Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Fenix
A loud explosion rocked the room, shattering the stained glass and ornaments decorating the hall. Fenix shielded his mate with his body, gritting his teeth against the pain of shards of glass hitting his exposed back, clothing ripped apart by the blast.
“Fenix,” Akhtar’s panicked cries sent fire racing through his veins, as he woke again, but moon-metal was heavy in the air and his wings refused to unfurl.
Valiant as their struggle was, Fenix knew deep down all the nobles, including the empress were cornered, outnumbered, and without a shred of hope for survival as more treacherous magicians flooded the ball room lighting their world on fire, and the peace between the wolves and the flame dragon who set on the empire’s throne. It was a trap of unbelievable machination.
He gripped his omega to his chest as the nobles screamed, molten rock streaming down the hallway as his hoard turned corner after corner trying to avoid the barrage of magic spells. The empress was far in front of them, and they were being herded to their deaths through narrow palace walls.
The siege of the capital, the heart of the Kindred Empire during the Lunar Carnevale, was already ludicrous to his mind. But to think copious amounts of moon-metal had been snuck in so close to the throne, undetected, was unfathomable. And Fenix could smell it everywhere now, the moon-metal in the air blocking out natural scents and suppressing their ability to fully transform.
They fled in semi-shifted states. It was a brilliant maneuver, with so many kindred nobles gathered in one space left so vulnerable and unaware. Whoever had orchestrated the attack was a master tactician and had help from the inside; there’s was no other way this attack could be possible.
He thought of Luna before they parted ways for the rest of the festival, and his strange suspicions about the unusual weather. Fenix mused about the other alpha’s intuition that something was wrong within the upper ranks of the imperial order. The royal guard, if they too weren’t comprised, would kill the empress. But Fenix could only care about Akhtar for now.
“Left!” Fenix shouted as the castle was rocked by consecutive waves of what he suspected was cannon fire.
The alpha lost more of his hoard as walls exploded and caved in behind them, molten rock barreling through all the mayhem and destruction, slow but relentless. His loyalty would be his undoing. Never could he have excepted the depths of treachery that must have coordinated the attack. Fenix had finally found the family he had always longed for. Now his hearts, Akhtar and his hatchling, were trapped between life or death, teetering towards the grave.
“Alpha! We’re trapped! You must attempt to soar,” Erasma screamed as they hit a thick wall, the windowpanes knocked out by the blasts.
Fenix glanced beside him, sweat pouring down Akhtar’s brows. The molten rock turned lava was closing in on them, already claiming countless lives. They had to jump, but his wings were useless.
Goddess Solara shields us!
Fenix wasn’t a praying man, but that was all he could do as he lifted Akhtar in his palms and leaded, hoping the moon-metal hadn’t affected the air outside the castle walls.
A parapet was down below, with noble born kindred gathered on it being defended. Reinforcements were winning. However, Fenix and his mate would be impaled if his wings didn’t work soon.
But it was useless. They were dying. Fenix would rather die than lose Akhtar and their egg. He was certain, holding tight, fearful, that nothing could be done as his wings shuttered, forcing their way out, but too slowly and–
Woosh! Shouts of awe sounded below. Fenix’s eyes were screwed tight. But he was sailing, not falling, and weightless when he’d been cradling Akhtar.
How?
Fenix opened his eyes and gasped as Akhtar struggled to hold him, Fenix underneath. His wings! Glorious cobalt blue wings that spanned the heavens in the glorious night were flapping with all their might, fading white, shrinking.
“I’m falling,” Akhtar murmured weakly. “I’m sorry. I’ve failed. They came to me again. I think the moon-metal actually helped me. But I can’t–”
Suddenly, they were spiraling down the castle wall again, and with one mighty roar, Fenix took his mate and his arms and exhaled. His wings burst forth, mutilated by the magic in the air, but he overcame it.
A dragon’s pride was his wingspan, but his clutch, his family meant more than beautiful wings did and Fenix overcame the magic with might.
Soldiers stormed the palace below, subduing the cult in heavy numbers as they fell under the blade. Fenix’s obsidian wings took over, scarred forever now, lifting them back to the safety of the air, and as he and Akhtar sailed, his white horns growing long enough to peek from his head.
Together, they soared higher and higher, embracing as the world burned around them. Fenix grinned as a golden carriage flew down the road, and knew the empress lived, that crafty bitch. To think he’d been sworn to her back in the day. Now he was happy he denied the request. Being emperor could never compare to holding his heart in his hand, his fated mate, alive and well.
“I love you,” Fenix whispered against his hair as they soared towards the outskirts of Kinev not ravaged by street warfare. “I love you so very much, Akhtar, my mate. Your wings were so beautiful.”
As they landed on a steeple, Akhtar kissed his soot-tinged lips, whispering back with too much emotion for mere words to contain, “I love you too, Fenix Shadowrin. Now take me away from here. Together, I have nothing to fear. When we are reunited with Rikisha, all will be well. I could sense her, you know, her powerful frost magic dominated the air too when we leapt. Luna was successful!”
They held each other, alpha and omega, swaying in the ashes of the besieged capital city, having defended not only each other but the sparks of new life in Akhtar’s womb. Soon, the world would heal. For now, they found strength in each other.