Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I t’s day one of the Dragon Trials.

Kyle holds my hand to help steady the nerves raging inside me as we stand with the other contestants on the training grounds. We’re all dressed in matching black leathers that were laid out on our beds when we returned from the feast last night, each wearing the same stern expressions, masking our fear.

Kyle knows I’m worried about today. He can probably scent my fear. I’ve been trying to mask it by telling myself it’s going to be okay and that we can get through this. But it’s hard to lie to myself. The last thing I need is for the others to scent my fear, too.

I glance around at the pairs, who all appear confident and ready to go. I catch Atlas watching me, Rhea at his side, clinging to him as she always does. He never seems to pay her much attention, and I can’t quite understand why he’s with her.

I return my focus to Drakon, who is about to explain what is involved in today’s trial. Crowds fill the stands, an audience to watch us leave and whoever returns. It’s not helping my nerves.

Kyle leans down and presses a kiss to my head, and his touch helps soothe me just a little.

“Welcome to day one of the Dragon Trials. As you are all aware, today’s task will be held at Crimson, the largest and deepest volcano in Pyrrhus. What you aren’t aware of is what the task involves. So let me explain that to you all now. Hidden deep within Crimson are seven dragon-glass swords.”

Everyone gasps as the realisation sets in that there aren’t going to be enough for all ten pairs. It doesn’t surprise me, though. Only one pair is to win in the end.

Rhea shoots me an evil glare, and I roll my eyes, focusing on Drakon.

“As I’m sure you can all count, there aren’t enough swords for all of you. Each pair is to find a sword and fly it back here to the training grounds. The first seven pairs back will move through to the second trial. Once you have your sword, I suggest you get back here as soon as possible.”

I glance at Kyle, and he gives me a tight-lipped smile and rubs my lower back.

“And before any of you ask,” Drakon continues. “You must return in your pair. If you return on your own, you will be out, dragon-glass sword or not. There are no weapons allowed in this trial. You have five minutes before the first trial begins.”

Breathing hard, I try to calm my nerves.

Kyle takes my face between his hands. “You can do this, Zarla, okay?”

I nod, unable to speak right away.

The other pairs talk to each other, and the only pairs who seem to be forming an alliance are Atlas, Rhea, Eros, and the brown-haired female, whose name I still don’t know. Lethina and Brogan head over to us.

Lethina’s wearing her hair pulled back in a ponytail, much like mine. “You guys ready?”

“No,” I say honestly. “I feel sick.”

“It’s just nerves. Once you get going, the adrenaline will kick in, and the nerves will be gone.”

I smile at her. “Thanks.”

“One minute!” Drakon calls out.

I shake my hands out at my sides, mentally preparing for what’s to come. “Do we need a strategy or anything?”

Brogan laughs. “Fly as fast as you possibly can, avoid the others at all costs, and get one of those damn swords.”

Kyle rubs my back. “I’m going to shift soon, and you’re going to get onto my back, okay?”

I nod.

“And remember, I can understand you in my dragon form.”

I let out a long breath. “Okay.”

A horn sounds, and the crowd cheers as everyone shifts into their dragon. I climb onto Kyle’s back, and he kicks off, swooping his wings and lifting us higher. His dragon is the biggest out of them all, and he easily powers ahead.

I glance around, unsure who is who. But I know the black dragon flying just behind us to the left is Atlas.

We fly for around thirty minutes, and in that time, Kyle has gained an advantage on the others. We’re the first to reach Crimson, and Atlas and Rhea aren’t far behind. The volcano is enormous, towering above the ground below. Kyle glides toward the crater and then nose dives into it.

I cling to Kyle’s neck and press my face against his scales as we plummet deeper and deeper. The heat is intense, even with the protective magic, as he soars deeper still into the volcano, and it’s as if it’ll never end. Lava spits up around us, and a tunnel appears below.

“There!” I call out, pointing to the tunnel, and he takes a sharp turn and flies through it.

The tunnel winds through the volcano before opening up into a vast cave with black rock walls. Kyle lands, and I climb off his back. He shifts into his male and glances around.

“Do you have any idea what these swords look like?” I ask him.

He takes my hand and leads me through the cave. “No, but I’m sure we’ll know when we see one. We’d better hurry. The others won’t be far.”

Other tunnels lead out of the cave, and after we search the cave walls, we decide to go through one. They’re too narrow for Kyle’s dragon, so we walk through them together instead. It’s hard to see down here with only a soft glow from nearby lava lighting the way. I glide my hand along the smooth walls of the tunnel and realise it’s dragon glass.

Kyle notices it, too. “We must be getting close. Come on.”

We jog down the tunnel, which winds in and out of several smaller caves, until we finally pop out into another larger one with black dragon glass everywhere and a lava river flowing through the back, disappearing beneath the cave wall. Tall, crystal-like dragon-glass structures stand grouped together with smaller ones everywhere, and I’m sure we’ll find one of the swords here.

“You look over there, and I’ll check this side, okay?” I say.

Splitting up may be our best bet to find one of these swords sooner.

I’m searching the crystal structures when voices echo through the tunnels. Someone’s coming.

I look over at Kyle, and he holds a finger to his lips and gestures for me to keep looking.

The crystal structures are a deep purple, almost black, and they’re beautiful, their smooth edges shining where they catch the light.

Something orange catches my eye behind the crystal structure in front of me, and when I reach out to touch it, it moves. I squeal, leaping back as a small orange creature creeps out from behind the structure. It’s tiny, only a foot tall, and it’s shaking. It peers up at me with big, round golden eyes as though it’s afraid of me.

Kyle comes running over. “What happened?”

The creature darts behind the crystal structure, but we can still see it.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I say in a gentle voice. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

“I don’t think it can understand you,” Kyle says.

The creature cautiously pokes its head out, and I crouch down, reaching my hand out to it.

“Hi there.”

It moves closer and sniffs my hand, and I pat its wee head. It’s covered in bright-orange fur and has tiny ears. It pushes its head into my hand, enjoying my touch by the looks of it. It coughs, and a puff of smoke blows out of its mouth.

“We really need to find one of these swords,” Kyle reminds me.

I stand, and the creature hovers at my feet like a shadow. “I know. Let’s keep looking.”

Kyle goes back to his side of the cave as I search mine with the mysterious wee creature glued to my feet.

“Where are these swords?” I ask, frustration in my voice.

The creature makes a wee barking sound and runs around in a circle. I tilt my head and watch it with curiosity.

“What are you doing?” I say through a laugh.

The creature runs to the far wall where one of the larger crystal structures is, and I jog over there.

And then I see it—a dragon-glass sword sticking out of the crystals.

My lips part as I stare at it with wide eyes. “You found it!”

Kyle looks my way and I gesture for him to come over.

“You got it?” He asks and hurries over and grabs the sword. It’s longer than the length of his arm and razor sharp.

He pats the tiny creature on the back. “Nice one.”

I crouch down and scratch our new friend behind its ears. “Thank you, little fella.”

It spins excitedly in a circle, and I laugh.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kyle says.

“Leaving so soon?”

My skin prickles as the voice echoes across the cave, and I look over at Eros and the brown-haired female. Eros eyes the sword in Kyle’s hand. I gulp.

Kyle slips the sword into his holster. “Yes, we are leaving.”

He takes my hand and heads toward the tunnel entrance. The same one they’re blocking.

“Kyle,” I whisper, tugging his hand.

I don’t like this, and I don’t trust them.

Eros steps back, blocking the tunnel entrance completely, and drops his gaze to the sword. “Was that the only one in here?”

The little creature barks again, and I look down to find him at my feet.

“I don’t know. Have a look for yourself. Now move,” Kyle says.

The female slowly walks to the right, and I don’t like the way she’s eying me like that, as if she’s looking for a moment to strike.

“I know you understand the importance of that sword,” she says. “You aren’t even from here. You shouldn’t be competing in these trials. Just give it here, and you’ll be out.”

I narrow my eyes at her. I don’t trust a word she’s saying. If we give them the sword, they’ll probably just kill us anyway.

Kyle growls low. “We don’t know you, and we’re not about to trust you. Find your own sword and get the fuck out of our way.”

Eros laughs. “You think you have a choice here? I’m not asking. Give me the sword, or I’ll come and take it from you.”

The female charges at me. I only just manage to leap to the side and back away from her as she advances again, her eyes swirling with hate and anger. Eros strides toward Kyle, and he pulls the sword from his holster, aiming it at Eros, prepared for a fight.

“You think you can win here?” she says then laughs. “You can’t beat me. I grew up in Pyrrhus. I trained my entire life to fight. And let me guess, you grew up being spoon fed like the spoilt little bitch you are.”

I grit my teeth and jump toward her, swinging my leg out and clipping my boot on her jaw. She stumbles back and wipes the back of her hand across her chin, smearing blood.

She raises her brows in appreciation. “I guess I was wrong.”

She charges at me again, but this time I meet her head-on. I throw my fist out, but she ducks out of the way and swings her leg into mine, knocking me on my ass. She looks over at Kyle and Eros fighting, and the distraction is what I need. I flip onto my feet and kick her in her stomach, sending her flying back into the dragon-glass crystals.

They shatter at the impact, but one impales her lower back. She screams, hovering her shaking hands above the crystal protruding through her side.

Shit. I can’t leave her like that.

“Let me help you.” I move closer.

She rears back then screams at the movement. “Don’t t-touch me!”

The crystal is in so deep, but I know if I can just get her off it, I can heal her. If my powers are working, that is. It’s a risk, but we don’t have any other choice.

“I’m going to help you, okay? This will hurt, but I can heal you. What’s your name?”

She frowns as if confused why I would be helping her.

“Calista,” she says with a shaky voice.

“Take a deep breath,” I tell her, and when she does, I pull her off the crystal.

She screams and falls to the ground, where I help ease her onto her back. I hover my hands over her stomach, praying to the gods that my powers to heal work, even if my portal magic isn’t. White light glows from my hands and heals her wound instantly.

She stares up at me with wide eyes and then scrambles to her feet. “How did you do that?”

“It’s a power of mine. Can’t you both try to find your own sword? And no, Kyle and I don’t want to be here, and we don’t want to rule, but Drakon is forcing us to. We have no choice.”

I turn to go and help Kyle, but Calista grabs my hair and hauls me across the cave toward the lava river flowing down the back of it. I try to fight her off me, but she holds on too tight.

“You’re so fucking stupid,” she says with a laugh.

I struggle against her, but it only makes the pain worse. Kyle and Eros fight on the other side of the cave, and Kyle hasn’t noticed Calista and me.

The lava bubbles and spits at us, and she grabs my arm and attempts to throw me in. I use all my energy to resist as I fight her, hitting and kicking with every ounce of strength I can muster. Gods above, dragon flames don’t seem to harm me, but I’m not prepared to find out if lava does.

I’m not a dragon shifter.

“Calista, stop!” I yell, but she ignores me.

I attempt to blast her with my powers, but they won’t work. It seems only my healing powers do.

The small orange creature charges at Calista and bites her leg. She tries to kick it off, loosening her grip on me in the process. I scramble away from her. She attempts to grab my hair, but I dodge her, leaping to my feet and slamming my fist into her face.

She stumbles backwards and trips on a dragon-glass crystal sticking out of the ground. Her panic-filled eyes meet mine. I reach out to grab her, but she falls into the lava.

“No!” Eros screams from across the cave.

I look up as he comes charging over to me, with Kyle close behind him.

It’s like time slows as I stare down at the lava, scanning the burning liquid for any sign of her. Is she going to shift and fly out of there? Can all dragons survive the lava? Endless questions buzz through my mind, but as the seconds tick by, I realise she isn’t coming back.

I look up just as Eros reaches me, grabbing my throat and lifting me into the air.

“You fucking bitch!” he screams in my face, tightening his grip on my throat.

“Let her go!” Kyle demands, but he won’t listen.

Kyle plunges the dragon-glass sword into Eros’s back. It slices right through him and out his chest, and he loosens his grip and drops me. I fall, landing hard on my wrist, and scurry away as he hits the ground. His eyes flash red for a brief moment as his soul drains from his body.

And then Kyle’s at my side, shaking me.

“Zarla, we have to go. Come on!” He pulls the sword from Eros and grabs my hand, dragging me to my feet.

My mind reels at what’s just happened. What I’ve done. Nausea swirls inside me as I stare at the blade, dripping with blood, but I push it down and focus.

I glance back at the wee orange critter, sad to leave him here, as Kyle tugs me toward the cave entrance.

We run through the tunnels until we reach the cave where Kyle’s able to shift. He hands me the sword and shifts into his dragon, and I climb up onto his back. Numbness floats over me, and I blink, trying to clear the feeling, but it won’t go away. Kyle kicks off the ground, and I hold on tight while he flies us through the cave tunnels of the volcano.

We fly up and out of the crater rim, and I’ve never been so excited to breathe fresh air in all my life. The skies burn overhead, glowing red and orange as the sun sets in the distance on the far side of the Kingdom.

Atlas and Rhea fly way ahead, and not far behind them are a few other pairs.

I swallow hard as the frightened look Calista gave me before she plunged into the lava river plays in my mind like a broken record stuck on repeat.

I don’t know that I’ll ever forget it. Gods above, what have we done?

We reach the training grounds, where several other couples already wait with their dragon-glass swords. One male sits over to the side, his face buried in his hands while crying, and several other shifters surround him. He must have lost his mate in the trial.

I count the pairs and find we’re the seventh pair to arrive. Other than the lone male, the other pairs are nowhere to be seen.

Did five dragon shifters just die in this one trial?

“You made it!” Lethina hurries over to us once we land, and I climb off Kyle’s back.

She pulls me into her arms, and I’m not sure how I feel about her need to hug me. I barely know her, and I’m still not entirely sure if I can trust her, especially after what just happened with Eros and Calista. I know Lethina asked to form an alliance with us, though, so in theory, we can.

She glances around. “I don’t see Calista or Eros.”

I bite my bottom lip as tears well in my eyes.

“Oh my gosh, Zarla, what’s wrong?”

I notice other pairs looking my way. “Nothing. I’m fine. I’ve got to go.”

I leave the training grounds and jog back to the building housing our rooms. I can’t be there right now, knowing what’s just happened. Sure, I’ve killed before. And I know this was in self-defence, but I just can’t shake the memories of it. I need some space away from everyone to process it.

I make it back to the building and hurry up the stairs to our rooms. It’s dark up here. No one has lit the lanterns yet.

I open the door and step into the room. I’m about to close it when someone shoves their boot inside. I look up at Atlas as he barges his way inside, closing the door behind him.

“What are you doing?” I demand, backing up.

His expression is hard to read. “Nothing. I just want to chat.”

I eye the door. “About what?”

He inches closer. “About how I can’t get you out of my head. It’s driving me insane.”

My heart pounds from within my tightening chest, but I try to put on a strong facade. “I need you to leave.”

He strides toward me, too quick to dodge. He grabs my throat and shoves me up against the wall. “What is it about you that makes you so different? I can’t figure it out.”

I attempt to swallow, but it’s difficult with his hand gripping my throat. “Let me go!”

He grips my throat tighter. I attempt to scream, but he plants his hand over my mouth. My breaths come hard and fast through my nose as I stare into his cold, hateful eyes.

“I’m going to win these trials. I’m going to rule Pyrrhus. Rhea isn’t capable of ruling at my side. But you are.” He stares at me for a while without saying a word. “I’m going to remove my hand, and you’re going to be quiet, or I’ll kill you.”

He slowly removes his hand from my mouth and loosens his grip on my throat.

“You won’t win these trials,” he says. “But I will.”

I squirm beneath his touch, praying Kyle will walk in and help me.

Atlas leans closer and glares at me, his eyes flashing red, and there’s so much hatred in his gaze. I try to turn my head away, but he roughly grips my chin, forcing me to look at him.

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Get off me!”

He ignores me and smirks, scanning my face as if he can figure me out, like I’m holding on to some sort of huge secret.

“I need a strong female. I will make sure you survive these trials.”

The door opens, and Kyle steps into the room. When I look back at Atlas, I’m alone. I dart my gaze around the room, confused at where Atlas went so quickly, and run into Kyle’s arms.

“Fuck, Zarla, you’re shaking. What happened?”

“Atlas… He was in here, and he…”

He pulls back, frowning at me. “What? When? He was just down at the training grounds when I left.”

I step away from Kyle, blinking as I take in short, sharp breaths. “What?”

He stares at me with deep concern in his gaze. “Atlas has been down at the training grounds this whole time. He hasn’t left.”