Chapter Thirty-Eight

Nothing had ever tasted as sweet as that dragon heart.

For about ten seconds.

Then it seemed as if the sky folded in on me, scales replacing clouds to billow with drawn breaths. Dragons left their fights to come for me. My enemies had decided that they had enough of this game. They were going for the most important piece of the board. Finish it in one strike.

Damn, why hadn't I considered that? I suppose I had made the same mistake that they had—arrogance.

The blows landed and there was nothing I could do. I was cut and bit so many times, so rapidly, that the pain didn't register at first. Then it was so overwhelming that I couldn't cry out. To go from a win in sight to this was crushing. More crushing than the weight of the thirty or so dragons that held me down. I couldn't see anything but scales, horns, and teeth. And blood. My blood.

But all I could think about was Aras.

He was up there, on that wall, watching me die. Great Gods, let his guards do their work and get him the fuck away from there. Please, let him be safe. Let him—

An echoing roar sent chills down my spine. I knew the sound, and it shouldn't have been so close. Where were his guards? How had Aras gotten off that damn wall? No!

The dragons around me shuddered, a few drawing back. One said, “Smell that? That's his mate.”

Another snarled, “Kill him too. You'll be doing them both a kindness.”

I flailed, my dragon gone mad with the threat to our mate. The dome of dragons undulated with my fury but held on. Warriors all, they had their claws in me. Their teeth. Even the barbs of their tails were embedded in me, every part of them put to the task of conquering their king. Of regicide.

I would die while they murdered my mate, and there was nothing I could do about it.

But then the pile of dragons was thrown aside. All of them gone in a heartbeat. I uncurled myself and stared up at a clear sky. A circle of about fifty feet was cleared and widening. Dragons were reeling back in the air. And those who'd been attacking me were lying around me like broken toys. But that was all seen in a glance from the corner of my eye. Because I couldn't look away from Aras.

He was floating. Fucking floating. My mate hovered in the air about twenty feet above me. His hair and fur whipped about in an unnatural breeze, his legs were braced apart as if he stood on the deck of the Tiger's Claw, and his arms were extended even wider. Magic spun around him. But the only magic my mate had was Earth. And Earth couldn't make him fly. So how the fuck was he doing whatever the fuck he was doing?

Then Aras shifted his ice-blue stare down to me. It was full of rage but also power. It was the power that made the resemblance uncanny.

Just as the thought occurred to me, Risarren appeared beside my mate and declared, “It's true! You're him. You're my son!”

I couldn't move, so enraptured was I by this drama unfolding.

Aras blinked and looked at Risarren. “What?” His arms lowered and he looked around himself in shock. “How am I doing this?” He instantly began to fall.

“Aras!” I shot to my feet and made to leap after him.

It was unnecessary. Risarren reached out, and Aras flew into his arms.

“I've got you, Son. I finally have you. Your mother tried to take you from me, but I knew I'd find you one day. Now that I have, we will show Serai what true power is.”

Aras looked from Risarren to me. I had paused again, my haunches bunched for take-off. It wasn't shock that held me back. Something unseen strapped me to the ground.

“Aras!” I shouted. “I can't move! His spirits are holding me.”

“Lyrandir!” Aras called to me and tried to push himself free of his father's arms.

“I'm your father. Didn't you hear me?” Risarren frowned. “You've inherited my sorcery. I can show you how to use it.”

“Then show me now!” Aras snarled. “I need to help my mate win this war.”

As if the word war had reminded everyone what we were there for, dragons suddenly dove from the sky, heading for me again. I lost sight of my mate and growls drowned out his next words. Once more, I was caught at the bottom of a pile of ruthless dragons.

And then I heard my mate shout, “Lyrandir!”

Aras's fear shot into my heart and then through my body, turning molten. He called for me again, his voice fainter, and I knew he was being taken from me. My body, still recovering from the last attack, trembled as it tried to heal and get to my mate. Then the bond between Aras and I went silent. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't feeling anything either. He'd been knocked unconscious. That bastard sorcerer was taking my mate!

I shouldn't have been able to fight free of that dragon pile. That had just been proven. All those rapid strikes were enough to keep me down, too weak to even call upon my magic. But feeling my mating magic go dark was enough to send my dragon into a panic. I fought more savagely than before, summoning every ounce of strength in me. And this time, it was enough.

Roaring, I came bursting upward, as if surging from the bottom of a lake. Bodies blasted outward, arching in sprays of boiling water and blood. The blast had me rising too, but only to fall with its release. I landed on my feet and shuddered, nearly crumpling. Desperation had summoned my magic, but now, I paid the price. Thankfully, my enemies paid it too. They drowned in that scalding water, going limp just before my magic gave out and dropped them in wet heaps. It gave me enough time to recover. I stood there panting as the drowned dragons started to revive, my stare searching the sky—searching for Aras. He was gone.

“The sorcerer took him, Your Majesty!” one of my dragons shouted down to me. “They just vanished!”

I roared and made to leap once more. But by then, more dragons had made it past those who tried to defend me. They filled the sky, cutting off my escape. I launched myself anyway, intending to burst through the battle as I had the pack who had tried to kill me. But as soon as I was airborne, I was hit from several directions. I screeched in fury and tumbled back to the ground. Lying in the mud, I stared up at a ceiling of enemy dragons.

Maybe the Eye had been telling the truth. Even with all our preparations and my greater control of magic, my enemies had overtaken me, and my mate had been abducted. I couldn't save Aras. Couldn't even see him. I wouldn't have the comfort of feeling his love down our bond while I died.

A flare of red crossed my vision again. I was not going down this easy. Especially not when Aras needed me. If I could survive long enough to find a break through the mass of bodies above, maybe I could track my mate. I had to get to Aras. He was more important than my kingdom and everyone in it.

Soldiers screamed, and I knew it wasn't just my enemies. My people were falling, many would never get up again. And still, they fought. I heard my father call to my mother, and my heart went cold. Aras mattered most, but my love for him didn't destroy the love I held for my parents or even what I felt for my loyal troops. I had to get to my mate, but first, I had to end this.

Fuck the Eye's predictions. I would win this war and retrieve my mate.

With a roar, I swiped out and slashed through a dragon's throat. As the mass of them closed in on me, I used everything I had to strike out, my head included. I bit, clawed, and speared blindly. I blasted them with boiling water. Lost in the darkness of their bodies, I knew only rage, urgency, and pain.

My immortality couldn't keep up with the wounds I received. My vicious opponents cut me deeper and deeper before I could heal. My legs buckled. My magic flickered to nothing. I lashed out. Blood soaked the ground beneath me.

I knew better than to go to my knees. So I leaned into a dragon's bite while I stabbed up with all five claws of my right talon. As my enemy sought to pull away, I crushed his jaws in my grip, then tossed his dead body aside.

“Fucking bastard!” someone roared.

I knew I wasn't the only one with loved ones on that battlefield. As I said, the entire nobility of the Gavemor Dread had come to Renris. Whole families were out there, trying to murder me. And every dragon I took down was someone's relative. The shrieks of a female dragon was all the warning I had before I was hit again. The good news was that she took me out of that death dome. The bad news was that I hit the ground at a bad angle and hard enough that my wings broke.

Rage filled me. How would I track my mate without my wings? Everything was falling apart. All the plans we'd made crumbled around me, as useless as my wings.

I groaned and floundered on my side, trying to get up.

The female who attacked me stalked forward, the other dragons withdrawing. Must have been her son that I killed. No, not a child. A mate. I recognized the blind determination in her eyes. Great fuck. I had just killed her mate. Now, I had to kill her or she would kill me, and my mate would be lost.

Have I mentioned that our women are more vicious than our men?

Behind the female was a patch of sky. Pale blue like Aras's eyes. His and his father's. Risarren wouldn't hurt Aras. I had to believe that. Of course, he wouldn't. It had sounded as if he'd been searching for Aras for years. My mate would live. He might not have the life he wanted, but he'd be alive. That thought calmed me. It gave me the strength to accept whatever came next. No, I wouldn't just lie down and die, but I was at peace with it if that's what happened. And I'd take as many of those motherfuckers with me as I could. Starting with this bitch right here.

With a freshly broken mating bond, she wouldn't be thinking clearly. But I was. More importantly, I was steady. My training returned. Muscles remember things better than a mind. I saw paths to her weak points and plotted a course.

Silently, I leapt and came down atop the female's back. She jerked and thrashed, but I dug my claws into her flesh and held on. More shrieks came, but these were of pain. And I had just begun. She dropped and rolled to dislodge me, but by then, I had her throat in my mouth. Females don't have as many horns as males, especially down the back of their necks. So, I easily found a weak spot where I could bite her from behind.

“Kill him!” she shouted. “Get this piece of filth off me! Kill—” Her words ended in a gurgle.

As she fell, I lifted my head and spat out her flesh. The circle of dragons around me growled and closed in. They'd given her a chance, and she had failed. Now, it was their turn. I saw my death in their eyes. Here it was. Another united attack. That female had made a grave mistake by coming at me alone. Even injured, I was stronger than her. But these males wouldn't make that mistake.

I limped away from the corpse, my wings dragging behind me. The bones thrummed, fighting to align so they could heal. My magic was depleted, lost with my strength. At least the flesh wounds had stopped bleeding. There had been a particularly annoying one seeping into my right eye. But now, I saw clearly. I saw everything clearly.

“Come then!” I shouted. “Kill me. But know that you were not good enough to bring me down alone. This day will haunt you forever. It will unman you. Weaken you. Because you will always remember that a man who you saw as beneath you, ruled legitimately, justly, and with more power than any of you could hope to possess.”

The dragons looked at each other.

“I'm all right with that,” one of them said snidely.

Another chuckled.

Then they locked stares on me.

Just as they came for me, a roar echoed down from above. A distinctive dragon roar. And on the heels of it came a blast of water.

I blinked as the dragons before me were knocked away by a ring of water. The gushing didn't stop until they were yards away, giving me a clear line of sight. The battle had continued around me, but I saw more of my soldiers than the enemy. Holy fuck, were we winning even as I lost? Then I looked up.

Dragons still filled the sky, but many of them swam in tunnels of water that magnified the sunshine. I lifted my face to the light and roared. My allies roared back. Among them was a dragon I had known since I was a child. Ellas. My heart surged with hope.

“Lyrandir!” my father shouted a warning.

I jerked to the side, but I wasn't fast enough to avoid the blow. I could only watch as an enormous talon came down, aimed at my throat. No. I couldn't die now, not when my allies had just arrived. Not with victory in sight and Aras taken from me!

Instead of the talon landing on my throat, Ellas landed between me and the other dragon. He landed with his jaws open. One bite and he took that threatening talon off the dragon's leg. As he spat it out, the dragon shrieked. But Ellas struck again, using techniques I had taught him, and cut the shriek short. The dragon's corpse fell with a thud while Ellas turned to me, his grin bloody.

“Sorry we're late, Your Majesty,” Ellas said. “We flew as fast as we could.”

Around us, the ex-nobility fled. My forces chased them, but only the dragons—especially those of the sea, who were doubtless eager for the fight they'd been promised. Whoops came, hollowed by a layer of water, and shimmering streams full of sea dragons passed overhead.

With the signs of triumph came a great cheering. I stared around myself at the victors—people from many races. Among them were my parents. Thank the Gods, my family was safe. Now, I could go after Aras without worry.

“Thank you, my friend,” I said to Ellas. “But I have to go.”

“What?” Ellas lost his smirk. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“A sorcerer has taken my mate.”

“Who?”

I spread my wings, then growled in frustration. They needed more time to heal. “Fuck!”

“Lyran, who took your mate?” Ellas shouted.

“That fucking sorcerer!” I shouted back. “Risarren. He's Aras's father.”

Ellas gaped at me a second, then said, “I leave for a few fucking hours and when I come back, everything has gone to crazy town.”