Chapter 71
Belle
“Valen!” I leapt over the twisted trees and scoured brush, ignoring the way my pants clung to my skin, sticky and damp with the dragon’s blood—Valen’s blood.
The dragon’s neck lifted, and he angled his head toward me. Horns and spines crowned the back of his head, and flames blazed in his golden eyes. How had I not recognized them the first time we’d met?
Valen released a low snarl that vibrated through my chest, a wave of fury and resentment.
He was as terrifying as he was familiar, yet something was different about him.
For a second I couldn’t place it, then it struck me—the dragon had been streaked with red scales when he’d attacked us in the clearing. Now he was completely black.
What did that mean?
“Easy,” I cooed as I lifted my hand and slowly moved toward him. “I’m here to help.”
How, I wasn’t certain. The bolt had pierced his hind quarter, and a fifty-foot length of chain lay coiled around his legs. It must have snapped free of the winch.
Anger rumbled in his throat, and he tried to shove himself up but staggered forward, collapsing against the shattered trees.
“Be quiet,” I said, my voice shaking. “I have to remove the bolt, or you’ll never get off the ground.”
He snapped at me, growling, then bent his neck, trying to reach the bolt with his teeth.
“It’s barbed,” I said, anger overcoming my fear. “If you try to rip it out yourself, you’ll paralyze the leg or bleed to death. I am going to do it.”
His eyes narrowed, fury rising off him like steam, but he shifted his body so that I could reach the bolt.
It was as long as a pike and tipped with multiple jagged barbs that dug into his scales, preventing it from pulling out when the soldiers cranked the winch.
My stomach swam. It would have to go all the way through.
I focused on the long length of broken chain, and magic stirred within me, drowning out the thrum of Valen’s blood. Release.
The chain’s heavy shackles snapped free, and it slithered back like a snake.
Easy part done. The next part was going to hurt. I placed my hand on the thick haft of the silver bolt, then took a deep breath and counted to three. Drive all the way through.
Ice spread through my veins, the sensation familiar and comforting. The bolt jerked forward and out the back of Valen’s leg with a wet crunch that made my stomach lurch.
Valen bellowed and thrust himself up and away from me. I stared at the bolt embedded in the ground. The barbed tips glistened red, and the wound it had left was a hole of shredded flesh.
I looked away as my stomach threatened to empty itself, fear rising. Would his immortal healing ability work in dragon form? Because if it didn’t, he’d bleed out.
Horses whinnied, and I turned as crimson-clad riders appeared at the edge of the clearing. They carried long spears tipped with vicious blades, their intent clear—to finish the job.
A low growl built in the dragon’s throat, and he rose, his footsteps vibrating the ground as he angled toward the oncoming riders. The leg dragged behind him, broken. I knew that pain.
The riders slipped off their mounts and charged, running low through the chaos of stumps and broken trunks.
Valen roared, and a torrent of flames cut through the clearing like a saber—but the immortals were faster, sprinting through the cover of the trees, so quick I couldn’t track them. My body shook as violent protectiveness threaded through me. They will not hurt him.
One of the immortals burst from cover and hurled a spear at Valen’s throat.
Magic surged in my chest. Divert!
The spear shifted course suddenly, whizzing past the dragon’s neck and disappearing into the trees.
The immortal’s face contorted with confusion—then there were only flames and screams where he’d been. For a moment, I was transfixed by the sight of his burning corpse, still stumbling forward.
“Kill his witch!” a voice cried to my left.
I twisted, catching a blur of movement. I reached for the chain with my magic. Protect me!
It snapped out like a whip, colliding with the immortal who was inches from my throat.
Valen lunged, crushing the man with his forefoot as he whipped his neck around. A jet of dragon fire scorched the air beside me, and I twisted as the blackened corpse of the third immortal stumbled backward and collapsed to the ground.
My chest heaved, the exhaustion of using my magic leaving me unsteady on my feet—that, and the fact I’d been a few feet away from being impaled. Twice.
“You have to get out of here,” I shouted at Valen. “There’ll be more.”
The dragon grunted, then pivoted his neck toward me. His nostrils flared, and his breath heated my skin as the scent of smoke filled my lungs. He jerked his head in the direction of Briar. He wanted me to leave.
“You don’t have to do this alone. I can help!”
He snarled and squared off with me, slowly lifting his wings, his neck lowered in a threat. The trees had ripped large gashes in the membrane of his wings. Would he even be able to fly?
I advanced toward him slowly, hands out, as I’d approach a skittish horse. “If you won’t let me help, then call your beasts. Bring them down on Sarkis’s army. Just don’t do this alone.”
His eyes narrowed to slits, and for a second, I thought he was going to launch back into the air. Then he tilted his head back and released three sharp bellows that shook the air and ground—summoning them the same as the day we’d met.
The moment of relief was extinguished by the drumbeat of hooves. A host of riders crashed through the trees on both sides of the clearing, their silver-tipped lances and spears glinting in the early dawn.
My stomach knotted. The beasts might come, but they’d be too late.
Valen put himself between us, whipping his head back and forth as the riders dismounted. He released a jet of flame, but the warriors were ready, using the trees as cover. Only one was caught by the dragon fire.
The mortal spearmen spread out before us as the immortals disappeared, taking positions at our rear. Valen pivoted, but he couldn’t keep an eye on all of them at once. They’d shred his wings with their spears to ground him, then finish him off.
He’d die protecting me.
There was only one way out.
“You’re going to fly us out of here,” I yelled as I ducked beneath the protective canopy of his wings. I frantically searched for a way up, but the dragon was too tall, his scales too smooth to climb.
Valen’s head snapped around, and he growled. I understood why—even if I managed to mount him, one slip, and I’d plummet to my death. What other option did I have? He wouldn’t leave without me.
Inspiration flashed.
“Hold steady and try not to crush me.” I leapt forward and forged a connection with the chain, envisioning exactly what I wanted. It clanked to life, weaving side to side across the ground toward Valen like a snake.
He pulled back in surprise as the chain leapt into the air, wrapping around the base of his neck.
“Trust me,” I shouted as I lunged forward and grasped the end of the chain. I tried to pull myself up, but the chain was swaying violently with Valen’s movements, and my arms were barely strong enough to hold on. A spear glanced off his side a few feet from my head.
I poured my magic into the chain. Help me up!
It wrapped around my waist and hoisted me up, swinging me onto his back. His scales were as smooth as river stones, and I scrambled for purchase. The dragon moved beneath me and I slipped, seizing one of the large spines protruding from his neck.
The chain yanked me into a sitting position between his spines, then lashed itself tightly around my waist and thighs. Heat rippled off his massive body, warming my skin to the point of discomfort.
I pounded Valen’s back as he swiped at a pair of soldiers with his spiked tail. “Fly!”
Valen snarled, glancing sharply over his shoulder.
I leaned forward and gripped the spine in front of me. “I’m secure. Just get us out of here!”
He released a low trill, and his wings unfurled as he lumbered forward.
His large shoulders dipped, and we launched upward, the force jolting through my body like a thunderclap.
I cursed as my body slid sideways, but the makeshift chain harness bit into my thighs and hips, anchoring me in place.
His wings beat against the air, lifting us a dozen feet with each stroke as dust and leaves billowed outward below.
A silver-tipped spear soared through his wing, leaving a long, jagged gash before glancing off the scales a few feet from his leg.
“Higher,” I shouted.
Valen cast me a sharp glance over his shoulder, checking that I was still in my seat, before beating upward. Heat swelled beneath me, and a torrent of fire erupted from his mouth, engulfing the clearing below.
Spears soared upward in our wake, falling short.
The raw power of his body was unsettling and electrifying, but as the ground fell away with dizzying speed, my blood ran cold. If I lost control of my magic, the chain would slip, and I’d die splattered against the ground.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Please gods, let him catch me if I fall.
When I found the courage to open my eyes again, the forest and plains spread out before me, a mosaic of greens against the rising sun. I exhaled sharply. I’d never seen anything so beautiful.
Siege cannons thundered, breaking the spell. My gaze jerked to Fellspire as one of the towers buckled, then collapsed in a billowing cloud of dust.
Ice shot through me. Had Loreli been in there?
“They’re going to bring down the castle,” I shouted, as all thought of fleeing vanished from my mind. I would see the general’s army burned.
Valen roared in response, then banked toward the camp.