Chapter 27
Mikael
The great hall glittered with gold and candlelight while diplomats from neighboring territories filled the castle with polished smiles and carefully measured conversation. Mikael could feel the wrongness beneath it all but there hadn’t been time to cancel the festivities.
Music drifted through the crowded hall while nobles laughed too loudly and servants moved between tables carrying silver trays heavy with wine.
Mikael’s dragon had been restless since dawn, prowling beneath his skin with sharp agitation that refused to settle no matter how many guards he stationed throughout the castle after Dag’s disappearance.
And Dag’s absence lingered like rot beneath everything.
Mikael stood near the throne platform with one hand resting lightly against the hilt of the dagger concealed beneath his ceremonial coat while his gaze moved constantly across the room searching for threats hidden among familiar faces.
Across the hall, Lyra knelt beside Beckett near one of the massive hearths, helping him sneak pastries from a dessert tray while pretending not to notice his increasingly obvious theft attempts.
The sight struck Mikael with painful warmth. Beckett looked up suddenly and grinned when he noticed Mikael watching him. Mikael found himself returning the expression automatically.
Then the windows exploded inward.
The sound was deafening. Glass rained across the hall while screams erupted instantly and black-cloaked figures flooded through the shattered entrances with drawn weapons bearing the crimson Skelvarn insignia across their cloaks.
“Protect the king!” someone shouted. Chaos detonated across the ballroom as guards worried about him while he tried to reach Lyra and Beckett.
Diplomats scattered in panic while guards surged forward to intercept the attackers, steel colliding violently beneath the roar of terrified voices. Mikael drew his sword in one smooth motion just as the first assassin reached him.
The man never landed a strike.
Mikael drove steel through his throat with brutal precision before pivoting into the next attacker, every movement terrifyingly efficient as blood sprayed across polished marble floors already slick with panic and death.
More poured into the hall. Too many for the guards to handle. Mikael knew this had been planned carefully and well coordinated.
Mikael caught sight of flaming arrows suddenly streaking through the air toward the upper levels of the castle, followed by fresh screams echoing from distant corridors.
He knew these were diversion attacks and that the entrances would be blocked. This all had Dag written all over it.
Rage sharpened instantly inside him.
“Don’t worry about me. Get Lyra and Beckett out of here!” Mikael roared toward his guards while slashing another attacker across the chest.
But even as he shouted it, he already knew. Dag would never allow them to escape so easily.
Mikael’s gaze searched frantically through the chaos until he finally spotted her near the side exit gripping Beckett tightly against her side while attempting to push through fleeing guests toward the far corridor.
Relief lasted less than a second when another man stepped directly into their path. Tall and broad-shouldered with dark hair streaked with gray.
Boden.
Mikael recognized him immediately from the reports surrounding Beckett’s past. He saw Beckett freeze with pure terror transforming the child’s face as he stumbled backward against Lyra.
Boden lunged for him and Lyra reacted instantly. She seized a fallen dagger from the floor and drove it viciously into Boden’s shoulder before he could reach Beckett, moving with a savagery that stunned even Mikael from across the hall.
Boden roared in pain.
“Run!” Lyra shouted at Beckett.
But more figures emerged behind them. Skelvarn soldiers, and at their center, Dag. For one terrible moment the world tilted as Dag’s gaze met Mikael’s across the burning hall. Something cold and broken stared back from the face of the man Mikael had once trusted more than anyone alive.
Then Dag struck one of the castle guards across the throat and surged forward. Mikael moved instantly but three attackers intercepted him before he could reach them. By the time he cut through the last one, Lyra had already been overwhelmed, but still she fought.
Mikael watched her slam a serving tray into one Skelvarn’s face before she clawed desperately toward Beckett while another grabbed her from behind.
There was nothing frightened about her anymore.
Dag’s cruel high school taunts may have once reduced her to silence but now she looked like fury itself.
Another attacker jumped in front of him just as Boden struck her hard across the side of the head with a goblet. Lyra collapsed instantly.
“LYRA!”
Mikael’s roar shook the hall. Beckett screamed as Boden seized him while Dag’s soldiers closed protectively around them. Dag picked up Lyra and threw her over his shoulder and then they vanished into the smoke and chaos.
And something monstrous inside Mikael finally broke loose. He slashed the man in front of him before he ran down the corridor in hot pursuit.
The storm outside the castle raged violently across the mountains while Mikael rode at the front of the pursuit with blood staining both his clothes and his hands. His dragon clawed viciously beneath his skin with barely controlled fury.
The group of Skelvarns didn’t bother covering their tracks, not that they could in the snow. Mikael and his men tracked Dag north toward the caves hidden deep within the cliffs beyond the forest line.
Ancient smuggling tunnels which presented defensible terrain. Once again the sheer amount of planning they had done for the attack crossed Mikael’s mind.
Dag had known all the details necessary to pull it off.
Malaya rode beside him in grim silence before finally saying quietly, “You cannot lose control entirely.”
Mikael barely heard her. All he could see was Lyra collapsing and Beckett screaming. His failure to protect them would haunt him for the rest of his life.
“This isn’t your fault, Mik.”
“This is entirely my fault,” he snapped back. “I should have figured Dag out years ago.”
“But then you may not have met your mate.”
He cut his eyes at her. “Way to make a horror story into a positive.”
The mountain caves emerged through the snow shortly before dawn. Torches flickered near the entrance while Skelvarn guards scrambled into defensive positions the moment Mikael’s forces appeared through the blizzard.
Then Dag stepped forward from the shadows. Beckett stood several feet behind him with his hands bound. Lyra knelt nearby, bruised but conscious, struggling against the soldiers holding her in place. Relief nearly staggered Mikael before rage consumed it again.
Dag looked exhausted. Snow collected across his dark coat while regret and madness warred visibly behind his eyes as he stood on the cliff looking down at Mikael.
“You should have stayed dead,” Dag said bitterly.
Mikael dismounted slowly. “You betrayed your kingdom.”
Dag laughed harshly. “Your kingdom?” He gestured wildly toward the mountains surrounding them. “This kingdom abandoned people like us long ago.”
“You murdered innocent people.”
“I was trying to save Bjorn!”
The name struck through the storm sharply. Mikael’s expression hardened.
“I was all about the kingdom.” Dag’s breathing roughened visibly. “Then the Skelvarns promised they could recover my brother a couple years ago. They had contacts. Information. They gave me hope.” His eyes darkened further. “Then I met Boden.”
Boden emerged beside him gripping a blade against Beckett’s shoulder while the child trembled violently.
“I needed leverage powerful enough to force negotiations for Bjorn’s return. I knew you were a sucker for kids, so the plan was perfect.”
Mikael stared at him with growing horror.
“Before we could act,” Dag spat bitterly, “this fool killed his wife during one of his drunken rages and nearly beat the boy to death. He lost custody. Beckett disappeared.” His jaw tightened. “Then I discovered Lyra had taken him in.”
Pieces clicked together viciously.
“The poisoning,” Mikael said coldly. “Why did you poison me?”
“Plans changed.” Dag’s expression twisted. “And I thought, why stop at my brother when I could have it all? You were supposed to die. Simple. Efficient. No heirs so I planned on taking the crown. Everything solved at once.” His eyes flicked toward Lyra. “Then she ruined everything by saving you.”
Lyra lifted her chin despite the bruise darkening her temple. “You ruined yourself.”
Something cracked visibly across Dag’s face at her words. Boden suddenly shoved Beckett backward and raised his blade toward Lyra instead.
“Enough talking.”
Everything happened at once. An arrow suddenly pierced Boden in the chest and he fell forward off the cliff. More arrows flew through the air, and chaos erupted.
Mikael moved as he saw Lyra launch herself at Beckett and usher him deeper into the cave. Dag seemed confused at his sudden loss of control over the situation, and he ran down a narrow path to the far side of the mountain.
“Dag!” Mikael hollered as he gave chase. Once out of sight, he finally let his dragon free.
Power exploded through him with terrifying force as bones shifted violently beneath skin and heat erupted across his bloodstream like wildfire unleashed after years trapped beneath iron chains.
Massive opalescent wings tore outward into the storm and a roar split the mountains apart.
Dragon fire erupted as Mikael descended upon Dag with catastrophic fury. The mountain itself trembled. Dag stumbled backward in shock as Mikael landed and pinned him to the side of the mountain.
“Mikael!” Lyra cried as she stumbled down the path.
The dragon turned instantly and Boden suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blood running down his chest, and making the mistake of grabbing her.
Mikael hit him with enough force to throw the man with deadly force into frozen stone. Boden never rose again.
But Dag lunged for Lyra in blind desperation, but the dragon intercepted him before the strike landed.
He grabbed him in his talons and threw him toward the cave.
Dag crashed hard against the cave wall while Mikael shifted back into human form only enough to seize him by the throat and slam him brutally into the rock again.
Rage drowned everything.
“You’ve abused her enough,” Mikael growled.
Dag coughed blood. “She took my family.”
Mikael tightened his grip. The dragon wanted death. Dag clawed weakly at Mikael’s arm while terror finally overtook his face. Then Lyra’s voice cut through the fury.
“Mikael.”
He barely heard her.
“Mikael, stop.”
Her hands touched his arm carefully. He felt the warmth.
“This isn’t you,” she whispered shakily. “He deserves to live. Even now.”
Mikael’s entire body trembled violently with restraint. Dag stared upward at Lyra in stunned disbelief. After everything, she was still trying to save what remained of him.
Tears mixed with snow across his face. “I only wanted my brother back,” he whispered brokenly.
“And now,” Lyra said softly, “you’ve lost everything else too.”
Silence fell across the mountains except for the storm. Then slowly Mikael released him.
“Chain him,” Mikael ordered hoarsely.
The guards moved immediately. Dag did not fight as iron shackles closed around his wrists. He only looked empty.
Hours later the castle infirmary remained quiet except for the crackling fire and distant sounds of reconstruction echoing faintly through damaged halls.
Beckett sat curled tightly beneath blankets while healers treated the bruises along his arms. The moment Mikael entered the room, Beckett launched himself toward him. Mikael caught him instantly.
“He’s dead.”
“I know. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Small fingers clung desperately to his coat. “Don’t go,” Beckett whispered tearfully against his chest. “Please don’t leave me.”
Something inside Mikael nearly shattered. He held the boy tighter.
“Never,” he promised quietly. “I will never leave you again.”
And he meant it with every part of himself.