Tyche
SEVENTEEN
As he left the palace behind, he willed a bit of good luck to follow Prince Shey. It was the only protection he could offer for now. The best way to keep Shey and all the residents of Sirelis safe was to find Haru.
“I made a mistake.”
Yeah, what the fuck ever. Nothing said mistake quite like Zyros, Goddess of the Hunt.
But pointing a finger at the disaster that was Zyros and the godstones did nothing to absolve him of the mess he’d made. All because he’d been too scared to face his failings and fears.
If he had thought before acting, if he’d taken a little more time to truly understand the dragon he’d just started to call “friend,” maybe he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to put Haru through this horror.
Self-loathing became a thick sludge in his veins and churned in his stomach as he forced his feet to carry him forward. He needed to fix this. To save Haru, because he knew in his bones that Shey was going to save Adrian.
Tyche picked his way through the bodies and the rubble, inching closer to the fire and the broken building where he guessed the dragon was wallowing in his nightmare.
“Haru!” His shouts bounced off the smooth stone face and rose above the crackling flames. “Haru! Drag your scaly ass out here!”
An ear-splitting roar answered, nearly knocking Tyche back a step. The ground trembled under his feet as the dragon pounded out of his makeshift den and searched for the fool calling him out.
When he finally appeared, gone were the sunset orange and pink scales.
Haru had turned charcoal gray, and his eyes blazed a sickening blood-red.
Tyche’s stomach sank. This wasn’t his friend.
He was losing him to the goddess’s powers.
A lesson all the gods and goddesses needed to learn. Dragons and god powers did not mix.
“Haru!”
The dragon’s diamond-shaped head swung to Tyche, and those red eyes narrowed on him. He sucked in a deep breath and opened his mouth.
Tyche fought every instinct that screamed for him to run for cover, but he stood his ground and pointed a finger at Haru. “Don’t you even think about it! What the hell did you do to Adrian?”
A choked sound left Haru as if the ball of fire he’d summoned got caught in his throat.
As soon as it was clear, a heart-wrenching cry broke from the dragon that Tyche knew would haunt him for the rest of his days.
It was the wail of a creature who had lost its soul.
He’d heard fanciful stories that dragons were special creatures, not just for their long lives and magic.
They were the only creatures in all of Thia to have soulmates.
Most never found them and still lived long and happy lives.
Yet, those few who did were seen as blessed and cursed. When two soulmates found each other, they knew a happiness no other couple could understand. And when they lost each other, they knew a depth of pain none could fathom.
Tyche had brushed off Haru’s claims that Adrian was his mate as the same silly talk Haru always spouted.
But the cry came from a hollowed-out beast that might never heal. It was an endless loss. No nightmare that Yesuntei could have conjured up could compete with the horrors of what Haru was feeling now.
Haru cried again, but it grew muffled as the dragon shifted into his human form.
He stumbled over broken rocks and through flames toward Tyche.
His normally pristine white robes were torn and blackened with dirt, blood, and soot.
Lines of pain dug deep into his face, and his hands shook as they grabbed Tyche.
“He’s gone. A-Adrian is gone. Can’t…I can’t find him.” Haru’s legs gave out, and he fell to his knees on the broken rocks, pulling Tyche down with him.
“What happened?”
Haru lowered his head, his brow furrowing as if he were struggling to organize his thoughts enough to answer Tyche’s question. His face suddenly jerked up, his eyes wide. “Explosion! There was an explosion. We were walking. Talking about food.”
A small smile lifted Tyche’s mouth. “You and Adrian are always discussing food.”
Tears flooded Haru’s eyes and fell free down pale cheeks. “Yes. Food. I like feeding my Adrian. He makes cute, happy noises. Each time he finds something he likes, he shares it with me.” Haru’s voice caught and his brow furrowed. “Shared with me.”
“The explosion?” Tyche prodded as Haru’s story stalled.
The dragon swallowed hard and nodded twice, the motion sharp and jerky. “Separated. It knocked me out. When I woke up, I couldn’t find him. I-I searched.” He waved a shaking hand at the surrounding city.
Tyche turned, and his stomach twisted into a knot.
The illusions of dead Adrians were gone, but what remained wasn’t a big improvement.
The dragon had reduced several buildings to absolute rubble, and he didn’t think that was all from the explosion.
Blood and cuts covered Haru’s hands from where Tyche could imagine Haru had pawed through the wreckage, first as a human and then as a dragon, in search of Adrian, but he’d never found his body.
Whoever had planned the explosion had likely captured whichever of them they could get to.
It was a shame they’d reached the human first rather than the dragon.
Haru probably would have been able to escape and return to Adrian safely.
“I can’t find him.”
“Someone took him,” Tyche cut in before Haru could deteriorate more. “Someone planned this explosion, and now they’ve taken Adrian to get to you.”
Haru’s eyes flared wide, glowing bright as a flickering road flare. “Took him? I will destroy them.” His voice grew gravelly and deep, as if he were already shifting into his dragon form.
“No!” Tyche pushed to his feet and towered over Haru as he continued to kneel on the ground.
He couldn’t let Haru follow this line of thought.
Thinking Adrian was dead was dangerous, but allowing him to seek the people who had taken Adrian was worse.
A sobbing dragon was easier to manage than an enraged one determined to destroy every living creature until he found his mate.
Haru stared at him, confusion causing his eyes to dim and shift to blue at last. It was only Haru’s trust in Tyche that allowed Tyche to steal his attention.
“You had your chance to protect your mate, and you failed!” Tyche shouted.
With every word he spoke, he wanted to pull out his own tongue, but he pressed on.
Plunging his friend into the darkness was the one thing that was going to save Sirelis.
“Someone took him from you because we were too weak to keep him safe.”
“No!” Haru bellowed. He reached up and gripped a handful of his hair, pulling hard.
“My Adrian…I would never let…my Adrian!” He couldn’t even finish a thought; he was crying so hard.
A tremor shook the city, and rocks tumbled, sending up clouds of dust. The sky swirled with black and red clouds while a hot wind stirred.
A shimmer of gold dust danced in the air around Haru, and Tyche swore.
He thought he’d felt it earlier, but there was no denying it now.
The protective good luck he’d put over Yesuntei’s magic orb was dissolving.
Haru’s powers were out of control in his grief, and they were gripping the orb tighter and tighter. They were out of time.
Tyche slid his right hand to his hip and slipped his dagger from the sheath. He held it up, letting it catch the flicker of light from the flames that still danced low. “If you trust me, Haru, I can send you to Adrian. You’ll never have to be parted from him again. All this pain will go away.”
Tears streamed down Haru’s pale face, and a beatific smile spread across his lips. “Yes! Yes, please. Do it.”
The dragon even lay on the rocks and threw his arms out to his sides, welcoming Tyche’s strike.
The damn creature was so sure Tyche was about to kill him.
Tyche was going to be sick, but he forced himself forward, pushing aside heartbreak and fears.
He dropped beside Haru and plunged the blade into the dragon’s abdomen where Tyche had pressed the orb into his friend just a month earlier.
A pained cry escaped Haru, and his body jerked, but he didn’t stop Tyche in any other way.
As soon as the hole was big enough for Tyche to slip his fingers inside, he tossed aside the blade with a loud clatter and shoved into the dragon’s flesh. Haru hissed, sucking in air through clenched teeth, his eyes squeezed shut.
“Adrian,” he whispered, seeming to cling to thoughts of his mate. More tears slipped from his eyes, sliding along his temples to soak into his hair.
Tyche clenched his teeth and dug into his friend, moving fingers past warm tissue, organs, and muscle, chasing that pulse of power.
Several seconds passed before the tip of his index finger brushed the fiery orb.
A sob of relief broke from his throat, and he grasped the orb with three fingers.
Except it wouldn’t come out. It didn’t feel as if it had melded with the muscle and tissue around it, yet Tyche couldn’t draw it out.
The damn thing had already started to merge with the dragon’s magic, and Haru’s body refused to release it.
No! I’m not killing him! Tyche snarled silently.
He squeezed his eyes shut and forced raw power into the dragon, wringing more shouts of pain out of him. At the same time, he reached out to the ether. Caris, please. He’s one of your most devout followers. If you have any shred of love left for your dragons, help me save him.
He forced more power into Haru. His mind scrambled for more ideas on how to free Haru. He was not losing the dragon. That was not the price of his mistake. He wouldn’t allow it.
Hot wind brushed his cheek, and Tyche flinched.
A heartbeat later, it felt as if a smaller, invisible hand slipped into the hole he’d cut along with his own.
A little magic and pop! The orb came loose with the force of a cork flying from a champagne bottle.
Tyche fell back on his ass, Yesuntei’s sarira clutched in his fist.
Fuck! Shit! Damn! Thank you!
He thought he felt a hint of amusement or possibly annoyance from the Goddess of Fire, but it was gone with the wind. Haru sucked in a harsh gasp of air and coughed roughly, drawing Tyche from his frantic thoughts.
“Ty?”
Haru’s voice trembled, but there was a clarity there that hadn’t been present minutes ago.
“Haru! I’m here. I’m here.” Tyche shoved the bloody orb into his pocket and crawled to the dragon. He placed both hands over the wound and pressed, trying to slow the bleeding. “How are you feeling?”
“Like you cut a hole in me and pulled something out,” Haru grumbled. He lifted his head only to drop it again, squeezing his eyes shut. “Everything is such a mess in my mind. I can’t tell what was real and what was a fantasy. A-Adrian?” His voice trembled, as if he were afraid to ask.
“Someone kidnapped him after the explosion. We talked to Caelan, and he’s alive. Shey has gone to rescue him.”
Haru let out a broken sob on an exhale. “Thank the gods.”
Tyche was sure the gods had nothing to do with that. Or rather, the only one he should thank was Caelan for constantly feeding Adrian protective magic, but that was neither here nor there.
“Shey is going to bring him to us, but I need you to pull your shit together. Use that dragon magic to heal this wound so you don’t upset Adrian when he sees you.”
Haru nodded twice and roughly wiped the tears from his face. “Yes. It’s healing. I promise. I’m okay.”
Thunder rumbled, and Tyche’s eyes snapped up to the sky.
It had cleared from Haru’s nightmarish black and red to dark blue, but now gray clouds were pouring across the sky at an astounding rate.
Lightning flickered behind the black mounds, followed by the crash of thunder. Was that Shey? Were they in trouble?
“Learned the hard way that you can’t give our powers to a dragon, eh, kid?”
That gruff voice sent goose bumps down Tyche’s arms. This was the last person he wanted to see right now, but he should have expected it.
Tyche grabbed one of Haru’s wrists and pressed his hand to the wound while removing his own. He glimpsed it briefly and confirmed it was closing. It shouldn’t be long before he could move without his guts potentially slipping out.
With Haru taken care of, Tyche slowly rose and turned to face Kaes.
Gone was the short, round man in the yellow rain gear, posing as an affable fisherman.
He stood several yards away, a shirtless behemoth with a dense mat of gray hair across his muscled chest. A grizzled beard covered most of his face, and two beady black eyes peered out.
Next to him stood a sledgehammer with its giant metal head resting on the ground while its tall, wood hilt stretched up to Kaes’s waist.
“We’re the only ones who can handle the power of gods,” Kaes growled. He tipped his head up so that he was staring at Tyche along the length of his nose. One hand lifted, and he flipped it, palm up. “Hand it over.”
Tyche snorted and shoved his hand into his pocket.
He clenched Yesuntei’s sarira in his fist. “Yeah, I figured it was all coming down to this. At first, you were willing to stir the pot with Cirina because you’re so bored you can’t take it anymore.
But the moment I put the powers in Haru, you had to take a step back and think things through.
Taking on a dragon is messy business, and you weren’t guaranteed to win. But now…”
“Hand it over.”
“This isn’t what Yesuntei wanted.”
The God of Storms sneered. “She lost the right to have a say in anything when she died.” Kaes wrapped his fist around the hammer’s long handle and hefted it above his head. “Now, this is the last time I’m going to say it. Hand. It. Over.”
Tyche drew his hand out of his pocket and pinched the orb between his thumb and forefinger as he held it up in front of him.
His heart beat out a slow, steady rhythm.
His mind was clear. This path was always ahead of him.
No matter how hard he tried, this had always been where he was going to end up.
Some fates were inevitable as the setting sun, and this one, he would find a way to accept like so many others.
“Come get it, bitch.”
Tyche slammed the ball of energy into his chest, forcing it inside to merge with his own sarira, while a second, long-dormant power banged against the prison he’d made centuries ago, demanding to be set free with the others.