Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sparks flew from her fingers as she fell backward on Merrill’s back, barely holding on to him with her legs. He let out a roar and dove to the side. Her magic did little to stop the entity. Only Merrill’s quick thinking saved her from a direct hit. Katla felt herself slipping again, but there was nothing she could do.
Merrill flew erratically, turning one way and then the other, moving up and then down. Each time she thought she could sit up again, she was forced to remain on her back, her hands gripping his scales in an attempt to remain atop him. She craned her head to the side and back and spotted their enemy. It was trying to reach Merrill’s wing. Katla’s heart jumped in her throat. One hit from the entity and she and Merrill would fall.
Finally , Katla could sit up. She instantly wished she hadn’t when Merrill dove forward, his wings tucked to prevent the entity from reaching them. Their foe managed to keep up with them. She looked over to find it even with her. She knew it would be smirking with delight if it had a face.
Katla trusted Merrill , even when he dove toward the forest. She closed her eyes, hoping she stayed on when they crashed. But his wings whipped out at the last second, and he spun to the right, heading away from the entity. It was a great move that might have worked had she not overcompensated and tipped to the side.
She grabbed one of the tendrils along Merrill’s spine, hoping to pull herself up. Merrill angled himself upward to help her. The entity used that moment to rush them. It was too much for Katla . Her hand slipped, and she bounced off Merrill’s wing and onto his back. She hastily grasped for something to stop her fall, but her hands grabbed nothing but air each time. There came an instant where she hung in the air before bouncing down Merrill’s spine and off his tail.
His roar reverberated around her, ringing through the night. Merrill spun around, and their gazes locked as he flew toward her. The entity smashed into him. Instantly , Merrill went limp and began tumbling to the ground. Katla screamed his name as he dropped like a stone, but the wind snatched the shout from her lips. She had seconds to attempt to teleport to safety. She didn’t know if it was feasible, but she had to try. Over and over, she imagined herself on the ground. In the next heartbeat, she found herself standing on firm earth.
Her elation was short-lived, however, as she thought about Merrill . She raised her face to the sky and found him in a freefall, directly above her. Katla raced out of the way before he landed. He crashed so hard the ground trembled. The landing was followed by a blast wave that knocked her flat, her head smashing against the hard earth. She pushed to her hands and knees, dazed. Katla shakily climbed to her feet, holding her head. Then she turned around.
The sight of Merrill was like being doused with icy water. He lay in a crumpled heap, his wings bent at odd angles—one of them torn nearly in half as it lay twisted behind him. And he wasn’t moving. Without thought, she ran to him. She only got two steps before the entity skated between them.
Its frenzied indignation rolled off it in waves as it hovered in the air. Face or not, she knew it was staring at her, its contempt clear. She had interfered with its plans, after all. A cold sweat covered her. There was no getting around the sinister threat before her. The entity wanted its pound of flesh.
But so did she.
The being moved quickly. She would have to be quicker—and ready for anything. She had the advantage of seeing it, but she knew its potency, had felt its power when they clashed before. But this wasn’t about her. It was about keeping it occupied until Merrill woke.
Katla grinned as she lifted her chin. Magic warmed her blood as it skimmed along her body and pooled in her hands. “ You can’t have him. You can’t have any of the dragons.”
The entity had no face to speak off, no mouth with which to talk, but she still heard its enraged bellow, right before it shot forward. She turned her palms out, her arms slightly lifted outward at her sides. Sparks streaked around her dizzyingly in an X that formed a shield bigger and brighter than ever before.
The entity bounced off and immediately came at her again. Katla stood her ground, feeling her magic as it continued to grow. The second strike sent the being ricocheting away. This was the magic Merrill had tried to tell her about. The power she had ignorantly dreaded. She welcomed it now.
Katla brought her palms together before throwing her hands out as magic exploded from her and through the shield. It plowed into the entity with such force that it spun the being around. She quickly fired off two more strikes. One struck a glancing blow, but the other missed entirely as the enemy shot straight upward. Katla turned, following it, but lost it in the darkness.
She blinked away the snowflakes that fell and tangled in her lashes as she looked at Merrill . He was naked, his human body lying in the deep depression his dragon form had made when he landed. Katla longed to go to him, but the entity was still out there. It wanted her to make a mistake and let her guard down so it could strike.
Katla held her ground. She pulled her gaze from Merrill and scanned the vicinity. What was the entity waiting for? The night was still, broken only by the gleaming snow in the moonlight. She used to love how the snowfall absorbed the sounds in the air. Now , it lent an unnatural, eerie atmosphere to the landscape.
The foe’s wickedness pervaded the area, making the very heavens shrink away in protest. The malice that hung in the air waited to strike. Her trepidation grew with every moment she stood anticipating its next move. How much more of her magic was there? She dug deep again but got no response. If this was all she had, then she would make the most of it. All she had to do was stay alive long enough for Merrill to wake. Then they could fight the entity together.
It was a simple, uncomplicated plan. But nothing about this enemy was straightforward. Katla’s nerves began to fray as she continued to scan the landscape and sky for the entity. She had taken Villette’s word that there was only one. If Villette had deceived her again, then she could be out here alone with multiple beings. Would the Kings get to her quickly enough to help?
She turned her head to Merrill . It wasn’t her she was concerned about. It was him. Every second she stood alone, she doubted her plan. She should’ve convinced him to go with the Kings instead of into a fight. Even if he could kill the entity, she might have unwittingly done more damage to him. She had been so sure they could do this. But it had been a mistake. Varek had known it. The others probably had, as well. She’d wanted to rid the realm of the entity so it couldn’t hurt Merrill again.
Katla was never more aware of an uncertain outcome than she was in that moment. By the stars, what had she done, thinking to bring someone she cared so much about into such a battle? She swallowed past the lump in her throat, her thoughts forcing her to look deep into the feelings she hadn’t dared acknowledge because she didn’t feel worthy of them. Feelings she had kept closely guarded, tucked away in her heart where she could hold them against her.
She had to get Merrill out of here. Katla could call to Rhi so she could teleport Merrill out. But the entity would follow. Unless they took him back to their world. She might never see Merrill again, but she would lose him anyway if she didn’t get him out.
“ Rhi ,” she called.
The hair on the back of her neck prickled. Katla turned in a slow circle again. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and jerked her head around, seeing the tail end of one of the entity’s arm-like extensions as it whooshed out of sight. She had known it was still around. It was surveying the area and deciding on its next move.
Katla didn’t like reacting. She’d much rather be the one delivering the assault. Her fingers ached from the cold, and she had lost feeling in her toes and nose. Her lips were chapped. The snow fell harder, silvery dots against the black backdrop of the sky. There was no sign of Rhi . She silently willed Merrill to wake.
The attack, when it came, happened swiftly. A blow to the left. To the right. The left again. And one to her back. The strikes were rapid and crushing. The shield took the brunt of three of the strikes, waning enough for the fourth to penetrate. The pain radiated outward from her spine, buckling her knees and sending her into a helpless sprawl forward.
Her mind screamed for her to flip over, but the command was slow to make it to her limbs. Her wound throbbed each time she shivered from the cold, doubling her pain. If she stayed down, she was dead. Katla gritted her teeth and rolled over. A scream ripped from her throat as she writhed at the contact of her injury with the earth.
Agony was dragging her to oblivion. She fought against it and focused her gaze to see the being coming at her. She raised her hands, calling to her magic to shield her face a second before it struck. The entity glanced off. She surged to her feet as thousands of sparks circled her but she couldn’t stay upright. She dropped to her knees as her legs gave out. The pain was so intense it broke her focus. Katla shook her head to clear it, remembering then that she was in the middle of a battle. The sparks answered as they lit up the area as if it were daytime. They surrounded her, a wall between her and the enemy.
The entity languidly moved into view, suspended in midair. It was sizing her up. She didn’t know how much more she had left in her, but she didn’t plan to go down easily. She knew who she was now. She knew her potency, her might. So many times before, she had failed to protect those she loved in one way or another. This wouldn’t be one of those times.
Katla gritted her teeth as she got one foot beneath her and awkwardly stood. She barely made it before the entity struck. It moved even faster, striking again and again until it finally pierced her magic. It wrapped one of its tendrils around her neck and lifted her off the ground as it squeezed.
She channeled her magic at the thing compressing her throat. When that did nothing, she focused it on the entity. All the while, it squeezed harder, suffocating her. She didn’t want her last image to be of something so vile. Her gaze slid to the side to find Merrill .
Katla . She was the first thing he thought about when he came to. He had tried to catch her when she fell, but the entity had struck him down. He heard movement. Was it Katla ? If she had fallen to her death, he would know. He would feel her passing as only mates could.
There was a soft grunt followed by the entity’s distinctive odor. Katla must be nearby. Panicked urgency surged through him and battered his ribs. Katla needed him. He tried to move his limbs, but they wouldn’t obey. He glared at the stars while silently screaming for his body to move.
A feminine gasp had him fighting his body to get to Katla . He struggled to curl a single finger until it ultimately obeyed, then focused on his hand until he could move it at will. Finally , he turned to his arm. Fear gave way to frustration, which melded into resentment that coalesced into a blinding rage. It raced through him like dragon fire, scorching every nerve and molecule.
He vaulted out of the sunken ground, ready for combat. Sparks hovered around a sphere-shaped presence as if lighting up for him. The entity. He lowered his gaze to find her on the ground. Seeing her like that was so devastating that it knocked him back a step. The lights moved, yanking his attention to them. The entity. It had hurt her. But she had made sure he could see their enemy.
And it wouldn’t get away from him this time.
A bellow erupted from his lips as he launched himself at his foe. The dragon within called. He tried to shift, but his body remained in its current form. The entity didn’t move, believing itself invisible.
Right until he latched onto it. He dug his fingers into the black-massed orb. The longer he held his enemy, the more incensed he became. It was fuel to an already out-of-control inferno, a storm that would devour anything in its path.
He knew rage. He knew hatred. He had carried them inside him for eons, suppressing them. Ignoring them. But this was different. This was a level of barbaric ferocity he hadn’t believed possible. Once it had him, there was no turning back.
And it had him.
His rampage had just begun. There would be nothing but carnage left in his wake. His enemy was sadistic, but it was nothing compared to the darkness that had him in its grip.
He pulled at the entity, trying to tear it in half. It yanked against him, attempting to free itself. When that didn’t work, its tendrils began slapping at him. He barely felt them. His enemy had once had the capability to knock him unconscious. Now , he had the power. And the day of reckoning was at hand.
The entity wasn’t done fighting, though. It heaved itself upward, pulling him off his feet to dangle in the air. He didn’t loosen his hold. One of his fingers punctured the orb. He heard his foe’s bellow. The mixture of indignation and terror in the sound made him smirk. The pain was just beginning. There were layers of it, and he was ready to show it just how much awaited.
Suddenly , it dropped him. His knees bent on impact, but he fell onto his back. He didn’t release the entity, not even when it pressed against his face. It had done that to him before, but it didn’t have the same effect this time.
He released a battle yell and flipped over, pinning the enemy beneath his chest as he shoved it into the ground. He heard another scream, this one high-pitched. The foe shot into the air again, zooming left and then right, up and down, trying to dislodge him. Nothing would make him let go this time.
He tightened his grip. The entity flew into the night sky while lashing his eyes with one of its long appendages. The tendril penetrated his eyelid to sear his eyeball. He grabbed the offending limb and yanked it off. The entity then managed to wrench itself out of Merrill’s grasp.
The wind roared in his ears as he fell. His body healed his eyesight a second later. This time when the dragon within called, he could shift. His wings unfurled with a snap as he glided through the sky, looking for the entity. The sparks still hovered around it, drawing his gaze. He spun around and sailed straight for his nemesis.
It zipped to the side, taking him on a wild chase as it rapidly flitted about. He sensed its urgency and terror. He smiled in anticipation. His neck stretched out as he opened his jaws, ready to snap his teeth around it. Suddenly , the entity dropped beneath him and slammed into his stomach. He roared and tucked his wings to roll onto his back, then arched, throwing his head back and flipping backward. As his body curved and righted itself, he flapped his wings to gain altitude. He was done playing.
The instant he caught sight of the sparks, he surged toward the entity. It darted to the side once more. He opened his jaws and let the searing light leave his mouth. The beam shot forward, laser-like as it struck the foe. The entity faltered but got away. His second strike took it down.
It didn’t remain on the ground. The entity frantically lurched upward as Merrill landed beside it. He heard a voice then. It wasn’t in his mind, and the entity had no lips from which to speak. Still , he heard it.
“ No ! How is this possible? I can’t die. It should be you!” the voice bit out. “ Your kind and the Star People shattered my world! You were my revenge!”
Merrill grabbed hold of the sphere once more. His fingers crushed the orb until his talons penetrated the mass. Its scream was wild and desperate. The sparks lingered over his skin before moving up to his face like a caress. His arms moved outward to stretch the entity to its breaking point.
Then he drew in a deep breath and felt fire rumble in his chest. He released it, letting it engulf the entity. He heard its screams as it feverishly fought to get free. Those screams diminished until, ultimately, they were silenced. The entity had been reduced to ash.
His arms dropped to his sides. His anger was satisfied, but there was no rejoicing. Something wasn’t right. He was lethargic, as if his very soul were being bled. He took a step back and stumbled. His gaze swept the air and found her. She was still on the ground.
Nay !
He roared as he rushed to her, but his limbs wouldn’t work right, and his wings barely held him. He crashed into the ground clumsily as he reached her. He had to crawl the last few feet to her. Then he looked down at her pale form and the dark bruises around her throat. Denial rose, choking him with the truth.
His hand reached out for her. He drew back just as his talon was about to touch her. He tried to shift and failed. It riled him, sending him spiraling into emotions that pulled him down into a dark pit. He threw back his head and roared his anger. His need to touch her focused his thoughts. Still , it took him two attempts before he finally transformed.
His knees buckled. Carefully , gently, he gathered her against him. He held her head against his chest. There was no heartbeat, no breath coming from her lungs. But he knew that already. He should have been there to defend her. He was supposed to protect her.
He smoothed the midnight locks from her face. He couldn’t remember her name, but he knew her. He would recognize her in whatever form they took, in however many lives they lived and loved. Mate . They were bound by the universe, by magic more formidable than any could comprehend. Their time here was done. She had departed first, but he would follow her soon.