Chapter Thirty-Seven #2
I banked away, heading for a smaller, private pad on the side of the royal tower in the northwest corner. That would be where Albright was, fighting his way toward the throne room itself.
Shifting mid-air, I was back in my human form by the time I dropped onto the platform and strode into the building.
“Albright!” I bellowed, walking through the already open door. “I know you’re in here, you traitorous scum!”
Scuffling alerted me to the presence of someone on my left, and I dove forward, avoiding the ball of tightly controlled fire.
I came to my feet and struck out with one hand.
A coil of fire lashed out, snapping like a whip against the face of my attacker.
Her head whipped around, and she staggered backward, a dark black burn mark etched deep into her face from temple to chin.
“Stand. Down,” I snarled, fire whip coiled at my side. “I don’t want to kill you.”
“Weakling Prince,” she said. “Your entire family deserves to go. Fuck you.”
She lifted her hands, fire spinning into a disk in front of them like a shield. I flung the fire-whip at her, the end wrapping around her shield and her wrist. I hauled on it with all my strength, and she came hurtling toward me.
My closed fist sent her back the way she came, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she collapsed. Dead or unconscious, I didn’t know or care. She was out of the fight, and that was all that mattered.
Deeper into the royal tower, I went. Two more dragons came to meet me, but I dispatched them with similar efforts, leaving one with a crushed chest and the other with his head encased in melted stone.
I was killing my own kind, but it didn’t matter. I was on the warpath. If Albright sat on the throne, far more of us would suffer. He would drive the princedom to ruin. Even those who didn’t die would find themselves struggling, if not dead.
The sounds of fighting reached my ears, and I hurried faster, breaking into a jog.
Albright wouldn’t be far. Seary would have the last defenders occupying the throne room if I knew him.
He understood what Albright was coming for.
The throne itself was simply a stone chair.
It gave the user no special powers, but its meaning mattered.
The symbolic belief that whoever sat upon it was considered the Prince of Fire.
And I had yet to sit on it. None had since my father left. Not even Blaze. If Albright put his pathetic posterior down on the cold stone, it would make me the usurper. And I could not have that.
“Ember!”
I skidded to a halt as Pyre reached me from a side corridor. He showed signs of fighting but was mostly none the worse for wear.
“What is it?”
Pyre grimaced. “You’re not going to like it.”
Ari and two others from our detachment came up from behind me. “It’s clear,” she said, eyeing Pyre. “None remain behind us.”
I nodded absently but gestured for Pyre to continue.
He grimaced.
“Out with it,” I ordered.
“I overheard one of the dragons left to block my path,” he said heavily. “They were talking about Albright’s plan.”
“What plan? To seize the throne? I can hear it,” I said, gesturing around the corner, where the fight for the main entrance to the Throne Room was ongoing. I needed to be there, and I started to head for it.
Pyre’s hand grabbed my shoulder. Stopping me.
“No, his backup plan,” he said. “The one involving your human.”
“Dela?” I asked, fear stabbing low into my stomach. “What about her?”
“He sent people for her,” Pyre said. “After we left the Rift. They’re going to get her and use her against you.”
I knew what Pyre meant. Albright would kill her if I didn’t relinquish the Throne. Something I could not do. But I also couldn’t let him kill her. She was my mate. I needed her.
“Fuck,” I hissed, knowing that there was only one thing I could do to prevent disaster.
I had to get to Dela first.
“Ember, you coward!” a voice bellowed from down the hallway. “I know you’re back there.”
My gaze returned to the intersection of hallways. Albright was right there. If I could kill him, it would all be over. All of it. The suffering of my people would end.
“I’ll get her,” Ari said, sensing what I was thinking. “You have to deal with Albright. You’re the only one strong enough. I can handle a pair of his lackeys.”
I shook my head. “No. Pyre, you will go.”
The other dragon shifter looked alarmed. “I should be here with you. Fighting Albright,” he said.
“No,” I told him, grabbing him by both shoulders. “You’re the only one I trust to get Dela. To bring her here safely.”
Pyre’s eyebrows rose. “Bring her here?”
I nodded. “I must do it, Pyre. Now, go get her.” I jerked a hand at one of the other dragons who had come with Ari. “Go with him. Make sure nothing happens to her.”
Both dragons looked unhappy.
Pyre finally nodded in acceptance. “Very well, Ember. I will do what must be done.”
Then they were gone.
“Ready for this?” I asked Ari and the other dragon. “Time to take on the traitor and put an end to this.”
Ari nodded, her eagerness still confusing. Was she about to betray me, perhaps? Set me up during the fight with Albright so that he could strike me down? That seemed unlikely, given how many witnesses there would be. Though perhaps it wouldn’t matter.
I kept a tiny sliver of awareness on her but focused entirely on Albright as I marched around the corner to confront him.
“Okay, Albright!” I shouted, sandwiching him and his traitors between Seary and his troops, who still held the doors to the Throne Room, and my trio.
It was eight of us, I counted, against seven of them, including Albright.
We had the numbers advantage and also the directional force advantage, coming at them from both sides.
I considered waiting for more of my team to arrive, but it was entirely possible that they would take too long, being occupied with the rest of Albright’s men spread throughout the castle.
“Give it up, Albright,” I spat. “You can’t do—”
“I give up!” he called, interrupting me.
I stared, stunned. “What?”
Albright grinned. “I surrender. We all do. You have us.”
I glanced at Ari, who looked equally shocked.
Just like that, Albright was giving up his quest to become the Prince of Fire?
That made absolutely no sense. Even if his men did get Dela, which wouldn’t happen, Albright wouldn’t be able to do anything while he was in jail. So, what the fuck was his plan?
Warily, I gestured for them to put their arms up. Then the others and I came toward him from both sides, ready to put him under arrest.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at,” I growled when we were less than ten feet apart, “but—Fuck!”
All seven of them, including Albright, suddenly charged at us. Seven on three. Ari and I threw up shields instantly, but two of Albright’s burlier men flung themselves at the shields and through them, driving us aside like linebackers, accepting the burns as payment for clearing a path.
Albright and the other four dashed past us and disappeared around the corner.
“After them!” I barked.
Seary and his men swept past, gathering up Ari, her shadow, and two more of my team who appeared from another hallway farther away.
They wouldn’t catch Albright, I was sure of it, but what other choice did I have? He was up to something, and I wasn’t sure what. Either way, I had to be ready for it.
I’d foiled his attempt to sit on the throne. Pyre was currently stopping anyone from getting to Dela.
Which begged the question: what was Albright going to do next?