CHAPTER 50 #2
Dragons start attacking him, while I see Matitus and Silas trying to get to us.
I can sense Silas’s excitement through the bond, recognising his father instantly.
His tail swings and I duck out the way, climbing up on the rock we were perched on letting my wings free.
My magic fizzles slightly, surging like it is trying to build itself up.
I look to the ceiling, wondering if I would make it when a fireball erupts the deafening noise of Dragons screaming as Silas breathes hell fire through the cave, his father blocking it from touching me.
The cave goes silent besides the moaning and groaning of the beasts burning on the ground.
“Father!” Silas calls out to him. The Dragon’s head whips in his direction, and he whimpers, turning to me. His eyes go to the blade in my hand as I step back.
“No!” I gasp knowing what he wants me to do.
“Please it’s the only way, I need to pay for my sins little Aziza, I won’t have my grandchild pay them for me,” his voice flicks in my head like a whisper as his power starts to fizzle.
I feel tears slip down my face, a tortured look in his eyes as they flicker, losing their light.
“Please!” he gasps out in my head. I can hear my mates getting closer running toward us, feel Silas’s relief at seeing I am fine and excitement at finding his father as he climbed into the cave through another entrance and raced up the incline toward us.
I raise my sword. Silas screams, breaking my heart as he screams, “Elora, no!”
I plunge my sword into his chest and feel my sword heat up in my hands so hot I can feel the magic in it killing him like his soul is slowly bleeding into it.
He grunts before a sigh leaves him, his body transforming to man as he stumbles into me so quickly, I almost lose my footing.
His arms drape over my shoulders heavily.
“Thank you,” he gasps.
His aura turns white, his life leaving this world for the next. Silas’s pain smashes into me, a wave of pure anguish roaring through the bond.
My legs give out beneath me under his father’s weight.
Silas reaches us, ripping his father off the blade.
My sword retracts, my magic fizzling out, drained from the kill.
Silas clutches his father’s frail, lifeless body. His eyes snap to me.
Burning hatred shines back at me. He growls, dropping his father, stalking toward me. I scramble backward on my hands and knees.
Matitus rushes over.
“Did you know who he was?” Silas asks.
Tears brim in my eyes. I look at King Darshan—he looks like Silas, his hair graying, his skin deathly pale, his body frail and withered.
“He told…’’ but my words are cut off as he grabs me, his entire body trembling. His fist is raised when suddenly, Matitus and Dragus grab him away.
“She fucking knew!” he screams, fighting against them.
“Silas she is our mate, she did what she had to do, I trust that,” Matitus tells him.
“I don’t fucking care. I have lost everything because her, fucking everything. I gave up everything and she fucking killed him,” he bellows tossing them off like they are nothing.
I scream, trying to get up and make a run for it when he rips me back by my hair. I clutch his hand, trying to free myself as I feel my hair being ripped from my scalp.
“Silas she is pregnant,” Dragus screams, his fear hitting me.
When Silas lets go, his rage burns hotter than anything I have ever felt, his hatred seeping into me so cold it chills my bones.
He is acting like I killed his father in cold blood, if he would let me explain he would see but all I can feel is blistering hot anger through the bond, like I betrayed him.
His grief at seeing his father only to lose him smashes into me.
He steps forward, his hand grabbing my throat.
“After our child is born, you leave, and I never want to see you again.”
“Silas!” I cry.
“No, you have taken everything from me. You leave Elora, but you won’t be leaving with my child,” he says, turning on his heel and walking out of the cave.
Just as he nears the entrance of the cave, I speak to him.
“He told me to Silas, told me he wouldn’t let our child pay for his sins!” I scream to him as he starts to walk out of the cave, he freezes for a second only to turn on us.
Matitus and Dragus both walk toward me when his voice calls out. Both are covered in the blood of the Dragons they killed as well as from their own wounds.
“You mean the Fae’s sins, everything has and always will come back to the Fae.”
I shake my head. “That’s not true Silas, we never killed her, that was your father, your father did it and caused the war.”
“Yeah, but it started with a fucking Helcate!” he screams. He then shifts, flying off.
“Come Elora,” Matitus says.
“You’re really not going to say anything, anything at all?” I ask as he holds out his hand toward me expecting me to take it.
“He is right, the Fae started it, and if his father asked for death, you should have let him do it. His father didn’t need to die by your hand, you took his only chance to say goodbye,” Matitus answers.
But I know he never would have gone through with it, his father also must have known that too.
“He will calm down Elora, he just needs time, time to wrap around the fact he had his father for a few minutes and lost him again,” Dragus tells me also stepping forward.
I look at both their hands, they genuinely believe he would calm down.
Yet I could feel his hatred, it feels hotter than the day he met me, hotter than anything I have ever felt.
If it weren’t for the child I carry, he would have killed me that I also know without a doubt, he wants me dead even if it means killing him in the process, killing our mates.
History with the Dragons always seems to be doomed to repeat itself, a never-ending cycle of anguish between two species destined to never quite be together.
The activity in the cave resumes slightly.
Those that remain, who aren’t dead, are standing around awkwardly like they’re too scared to move in the presence of the Kings.
Too scared to move and draw attention to themselves.
The air here is so thick with death and bloodshed.
Silas’s father’s body is lying on the rocks below unmoving, a reminder of what I have done, what he made me do, yet I know his intentions were good.
I also fear that he doomed us to repeat the past again.
“And if he doesn’t?”
“He will, he loves you Lora. He is just upset,” Dragus says, reaching for me, but I step back. I am not willing to take that bet, I have taken that bet more times than I can count now and only just narrowly won. I won’t bet again, not when it comes to our child.
As soon as I step out of the cave’s entrance, I let my wings free, letting them carry me higher.
I look around, spotting the castle. Aldrin trudges through the snow toward it with Pluto’s brother. Relief floods me. He’s okay.
Without a second thought, I take off. Silas must be nearly home. I hope I have time. Matitus shifts, giving chase. He isn’t the one who catches me.
Silas knows instantly I intend to leave, the stupid blood promise I foolishly made giving me away.
His roar of anger blasts over me as I flit over the mountain, heading for the trees below for cover. I don’t expect his fury to fuel him.
Suddenly, he sweeps past, knocking me with his wing. The brute force slams into mine. A searing pain rips through my back as I screech in agony.
Before I know it, I’m falling. Tumbling toward my death.
He broke my wings.
Broke my chance for freedom.
With it, he broke me.
His growl echoes as his talons cage me just before I hit the trees.
The impact knocks the air from my lungs, my scream dying as pain ravages my body. My wings fold against me, forced closed.
One wing looks snapped in half, veins of magic fading from purple to black as the light within flickers—then snuffs out completely. Matitus collides with him, grunting.
I can barely see beyond my cage of claws, but flashes of black scales tell me Matitus is attacking Silas. Silas’s pain radiates through the bond as Matitus bites into him.
A powerful strike of Silas’s tail sends us spiraling toward the ground, spinning at rapid speeds. I scream, my stomach twisting. Silas crashes onto his back, rolling as he lets me go.
Matitus collides with him, their massive forms tearing into each other.
Gaining my footing, I run, trying to pull my magic back only it fizzles out completely. I try forcing it to heal me. Instead, it shifts lower—toward the child growing inside me.
Blood runs down my back as I sprint, tearing across the frozen ground on foot. Snarls and the sounds of battle rage above.
Suddenly, I see Aldrin. He has stopped, watching the fight with Pluto’s brother. I don’t make it halfway when pain seizes me.
Not mine.
Matitus’s.
Silas has bitten him, injured him. Matitus is forced to shift. Before I can react, my feet leave the ground. I’m caged once again.
By the man I love.
“How many times do you think you can escape me and get away with it, Elora,” Silas’s furious voice flits through my head.
“You broke them!” I scream hitting and kicking but his grip just tightens as he flies towards the castle, leaving our mates behind.
“They will mend, but after our baby you won’t,” his voice echoes angrily through my skull, the venom behind his words make my blood run cold.
He lands in the field by the greenhouse.
As soon as his grip loosens, I run, trying to escape.
He shifts, grabbing me, his arms securing around my chest in a vice-like grip as I kick and scream, trying to fight him off.
My magic surges but not enough to do anything with it, besides making me glow like a beacon in the night.
Abigail’s shocked scream bellows as she rushes towards us from the castle gates.
Silas growls at her, making her freeze. Dakari and Pluto are also rushing toward us.
I feel relieved seeing Pluto is still fine, fine like the rest of the Dragons.
But that is short lived when Abigail tries to speak to us, trying to find out what was going on.
My panicked expression must have been enough when I see her hands glow green. I scream knowing he would no doubt kill her if she tried. Dakari grabs her hands just as she unleashes on him, making her drop her magic or risk hurting her mate.
“Silas what’s going on?” I hear Dakari call to him.
“Worry about your own mate, I will worry about mine,” he snaps coldly as he kicks the castle doors open so hard.
They smash into the walls on either side.
People come out to see what the commotion is.
I watch as the chefs dart off back into the kitchen not wanting to become victim to his wrath as he storms up the corridor.
I think he is taking me to the dungeons again, panic seizing me, and I start thrashing wildly.
He continues past the door, leading to them.
I am shoved into the room. The very same room I was in when I arrived.
I stumble onto the rug as he steps toward me.
Scrambling back on my hands and feet, trying to get away from his blazing eyes.
His hand reaches for me and he grabs my chin as I come in contact with the bed stopping me from going any further.
“You try and run, try and leave before that child is born, I will kill Abigail and her entire family, then I will burn the entire city to the ground but not before you watch me rip her to pieces,” he says. He gets up and walking out, the door slamming and he locks it.
A sense of Déjà vu settles over me as I look around at the familiar surroundings.
It felt like a lifetime ago that I came here, though then I wished for death, prayed for it as my life changed at their hands.
Now I look around and wish nothing more than to live, to watch my child grow.
No, this time I had a reason to live but after his words, after feeling the hatred burning inside him, I have the feeling death is all I am going to find in this prison.