48. Despicable Dragon-In-Law #2
“All these years, I’ve given my everything to the flight.
Yet they only look upon you, the substandard heir, to lead them.
As long as the elders want you, I can’t have the flight under my control.
Emberfang deserves better. You’re just a bad egg like your worthless father!
” She bellows and her barb-like words pierce my heart.
Aleiraah
Is today a day to contend with all the mother-in-laws out there?
First Rinn’s and now this obnoxious dragon matriarch.
She called Baz a bad egg? Didn’t the egg come from her? She’s practically insulting herself.
Worry for Baz has me clenching my jaw as his massive ivory dragon hovers midair, stunned by the venom of his mother's words. The next moment, the sky blazes with flames and fury as she dives toward him. “Baz! Move!” I scream.
He finally unfreezes, evading the onslaught of fire and they circle each other. In between I hear him roar, “Get her away from here!”
Zien and Alistair had already stepped closer to me, standing guard along with Azael who still carries an unconscious Rinn on his shoulder.
They all close ranks and Alistair starts, “Delight––” but I hold up my hand.
My eye catches the dragoness from the mermaid ballet, standing a few paces away. Her presence on my property, watching the spectacle above with rapt attention irritates me.
“I’m not leaving, Baz!” She shouts and I scoff.
Delusional much?
“He means me, you idiot!” I snark and her head snaps toward me. She lifts her chin and strides forward.
“Who are you calling an idiot? Know your place, succubus! Why won’t you leave him? He belongs with me! I can give him an heir! Look what your selfish ways have caused. Mother and son are fighting, all because of you.” She flies off on an indignant tangent.
Yep! Delusional!
“Step back, female!” Zien’s voice cracks like a whip and she startles but her expression turns mean and smug as she says, “Or what, vampire? Don’t forget I’m a dragonness. I can incinerate you lot like this.” She snaps her fingers, or tries to but it doesn’t produce an audible click.
I snicker as she tries again only to end up with the same result.
She growls and tries to make a grab for me but I blast her away with a flick of my hand. High on god-level essence, gnats like her don’t stand a chance against me.
“Leave. Now.” I bare my teeth at her as the glowing rings materialize around me and I see a flicker of fear in her eyes.
She scrambles up from her sprawled position on the grass and hisses, “You’ll regret this!”
She tries to shift, but we have enough dragons on the property already.
I create a fiery lasso and wrap it around her throat, effectively choking her, and burning her flesh.
“Already am.” I drawl, and she tries to screech but it comes out as a garbled noise.
Snapping my fingers with an audible click, I push her back. Her body curves and flies back as if thrown by a strong gust of wind. The wards close up, effectively throwing her out.
"Fuck that was hot!" Zien says in a low appreciative tone and I can only shake my head.
Meanwhile the matriarch’s rage seems to have grown boundless. She’s relentlessly attacking Baz. I can see his ivory hide marred with blood and deep gashes in places.
His mother seems to be bleeding too but not as badly. The sentimental fool is still holding back.
“Baz! Fight back for real!” I shout and both dragons pin their gazes on me.
“Starling! What are you still doing here? Get inside!” He growls pivoting toward me as if he’ll herd me himself and his mother takes advantage of the moment’s distraction.
She rakes her talons on the side of his neck, digging in, as if preparing to rip out his throat.
We suck in a collective breath at the cruelty of the action. I don’t hesitate. Without thinking I throw Mooncleaver at the dragoness. “Hit true!” I yell and the weapon zings through the air.
A streak of silvery-white light cleaves through the matriarch’s tail, severing it cleanly, eliciting an ear-splitting scream.
Mooncleaver spins through the sky like a burning comet and returns back to me like a proud puppy.
The matriarch spirals in the sky, losing balance, air currents collapsing around her. I stand rooted, Mooncleaver’s blade dripping with warm blood.
She collapses on the ground with an earth-shaking thud and Zien grabs my elbow to hold me steady against the tremor.
The matriarch’s eyes blaze with hatred. Her stub of a tail bleeds profusely on the grass.
Canting my head, I watch my rings glow brighter and shift, coalescing into something bigger. “Don’t worry,” I say in a sweet voice, carrying fake concern. “It’ll grow back.”
“You filthy slut!” She bellows, eyes blazing with hatred. Her chest expands, fire gathering once more––a molten sun forming in her throat.
Baz shouts my name, zipping through the air toward me. All three of my husbands try to drag me away, shielding me at the same time, but I remain rooted to the spot.
I physically cannot move.
The rings whirl faster around me, and I feel a torrent of energy gathering inside me, rising from my feet until every inch of my body hums with it.
My eyes are locked with the slitted gaze of the crimson dragoness as she opens her maw.
It happens before I can blink, the inferno bursts toward me. I don’t flinch, but I see Baz’s ivory wings draping over us, like a living shield.
My rings ignite, flaring to a mix of brilliant orange and blue that combines into an almost blinding white. The air crackles as a barrier shimmers into existence, deflecting the torrent of dragonfire back into a spray of molten embers.
Fiery red threads connect my husbands to me as the barrier encompasses even Baz’s huge dragon.
The rings burn hotter––fusing, spinning, until they meld into a half-formed halo at my back, pulsing with light. My husbands stand around me protectively, shock evident on their faces.
Judging by the massive radius of destruction, the matriarch had clearly given it her all—a desperate attempt to wipe out both Baz and me.
Outraged at her maliciousness, my power surges. I drop the shimmering shield and lash out.
The exhausted matriarch tries to flee, wobbling in the air, but my flames chase her like fiery serpents, shooting upward, striking the power-hungry bitch mid-flight.
The blast tears through scale and sinew, carving deep gashes across her flank.
One of her wings gets completely engulfed in the blinding blaze and turns to ash right before our eyes.
The dragoness shrieks, tumbling once again to the ground, smoke rising from her wounds.
Baz covers me with his massive body, wrapping his leathery wings protectively around me.
His throat glows white-hot as he bellows at his mother, unleashing fury and molten fire.
The flames are different this time, glowing blue-black while wrapping around her.
A dreadful cry of agony tears out of her throat, as her back bows.
She tries but fails to get up and I notice her hide is burned badly.
“Think of harming Aleiraah again, and I’ll burn you to ashes!
” Baz thunders making my ears ring. “I'm sparing you today only because you birthed me. Consider it a debt paid in full.” He growls and the graveness of his threat finally penetrates the matriarch’s lizard brain. The shock in her eyes is palpable.
“You are one sorry excuse of a mother. Trying to kill your own flesh and blood for what? Power? Dragons make a flight. If you don’t value the lives of dragons, what good is a flight?
Get off my property. Else I have more of what I let you taste, you heartless bitch!
” I snarl in disgust and the matriarch has the sense to look afraid.