Chapter Twenty #2
The only problem remaining was the route.
To reach the dragon, we’d have to fly right through Sulphur’s Grasp, which meant straight through its ever-expanding cloud of toxic air.
Going around would unfortunately add a couple of hours to our flight time.
Not out of the realm of possibility, but Lily didn’t want to delay things that long.
Her eagerness to begin the march to her father was palpable to all.
Mephisar could handle the toxic air, immune thanks to his wyrm blood.
The rest of us, however, would have to hold our breaths until we made it through to the other side.
If we failed, the poisons would sear our lungs.
Levi and Lily would heal quickly, I would need blood to recover, but we had no way of knowing what to expect for Calder, Gorr, Varz, and Eliza. I only hoped it didn’t kill them.
The instant the air began to change, I sucked in a lungful of air, banked left, and headed toward the dragon’s head.
It took longer than I would have liked to clear the cloud and come out the other side. But the second we did, I released my breath and sucked in another. It stung, but it was little more than a mild nuisance. I glanced back and watched as everyone else cleared the cloud.
The dragon hadn’t so much as stirred. That gave us a moment to gather ourselves and take in our prey. Somehow, it looked even bigger than the last one we’d faced, and that didn’t inspire me with much confidence.
We all took our positions. Levi dropped soundlessly to the ground and lowered Eliza to her feet, who then drew her daggers while Levi pulled his sword.
Mephisar landed by the dragon’s back, and the three hellspawn disembarked and immediately drew their weapons.
Lily and I remained in the air, hovering high above the dragon’s head.
She unsheathed Dragonbane and clutched it in her hands while positioning herself directly above the beast’s skull.
One sharp descent was all she needed. Pierce the dragon’s brain and end this.
She glanced at each of us, one-by-one, then nodded, giving us the order.
Except, that was the moment the dragon’s eyes snapped open.
Molten gold met my gaze before it flicked to Lily.
Dread coiled low in my gut. It hadn’t been sleeping. It’d been waiting for us. Baiting us. Feigning vulnerability to lure us in.
Now, here we were. And it looked hungry.
The dragon surged upward. Its massive jaws opened, exposing the gaping maw where fire pooled at the back of its throat, then snapped shut inches from Lily’s boots, and only because she’d pulled herself out of range just in time.
She twisted mid-air, wings flaring wide, Dragonbane’s edge gleaming with unmistakable power.
Stone cracked as the beast gathered its forelimbs beneath itself and hauled its massive body upright. Dust plumed into the air, mixing with the sour tang that never faded from this cursed basin.
“Down!” I shouted at Lily.
The last thing we needed was an aerial battle against a dragon. The air was its domain. We needed to fight this thing on the ground, where we could take it apart, limb by limb.
With a harrowing roar, the dragon wound its neck until it turned and focused on Mephisar. The wyrm roared in response, then slithered across the ground and collided with the dragon’s flank.
Lily dove a second before I did, her blade catching against the monster’s shoulder. It cut clean through the dragon’s scales, and a spray of dark blood splashed the rocks. Seemed her dragon-blade came with the added benefit of being able to cut through the beast’s armour.
She ripped her sword free and banked hard when the dragon snapped open its wings in a furious attempt to swat her out of the sky. The gust blasted her higher, and she scrambled to find her balance.
I dropped to the ground and settled in with my sword drawn and aimed at the creature’s throat.
It coiled its head toward me and lashed out, its fangs snapping too close to my face for comfort.
I drove the hilt into its snout, then dropped low under its neck, before turning my blade on its forelimbs.
Next to me, Gorr lunged low, his jaws clamping around one hind leg.
Calder and Varz struck in unison, their weapons hammering at its haunch.
The beast twisted, tail slamming across the stone with bone-splintering force.
Calder barely rolled aside. Varz wasn’t as lucky and took the blow across his ribs.
He went tumbling, the terrain scuffing his armour as he rolled.
The air itself shuddered as the dragon drew in a long breath. Smoke gushed from its nostrils, heat thickening the already foul haze. A blast was coming. I cut sideways in a dive, shouting, “Scatter!” even as the fire built in its gut.
The torrent came an instant later, fire blasting the ridge in a wave that scorched the already blackened stone. I tucked behind a jut of rock, my own wings folded tight against my back.
But while the rest of us hid, Eliza used the distraction to her advantage.
With the dragon’s attention on those of us in front of it, she snuck in from behind and positioned herself beneath the belly, her daggers flashing in a rhythm almost too quick to follow.
The second her blades sliced between the thinner scales, the dragon threw its head back, its flames piercing the sky.
It lifted a back leg and struck out, aiming directly at the siren.
“Eliza!” I shouted, but she couldn’t hear me over the dragon’s roar.
Its foot took her in the side and sent her sprawling into the open, her daggers clattering to the ground as they tumbled from her fingers.
The dragon whirled around and stared down at her.
Then it opened its maw, light building in its chest. Eliza scrambled backward, but Levi was faster.
He hurled himself between them, sword drawn, and carved along the beast’s jawline.
The scales were thicker there, and the blade didn’t do much damage, but at least it distracted the dragon enough for Eliza to regain her footing.
The reprieve didn’t last long though. The dragon snapped its head sideways and struck Levi like a battering ram. The hit flung Levi across the ridge, his sword skittering from his grip. He hit hard, bounced once, twice, then came to a stop in a tangle of limbs and mussed blonde hair.
The dragon didn’t hesitate. It launched straight for Levi, head down and maw yawning wide enough to devour him whole.
Already moving, I sprinted after it, boots skidding over glassy rock. Gorr powered in beside me with a snarling burst of speed. Calder and Varz pounded after, weapons up, while Mephisar shot like a missile through the sky.
Except, Lily hit the ground first. She dropped out of the air like a literal guardian angel and landed between Levi and the dragon, dust pluming around her boots.
Levi, still trying to unscramble his thoughts after a hit like that, pushed to his knees, one hand braced on the ground, the other searching blindly for his sword.
Shit—she was right between them, and the dragon wouldn’t care who it ate first. I pushed harder, lungs burning, trying to close the gap.
But Lily didn’t so much as blink as the dragon bore down on her.
Then the darkness exploded out of her in a wave of power stronger than anything I’d seen so far.
It spilled outward, not as wisps but as ropes, thick and coiled.
The tendrils lashed out at the dragon without so much as a gesture from Lily.
They wound around all four of its limbs, then jerked tight and yanked the beast down.
Its roar shook the ridge as stones rattled across the terrain.
More shadows surged free of Lily and slammed into the dragon’s chest. The beast gave a weaker cry, then lowered its head to the ground, that quickly capitulating to the Princess of Hell.
“Be still,” Lily rasped.
The voice was hers, but not hers at the same time. It was deeper, darker, and dripping with power.
I stared at Lily. She stood safely ensconced within a writhing cocoon of darkness, but through the gaps, I caught sight of the dark veins spreading beneath her pale skin and her solid black eyes.
This was how she’d looked yesterday when facing off against Miriel’s bomb, when the darkness took control.
It hadn’t happened this morning when she’d raised the hellspawn, but maybe that task had tired her out, giving the darkness the upper hand?
She certainly looked out of control right now, with the blackness visibly crawling beneath her flesh. It hadn’t done that yesterday.
“My god,” Eliza whispered as she came to stand next to me.
Cold fear chilled my blood. I slowly turned to find her staring at Lily, eyes wide and mouth parted.
Shit. Eliza hadn’t been there when Lily destroyed the bomb.
And this morning, when she’d raised the hellspawn, her eyes and skin hadn’t turned.
But now? Like this? Lily looked less like the princess Eliza knew her as and more like her father’s daughter. A monster.
This was exactly what I’d wanted to keep hidden from Eliza.
“She’s lost control,” she whispered, lifting a dagger.
Lips curling into a snarl, I snatched Eliza’s wrist, pinning her in place. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
“Get your hand off her before I kill you,” Levi barked.
“Try it, angel,” I snapped, taking a step toward him.
“Knock it off!” Varz yelled, lunging between us before Levi and I came to blows. Calder and Gorr ran to my side, between Eliza and Lily. “We have bigger problems right now!”
“Yeah, and we’re looking at her,” Eliza said sadly.
Her words scraped me raw, and something within me snapped.
“You don’t get to say that!” I shouted, the sound tearing past my lips in a hoarse bellow. My blade came up without thought, pointed at her chest.
Eliza didn’t move out of the way. She just stared at Lily and the dragon, which now lay prostrate at Lily’s feet, its head resting at the toe of her boots, eyes half-closed.
With a miserable sigh, Eliza took a step forward.
“No!” I shot in front of her, forcing Eliza to look at me instead of Lily. “You do not get to do this, do you hear me? Back the fuck off, before I make you back off.”
“She made me promise, Rathiel,” Eliza whispered, voice cracking with grief. “If she lost control. If she became this—” Her hand lifted a fraction, trembling as she gestured at Lily. “This is the moment. This is when I—”
“Don’t,” I barked, stepping farther into her space, the snarl tearing out of me. “You even think of fulfilling that pact, and I’ll cut you down before you touch her.”
Steel shimmered as Levi’s blade came up, the tip angled at my chest. His wings flared, ragged from the dragon’s strike, but steady enough to make his point.
“You’ll have to go through me first,” he uttered, his voice flat. He circled around and planted himself next to Eliza, one arm held before her like a shield.
Eliza lifted a hand and pushed Levi’s sword down.
“Enough guys.” Then her eyes met mine. “Let’s just take a breath and calm down. No point in all of us dying here. So, I won’t do anything right now, okay?”
Right now wasn’t the same thing as promising she wouldn’t ever harm Lily. And I wouldn’t forget that. My grip tightened on my sword hilt until my knuckles cracked.
I forced myself to look back at Lily. The shadows whipped around her, creating a living barrier between her and us.
Those dark veins still crawled beneath her skin, stripping her face of colour until it looked carved from bone.
And her eyes—those endless black pits—weren’t hers.
They were bottomless, a void staring back at the world with nothing inside it.
“Lily,” I rasped.
She didn’t respond. She didn’t blink. The shadows around her pulsed once, twice, as if savouring the meal.
Then, slowly—like someone easing shut a door—the darkness began to withdraw.
Tendrils slithered back beneath her skin, leaving faint black trails that vanished as smoothly as they came.
The cocoon unraveled, the air around her loosening its chokehold.
Her shoulders sagged, a tremor running through her body as the abyss bled out of her.
Her eyes changed last. The black cracked, bled, fractured into shards of colour until her gaze was blue again—bright, celestial, and achingly familiar.
She blinked. Once. Twice. And then she looked around. And at us.
No one moved or spoke. We all just stared at her.
Lily’s mouth parted, but no words came. Her gaze flicked from me to Eliza to Levi, then back to me again, searching, confused. Then her attention dropped the dragon, still prostrated before her.
Understanding flickered across her face, quickly followed by shame.
Her mouth tightened, shoulders slumping under a weight heavier than any sword.
She drew in a slow breath and let it out, ragged at the edges, before finally finding her voice.
Now, she understood. She’d lost complete control. And we’d all seen it.
“Let’s just go,” she said, her voice hers again. “Back to the outpost.”
No one argued. In fact, no one said a word, not until Lily climbed up onto the dragon’s back and let it carry her up into the air.
Ash curled around the dragon’s wings as it rose into the sky.
Only then did Eliza utter a sarcastic, “Oh, that’s just freaking perfect,” before Levi took her into his arms, and they flew after our dragon-riding, darkness-infested queen.