Izel
“Everybody out,” Cassarah bellowed. “Get out of here, now.”
My gaze snapped to the windows, where I was greeted with the sight of flames coming straight for us.
Grabbing Phillip, I yanked him up and out of the chair he’d been sitting in and ran toward the door.
The air exploded with heat and glass as the odd-looking dragon burst into the dining hall.
Thank God the ceilings were so high, or else I’d have been worried he’d knock the roof down, crushing us before his flames could do the job.
Shoving the crown prince out into the hall, I turned to head back in to get the others out.
Abbott was hurrying past me with Queen Catharine’s daughter, Princess Amelia, in his arms. “Help Cassarah. She was closest to the attack,” he ordered.
Slipping past him, I tried to find out who was where in the utter chaos of the space.
Milky white wings filled the space, crashing into everything, smashing it to the floor, making it dangerous to venture farther.
That didn’t matter—finding Cassarah was what mattered.
Without her to lead the battle for our kingdom, all would be lost, and the Lost King would never be stopped.
Finally, I caught sight of her hiding under the stone table with Dayson as another blast of fire was shot their way.
As soon as it was over, I motioned to Day for him to send Cassarah my way.
Grabbing her arm, he surged forward, moving quickly for a man of his bulk.
I took a step closer when I saw the dragon I could only guess to be Xotha, pair-bond to Henry, the Lost King, driven mad from dark magic.
It was the only explanation for the lack of color in his scales, the solid black eyes, and the acid that seemed to be leaking from him.
“Watch out!” I yelled when I saw Xotha whip his tail out toward Cassarah.
It wrapped around her waist, dragging her back toward the window.
Leaping over the stone table, I chased after them, watching as Cassarah stabbed the dragon with an arrow created from her Birthright.
It pierced through the armored scales, loosening its grip, but not enough for her to get free.
As if the next sequence of events happened in slow motion, I watched as Cassarah was dragged out the window and plummeted down the cliffside.
The Dragon Castle was built into the side of a mountain high in the air with a wooden bridge connecting it to the main road to the village.
Sharp rocks and a swiftly running river would greet her at the bottom.
No one could survive a fall like that, but that didn’t stop me from reaching out to my dragon, who’d been guarding the area and diving off the ledge to follow her.
Cassarah’s black dragon, Vasin, battled with Xotha, doing everything he could to keep him away from her.
While strong and king among dragons, Vasin was still young, and his scales weren’t as thick as they needed to be, nor had he been able to breathe fire yet.
Dragging my gaze away from the fighting dragons, I searched for Cassarah, my little warrior, the woman who had appeared out of nowhere to claim my heart—the Dragon Queen and leader of the mercenaries, with blazing amber eyes that captivated you and wild mahogany curls to frame her proud jaw.
She wasn’t a woman who needed to tell you she was in charge or even wanted to be our leader, but her presence alone had you stand up and take notice.
Then you caught a glimpse of her incredible intelligence, which should scare you far more than us with our swords and arrows.
My little warrior could crush you without even lifting a finger if she put her mind to it, and that was far more dangerous than any dragon or warrior.
A roar filled the night air, followed by a burst of flame as Vasin lit Xotha up before slamming him into the mountainside.
It gave me enough light to see by, and I spotted Cassarah’s form below me, her skirts billowing in the wind.
In the brief moment I saw her clearly, my heart seized in fear.
Her eyes were closed, and she looked resigned to her fate as she hurtled toward the ground.
No! Cassarah wouldn’t give up, not her, not like this. She’s fought too hard to get to where she is now to throw it all away.
Another roar, closer this time, alerted me to Shanshen, my blue dragon, arriving.
Swooping under me, I latched onto his neck and clung to him as his massive wings thrust downward, shooting us in the opposite direction I wanted to go.
As swiftly as I could, I got myself settled in the saddle-like harness all our dragons were wearing so they were ready in case we needed them—it seemed it was a wise choice.
“We need to get to Cassarah before it’s too late,” I ordered Shanshen.
With a growl of understanding, he tucked his wings to his side and dove.
The wind streaked past us, pulling at my clothes and hair tied up of my head.
My knuckles turned white as I kept myself steady, not wanting to risk falling off and creating more problems. The deeper we went into the canyon below, the darker it got, making it hard to see her, but I’d heard Cassarah tell us that dragons had far better night vision than humans, so all I could do was trust my dragon.
A blinding blue light burst into existence, blinding me to the point I had to close my eyes and tuck my head under Shanshen’s wing.
Once the light dimmed, I whipped my head back up, searching for the source of the light.
There, floating in the air with a pair of ethereal blue dragon wings, was Cassarah.
Shanshen snapped his wings out, slowing us so abruptly that I was almost thrown from his back as I focused on the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
The wings shimmered with power, making me wonder if they were created from her Birthright.
Once she’d marked all of us as her consorts and the castle’s magic accepted her, I’d seen a change in her power.
It was stronger and acted unlike any Birthright I’d ever seen.
The look on her face told me she was just as shocked as I was, but it quickly morphed into a look of determination.
My brows furrowed as I watched what was happening above me—her wings propelled her upward like a streak of lightning.
It was as if she was there in front of me, and in the blink of an eye, she was soaring toward Xotha, who was still locked in a fierce battle with Vasin.
Blood streaked down Xotha’s side, but the dragon didn’t even seem to notice.
Shanshen chased after our queen, hot on her heels without me even needing to ask.
Cassarah’s bow, the typical form her Birthright took, appeared in her hands.
Without slowing down, she drew the string back and let loose an arrow, hitting Xotha right in the eye.
The dragon let out a scream that chilled me to my bones, green bubbling liquid gushing out of where his eye had once been.
With one final swipe at Vasin, the wounded dragon broke away and shimmered slightly before disappearing into the night sky.
What the hell did I just witness? How could a dragon vanish into thin air with the snap of a finger? Clearly, there was more going on with the Lost King and his dragon than we realized or were prepared for.
Vasin shoved off the craggy cliffside he’d been tossed into and followed after his pair-bond, and they headed for the main roost. I wasn’t sure if I should follow or go back and tell the others she was okay.
In her mind, the most important thing right now would be to look after Vasin and ensure he was all right.
Depending on how bad his wounds were, she could be there all night—best to tell the others she was okay.
“Take me back to the castle, then we’ll meet up with Cassarah and see if she needs anything,” I instructed Shanshen.
With a snort as my only acknowledgment, he turned us toward the castle.
While I thought he would take us to the dragon perch near the previous king’s quarters or even the one near our space, he decided to go right to the source—the dining hall.
Digging his talons into the stone, he clung to the outside of what had once been a wall of windows, tucking his wings in to make himself smaller.
Now, here I was again hanging off the edge I’d just jumped from.
“Izel!” Gavin called, rushing over to me. “Where is she? I saw her get pulled over the edge. Why isn’t she with you?”
“Cassarah is fine. She is with Vasin at the roost. He was injured fighting Xotha. To what extent, I don’t know, but I figured I should come tell you all is well. Where are the others?” I asked, surprised he would be the only one here.
Gavin gave me a disbelieving look. “On their dragons looking for Cassarah. Where else would they be once they got things settled here? I stayed behind to deal with my aunt and uncle, not trusting to leave them alone with only the newly created castle guard.”
Of course, they went after Cassarah. If I’d been willing to leap off a cliff to follow after her, why wouldn’t they do the same? “I’ll see if I can find the others and make sure to keep you informed. Thank you for staying here. I know it will ease her mind once she can process all this.”
“It’s a small thing, but it’s what I can do right now for her,” Gavin agreed as he started to back up, waving me off. “Go find the others so they don’t think she’s dead at the bottom of the ravine.”
Nodding, I patted Shanshen’s neck, and he shoved away from the ledge and back out into the open air.
I was quickly learning how much trust you needed to have in your dragon when they pulled moves like this.
I would have been terrified if I didn’t believe he would make sure I was all right..
Even though I couldn’t talk to Shanshen like Cassarah could to Vasin, we found a way to understand each other.
“Let’s find our brothers and get back to the roost. I don’t like leaving her alone right now. Xotha could come back any second.” Shanshen let out a snarl, followed by a blast of flames lighting up the sky. It was almost as if he were signaling to the others our location.
A roar sounded in the distance, echoed by two others, giving me hope they would be heading back in this direction.
Sure enough, I saw Tahir, Jade’s red dragon, first, with his vibrant scales being easier to see in the dark.
The others were right behind him and proceeded to circle me, each looking to see if I had Cassarah with me.
“She went with Vasin back to the roost. He was wounded, and she needed to check on him first,” I hollered at them. “Gavin knows and is staying at the castle while we guard Cassarah.”
Cole, not even waiting for me to finish talking, sped off on his dragon, with the rest quickly following.
I couldn’t really blame them. Cassarah was our whole world, even before she officially claimed us as consorts.
The moment that mark appeared on my forearm, giving me the title of guardian, there was no turning back.
Watching her grow into the queen she was becoming made me love her even more.
Being her consort just meant I could finally do something about it.
Shanshen didn’t linger and chased after the others, soon overtaking them as he flew higher to pass them all, only to dive down when we reached the plateau where the roost entrance was. When he landed, dust billowed around us as he flared his wings to slow us down enough that we didn’t crash.
“Oomph, was it really necessary to make such an entrance?” My dragon turned his one good silver eye at me, letting out a snort of smoke.
“All right then, seems you have quite the competitive streak in you now, doesn’t it?
” I chuckled as I slid off his back and rubbed his neck.
In answer, I got what I would consider a smile of sorts as he bared his teeth at me, bobbing his head.
Being the show-off he was, Paxton dropped out of the sky to land in a crouch beside me, popping back up with a grin. “Man, that move never gets old.”
Abbott walked up behind him and cuffed him on the back of the head. “Now is not the time to be acting like a child. We almost lost Cassarah tonight because we acted overconfident.”
“Fuck off, would you? I know what happened tonight. I have the singed clothes to prove it,” Paxton shot back. “Take the stick out of your ass and acknowledge that we now know the Lost King’s dragon is real and our plan worked… kind of.”
“You wouldn’t be acting that way if you saw what I did,” I stated, crossing my arms and glaring at him.
“That dragon is not something we can underestimate. He took tons of damage and shrugged it off. It wasn’t until Cassarah shot him in the eye that he decided to give up on the fight.
Then the bastard vanished right before my eyes… poof, gone.”
Paxton narrowed his icy blue eyes at me. “What do you mean vanished?”
“How many other ways can something vanish?” I challenged, not feeling up to dealing with his attitude.
He’d been getting better, with Cassarah always putting him in his place and learning to trust the rest of us more.
Yet moments like this still happened, and his stubbornness made him act like an asshole.
“Do we know if that is some sort of dragon magic, or are we dealing with something else?” Abbott asked, frowning.
Relaxing my arms, I motioned to the roost. “The one we need to ask is in there. Vasin is the only one that knows what any dragon could be capable of. Personally, I don’t think it was natural dragon magic but has to do with whatever spell brought the thing back to life.
Did you see the acid seeping out of it?”
“Fucking hurts, I’ll tell you that,” Cole announced as he joined us, followed by Zan and Dayson. “Some of that shit landed on my arm and ate right through my shirt sleeve, so I had to rip it off.”
Glancing around, I noticed we were missing one. “Where’s Jade?”
“Oh, you think that protective asshole was going to wait for us to go in?” Dayson grumbled. “Nah, that man had his dragon fly right into the roost from the top.”
Dayson was right. Jade was obsessive when it came to Cassarah’s safety, even to the point of making her angry on several occasions. “Maybe if he’s had a moment with her all to himself, he’ll let the rest of us close enough to check on her.”
The men around me muttered their agreement as we headed in.
I hoped Vasin hadn’t taken any severe damage because I wasn’t sure we would have much time left after this stunt.
The Lost King was gearing up for battle, but I’m afraid that now our time to prepare was gone, and the element of surprise was lost.