Chapter 10
The red dragon towered over us, hate fanning the flames in his eyes.
“A dragon? Here for you?” I barely got the words out before Madden pulled me underneath the water to avoid a flash of fire from the creature.
We surfaced again right by the edge of the pool, embers now raining over us. I jumped out and shoved my pants and tunic on as quickly as possible while Madden did the same.
He pulled up his trousers and laced them. “An enemy. I fought him—and lost.”
The dragon reared back, ready to let loose another stream of deadly fire. He hurled it directly at us. I pointed to a waterfall behind us, where a cavern lay. A place we could hide and gather our wits.
Now clothed, we dove underneath the water right as the fire met its surface.
Heat from the fire penetrated the water, burning my skin.
We quickened our strokes, swimming through the crushing force of the waterfall and into the cavern.
The flood of rushing water hid the dark cave.
At least I hoped it was hidden, that we’d bought ourselves time before the dragon figured out where we’d swam to.
I faced Madden. “What happened? How are we going to get out of this?”
The dragon roared outside, its wrath shaking the little cave. “I was sent on a mission to retrieve a woman. She was important, a bride for one of our clients, and I was supposed to save her and then deliver her safely to her future husband.”
I didn’t move a muscle. Water slid down my skin, dropping to the grey stone.
“Instead, I doomed her.” Madden squeezed his eyes shut.
“The thing is, we get paid upon delivery, and I failed to deliver, so we not only didn’t get paid, but we got into a lot of trouble because of her death.
We lost a lot of money, an important client, damaged our reputation, and a woman lost her life because . . .”
I stepped closer now. “Because what?”
“Because I’m not a hero. I never have been.
” He met my gaze, his eyes hard. “I always was sent on the missions that required killing, disposing of important people. This was the first mission I’d been asked to go on to save someone, and I couldn’t do it because I was so focused on killing the dragon instead of saving the woman. That’s all I know how to do.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I know that’s not true.”
“How?” Madden asked.
Before I could answer the dragon roared again, fire blazing through the wall of water, heating our cave.
Madden’s voice hushed to a whisper. “What I did can’t be justified, and I deserve any punishment I get. Maybe I’m not meant to leave this place.”
He stalked toward the water, steam still rising from it.
“What are you doing?” I blocked his path as he tried to shoulder past me. I grabbed his arm, refusing to move.
“I have to face him.” Madden turned. “I don’t know how I’m going to make him go away, but I won’t let him hurt you.”
I threw my hands in the air. “This world isn’t real! He isn’t real. You won’t solve anything by getting yourself killed. Let’s make a plan first. Then we’ll work together to defeat him.”
Madden shook his head. “It’s better this way, Princess.
” He gently unclasped my hand from his arm.
“For a moment I tricked myself into believing that . . .” He cleared his throat.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Trust me when I say you’re better off without me.
You’re going to break this curse and take back Gilraeth. ”
My skin grew cold. “Why are you saying this?”
It sounded like he wasn’t planning on leaving with me, like he wasn’t planning on surviving this.
Madden took another step toward the waterfall.
“Please don’t do this. We’re in this together, remember? If you go and get yourself killed—” I stopped, my voice hitching.
“We don’t even know that I’ll die.”
I was fairly certain that was a lie. “You will. This world is made from death. It seeks us at every turn.”
“I can’t run from this anymore,” he said, his back to me. “It’s too much of a weight to bear.”
I stepped up to his side. “I’m coming with you.”
Madden held out his arm to block me. “No, it’s too dangerous.”
The ground fissured beneath our feet, separating as the dragon’s steps quaked the land.
I flashed a smile. “Good thing I live for danger.” And with that, I bounded toward the waterfall.
Madden chased after me. “Princess, get back here! He’s dangerous, far more dangerous than any of your nightmares.”
I dove into the water and ducked under the fall. It was only when we reached the other side that I responded, “You know nothing of my nightmares.”
The world around us flaked away. The mountainous waterfall dried up and blew like dust in the breeze. The painted sky cracked and crumbled, revealing an inky darkness underneath. The rock beneath us folded and broke until all that was left was a void.
There was nowhere to hide now.
“What is happening?” Madden looked around us.
“I don’t know.” Something was changing, but I didn’t know what.
“Think!” I gave Madden a light shove. “You fought the dragon before. What defeats it?”
Madden tackled me as a stream of fire shot over our heads. “I don’t know. I don’t have powerful enough magic to hurt him.”
The dragon loomed over us.
We both jumped.
In this dark world, no shadow warned us of his arrival. It blended in perfectly with the darkness.
I grabbed the dagger strapped to my belt, but Madden held me back. “I have to do this. I should pay for my sins. But first I’m going to help you be free.”
I stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
The dragon circled us, creating a whirlwind of a red tornado that lifted us in the air. It was slow, languid. Not meant to kill. Not yet. Instead, it would bring us straight to the dragon.
Madden yelled over the sound of the whooshing wind.
“You’re Seraphina Hailish. Born to King Theo and Queen Rose, and they loved you with everything they were.
You’re a princess with the biggest heart of anyone I know.
You’re a warrior. A defender of the weak.
A protector of those silenced. A welcomer to the outcasts.
Your laugh lights up the darkest of corners and your smile rivals an entire field of the most beautiful flowers.
You were cursed by a sorceress named Helena.
You’re going to remember all of this eventually, because I think that’s the key to breaking this curse. ”
My mouth hung open, but I didn’t move. “Madden . . .”
“You have to let me do this. It’s the one thing I’ve been running from, and I can’t do it anymore. I told you when we first met, I’m not a hero. I’m the villain, Princess.”
Then Madden pushed me from the storm, which picked up with speed. I stretched my arms out to him as I fell and landed with a thud. “No,” I screamed.
The storm lifted Madden right up to the dragon. Its blazing red eyes seared into him, and I could do nothing but watch. The storm trapped him, the whirling fire tightening around its victim like ropes.
The dragon reached out a long, curved nail and skimmed Madden’s skin.
“I’m sorry,” Madden said, and I had to strain my ears to hear.
“I’m sorry for what I did. If you want to kill me, I understand.
I deserve it.” He tightened his jaw. “I’m a killer.
It’s what I’ve always been. My assignment was to save that woman from you, and I decided killing you would be the easiest way to do that. But instead, I just got her killed.”
He shot a glance at I so far below. “Just promise after you kill me you won’t hurt her.”
The dragon nodded its head.
My heart squeezed. “What are you doing?” I yelled. “There’s got to be another way.”
The storm tightened around Madden like a boa constrictor. Still, he didn’t wince from the pain.
“Please,” I yelled at the dragon. “Don’t hurt him.”
Madden closed his eyes as if surrendering.
Break the curse. I had to break the curse.
Now.
It would be the only way to end this. If I wasn’t cursed, Madden wouldn’t be able to stay here, in this world. I had to break the curse because I loved him.
The realization hit me like I lightning bolt. I straightened as my memories flooded me. Tears welled in my eyes as every piece of me came back, every piece I’d been afraid of. I gasped in pain, in relief, in happiness.
I remembered. I remembered everything.
The storm dissipated above and Madden fell to the ground, a sickening thud as he hit. A bolt of thunder crackled through the sky, and the dragon leaned down over him.
“No!” I laid myself across him.
“What are you doing?” Madden groaned.
“I’m not going to let you die,” I hissed. “You made a mistake. I made a mistake too.”
The dragon growled at me.
I turned. “Have you no respect? Can I not say my last words before he dies?”
The dragon gave a small nod.
I cupped Madden’s face and forced him to look at me. “The sorceress didn’t curse me. I cursed myself, Madden.”
Madden sucked in a sharp breath. “You remember?”
My fingers curled into his sides. “It’s foggy.
Bits and pieces come to me, but I know what happened now.
She turned on us after I introduced her to my parents.
She got to know us, got to know our weaknesses, and then she struck with her shadow magic.
She took control of the most powerful dragons’ shadows and used them against us, used them to attack.
She killed my parents and was going to kill me, but the fire faeries intervened, rescuing me and hiding me away.
I hid for a year. An entire year I let her rule while I recovered, mentally and physically.
” My voice broke. “Then it was time. I needed to face her, but I was still so scared. I went to my castle, where she and the dragons now lived. She had a spindle tail dragon with her. Not many know, but the spindle at the end of its tail is dangerous because of its ability to curse any person who touches it into an endless sleep.”
The dragon over us was silent, listening to my story.
“Instead of fighting the sorceress, avenging my parents’ deaths, I froze, so scared she was going to kill me like she killed my parents, so I grabbed the dragon’s tail and pricked my finger on the spindle.
I cursed myself, Madden. It’s my fault. Everything is my fault.
” I shook my head. “But I’m not scared anymore. And you want to know why?”
He just stared at me.
“Because of you. Because you’ve shown me what it means to be strong, to face my fears. I’m going to break this curse and I’m going to face that sorceress and win back my court. I’m going to do it with you by my side.”
A tear ran down Madden’s cheek.
Madden opened his mouth, but I covered it before he got the chance.
I kept my hand in its place, not letting him speak. “If I stay here, I can’t ever rectify my mistakes. And neither can you. If you let this nightmare kill you, you’re depriving yourself of the chance to be better, to do better. What kind of justice is that?”
The dragon plucked me from the ground like a flower.
Then he blew out a bolt of fire that plunged right through Madden’s heart.
My world exploded into pain and screams, screams that I realized were coming from me.
The dragon disappeared in a poof of red smoke, and I fell and ran to Madden. I wrenched the bolt from his chest.
“You can’t leave me.” My fists pounded against him as his eyes fluttered. “Please. We were supposed to save each other.” Tears streamed down my face.
He tried to smile, tried to open his mouth to speak, but he wasn’t strong enough. A teardrop hit his face, then another. My tears rained down on him, and then, I pressed my lips against his. A final goodbye.