Chapter Thirty-Five

Madison

C leye had lost his mind.

“You’re going to look so beautiful once we finish this up,” he said as he worked at mixing the dyes.

I didn’t respond. There was no point. He was lost in a delusion of his own making, and no amount of protests on my part could change that. I’d spent the better part of three days trying, and so far, nothing.

“Whoever told you to get rid of that beautiful blonde hair of yours should be ashamed,” Cleye clucked.

“My hair isn’t dyed. This is the natural color, Cleye. Because my name is—”

“Hush,” he said, pressing a finger to my lips. “It’s okay. You don’t need to pretend anymore. Everything will be okay. I’ve made sure of it. We can finally be together.”

“If that’s the case, then untie me,” I said, straining with my wrists to free myself.

He giggled. “Nice try. But until you remember who you are, I can’t risk you going off and hurting yourself.”

This had been going on for days.

“How many times do I have to tell you my name is Madison Page! I’m a human.”

“No!” Cleye shrieked as he stood, spilling the dyes everywhere. “That is not who you are. You are my sister. Your name is Noa. I know you are because you have to be.”

“Your sister is dead!” I shouted back, hoping that maybe someone would overhear and come investigate. “She died two years ago.”

“That’s what they wanted us to think,” Cleye said, shaking his head. “But they’re wrong. You’re right here. And now, once you remember yourself, this will all be over. You and I will be together. This time, Callum won’t be there to take you from me!”

I rolled my eyes. The man was crazy. There was no reasoning with him.

“I should never have agreed to help you,” I muttered.

Outside the room, when he’d asked if I would help him punish the person behind his sister’s death, I’d readily agreed, eager to find out who it was so I could tell Callum. The man deserved closure.

Not wanting to tell me in public, Cleye had brought me to an abandoned part of the palace. Then he’d locked me in a room and didn’t return for several hours. When he did, he had suitcases full of luggage and other items.

All of which, I soon learned, belonged to Noa. He’d saved them, hidden them away instead of throwing them out.

It wasn’t until he’d started calling me by her name, however, that I realized he was delusional.

“We were robbed of a chance the first time,” Cleye said, stroking my face tenderly. “But not this time.”

He was also in a fabricated, incestuous relationship with his sister.

Who he now believed was me.

It was all kinds of fucked up. He’d dressed me in her clothes. Called me by her name. And now, he was preparing to dye my hair so I more closely resembled her.

“Callum cannot take you away from me,” he continued. “Not this time, my love. This time, there won’t be any need to intervene.”

That was a new piece of information. I focused on it. Why would Cleye have intervened? How did he intervene?

“What happened to me last time?” I asked, hoping I was phrasing it right to get him to answer. “When I said no?”

Cleye closed his eyes, shaking his head, muttering something to himself over and over again.

“What did you do to me, dear brother?” I asked in a gentler voice. “How did you handle the situation?”

“ Enough! ” Cleye cried. “Stop talking! Stop asking questions!”

“Why? If we’re to be together, there should be no secrets, brother. So, tell me what you did to stop Callum?”

“I said no more!” he shrieked, lunging for my throat.

My eyes bulged out of my head as he tightened.

“Shhh,” he said, all of a sudden calm as he squeezed the life out of me, looking down with a serene, glassy-eyed face that betrayed the violence he was inflicting. “You’ll understand soon. I did what I had to do. I—”

“You killed your own sister,” a new voice growled.

Cleye looked up just in time to see a fist connect with his face.

“Are you okay?” Cal asked me as Cleye slammed into the stone wall on the other side of the room, shattering much of it.

I could only nod as I sucked in precious air.

“I’m sorry I took so long. I’m here now, though,” he assured me. “I need you to know that—”

“Get away from her!” Cleye screamed, interrupting whatever Callum was going to say. “You will not defile her again! She’s mine!”

Callum’s blue-green eyes darkened dangerously as he turned to face the other dragon.

“You,” he said with white-hot anger. “You killed your sister. My mate . You slid a scale into her heart and left her. You robbed the world of a good person. Now, you come after Madison? A woman who has captured my heart, something I thought impossible after what happened before. You threaten her as well? You’ve tried to take everything from me, and I will not stand for it!”

Callum roared as he charged. I could only watch, still tied to the table, as the two of them went at it.

The room shook. Bits and pieces of the ceiling fell with every blow. Cleye may have lost his mind, but he hadn’t forgotten his training. At one point, Callum was too slow, and a punch sent him tumbling through the air until he crashed into the wall.

Cleye came at him so fast he was a blur, but Callum got the upper hand by flinging an unexpected hunk of stone, then striking while Cleye had flung his arms up to protect his face.

Both men were battered and bleeding, but neither was giving up. The fight went on as they circled, neither one wanting to hurt me. I struggled to free myself and get out of the way so Callum could fight without worrying about me, but it was futile. I was too well restrained.

“Just get out of my life!” Cleye howled at one point. “She doesn’t want you! She belongs with me!”

“You’re delusional, Cleye, and you know it,” Callum growled, wincing as he spoke, one hand pressed to his ribs where Cleye had landed a vicious kick at one point. “That isn’t Noa. Noa is dead . You need to accept it and move on. She’s gone, and neither of us can bring her back.”

“Lies!”

“I’m not lying. Trust me. For the longest time, I wished I was. I wished there was something I could do to bring her back. But there isn’t. And you know what happened once I awoke to that realization?”

“I don’t care!” Cleye charged.

Callum ducked the wild punch and drove straight up, the force of his shoulder flinging Cleye up into the ceiling, lodging him halfway through to the next floor.

“I realized,” Callum continued, unfazed as he reached for Cleye’s dangling feet. “That there was something to live for after all. That I’d been overlooking it. Blinding myself. But not anymore, Cleye. Now, I see her. And she’s perfect.”

Yanking hard, he whipped Cleye back down. The crazed dragon shifter's head slammed into the stone floor with a sickening crack. Cleye moaned woozily.

“That’s why you won’t be able to take her away from me,” Callum growled, his right hand covering itself in flame. “Because I love her.”

What?!

The fist fell, and Cleye’s nose disappeared in a spray of blood.

“I’m sorry you lost your sister,” he said.

His fist rose and fell again.

“But it’s over.”

And with one more punch, Callum ended it. Cleye’s body went limp.

I had seen death before. I knew the difference between that and unconsciousness.

Cleye was gone.

I had no time to dwell on that, however, because Callum was there, ripping me free.

“Callum,” I rasped.

“Shhh,” he said. “I’m here now. It’s okay. It’s over.”

I waved him off. I had to make sure I’d heard right.

“Did you …” I had to pause for breath. “Did you say what I think you did?”

He nodded solemnly, his eyes fixed on me, radiating happiness and calm in a way I’d never seen before.

“I love you,” he said evenly. “I would do anything for you, Maddie. I’m ready to move on. With you. No matter what it takes. Even this.”

Before I could protest, he reached up and dug his fingers under the scale embedded in his chest.