Chapter 104

Tharix had been true to his word so far, smuggling me back to my father's castle through an entrance on the ground floor. He'd gotten us past the wards, his magic welcome here, but from there it had been a bloodbath.

"This is taking too fucking long," I snarled, wrenching my axe from the corpse of the latest guard to die before me. "Someone is bound to tip him off soon."

"I could go ahead," Tharix offered, pushing his black hair away from his eyes with blood-spattered fingers. "The guards would let me pass without you."

"No," I spat. "I don't trust you to be out of my sight."

Tharix smiled like that amused him and I looked away rather than let him see the smirk which was tugging at my lips in reply. Fuck him for being such a good fighter, for making it too easy to fall into the pattern of comradery with him. I needed to remember what he was, but I found myself reminded of what I used to be instead. Lost. Just so fucking lost and looking for someone to reach out a hand and pull me free of my father's whispered poison.

"This way then, brother," Tharix said, pushing a tapestry of a Dragon eating a Sphinx aside and revealing a narrow stairwell which led up to the next level.

I took the lead, not much liking having him at my back but not willing to let him take charge either.

The light was dim within the passageway and only grew dimmer once Tharix dropped the tapestry back into place, but I kept moving resolutely upwards, my ears straining for any sign of anything happening further out in the castle.

As I made it to the top of the stairs, my fingertips brushed fabric and I paused, listening to the rumble of voices from beyond my hiding place.

"-to get out of here," a woman hissed. "Have you taken a look out of any of the windows? The Dragon King isn't going to w-"

"Hold your tongue," a male voice growled in reply, and I carefully pushed the tapestry back an inch to get a look at who was there.

The two servants were facing off in the hallway, the woman clutching a bag of what I had to assume were her belongings, though I noticed a golden candlestick protruding from the top of it which I could only guess she'd stolen.

Smoke rolled over my tongue as I looked from her to the male servant who seemed to be blocking her path along the corridor.

"You know what happened to Glenda when she tried to flee," he hissed in a low voice. "The king plucked her like a freshly caught duck and roasted her alive for good measure."

"The king will be the least of our worries if the Vegas make it to the castle," the woman replied resolutely. "Do you seriously think they'll let anyone who served in this place live?"

Tharix had apparently grown bored of waiting in the shadows because he shoved past me roughly and stepped out into the corridor with darkness coiling around his arms.

"Running away?" he purred.

The woman screamed, dropped her bag and fled in the opposite direction without so much as glancing back at the male servant she'd abandoned.

I stepped out behind my brother, knocking my elbow into his arm in a reprimand as the man standing before us began to quiver like a leaf in a violent storm.

"P-P-Prince Darius?" he gasped, his eyes darting from me to Tharix and back again, confusion mixing with his terror as he tried to decide which of us was the worst of the latest Acrux generation.

"King actually," I corrected, and his pupils dilated before he fell sobbing to the ground before us and began begging for his miserable life.

"King?" Tharix asked casually, flicking a hand at the man so a snake of shadow shot for him before yanking him away into the darkness beyond the tapestry. His cries of terror were muffled to the point of inaudible thanks to the roar of battle which permeated the walls, and Tharix turned his attention from him immediately. "Did you fail to mention the consort part intentionally for dramatic effect?"

"No," I grumbled, stalking away from him, but he caught my arm and yanked me around.

"It's that way," he said with a grin which looked all too eager to me.

"You want him dead that badly?" I questioned, striding in the direction he had indicated at a near run.

"I want to pick my own paths," Tharix replied. "And I have come to see that I will never do that while our father keeps trying to yank on my leash."

"Hail to that," I agreed because even now, as I stalked through the hallways of his castle, a traitor to all he had ever raised me to be, I still felt the weight of his stare on my actions. I still heard the tone of his disapproval and the contempt of his judgement. I still felt the way he had always claimed my accomplishments for his own, declaring ownership over me like I was some product of his design and nothing more. So I was ready to shed myself of my lineage, of his overbearing disapproval and end this fucking mess he'd started when he'd first begun to covet a crown which had never been meant for him.

The space opened up above us as we reached the centre of the castle, the arching ceiling and wide passageway making the sound of our boots thump loudly with every step. A sweeping staircase wide enough for ten men to climb at once appeared around the next corner and I hurried for it, but an echoing roar stalled my movements.

I fell still, craning my neck to look up as I found five of my father's Bonded Men in shifted Dragon form, all waiting in the shadows for me like they'd expected me to be precisely where I was.

"Uncle," I greeted, a mocking smile on my lips as I looked at the pewter-coloured Dragon who stood at the top of the staircase, his bulk blocking the way while the other four clung to the beams which lined the vaulted ceiling and released a chorus of roars around me.

"You look like you've lost some muscle mass," I said conversationally, my eyes moving across my uncle's frame while I casually placed my axe on the floor and released my hold on it. "Or perhaps you've just never been all that big."

The stairwell was huge but it was not built to contain this many Dragons and as I looked over my shoulder at my brother who was watching me with interest, I simply shrugged, like I was admitting to the insanity of my actions before even committing them.

Then my flesh ripped apart, my armour uncoupling seamlessly and falling from my body as it expanded so fast that my head spun with the transformation. My claws slammed down into the centre of the staircase before I'd even fully decided to shift, and I dove headfirst into the blaze of Dragon fire my uncle spat at me without so much as flinching.

The flames kissed my golden scales, the walls vibrating as I collided with the pewter Dragon and a big rust-coloured bastard slammed down onto my back a moment later.

The world became a blur of teeth and claws, blood coating my tongue, my flank, my legs. I was bleeding, they were bleeding, the walls were cracking and shadows were blotting out all light.

Bones snapped and Dragons bellowed and Tharix ripped the rust-coloured beast from my back just as my jaws closed around my uncle's throat. I ripped through scale and flesh alike, crushing all I found and ripping his life away, offering it up to The Ferryman with the rest of the souls I'd reaped this day.

Tharix fought brutally and beautifully in his black Dragon form, his bulk almost as big as my own – though I was confident I still had the advantage on him. We fell into a rhythm together, covering each other's backs and unleashing carnage on those who came at us with a savagery even Hail Vega would have been proud of.

Death howled around us but we were still outnumbered, colliding with stone and scales and teeth and claws. In the madness of the fight, I could only focus on the weight of the beasts impacting with me and the ferocity of the monster I so easily became. And I lost myself to the chaos of war once again.