Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
B lood runs down Draven’s arm from the wound, but he just snatches out a bandage from the medical cabinet and wraps it around his forearm before slamming the pieces of armor back in place.
“Outside!” Draven yells across the barracks. “Now!”
Alistair and Isera skid to a halt in front of us, glancing in confusion at the blood on the floor but asking no questions. I grab another couple of bandages and wrap them around the piece of dragon steel. Then I tie it to my belt. There is no way in hell that I’m leaving it here for the Icehearts to use against someone else.
“Get ready,” Draven says to Galen and Lyra. “We’re going to have to fight our way out.” His gaze shifts to Alistair and Isera. “And you’re going to help us.”
Alistair jerks back in alarm as Draven grabs him by the throat. But before Alistair can so much as try to fight him off, Draven yanks him closer. And then removes his collar.
A gasp of relief rips from Alistair’s lungs.
Isera, who probably thought that he was going to drain Alistair’s magic, blinks in shock.
The iron collar clangs against the stone floor as Draven tosses it aside and whirls towards Isera. With a few quick moves, he removes her collar as well and throws it down on the ground.
For a second, and for the first time since she snapped out of her stupor, there is a hint of something other than ruthless ice in Isera’s eyes. Something almost like gratitude. Or hope.
Draven gives the two of them a commanding stare. “You’re the two strongest magic users in the entire Seelie Court. Prove it.”
Then he’s striding towards the door.
The rest of us lurch into motion as well. My pulse thrums in my ears as the six of us hurry down the corridor and back into the night outside. All the soldiers from the Black Dragon Clan are already waiting out there on the stones. I whip my head towards the castle as I jog out the door.
My heart leaps into my throat as I spot two people in silver clothes striding towards us. Their massive silver wings are spread wide, but they’re walking. As if they want to make Draven tremble in fear at seeing their approach. They’re not in any hurry since they think that he is still wearing the dragon steel and therefore can’t leave. I watch them for another second. This is going to get violent. Fast.
“Fly straight for the Western Isles,” Draven calls to his people. “Don’t stop. Don’t slow down. Don’t look back. Now, shift!”
The ranks of soldiers sprint across the mountainside, putting distance between each other. Then the first people start shifting. Smoke billows across the stones as the soldiers shift into their dragon forms. Black dragons shoot up from the smoke and soar up towards the sky.
Alarm bells blare from the ice walls.
“Lyra, take Alistair,” Draven orders. “Galen, you take Isera. We need to buy the others time.”
“Take?” Alistair blurts out. “What the hell do you mean take ?”
“It means climb on, hold on tight, and use your fucking magic to help us fight,” Draven snaps. Then his gaze shifts to me. “You’re with me. Get on.”
Before I can even open my mouth to reply, let alone actually process what he’s saying, he shifts into a dragon.
Smoke explodes around us as Lyra and Galen do the same. Massive wings flap, blowing the smoke away. I gape at Draven, who lowers himself to the ground next to me. Isera and Alistair remain equally frozen. Draven roars at us.
Snapping out of my stupor, I flick a quick glance at my fellow fae. They meet my gaze for one single second. Then the three of us are climbing up on the dragons before us.
Disbelief clangs inside my whole skull as I settle myself in the space where Draven’s neck meets the rest of his body. It’s shaped almost as if it’s made for someone to sit there. With my heart pounding in my chest, I grip the spikes on his neck and clench my thighs tightly to stay in place.
Draven swings his head towards the Icehearts, roars a challenge, and then shoots into the sky.
My stomach drops and a surge goes through my body as we shoot upwards. Winds rip at my clothes and hair. On either side of us, Galen and Lyra, with Isera and Alistair seated on their backs, fly up from the ground as well.
Silver dragons surge over the castle’s defensive walls. Then smoke explodes across the mountainside again as Empress Jessina and Emperor Bane shift into dragons as well. Their massive silver bodies gleam in the moonlight as they roar in fury. Then they shoot straight towards us.
I gasp as Draven veers sharply to the left. Galen and Lyra bank hard in the other direction.
A second later, ice flames streak past in the space we used to occupy. Bane roars in anger again and opens his jaws. Ice flames shoot towards us.
And slam right into a thick wall made of ice.
Atop Galen’s back, Isera stares at Bane as if she is going to rip the dragon emperor’s heart out with her bare hands. The freezing and utterly otherworldly fury on her face snatches the breath from my lungs and makes fear ripple down my spine. Whatever held Isera together back in the Seelie Court has snapped now. And I have no idea what she is planning to do anymore.
Fire crackles through the air as Draven breathes flames back at the Icehearts at the same time as Galen and Lyra do the same. The fire shoots towards them from three directions, joined a second later by a massive torrent of flames from Alistair.
It forces the Icehearts to dodge, breaking their headlong flight towards us.
But dragons from the Silver Clan are soaring over the ice walls and heading straight for us. In a matter of moments, we’ll be outnumbered. I whip my head from side to side. The other dragons from the Black Dragon Clan are speeding towards the horizon, just like Draven ordered. We only need to buy them a few more minutes.
But then we also need to get out. And how we’re supposed to do that, I have no idea.
My stomach lurches, and I press my legs harder against Draven’s scales, as he turns sharply and flies around the Icehearts, coming up at them from behind. As if they have done this move several times before, Lyra and Galen do the same from the other directions.
Black clouds gather around us as Draven summons his magic. I grip his spikes tighter as lightning cracks through the air, missing Jessina’s wings by a hair’s breadth. She roars in outrage and shoots ice flames in our direction. Draven dives right on time.
But then the other silver dragons reach us.
My body jerks back and forth as Draven veers and dives and twists to evade the mass of dragons now attacking us. Black clouds and storm winds and lightning flash around us, forcing parts of the attackers back.
Fire and ice clash in the air, lighting up the night sky and making explosions echo across the landscape.
Lyra breathes fire at her attackers while Alistair works in perfect tandem with her and uses his fire magic to protect her from the dragons that try to swarm her from behind.
Isera, on the other hand, isn’t protecting anyone. She is attacking Bane with such fury that the mountain itself trembles. Ice shoots through the air like massive spears, aiming for Bane’s wings in a relentless hail of attacks. And it’s all he can do to block them all with his own ice flames.
Draven swerves around a cluster of attackers, slashing them with his claws. One of them screams. Draven clamps his jaws around the silver dragon’s neck and rips his throat out. Blood rains down over the mountainside, followed by the body of the silver dragon that slams into the stones with a thud that echoes against the ice walls.
And all I can do is to just sit there uselessly on his back. I don’t have any magic that can help them fight the way Isera and Alistair can. But Goddess damn it, I need to do something.
Silver flashes all around me as the horde of dragon shifters try to overwhelm us with sheer numbers. Just Bane and Jessina alone are dangerous enough. We need to get the rest of these shifters away from us. Especially before they can get any more dragons out here.
An idea flashes through my mind.
“Draven!” I scream over the rushing winds. “Take us out over the city.”
He rips his claws into another dragon while sending bolts of lightning straight at Jessina and dodging another attack from the side.
“Trust me!” I yell.
He lets out a roar and then breathes a torrent of fire in a long wall before us. As if they could understand him, Lyra and Galen immediately disengage and follow him as we race towards the city.
“Take us down lower,” I call at him.
Rooftops flash past right below us as Draven dives so that he is flying right above the buildings. The crowds of humans, who had come out onto the streets to see what was happening up by the castle, scream in fear and duck down.
“The Red Hand has been captured!” I bellow over and over again at the top of my lungs as we soar past street after street. “The human resistance has been captured! They’re about to be executed!”
And then I summon my magic.
I don’t even know if this will work. It’s going to require an enormous amount of energy. And even if I am somehow strong enough to do it, it’s only going to work for a few seconds. So I need to make this count.
Gritting my teeth, I reach deep into my energy reserves.
And then I shove my magic across the entire city of Frostfell.
It latches on to the pale red flames of anger that I have been building in the humans’ chests for weeks now. Those flames have flared up even brighter at the news that the Icehearts are about to execute the Red Hand and the rest of the resistance.
I push with everything I have.
And for ten glorious seconds, anger soars into blazing rage in every chest.
Then my energy runs out, and I gasp as I slump forward over Draven’s neck, barely able to keep my grip on his spikes. I stare down desperately at the streets we fly over while the silver dragons chase us from behind.
For a few moments, nothing happens.
Then the city… snaps.
Screams of fury, screams of decades, of centuries, worth of suppressed anger and outrage, tear through the silent streets. Humans pour out onto the stones like a massive flood. Sprinting through the city, they carry everything that can be used as a weapon while they scream battle cries that echo of blood and reckoning.
Rage burns through the whole city as the entire human population storms the Ice Palace.
Tilting my head back, I scream up into the sky. Scream out of exhaustion. Out of relief. And out of sheer fucking revenge.
The spark is lit.
The rebellion has ignited.
Half of the silver dragons that were chasing us are forced to break off and fly back towards the castle.
Draven lets out a roar that sounds like approval, and banks hard, turning so that we’re once again facing our enemies. Galen and Lyra do the same and then fly up so that they’re flanking us.
Across the rooftops, speeding towards us, are Bane and Jessina. Even in their dragon forms, I can read the rage in their eyes as they fly towards us with the other half of their soldiers.
This took half of their current numbers out of play, but more dragons are already taking flight from the Ice Palace. We need to get out of the city. And we need to do it now.
Draven, Lyra, and Galen all open their jaws while Isera and Alistair get ready with their magic as well.
But then Bane and Jessina screech to a halt mid-air. All the other dragons have to swerve around them to keep from crashing into them. I stare at the scene before me in shock. Both Jessina and Bane are whipping their heads from side to side, as if they’re searching for us.
But we’re right in front of them. They should be able to see us.
Then I notice that Draven’s black scales are shimmering slightly. I snap my gaze to Lyra and Alistair. The two of them are shimmering as well. And so are Galen and Isera. Glancing down, I stare at my own hands that are still gripping Draven’s spikes. I am shimmering too.
What the hell is going on?
Jessina lets out a roar of frustration and starts flying back and forth with jerky movements while swinging her head from side to side. Around her, Bane and the other dragons are doing the same.
They’re searching for us. Why can’t they see where…
Realization hits.
Jerking my head down, I stare down at the part of the city that we are currently hovering over.
Ember Hill.
And there, on a well-kept lawn in front of a house with a dark blue door, stands an Unseelie fae with long black hair. Her yellow and violet eyes are glowing as she looks up at us.
A giddy laugh escapes my lungs.
She’s glamouring us. She’s making us look like part of the night sky or the buildings or something that makes us appear invisible.
“This is our chance!” I call to my allies. “We’re being glamoured.”
Draven doesn’t hesitate for a second. Flapping his wings hard, he starts towards the western horizon.
Raising one hand to my brow, I give Nysara a salute in thanks. I swear that I can almost see the feline smirk on her lips.
Galen and Lyra fly up beside us as we speed across the city.
Bane has flown too far away, but Jessina snaps her head towards us. We might be invisible, and any sound might be drowned out by everyone’s booming wings, but they can still feel the rushing air that Draven, Lyra, and Galen create when they streak past.
Dread crackles through me as Jessina swings her head in our direction and opens her jaws wide.
“Watch out!” I scream.
A massive torrent of ice flames shoots from her mouth as she turns her head from one side to the other, breathing the ice fire like a wide wall. It speeds towards us through the sky.
Alistair and Isera whip around and shove their magic at it.
Searing flames burn through the ice on Alistair’s side, making it melt and stopping its momentum so that the rest crashes down like blocks of ice over the buildings below, while Isera throws a barrier of ice towards the ones on our side.
It hits Jessina’s ice flames with a crack that echoes across the whole countryside.
Both attacks hit with furious force, and ice explodes as the two walls collide. Shards and chunks of it are blown outwards in both directions with enough force to smash through windows in the city below.
I gasp as one of them hits me in the back, but because of my tight grip on Draven’s spikes, I manage to keep it from knocking me off his back.
Jessina roars in frustration and swivels her head as we speed away.
Relief washes over me when the city disappears from below us and we’re instead flying across the fields and farmlands that surround Frostfell. And with every beat of their wings, they take us closer and closer to that open horizon.
Exhaustion laces my body, but I manage a smile at that glittering night sky ahead.
We did it. We got out. Isera and Alistair are free. Draven is free. The entire Black Dragon Clan is free. I am free.
The heist might have failed, but I still managed to make the entire human population inside Frostfell rise up and rebel against the Iceheart Dynasty. Their city is in chaos. They have lost the Commander of the Dread Legion. And Draven is on my side.
I lit the match that sparked the rebellion in Frostfell, and with Draven’s help, this might just be the start. We might be able to free the Seelie Court and find a way to topple the entire Iceheart Dynasty and kill Bane and Jessina for good.
And now that we are no longer enemies, I might finally be able to allow myself to consider what he told me back there in his bedroom. That he has fallen in love with me. That he is in love with me.
Just the thought of that makes my heart squeeze tight.
I still hate that we’re fated mates. I hate that I didn’t get a choice. That I wasn’t allowed to choose him on my own. But now that we have time, now that I know the truth, I might be able to at least start figuring out how much of our emotions are real and how much of them were forced upon us by the mate bond.
A smile, full of fragile hope, spreads across my lips.
This might?—
Draven banks, and I feel myself sliding to the side. Gripping the spike harder, I try to force myself to stay on as I press my thighs harder against his scales. Goddess above, I’m tired. I’m so tired that I can barely move my legs.
Thankfully, Draven straightens again, which stops me from sliding.
I stare down at my legs. Then I cough. It’s wet, forcing me to wipe it off with the back of my hand.
Confusion swirls inside me when the back of my hand is red when I return it to the spike before me. I try to adjust my position again, but my legs refuse to move.
Why is…?
Reaching behind me, I pat my back where the chunk of ice hit me earlier.
My heart stops as my hand meets something hard and sharp that sticks out of my back. Everything inside me suddenly goes unnaturally silent.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see a huge shard of ice sticking out of my spine. But I can’t feel it.
I cough again and then look back down at my legs.
In fact, I can’t feel anything below the waist.
I gasp out a breath, and blood sprays down over my shirt.
“Draven,” I try to call, but my voice comes out as a hoarse whisper that is drowned out by the rushing winds.
I cough more blood onto my chest.
There is a strange silence inside my head as I reach back and touch the shard of ice that appears to have severed my spine. As if this isn’t happening to me. As if I’m watching it from outside my body.
Draven banks again as he sets course for the Western Sea.
My legs are just draped uselessly over his neck, and since I can’t grip with my thighs, I simply start sliding to the side when he turns.
“Draven,” I croak, and cough up more blood. “I can’t feel my legs.”
He’s still banking. I slide farther to the side, tilting precariously. My exhausted body trembles as I try desperately to hold on to the spikes before me.
“I can’t feel?—”
Then my muscles give out.
Winds rush in my ears as I fall off his back and tumble down through the dark night sky.