2. Tempest
2
TEMPEST
“ W e fly south,” I shouted to Reyla and Airia as our dragons fled across the valley below King Ivenrail’s castle. We’d escaped, and I was sure he’d regroup and come after us soon.
Drask clung to my shoulder, leaning against the side of my neck to avoid most of the wind’s resistance.
“We’re going to Lydel?” Reyla asked.
“Ultimately, yes. We’ll sleep at Weldsbane tonight.” As tempted as I was to fly until we reached the dubious safety of my court, I didn’t dare risk traveling after dark. Weldsbane felt like home. Sanctuary. A place where I could reconnect with Vexxion.
Our beasts flapped their wings in a furious rhythm, and my heartbeat thudded along with them. I’d intended to kill the king today—until I discovered that killing him meant I’d also murder Vexxion, the fae lord I loved .
Ivenrail wouldn’t stop until me and every person I cared for was dead. I’d not only stolen his precious dragon, Madrood, I’d bonded with the mighty beast, something unheard of for so long, most in faerie had forgotten such a thing could be done.
Even worse, I’d taken the son Ivenrail desperately wanted to mold in his own image.
I still couldn’t get over what I’d recently discovered. Vexxion was my fated mate, and I was Brenna, the true heir to Lydel Court. The fluffy princess of a woman I’d called Brenna, the adopted heir of the Nullen king, was my younger sister, Layla. I had family, and I might never see her again. Zayde had stolen her from Ivenrail’s throne and flitted her to a safe place. If he was wise, he’d keep her hidden until this was over, no matter what the outcome.
Reyla clung to Brodine who sat in front of her on Vexxion’s dragon, Glim. He stared forward blankly, and a mix of rage and sorrow stormed through my veins. I’d destroyed the collar binding him to Ivenrail, and I’d blasted my friend with power multiple times, hoping to draw him back from the ether. So far, he hadn’t emerged.
Would he ever do so, or would I lose him like I had Kinart, the brother I’d mourn until my dying day?
I held my love, my Vexxion, in front of me while guiding Madrood with my knees. My magic was good for keeping him in place, if nothing else.
As we flew above a vast, grassy plain with the sun hot on my spine, I pressed myself against him, feverishly whispering the freeing spell that had worked on the creatures trapped within picture frames inside the castle. It worked for Reyla, and it would work for Vexxion and Brodine. I’d never stop trying.
It was all I could do to keep my heart from sinking into a bottomless void. I bit back the cry of grief and fury that kept roaring up my throat. My heart was a useless, vacant thing, and a piece of my soul had been ripped away with his loss.
What awaits you in Lydel? Madrood asked in my mind.
I’d not only bonded with this glorious beast, I could talk to him like I had with Vexxion. I suspected Madrood would stand as my shield until Vexxion could once again take his place by my side.
I hope to find a place where I can breathe long enough to figure out what I must do. I sense it only exists there. Would Aunt Vera be waiting? After I freed her from the painting, she said she needed to leave to prepare. For my arrival or something completely different?
I’m going to claim Lydel’s core of power, I said. Only then will I be strong enough to return to Bledmire Court and kill the king.
If you feel you must go there, then that’s where I’ll take you , Madrood said. They’ll welcome you.
Or else, I felt the words he didn’t say.
He dipped his head and kept flying, his sharp gaze scanning the world around us, seeking threats.
All my life, I was told Lydel was cursed, that its people had been turned to stone. Could I free them and talk them into joining my army? Who was I to do such a thing? I was a dragon trainer. A rider. And fae, another notion I was nowhere close to accepting.
I needed to muster a battle force if I hoped to survive what was coming. Ivenrail would not attack me alone. High Advisor Adwarin would ride by his side, as would Kerune, the king’s new enforcer. Only this morning, I’d witnessed Kerune killing at least thirty Lieges. He’d done it to seize control of the dregs, the feral beasts who hunted us. The feral beasts who may have been gifted with wings by Ivenrail.
Some might call me foolish for continuing to fight him. They’d say I should keep flying until I’d crossed the vast sea below this continent, that I should continue onward until I reached a place where no one knew me. I could live in relative safety there while the king feverishly searched for me, gnashing his teeth when he didn’t find me.
But he could track Vexxion with his collar; he was probably tracking my lover already.
Lydel is my past and my future , I told Madrood. As is Vexxion. We were betrothed when I was little. I’d loved him almost from the moment I met him. I’d never dreamed that I’d find someone I was destined to love until my dying day.
Vexxion had kept many secrets. He’d shared what he could, but he’d held back too much from me. I understood why. He’d walked a fine line to protect me at all costs, and the final sacrifice he’d planned was giving his own life to ensure Ivenrail died.
We left the vast plain behind and flew through the narrow passage where my dragon, Seevar, was killed on our way to Bledmire. The high advisor’s daughter murdered him that day, but I’d found my revenge when I stabbed her and pushed her off a cliff. Her death would never bring my dragon back, but I’d found justice .
Vexxion shifted in front of me, and when he released a groan, my heart came to a halt before shivering behind my ribcage.
Vexxion. I tightened my arms around him, leaning my face against his back, drinking in his scent. Vexxion?
He didn’t reply. When he first spoke to me in my mind, I was appalled. I thought he would roam through my thoughts that too often focused on him, that he’d lay waste to my soul, but he hadn’t. Now I’d give anything to hear him speaking to me like that again.
When we passed over the area where Seevar had fallen, I didn’t look down. If I let grief past my walls, it would swallow me whole.
That was when I heard subtle sounds behind me.
Reyla looked backward and her sharp cry rang out. “What the fuck?”
The second bone dream vision was upon us.
A small pack of dregs flew furiously toward us, their clawed hands extended, and their fangs bared. They screeched, their harsh cries gouging my skin.
Kerune flew his dragon above them. When he caught my eye, he lifted his sword and pointed the tip right at me.
“Faster,” I shouted, and our beasts picked up speed, darting through the rest of the channel. We’d pass over a vast forest beyond with no place to hide. If we could reach Weldsbane, Vexxion’s wards should protect us, though only long enough for us to regroup and figure out how we’d reach Lydel without leading the dreg horde to our only potential sanctuary.
Hold tight, Madrood shouted in my mind. He swooped down toward the forested valley and leveled off, his claws nearly smacking against the canopy. We have to outfly them.
Was that even possible?
Drask squawked but held on, his claws digging into my shoulder. He leaned against my neck, nearly fusing himself to me.
Shooting ineffective glares at Kerune, I snarled my lower lip with my teeth while holding Vexxion’s family dagger snug in my hand. What I’d give for a sword right now. Leathers instead of the infernal dress I’d worn to the wedding.
Actually . . . A flick of my power, and I magicked myself into the leathers Vexxion had packed in the bag. That, I wrenched off my back and secured to the spike jutting up between Madrood’s shoulders.
No matter how hard I tried, however, I couldn’t magic a sword into my hand.
“More speed,” Reyla cried out, shooting terrified looks over her shoulder. “Can you dress me in leathers? I’m useless in this crappy dress.”
I tried but while I’d easily stripped off Vexxion’s clothing in the past, I couldn’t do anything for my friend.
At least Vexxion had included my sheaths and blades in the bag. I sent one of them to my friend and wrangled to secure the others to my thighs.
A glance behind showed Kerune and the flying dregs had narrowed the gap between us. We still had a long flight before we’d reach Weldsbane and the safety of Vexxion’s wards, though I wasn’t sure his magic would hold them back long even if we could breach them .
I had to do something now, but what?
A blade whistled past me and glanced across Madrood’s neck scales.
Kerune cackled.
The next would score a direct hit.
Before the knife could fall into the thick vegetation below, I sent it flying toward Airia, and she snatched it from the air. I didn’t know if she knew how to use it, but any weapon was better than none.
Something impacted with Madrood behind me, and I gaped at the dreg whipping back and forth as it clung to the dragon’s tail. Despite Madrood flying up and diving down, the dreg held on, its feral gaze locked on me. Its claws snapped forward to find purchase as it crawled up Madrood’s tail.
He released a guttural snarl and flung his tail out to the side. Twisting his head around, he shot flames at the dreg. Its wings caught fire, but it kept coming, stretching out its arms one after the other, spiking them through Madrood’s scales to maintain its grip.
While Madrood roared in pain, his blood flew through the air.
I’m on it, I told him. Don’t make any sudden moves.
“Fly, Drask,” I called, and he left my shoulder and shot toward the forest below.
After casting a spell to keep Vexxion pinned in place, I scrambled to my feet and spun, making my way carefully across the dragon’s back to the base of his tail.
A war drum had taken over my chest, and adrenaline surged through my veins. Every muscle screamed as I struggled to maintain my balance on the dragon darting this way and that.
Spying me creeping toward it, the dreg snarled and flung its claws out to climb faster. Its wings no longer burned, but these beasts were feral; it wouldn’t care if it could fly or not.
My ragged breath came in desperate gasps, feeding the fire of survival burning inside me. I leaped, driving my body into the dreg with my blade slashing out the moment I made impact. Cold sweat drenched my skin while icy fear coiled tight around my guts. I released a guttural cry and stabbed my dagger into the dreg’s eye, my hand slipping on its body fluids as I pressed my dagger all the way to its brain.
Its grip on Madrood loosened, and it slid toward the tip of the dragon’s tail, dragging me along with it.
My throat tightened, forcing jagged breaths as my pulse hammered in my ears. Each heartbeat sent jolts of fear through me. It was one thing to fight dregs on the ground. Mid-flight? Totally new territory here.
As the dreg tumbled away from Madrood, hauling me toward certain death, it released me only to claw out, gouging lines down my arm. The sting bit into me, and I stifled a groan as the beast dropped into the canopy below.
Flitting, I landed behind Vexxion and sent magic into my arm, slowing the bleeding.
Do not do that again, Madrood snarled.
Too late. Two dregs flung themselves onto Glim’s back behind Reyla. She jumped to her feet and slashed out at the first, nearly decapitating it. When Brodine started to slip sideways, she latched onto his shoulder .
The second dreg used her distraction to scramble toward her. I flitted, arriving between it and my friend, landing hard enough to make my thigh spasm. My hands trembled, and a chill slithered down my spine despite the heat generated by my exertion. I felt raw and exposed, and I needed to end this before it was too late.
The dreg’s wings fluttered as it flung itself up into the air. It twisted and came down on top of Reyla, knocking her into Brodine. She jerked to the side, hauling him along with her.
They slipped off Glim and plunged toward the forest.
Flitting, I caught them before they impacted with the canopy, taking them back to the dragon’s back, where I left them. With my arms outstretched, I hobbled along Glim’s spine and grappled with the dreg, finally impaling my blade in its eye, ending its life.
Airia stood on the back of her dragon, wrestling with a dreg determined to bite off her head. It was too close quarters for me to risk flinging a knife to kill it.
Another dreg scrambled up Madrood’s tail. He slashed the limb through the air and darted his body up and down like a serpent, trying to dislodge the monster. I flitted onto the creature’s back and drove my dagger into its spine, twisting it. As it lurched off Madrood and toppled toward the forest, I flitted to Airia’s blue dragon and raked my blade across the dreg’s wings, shredding them. When I shoved the beast off her dragon, it could no longer fly and spiraled toward the ground.
Gripping her arms, I studied her face. “Are you alright?”
She swiped her hair back and feverishly nodded. “Yup. Fine.” She peered around. “More are coming! ”
Kerune cackled, his dragon flying high enough above us I couldn’t ensure accuracy with a thrown blade.
“Keep your knife handy,” I told Airia. Another flit took me to Madrood’s back, where I settled behind Vexxion. I pressed my thighs against those of the man I loved, rubbing away the ache in my left. I needed this moment, this tiny bit of contact with him. I bared my teeth. “Get us away from them, Madrood!”
Hold on. He zigzagged through the air, dislodging the dregs scrambling to grab his tail and making me so dizzy it was all I could do to maintain my balance and flood Vexxion with magic to hold him in place. The other dragons followed, putting distance between us and the remaining dregs. For a moment, I took heart.
“Kill them all,” Kerune bellowed, and the last dregs dove toward us.
Fuck him.
A dreg peeled off to challenge Airia, and she swiped out with her blade, severing one of its wings.
“Kill, kill,” Kerune chanted, his voice a roar above the shrieks of the remaining dreg.
The other dreg landed hard on Glim’s tail and started scaling its way toward Reyla and Brodine, digging its claws into the dragon’s hide. She sprung to her feet and met it before it could reach Glim’s hind quarters. She gouged it with her blade, holding her own.
Time to end this permanently.
Don’t drop Vexxion, I warned Madrood as he leveled out. I didn’t wait for his reply but flitted to Kerune’s dragon, landing squarely behind him .
With a grunt, I drove my dagger into his spine.
A guttural roar jerked out of his throat, and he sprung to his feet, my dagger still deeply embedded in his back. His movement wrenched it from my grip, and I scrambled for one of my sheathed blades as he latched onto my arms and wrangled with me, trying to toss me off the dragon.
I swiped out with my bad leg, knocking him off his feet. He landed hard on his back on the dragon’s spine, driving my dagger deeper. Unadulterated rage filled his eyes. With a flick of his finger, he used magic to pull out the dagger and sent it hurtling toward me.
I snatched it from the air, then limped toward him while he sprung to his feet once more.
He grabbed onto my arms, and holding me tight, flung us off his dragon.
My chest tightened, and I sucked in jagged breaths as my vision narrowed to tunnel-like focus. Every nerve ending felt electrified, prickling with dread. As we spun toward the canopy, my sweat mingled with my blood on my skin, stinging and sticky.
I smacked my palm against his jaw, snapping his head back and bringing out his groan.
We spiraled through the air, me trying to drive a knife into his throat, him plunging his forehead against mine. The blows made flickers dart every which way in the corners of my eyes. I gathered magic, yanking it up from my well and flung it at him, unsure what spell I cast along with it.
He froze, his tortured gaze meeting mine.
He released me, and I flitted to Madrood’s back, relishing the sight of Kerune disappearing into the thick, piercing branches below.
His dragon shot toward Madrood, ramming into the beast’s flank, lurching me sideways. Vexxion slid from his seat, and only a quick snap with my hand held him in place.
Madrood’s fire hit the other dragon, and with a snarl, it flung itself to the side and flew toward where Kerune had fallen. Slowing, it flapped its wings in a furious rhythm, hovering above the area.
I wanted to believe Kerune was dead because there was not much I craved more than eliminating an enemy. But the wretched man flitted from the forest, landing squarely on his dragon’s back.
The look of hatred he sent me scorched my skin like no fire could ever do.
With a sly smile, he sent a dagger flying.
It hit Airia squarely in the chest.
Her eyes wide with horror, she latched onto the hilt and gaped at me. Blood erupted from her mouth, and she fell off the dragon, tumbling down to smack into the canopy.