CHAPTER 50
We waited, I told Aldrin what he looked like, which was easy because King Darshan and his son looked exactly alike.
His father, though, is a little more brooding.
Not that it mattered with the amount of people in this cave, it is literally a sea of men, and we can’t exactly go wandering to find him.
I start to feel my magic getting stronger.
Aldrin was right, the sun is recharging us.
Even Aldrin didn’t look so deathly pale.
His skin regains color as we both try not to move, letting the sun beat down on our legs, the warmth of it creating a warmth inside us both.
Jed is still taking blood, but he starts becoming frustrated.
Mostly because our magic dwindled throughout the night the process had slowed dramatically almost to a standstill.
It isn’t until Malika screeches that the curse is coming back which made me wonder how Pluto is fairing back at the castle, if he too is reverting back to the way he was.
Jed however didn’t realize the scales returning on his back, though we can clearly see them as they start to return, and it isn’t until Malika points them out when Jed races to his side.
He screeches as his tail returns, that is when they realized the curse wasn’t broken.
That our blood wasn’t working the way it should.
His anger feels like a red-hot poker as he stalks toward us. He grips my shoulders, shaking me.
“What did you do?”
I shake my head, nothing I say will make him believe me, he will just assume it was the Fae’s doing like for the last hundred years they blamed us, blamed us for their own sins.
“Fix it!” he screams, sinking his teeth into my shoulder.
My magic falters for a second. He drops me to the ground, and I don’t move, thankful to be under the sun again, this time completely though.
I am bleeding profusely from my shoulder as my blood coats my skin.
Aldrin tries stemming the bleeding as my life’s blood leaves me.
Jed gasps as my magic runs through him, the scales disappearing as he looks up at the sun.
“Malika, drink from her, we need to keep them alive if it is to remain,” he says just as Malika storms over to me, his teeth sinking into the same spot, making me scream.
Aldrin pulls on me, trying to get me out of his grasp as he drinks deeply.
So much blood leaves my body that I become a crumpled heap on the floor as he drops me.
Aldrin pulls me to a sitting position, his arms holding me up as I lean on him.
More men step forward in panic, reaching for me, reaching for Aldrin, as they try to get our blood. “It’s the curse, it isn’t broken, we can’t break the curse only King Darshan can!” Aldrin yells at them.
Jed freezes looking around before his eyes go to us.
“What do you mean?” he demands as the Dragons suddenly step aside, letting him walk back through to us.
“The curse was caused because of the Dragons, you cursed yourselves only his sacrifice will end it,” Aldrin tells him. I can barely sit up as my body goes limp from the blood loss.
“You’re lying, the curse was caused by that Fae bitch Blaire, everyone knows that,” Jed says, punching him and knocking him to the ground. My head smacks the rock on which we lay.
“Give her blood. We need her, we can’t let her die,” Jed says and Malika shoves past the three Dragons that are about to attack us.
He bites his wrist and grabs my hair, forcing my head back, his blood filling my mouth healing the wound, when I grab his wrist. He seems amused for a second.
Little does he know his blood is strengthening me, giving me power the more I drink from him.
“Dragon whore,” Malika says.
“She is pregnant, you fool. You’re slowly killing her and their baby,” Aldrin says, getting on his hands and knees. Jed stops sniffing the air and so does Malika.
He storms back over, ripping me to my feet. He tugs up my loose shirt, which belonged to one of my mates. He gasps and drops me.
“You’re pregnant?” he says while pacing back and forth.
“They are going to kill us. How did you not know she was carrying their young?” Malika says, but he doesn’t move his wrist away.
Instead, he bites his other wrist as his fear takes over.
He hands it to me, and I lock eyes with Aldrin, who nods, looking to his wrist. I grab it, biting down and Malika groans.
I can sense his fear in his blood, it is disgusting.
I want to pull my lips away, my gag reflex kicking in from the now foul taste of his fear.
I pull away, knowing if I don’t, I will bring it back up.
“We leave at dusk we will have to sneak her out, they have been circling for hours already trying to find a way in, but this makes sense now, why they haven’t entered they probably worried we are going to kill her if they burst in,” Jed says looking to the sky.
Malika nods, leaving me on the ground at his feet, when I see a Dragon chained to the wall watching me, curiously. His eyes inquisitive.
“We will take her through the back of the cave as soon as the sun goes down,” Jed says looking behind us and I see a crack through the wall.
“We will need a distraction though,” he says, looking back around the cave at all the men. Malika and Jed walk off when the Dragons come closer again. I scream, pushing back and forgetting the Dragon chained to the wall. When I scream out, one reaches out to me.
The Dragon against the wall lunges to attack—only he doesn’t.
Instead, his talon pierces through the chest of the man reaching for me, ripping him closer before biting into him.
I watch in horror as half his arm is torn off, the noise sickening.
Blood sprays everywhere. His screams pierce the air.
The other men jump back.
Jed rushes forward just in time to see the Dragon devour him in another bite.
Heat rushes past me. The Dragon throws fire at those who approach, his tail wrapping around Aldrin and me, pulling us back, out of the way of the flames.
Jed looks at us in panic.
The Dragon shields us from him, and by the look on Jed’s face, he thinks the Dragon will kill us too.
“Don’t move,” he says, eyes darting between us.
The Dragon roars, the sound reverberating off the cave walls.
A roar from outside answers.
Everyone looks up.
Aldrin and I glance at each other.
“Are those your Kings?” Aldrin whispers.
A voice flits through my head.
“My son is coming for you!”
I look to the Dragon who saved us. He looks exhausted, weary as his head slumps. Aldrin presses his hand on the Dragon, trying to get up and away from him, while Jed and Malika and the rest all start rushing around panicked.
I stare at Aldrin and see a grin split onto his face, while I look at his hands covered in soot.
“Aldrin!” I call just as I look down and notice the smallest fleck of gold on the Dragon’s scales. I wipe my hands over his scales, the soot coming off revealing his scales aren’t black but gold, as gold as Silas, gold of the King.
The frail man who asked about Pluto hisses at us trying to get our attention. The Dragon looks up, growling at him, but he puts up his hands in surrender.
“I mean her no harm crazy one,” he says, and I realize none of them know who he is , no one had recognized the Dragon chained to the wall, much too weak to do anything,
“I help you; can you take me to my brother?” he asks.
I nod but he is already turning back, scales appearing on his face. “Quick come, come, there is a back entrance,” he says, waving us forward. Aldrin gets up, trusting him, what choice did we have but to follow.
In an instant, all hell breaks loose. The entire mountain begins shaking, rocks and dust falling from the roof covering everyone and everything as it shakes violently. Aldrin grabs my arm, and we both make a run for it when the King’s tail wraps around me pulling me back to his side.
“Go Aldrin, run!”
He hesitates when the Dragon throws fire at him, giving him no choice.
The Dragon lifts his head pressing it to my stomach and his eyes look sad.
“You’re King Darshan, my father-in-law, aren’t you?”
He nods his big Dragon head. I look to the exit when I see Jed rushing toward us while the other Dragons start shifting, fighting the Kings that are ripping them out of the cave, and I see Dragus run through the cave entrance, his eyes instantly finding mine.
I feel my magic surge as Jed growls, intent on retrieving me.
Cold, smooth metal slips through my fingers—my sword, my magic coming back to life.
Darshan lets me go just as I pivot, my blade slicing across Jed’s chest, forcing him to jump back.
Rage consumes him. His breath sucks in sharply.
My eyes dart to Dragus and Silas as they hear the screech from the Dragon behind me, chains snapping as he rips himself free.
Red-hot heat surges toward me. Scales block it before it reaches me.
King Darshan shields me from the flames, a roar tearing from his throat as he spins, jaws snapping.
Jed is chomped in half—then swallowed whole.
Everything is happening so quickly, and I see what’s left of the Dragons make a run for it.
The Dragon is huge, curled up on the ground he looked like the rest until he stands taking up half the cave, I can feel he is weak, his aura dim.
He should have been gold like Silas, but his aura is grey, the grey of death.