116. Aurora

CHAPTER 116

Aurora

The bone plates in my face start to shift and move. I feel as if my beast is about to break free at any moment. Suddenly, I grab Vladimir's throat roughly and lift him off the ground, breaking him free from his ice prison. My talons sink swiftly into his flesh. He appears frozen in a state of horror. His eyes are open wide, and his mouth hangs open in a voiceless scream. I watch the color drain from his face as he realizes how deep of shit he is now in.

I feel the rage boiling under my skin as I hold him off the ground, looking into his pale blue eyes. This thief has stolen so much from my family and me. Without hesitation, I throw him away from me towards the center of town and stalk slowly after him. I hear the gasps and whispers of my family around me. Part of me knows this isn't something my children should bear witness to.

"Laurel, take the children to the pond to swim." I don't bother to look in her direction, and without hesitation, I hear her gather up my children and feel them leave.

Once I am sure my children are far enough away. I tilt my head to the left, listening to my beast call for the blood of Vladimir.

Rip him to shreds. Tear him limb from limb. Rip his heart out and keep it as a souvenir. Bathe in the blood of our enemy , my beast says with a growl in my head. A wicked smile plays upon my lips as I shift entirely to that of my hybrid beast.

Vladimir smirks as he attempts to dust himself off. "Oooh, I'm so scared of an abomination like you. You're nothing but a whore's spawn, a genetic misfire." He sneers and waves a hand at me dismissively.

My family's voices sound as if they are underwater as my singular focus is on Vladimir and his heartbeat. Movement out of the corner of my eye shows my mates holding my father back. Vladimir is using me to bait him back into battle. I'm mentally shaking my head. Oh no. This asshole's time has come. I feel my power course through my veins and rise to the surface as the ice begins to form on my fur. An arctic wind begins to blow from behind me, sending small ice shards at Vladimir. I increase the storm's power in increments; more and more of the shards start to slice and rip at his clothing. The wind howls as its intensity increases, adding to the destructive power of my storm.

Alaric moves to stand behind Vladimir, his hands clamped on his shoulders as my ice has no effect on my mate. He has the same wicked smile on his face as I did a moment ago. From my father's memories, I pull forth one method he taught me. I remember the torture called Ling-chi—the lingering death, otherwise known as death by a thousand cuts. I reach out to Jayce, and he brings me his flannel. My shift back to my human form is slow and painful since my last upgrade. My storm falters for a moment and almost gives Vladimir a chance to attack. Thankfully, Alaric is swift and recaptures him and holds him in place for me.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." I shake my head. "Good try there, Vlad, old boy," I say, emphasizing the old part. His eyes narrow on me as I smile sweetly, trying to get on his last nerve before I start the ice storm back up again.

"You're a bitch just like your mother was, thinking so highly of yourself. You're nothing! Not a Lycan, not a dragon." He motions to his feet. "You're lower than the shit on the bottom of my shoe." Vladimir spits his venomous words at me, yet I remain unaffected.

Tilting my head to the side I say, "I don't need my beast to kill you; you're already dead and don't even know it yet." Straightening myself, I look him in the eyes. I raise my hands and ice shards begin to gather and swirl all around me violently. Alaric move! I say through our mental bond.

Suddenly, I throw my hands forward, and the ice storm flies at Vladimir, slicing his flesh like a thousand razor blades. I watch my ice shards rend the flesh from his muscles and down to the bones in places. A mass of vermillion fluid oozes down his body and starts to pool at his feet. I focus on his heartbeat, listening for the moment it begins to falter.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub…. Lub-dub. There's the falter I was waiting for. The ice storm stops almost as quickly as it had started. He's weak and beginning to sway on his feet. I immediately encase most of him in ice before moving over to him.

My human eyes scan over his remaining features; his blue eyes remind me painfully of my first love. Or what I thought was my first love, Sebastian. If that poor man wasn't tainted, maybe I wouldn't have had to kill him. It's not worth pondering at this point.

My mind wanders to Andre, the only mother figure I had. He was my best friend and someone I loved greatly, and he's dead because of this fucktard before me. My mother, gods rest her soul, died because of his greed and lust for power. My father suffered for over two hundred years because of Vladimir. Dimitri and I could have been together all this fucking time if not for this man's meddling.

Drain him... Make him die. Make him feel fear and suffering. My beast demands retribution, and I will not deny her any longer.

Vladimir stares at me. "You look so much like her... My Anca."

I feel the ancient power spike in me. How dare Vladimir say my mother was his. "By the powers vested in me, by birthright and Gallus," my head tilts to the side as I study him, "I sentence you, Vladimir, to death eternal." I grip his head and shift my hands to my armored gauntlets. My talons sink into his flesh till they scrape his skull. At first, I channel all the pain I've felt at every turn throughout my journey. I give him the pain from all of the losses I've suffered over the last few years. I pour into him all the pain from never being able to stay in one place, always moving to stay safe. I give him my loneliness that I suffered from being isolated from everyone and everything. Vladimir's mouth hangs open in a silent scream as he relives all of the horrors of my life.

Casually, I look over my shoulder to my father to see tears rolling down his cheeks. Fuck, I left the bond wide open. Everyone connected to me feels what I am feeling, right at this exact moment. "There will be no Elysium for you, Vladimir. I won't allow it." His face is now ghost white, eyes wide, showing pure fear as he feels me starting to pull on his life force. He starts muttering "no" over and over again. His pathetic no's mean nothing to me.

My Force powers begin to manifest and run like streaks of lightning through my long, white hair. Frost starts to coat the earth surrounding where I'm standing, plunging the camp into winter. I see Alaric shift into his dragon and move to sit behind me, helping me drop the temperature further. Vladimir's body starts to wither slowly before my eyes as I drain his life from him. I pull at each strand of every year, one by one, taking his power into myself.

Oddly enough, I gather as I pull on his mana; he has no special gift. He had absolutely nothing he could have offered my mother beside his seed. This pathetic excuse of a male was never meant to be a mate to my mother ever . There's not a single thing about him that would have been found worthy. Vladimir stopped making noise a while ago, and his heart has fallen silent. I steal the last fibers of essence from him before releasing my grip on his husk.

Burn him, turn him to ash. Leave nothing behind. He's not worth remembering, my beast says to me. Heal father, give mate more years. Make him whole, my beast tells me as I look at my father and Helle. I know what I have to do; I know what I want to do. The question is... Is it possible ?

I reach back and touch Alaric's dragon, then motion to the rest of my family to move back. I click my ignitor and open my mouth, breathing my force weapon upon Vladimir's husk. I pour all my pain into the weapon at my disposal. He burns until not even ash is left, just a black mark upon the soil. I draw in a deep breath, silencing the weapon in my chest. Jayce comes running over to me and offers me water. I sip slowly from the offered cup, then hand it back. Gently, I kiss his cheek and move to my father next. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elsa. She knows what I'm about to do because she was the recipient of my prior gift.

"King Nicodeamus Tepish of the Ice Dragons, I ask you, not as your daughter but as your equal to kneel before me." I'm not sure how my father will react to this, but I must try—the power of the ancient pulses through my hair and over the scales of my gauntlets.

My father tilts his head slightly then drops to his knees before me without hesitation. "I, Nicodeamus Tepish, kneel before our Sovereign Queen, Aurora Marelup-Kraus, true leader of the Ice Dragon and Lycan packs'."

I lean forward and press my lips to my father's forehead. Ever so slowly, I start feeding the stolen life force back into him. In my mind's eye, I reach out and grab hold of his dragon's form. I focus a majority of the power on my father's dragon. Being mythical creatures, things work differently for them. Gallus taught me the extent of his power as well as my own. As Gallus had done for me, I am doing for my father. I focus my love and my intention on his dragon. We remain locked for what must seem like forever to everyone else. For me, it was but a blink of an eye. A light coating of frost remains on my father's whole body when I pull away. I offer my hands to him to assist him in standing. He rises to his feet, looking at me curiously. I didn't reverse time for him as much as I would have liked. I gave him a better gift than years, I almost can't wait to tell him.

"Helle, would you come here, please?" I extend my hand to my father's mate. I don't have much left for her but I can at least give her something. Helle comes to me quickly and grips my hands tightly.

"Yes, Aurora?" She beams up at me; the joy and love in this woman's eyes almost erases the hell I relived today.

"I need you to relax and trust me." I smile as I look down at her. The minute she nods, I press my lips to her forehead. I shift my gauntlets back to my human hands. And ever so gently, I place them on her face and slowly drag them down to her jaw. Next, I run my fingers through her hair, rejuvenating it too. I wish I could do more, but unfortunately, I used most of the stolen mana on my father. I feel the last of the stolen energy leave me, and I stand up straight, looking at Helle. She could easily be confused for an older sibling to her sons than their mother. I release her hands and look back over at my father.