Chapter 17
MALICE
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The pounding on the door buried deep in Malice’s mind is incessant as he stumbles between the trees outside of Valtara. The air just outside the walls seems crisper, a breeze rustling the massive leaves above him as the sun dips below the horizon.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
[Will you stop! I’m going,] Malice snarls in his mind.
[Faster,] the beast demands.
Malice grinds his teeth but continues forward. The beast is relentless, always demanding. But every day as a Faeling Malice was trained how to control him, how to lock him away deep in the recesses of his own mind. How to protect himself and those around him from this thing that lives within.
The need rises. The creature grasps more power, ripping it from Malice all claws and teeth in his head.
[Enough!] Malice demands, keeping his feet moving but Gods, his head is pounding.
This time, the creature doesn’t bother responding. Only slamming against the door once more.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Malice growls, startling the small non-sentient birds that live in the trees. Many take off, creating a cascade of noise.
Malice keeps moving, the ground under him is hard, dark dirt. The trees tower overhead, branches spreading like hands reaching out from the trunks. Bushes speckle the ground, leaves bright green, dotted with various colored flowers. Patches of grass grows in spots where the sun reaches the ground.
He’s not very familiar with the forest around Valtara, but Malice knows where he is going. The first thing he did when he arrived in the South was scope out this spot.
Just over a thirty-minute walk, with his head pounding the entire way, Malice makes it to the small clearing Northwest of Valtara.
The meadow is just large enough for Malice’s needs and far enough away that no creature from Valtara should bother him.
And should a Rogue come upon him, well, he’ll deal with it.
The pounding increases, in tempo and violence. The creature knows he’s moments from being released. The walls inside Malice’s brain tremor with the effort it takes to stay erect. Malice can barely see as he scans the clearing for creatures.
Once he decides the coast is clear, Malice sheds his shirt, tossing it aside. A rustle, far off in the woods, catches his attention. Malice narrows his gaze, shoving the thumping away to focus.
A flash of gold.
No.
No. No. No.
Panic surfaces, like a wave crashing over him.
Aerin reveals herself a moment later, her eyes guarded as she scans the area.
“Going for a late-night swim?” she asks, gesturing to the small creek that runs through the grass between them.
“You need to leave,” Malice says through his teeth. His insides are thrashing, the creature seconds from ripping out of him, whether Malice wants him to or not.
Aerin, not one to respond well to being told what to do, plants her feet, folding her arms over her chest. “Tell me what you’re doing out here,” she demands.
Malice storms across the clearing, for a moment all the pounding in his head is lost to his anger. Aerin doesn’t have an ounce of self-preservation. She doesn’t think.
Grabbing her bicep, Malice drags her to the edge of the clearing.
“Hey!” Aerin protests. She tries to pull her arm from his grip, but Malice is furious, his grip bruising, and his determination enormous. He will get Aerin out of here. He will keep her safe.
Malice shoves Aerin out of the clearing, back into the trees. Aerin stumbles, wrath rising in her eyes when she whirls around on him again.
“What the fuck?!” she roars.
“Go! Back to Valtara. Back to the apartment. Now.”
Aerin’s rage simmers. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
The creature inside of Malice settles for a moment, his interest piqued. Fuck.
“Aerin! It wasn’t a fucking suggestion. It’s an order. Go! Now!” Malice hopes, along with his anger, Aerin senses the other thing inside of him, the desperation.
[What is she? Bring her closer.]
Panic swells. [No! You don’t touch her. You don’t even look at her. Do you understand me?]
The creature roars, so loud Malice holds his ears in reflex, even though there is nothing he can do against the sound.
[You do not control me!]
Talons shred through the door keeping him caged in Malice’s mind. They swipe, sending wall after wall tumbling.
When Malice looks back at Aerin, concern laces her features. He thinks about their kiss. How Aerin felt in his hands, against his mouth. How in those moments, he was terrified to have found something so beautiful.
This is why.
Malice destroys beautiful things.
“Aerin! Go!” The words barely make it out, as if the creature is trying to claw them back down Malice’s throat.
Knowing the Dragon, he probably is.
Reikan the Vanquisher is one of the last of his kind.
True Dragons were hunted to near extinction thousands of years ago.
Too massive to hide well and too prideful to work together, eventually less than ten remained.
That’s when they made the bargain. Using Witch magic and willing Fae, the Dragon’s became symbiotic with the Fae they bargained with.
The Dragons hid inside the Fae, living together in one body.
The Fae, once weak ice-Fae, retained access to the Dragon’s magic.
Together, they forged the Dragon-Fae species.
And since then, those same Dragons have been passed down through their bloodlines.
Reikan is the parasite Malice was bred to carry, trained his entire Faeling-hood to control.
But right now, all that control means nothing.
Malice tries bargaining, pleading, begging for him to just wait a few more minutes. To give Malice time to shove Aerin back into the safety of Valtara, but Reikan has none of it.
Dragon-Fae are sworn to keep the Dragons a secret at all costs—even at the cost of their own lives. And when a creature stumbles upon a Dragon shifted in the forest? They don’t live to tell the tale. Dragons are vicious, prideful, violent, selfish creatures. Reikan is perhaps the worst of them all.
Reikan, despite ferociously demanding his secret be kept, continues to shred everything that stands in his way, tearing through Malice’s head like a battering ram, in his quest for control.
He plows through every last one of Malice’s defenses, ones that he’s spent over a hundred years honing.
Ones that until now, kept Reikan in check.
It is as if, all this time, Reikan had simply been respecting Malice’s bounds rather than actually being caged by them.
Malice hates how weak he feels.
Backing away, Malice knows it will be only moments before Reikan takes control of their shared body. Aerin is still standing there, eyes curious but cautious. She doesn’t leave, but she doesn’t come closer.
Aerin Tolvare is about the pay the price of Malice’s mistake.
He looks at her one last time. She’s transcendent, in her casual clothes with her face bare and hair up.
She’s still the most beautiful creature Malice has ever laid eyes on.
She is selfish, vapid, reckless. But she’s also fierce, and brave, and strong.
Aerin Tolvare is everything. And she’s about to die.
Reikan rips through him. Rips through Malice’s mind, his body. Malice is on fire, swallowed by an inferno, his body broken and reformed into something entirely different in one painful blink of his eyes.
Malice is behind a door. Pounding on it. Trying to tell Aerin to run. Trying to tell her Reikan will kill her.
Aerin doesn’t move, doesn’t even blink. A sort of reverence settles on her features as she looks at Reikan standing before her.
“You are beautiful,” Aerin breathes out.
Reikan huffs, hot air filling the space around them. The terror inside of Malice grows.
Aerin takes steady and slow steps forward. Malice is sure Reikan will kill her, any second. Despite the danger, Aerin keeps approaching with careful confidence. She raises a hand to the Dragon. A Dragon who has swallowed enemies whole and torched entire villages on a whim.
A Dragon who calls himself The Vanquisher. Who has survived thousands of years after the others of his kind were slaughtered. A Dragon who never once has bowed to anyone, who claims Fae kings and queens are insignificant beings fruitlessly playing pretend.
That Dragon lowers his head and presses his snout against Aerin’s outstretched hand. He utters one word to Malice.
[Mine.]