one of the smaller dragons, Lithe, turned in circles and performed a series of different maneuvers and dips with her secured to his back. The Queen of Gambriel had gotten a personalized saddle made for Lithe with straps of leather and metal clasps made to fasten her in.

She couldn't create portals with her magic, so riding Lithe was her quickest form of transportation and the little dragon loved roaming through the skies. Keva's rainbow colored braids twirled in the wind as the dragon flapped his wings, enjoying another chance to soar through the clouds.

We'd taken a break just a few hours prior for Keva to stretch her legs after flying all morning back into Gambriel. Her words echoed on repeat in my mind the further we flew. "I can see you hurting, Selene. You try to hide it with those easy smiles at us and then go on rampages in every city. You're lashing out, and for a good reason, but there comes a time when you need to sheathe those claws of yours and try a different way of thinking."

Keva was one of the strongest females I'd known and any bit of advice she threw my way, I'd take. At the age of eighteen, she was forced into an abusive marriage by her own father, made to conform to the corrupt crown's standards, and became something she hated only to then lose both of her children. Every time I was in her presence, I felt the heavy weight of Wesley's death on my hands.

The guilt and grief still remained no matter how much I reminded myself it wasn't my fault, so I couldn't even fathom the pain Keva felt. He was her child, her one and only son, and now he was gone. She was able to laugh and joke and play, her grief not stopping her ability to live her life and remain strong for her country, yet she was still soft and cared for them as well.

She was a true queen and I had a lot to learn from her. I respected her and her opinions, so to hear her tell me that I needed to change some of my ways before I lost myself completely was an earth-shaking revelation. I'd known my soul was blackening with every life I took, but to what extent?

And would there be anything left of me when this was all said and done?

I couldn't let my emotions guide me like I'd done over the last few months. I needed to be practical and selfless. I needed to find a way to stop the High King, find Emrys, and bring peace to this realm. Luckily, a lot of my goals did go hand in hand but my focus needed to shift to saving our people and land, and not just my Mate.

My wings arced as the castle came into view and the dark city of Rimont became clearer beneath my talons. The morning mist lingered despite it being midday, seeping between the stone buildings and dampening the roadways. The spiked gates outside of the castle were no longer adorned with heads of those King Harrington had killed, but the stench of death was still heavy in the air, the fog making it all the more ominous.

When I killed Radha within the dungeon of Gambriel's Castle, all my powers were released at once and destroyed most of the castle, but according to Keva, some of the King of Gambriel's secret library and office I had found and written her about were still intact. The prisoners that he held down there were protected from my blast of magic by King Harrington's defensive confines. Those iron cells and manacles both saved their lives and kept them imprisoned until Keva killed her abusive husband once and for all in Jindera.

Most of the parts of the castle that had been decimated were set to be repaired at a later date but that was the last thing on Keva's mind. She wanted to rebuild the city and help the people within her country before perfecting her own home. Instead, we were going to scour through the rubble and search for anything that might help us locate Emrys, stop the Medies from spreading, and figure out how to destroy the Crown of Daemonium before the High King bound himself to it.

Studying the city below, I saw that the lively capital city of Gambriel wasn't bustling with activity like it usually was. No faerie lights were lit along the cobblestone pathways and no vendors could be seen from my bird's-eye view. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Keva, I shouted through my mind into the queen's using my magic blessed by Bomris. Even with her High Fae hearing, she wouldn't be able to hear me over the powerful wind and flapping of dragon wings.

The Queen of Gambriel tapped her heeled boot against Lithe's flank and he stopped his ceaseless spinning. Shifting his wings, he came within range of my own and glided at my side as Keva asked, Yes?

Shaking my large skull, I nodded my head towards the city of Rimont. Why is it so quiet? Where is everyone?

She followed my line of sight and I watched her cerulean eyes grew wide as her thoughts stormed through her mind in a frenzy.

What the fuck?

Where are the guards?

Where are all of the people? Keva's heart started beating faster as Lithe dove towards the broken cobblestones of Rimont.

No no no no no.

She kept rambling the same questions over and over until I closed the bridge between our minds and swooped down towards the pathway directly in front of the castle. My talons dug into the stones before I shifted into my High Fae form and shrugged on the cloak we attached to my holster before we departed.

A cold, winter breeze blew past me, shuffling the fallen leaves littering the cobblestones as I searched for any sign of life within the city. The gates before the towering castle hung open, swaying in the wind despite the heavy metal they were made of. No guards in golden armor adorned them like usual and no trumpeters announced our arrival. The dragon carrying Keva landed soundlessly behind me as she unbuckled herself from the saddle and slid down with a loud slap of her boots onto the rain-sodden path.

The queen drew a short sword from her chest strap and armed herself while walking towards me. "Has this happened before?" I queried while holding the hilt of my Shadowblade, welcoming the cool grip.

"Never," Keva answered, looking around the area for any signs to tell us what had happened.

The blistering silence itched at my skin until the wind howled harshly, almost like a warning.

The soft clicking of nails against stone filtered through the wind, almost too soft for even our fae hearing to catch. Fire lit up my palms on instinct as Keva muttered a curse word under her breath. Lithe shifted his body, careening his head towards the clicking noise as I shouted, "Lithe! Go now!"

" My queens," he stated, not moving a single muscle. His bright golden eyes held trust and loyalty as he stared into mine. "I cannot abandon you."

A roar of distress left his body as golden blood splattered across the cobblestones from where the Raken tore into his exposed thigh. "GO!" I screamed, using Reombarth's power to make my command echo through the streets of Rimont. For a single heartbeat, he stared at me with apprehension. He was torn between staying by my side to protect me, to protect Keva , or following my order. More Raken screeched, their horrid call making my ears ring but I overpowered them with my own shriek, " GO NOW! "

With one final look of concern, Lithe nodded and flapped his wings. He moved swiftly up towards the gloomy sky as another Raken launched itself from the roof of a building it had crawled up and latched onto the tip of his wing. He howled out in agony as the Raken shredded into the membrane and Lithe shook, trying to get the deadly creature off of him.

Keva's vines shot up from the ground, cracking the cobblestone road in half as her elemental magic latched onto the undead creature. She dragged it down and away from Lithe, her poisonous pricks digging into its rotting flesh as the Raken flailed in her hold.

The beast that shredded into Lithe's side lunged for me next and I threw a streaming ball of Godsfire, disintegrating it into nothing but ash. Lithe cannonballed towards the other dragons circling up above as golden blood trailed behind him in a wake of pain. Another surge of flames left my palm, hitting the Raken within Keva's restraints, scorching it beyond repair.

The tapping on the stone streets of Rimont built up as Keva withdrew another blade. "Selene…" There were too many for us to fight on the ground, not when I would be worried about one killing Keva. And I was the only one who could send these foul creatures to hell.

So, we needed leverage.

"Get on."

Bones crunched, flesh relocated, and stones broke beneath me as I shifted into my dragon form, shredding my cloak in the process. My powers and the ability to shift within a second were beyond natural by now, the magic coiling within me completely controlled by my emotions.

I unfurled my right wing to the ground as Keva sheathed her weapons quickly and climbed onto my spiked, opalescent back. Gripping two of the many horns that jutted out from behind my neck, the Queen of Gambriel tapped lightly on my scales to let me know she was holding on.

Lifting off the ground, the wind beneath my wings stirred the debris left in Rimont. Only three dragons remained up above, circling over the Raken like vultures with prey. We originally came with six but Cato and Padma left immediately when Lithe hit the skies. His golden blood fell from the sky and I knew they were helping escort him to a safe place to heal his torn wing.

A dark purple dragon, larger than the rest and named Edna, swept down towards my gliding form and shot through our bond, Do we attack, Viridis Mors?

We round them up and burn them all, I answered not only to Edna but to the remaining dragons and Keva upon my back. In the distance, we could see a smaller army of Raken storming through Rimont from the entrance of the city, as if they were just arriving for the first time.

The town was torn through and desolate though. It looked like the Raken already rounded up all the people of Rimont so why were they coming back again? There only had to be about fifty of the vile creatures, an easy fight now that I was in my dragon form—but why were they here in such small numbers?

My orders came out clear and precise as I commanded the dragons and their positions.

Edna, take the flank.

Ryoko, take the left, and Tanwen, take the right.

Push them to the town square.

In a flurry of wings and sharp fangs, we separated from our formation and headed in our different directions. I charged straight to the entrance of the capital city where they were storming through. More vines shot up through the broken cobblestones as we passed over the large opening in the center of Rimont, where the townspeople celebrated different holidays.

Rimont never had city gates, only gates outside of the Castle of Gambriel, because the High Fae rulers didn't care about protecting the people they oppressed—they only cared about protecting themselves and the power they possessed. Having at least one line of defense, like town gates, could've given at least a small number of people a head start to escape Rimont before the Raken got to them. Now the people of Gambriel had paid with their lives and much more because of another selfish act from generations of corrupt rulers.

No matter how far we came, the mistakes of our past would always come back to haunt us.

The Raken screeched as they disbanded and ran in various routes throughout Rimont. Keva's magic burst through the city, different vines and trees coming up through the ground. I could feel her thighs shaking upon my back, hear her molars grinding as she pushed her foliage magic to the max. Her power was immaculate and precise as she ripped some of the creatures off her streets with her vines and trapped them in cages of greenery in the town square.

Their claws and serrated teeth shredded the shrubbery to which Keva kept sprouting up more to keep them restrained. Ryoko flew low to the ground, snapping up creatures in her large maw and dropping them into the cages the Queen of Gambriel created.

Fire filled my blood, scorched my middle with its heat, and burned up into my throat. Smoke left my nostrils as I let out a stream of the Godswilled fire towards the Raken bound within the city and burned them into the nothingness they needed to be.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large wrought iron cage filled with people being pushed through the bloodied mud outside of Rimont. It kept advancing before disappearing from sight and sinking into the sludge as if the earth were swallowing it whole. Raken with matted hair and flesh falling off their bodies used their torn muscles to push the cage further and fur?—

Sel, I can only hold them for so long, Keva urged through the bridge in our minds loudly, practically shouting into my skull and kicking her feet against my sides to turn my attention back to her. They're destroying my bindings.

Another two Raken fled from the city, dried flesh flaking off and falling to the spongy earth. They ran a wide berth around the fire I had burned their brethren with and raced to the sinking cage of bound people. My scales bristled as my instincts started to overtake the rational part of my brain. I wanted nothing more than to follow them, see where they were retreating to, and save those people, but Keva kept pounding on me, needing my help to finish the others off.

Arching my wings, I turned back towards the center of Rimont as Keva panted on my back, her powers draining. They were shredding through the vegetation with jagged claws and teeth. Ryoko, Edna, and Tanwen were on the ground with their wings tucked into their sides as their razor-sharp talons pushed the creatures back into the confines from each side.

Letting the fire build up into an inferno in my throat, I shouted down the bond to our Gods' children, Release!

The dragon's claws retracted as they shot up towards the sky and I burned through the remaining Raken. Watching their bones and vile faces melt into the stones, I felt Keva slump onto my back from using too much of her power to hold them. Shadows snaked around my body, grasping onto her form tightly to make sure she didn't plummet from this high up.

Tanwen swooped back to my position in the sky, his orange scales flashing in the sunlight as he waited for my order. Search for any survivors and then check on Lithe, I commanded. The three remaining dragons nodded before diving back to the ground to scour the streets of Rimont.

Burning through the ashes for good measure, I searched the cobblestones for any stragglers before racing back towards where the sinkhole once was. There was not a trace in sight as to what the fuck it was, or what had happened within the clay of Gambriel. Only the stench of decaying flesh and dark magic remained, burning my reptilian nostrils. But the cage was gone, as if it had vanished out of thin air along with the two Raken that had retreated through the sludge.

Fuck!

That shouldn't be possible.

None of this should've been possible.

I unfurled my wing, letting Keva gently slide down until she landed in a patch of cushioned grass I'd used my own elemental power to create for her. Her rainbow braids splayed out like a kaleidoscope of colors as she curled up on the mini meadow and let her powers regenerate. She didn't make a sound but the steady rise and fall of her chest eased some of the anxiety in my chest.

She was okay. Just absolutely drained.

Mud and sludge gave way while I dug deeply with my claws, searching for the source of the sinkhole. Unease swarmed my thoughts as I imagined those slumped bodies within the cage. Even with the distance, I could see how frail they looked. My talons were covered in blood and dirt and ash but my digging was going far too slow. People had been taken and with every passing moment, they could be killed or sacrificed.

Leaving my claws within the earth, I stared forward and willed my elemental magic blessed by Ragnar with ease. The soil lifted along with the rocks and roots within as my powers took over, following my command. I let my imagination take hold next, fabricating exactly what I wanted within my mind.

It only took a few seconds until a ten by ten-foot dirt passage opened up beneath the ground. More stones stirring behind me had me turning to see Keva rising with sleepy blue eyes and looking down into the magic-made tunnel as she asked, "What in the Gods' names is that?"

As I shifted into my High Fae form, Keva removed her overcoat, leaving her only in her riding leathers, and placed it over my shoulders to shield me from the chilled weather. Lighting a small ball of fire from my palm to light our way and as a defense, I answered the queen, "Only one way to find out."

We stepped into the earth and away from the realm around us.