Chapter 35

35

E nvy had never seen something so large in his kingdom. Certainly not something as massive as a dragon, and he wasn't even sure a dragon had ever existed in this kingdom. At least, not while he was ruling it. So for one thousand years, a sense of safety had protected this place that they would never once have to deal with monsters such as this.

Other kingdoms did.

Sloth's kingdom was known to have dragons in it, although very few people had seen dragons in a very long time. Even there.

He stared up at the golden beast, magic still falling off its sides in waves of golden dust. He had known it was possible, but he hadn't realized it would look like this. The beast had likely been trapped in that bottle for a very long time. Because while it was still roaring and smashing whatever was in its way, he could also see that it was shaking its head from side to side.

It didn't know where it was. After all those years stuck in a stasis that must have felt like a waking dead, it was finally released and yet... there was no way for it to know how long it had been since it had originally been trapped. The beast could only know that it was here now, and that somewhere nearby was the person who had trapped it.

Envy ducked to the side as a wave of shingles fell off the roof of the first building beside them. They tumbled down all at once, a great sheet of shattering pottery that crashed against the ground.

Rolling to the side, he avoided most of it although he still had to mutter out a few spells so that the shards didn't slice everything in their path. He wasn't going to save everyone here, though, and that was tough to swallow. He'd always been the protector. This kingdom was his and no one else's and now... Well, he sort of felt as though this was his fault.

And it was. He had taken something that wasn't his, and now he was paying the price.

Catching Sloth's eye from across the town square, he gave his brother a nod. They both knew what had to be done, even though it was the stupidest and most dangerous thing they had done since their early days.

After all, fighting a dragon was never easy. It was even harder to fight when there was an entire city in their way.

He jolted forward, knowing the dragon's eyes were on him as heat dogged his steps. Was the damn thing breathing fire now? He'd thought it would take a lot longer for it to find its breath after years trapped in that vial.

Leaping into the air, he landed hard on his side just as the flames passed beyond the stone building that now shielded him. But at least he was on the same side of the building as Sloth, which meant they had a few moments to plan out what they were going to do.

His brother leaned over him, a grim expression on his face. "How much of this city do you want to save?"

"All of it, if possible."

"We might be a bit late for that," Sloth muttered, before moving aside so Envy could see the rest of the damage.

And it was damaged. Infinitely so. The dragon had stepped on a considerable amount of homes already, its feet sinking deep into the ground and reducing them to rubble. There were likely a substantial amount of people who were, unfortunately, dead. He could almost feel the loss of their souls and was embarrassed to admit how much that bothered him.

He had never cared before. Not before Lilith.

Now, he wanted them all to live. He wanted them to know that he was the one who had saved them and, for once, he wasn't the monster in their horrible stories. He was the hero.

Damn, he had never wanted to be the hero in his life and here he was, hoping that someone would appreciate just how hard he was about to fight for them.

"At least the houses are made of stone," he muttered, getting onto his hands and knees before pressing himself up into a kneeling position.

Sloth shook his head. "Still a shame the roofs aren't."

"What?"

He'd forgotten about the fucking thatch roofs. Of course, he had forgotten about them, because Envy had never had a thatch roof on his castle. But many of his people couldn't afford the clay tiles and stone was hard to sing into the shape of a roof. So, of course, some of them had started growing water weeds or trading with Gluttony's kingdom for them when they could.

And there were houses on fire. The crimson glow spread throughout the entirety of his kingdom, hopping from house to house. Soon enough, it would consume his entire world. If he wasn't careful, he would lose even more of his people to his own foolishness.

Grumbling under his breath, he did the only thing he could think of.

There was a small tattoo he hadn't taken out for a very long time. The creature was one he had captured in Lust's kingdom, and had never found a use for the small water fairy until this moment. Ripping it out of his skin, he let the little thing gather her wits before turning her to look at him.

"How much water can you control?"

She chirped something that made zero sense to him. But apparently, his brother could understand the magical creature who stood in Envy's palm.

She was so small it was hard to even look at her with the blinding lights around them and the gathering thunder of the dragon's anger. Her wings were gossamer, like the finest of dragonfly wings. A tiny blue dress covered her startlingly human form, and the way she crossed her arms over her chest was a very feminine anger that he was lucky to notice.

Sloth snorted. "She says she doesn't appreciate your behavior, and if she helps, she insists on being released."

He had no intention of releasing her. Envy had captured her fair and square, and she had to know that.

But then he heard the screams of his people. And he knew they were running out of time. If he didn't make this deal, then he would lose the rest of his kingdom.

Sure, he could rebuild. But as his eyes lifted to see the people running from their homes and trying their best to avoid the dragon's sweeping tail, he knew this was the only deal he could make.

"All the fires for your freedom. That's a deal I'm willing to make."

She shot off his hand without another thought, and he had to trust that she was going to help them and not immediately race out of his home. After all, there was no where for her to go. If she tried to go above, then she would be caught by the shadow creatures up there, just like every other magical creature.

For a second, he looked up at the ceiling of his home. He could release the shadow beasts into his kingdom. They would destroy the dragon in a moment, but the question was whether or not Envy could then corral them again.

Even Sloth made a grunting sound as he ducked back around the building. Dragon fire turned his form into a silhouette of darkness. "You can't let them in, Envy. You remember how long it took us to contain them in the first place?"

"I remember."

"And even then, we had to hide all the remaining people underground. It took you nearly three hundred years to build your people's numbers back to what they are now."

He had. And it had been a struggle. But there had to be someone or something that could fight a dragon because he couldn't. Not even with all the creatures he had amassed, there wasn't a chance unless...

He narrowed his gaze on Sloth.

His brother looked at him, looked away, and then looked back with a frown on his face. "Absolutely not. I know what you're thinking, and it's a terrible idea."

"You could fight it."

"I'm not going to fight it."

"It's a really small dragon, Sloth."

"No dragon is small, and I don't care." His brother crossed his arms over his chest. "You will not convince me to do this. Figure out another plan."

"There is no other plan. People are dying."

"I don't care that your people are dying." Another blast of dragon fire illuminated the world behind his brother, and Envy knew he was running out of time.

It was hard to guess what leverage would convince Sloth to help. But now he knew there was a woman out there waiting for Sloth, and that Sloth had experienced this horrible gnawing ache of love. So Envy knew there was something he could say.

Eyes serious, heart in his throat, he held out his hands for his brother to take. "She is so close," he said, his voice perhaps too low for Sloth to hear. "She is so close to me, Sloth, and I cannot find her until this is taken care of. I need this dragon to stop so I can find her again. I need to hold her. I need to know that the man who took her from me doesn't hurt her like someone hurt your woman."

Sloth's pupils contracted. Bit by bit, those eyes looked more like a snake than they had before. "You can't convince me this way."

"I am willing to get on my knees and beg if that is what it takes. I have to know that she is alive, but you know that our purpose is to keep our kingdoms thriving. I wish I could choose her over all the other people in this kingdom. If I was like you, perhaps I would. Perhaps I would be able to let them all die and rush to her side, but I cannot. She taught me better than that."

Sloth sighed, but it was more of a hiss than it was a human sound. "I do not like this plan."

"Just don't get yourself killed."

"By a dragon that small?" Sloth shook his head, and already there were golden scales rippling over his body. "I promise you, my brother, a dragon like that will not kill me."

"Don't take out any more of my kingdom than necessary!" he shouted. Already Sloth was growing bigger, larger, expanding toward the top of his kingdom

Scales turned Sloth's skin into an armor that was impossible to pierce. His hands twisted and turned into talons that were so massive they were longer than the swords Envy kept at his hip. And he continued to get even bigger. His neck elongated. His face twisted into a massive snout that split open and roared as the other dragon did the same thing.

Sloth was larger than the dragon Lorenzo had released. Envy had to cast a quick spell up on the building he was hiding behind, so the damned thing didn't fall under the weight of the massive dragon that now leaned against it. The stones creaked, wobbled, but then held with the power of his magic holding them up.

He wasn't sure how many homes he could keep up like this, though. Soon, he would need to sing the stones back into place. He could fix all the things that were broken. Just not yet.

But then Sloth turned toward him, a deeper gold than the creature that was summoned. "Go get her," he said, his voice so low it made the very stones rumble.

It was all the permission he needed.

Envy turned and bolted down the streets, knowing that his kingdom was in the best hands that he could ask for. And as he ran, he ripped at his tattoos. Each of his creations, his stolen creatures, his nightmarish curses, all of them were given the same purpose.

Save his people.

Save his kingdom.

He cast them out to do everything they could do while his brother fought with the dragon. Some of his tattoos soared into the sky and prevented the fires from spreading. Others rushed into the homes and helped the people who were too close to collapsing stones. Others merely provided a faster way for people to flee.

"Bring them to the castle," he sent out into the magic of his creations. "Save as many as you can and allow the dragons to fight."

He didn't want to lose any more of his creations to this circus. Lorenzo thought far too highly of himself, and now it was time for Envy to prove him wrong.

As the city crumbled, he pulled out the very last tattoo. The dark mass of shadows rolled at his side, complaining that it wasn't going into the fight with him before it left.

And then, only then, did he summon his dearest creature to his side. The dark shadow of Orphe's form sliced through the air only moments after. She was still weak, her body still warped by the poison, but she was here.

"You called?" she asked, flying above his head as they both raced through the alleyways of his home.

"Do you know where they took her?"

"I can guess." Orphe turned, and he followed her down the next alleyway. "There is a part of the kingdom that's been closed off for a long time. Rock slide was the first reason, then a cave in."

"And?" he shouted, leaping over fallen stones and nearly falling before he caught himself on the side of a building and continued forward.

"There have been rumblings that the circus has moved there. Few of your people were willing to side with them, far less than any of us expected. People don't want to fight with the demon king. Only the strongest were even interested, but as we know, you've destroyed most of the strongest."

There had obviously been a good reason for that.

Snorting, he ran underneath her and let Orphe take the lead. In his experience, she was always right about what was happening in his kingdom.

And if she was right this time, then he intended to fight them all on his own.