Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
Brevan
The weatherworn stone tower looms ahead of us, taunting me.
Nobody knows who built the structure or what exactly it’s made of, we only know it’s ancient.
And that the stones used in its construction eliminate magic.
Well, for most people. My sister’s is significantly muted, but every year, she’s grown stronger. Or the stone affected her less.
There’s tension hanging around us making the air feel thick. I tell myself it’s the salt from the sea, or the steely discomfort between myself and Caiden, but I know it’s not. It’s something else. Something wrong.
I slow to a halt, and Caiden stops next to me. My horse stomps his feet anxiously. “It’s alright, Darkfall.” I pat his neck, trying to reassure him.
“They sense it too.” Caiden’s own horse is acting similarly to mine, and he’s doing his best to comfort the stallion, but animals are always a little weary of him.
When we were children, he had such a way with all creatures.
Until his magic came in suddenly while he was hiding from his father in the barn.
His beloved dog and her puppies were all killed.
Along with several of his father’s prized steeds.
The only living thing that emerged from the shadows that day was Caiden himself.
“It’s quiet,” he says.
“I don’t see any guards.”
“Let’s hope they’re on the backside of the tower.” Caiden chokes up on the reins, his knuckles going white.
I brush my fingers across the hilt of my sword, reassuring myself that it’s still there. Caiden’s eyes track the movement. “You think she lost control again?”
“It’s possible.” I glance at him. “You know your wife will never forgive you if her best friend is dead.”
“I know. But you’re the one who keeps telling me your sister isn’t a monster.”
“What would I know of that? I’m as bad as her,” I say.
“I don’t think that’s true at all. You have a conscience,” he counters.
“She’s not evil, Caiden. She’s what your father made her,” I reply.
“As are both of us, old friend. He created his greatest weapons during our training.” He’s staring at the tower. “But she wasn’t honed like us. She just is.”
I clench my jaw, biting back all the things I want to say to him in return. We haven’t seen each other as friends in a long time.
“It’ll be dark soon,” he says.
I nod in understanding, then urge my horse forward. Darkfall obeys, but I can feel his tension. “Come on, boy. You know Rosalyn. She’d never harm you.”
Caiden and I ride side by side, approaching with caution.
We’re close enough that I can hear the surf hitting the rocks on the cliff below.
I scan the area for any guards. There should be at least five stationed outside the tower at all times.
There’s twenty of them who live in the base of the tower, rotating through the various duties. I’ve never arrived to nobody.
My horse whinnies, then rises, nearly knocking me from the saddle. I grip his sides while soothing him until I finally coax him back down. Then I see the cause of the alarm.
“Is that an arm?” Caiden asks. “And a leg?”
My stomach churns when I see the head, just a head. The eyes have been pecked out by birds already and a maggot squirms in one of the nostrils. “It’s been there a while.”
“I don’t think they all belong to the same person, either,” Caiden says.
The entire field that surrounds the tower is littered with body parts in various states of decay. My pulse climbs. I don’t want to believe it, but I know exactly who is behind this.
Screeching cries tear through the air, sending adrenaline pumping through my veins. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the edge of a black wing before the monster dips below the cliffside.
More screeching. Then earsplitting, unnatural cries. My horse nearly throws me again. I hurry to calm him, then dismount, smacking his rear to send him away.
Caiden’s horse is already racing away. The emperor moves closer to me, sword drawn at his side. Dark shadows billow up around him.
Power thrums in my veins, hot and sharp. I grip the hilt of my sword and prepare.
The cries and screeches escalate like a group of overexcited birds. Then the monsters explode from behind the cliff’s edge, the creatures rising into the sky with a cacophony of chaos. Sharp claws and vicious fangs, leathery wings, and ear-splitting cries.
Shadow dragons.
The monsters are a ghost of what were once powerful creatures.
Unlike their original forms, these are the tattered remains of what once was.
They’re smaller than their forefathers, but their wingspan is still twice my height.
And luckily for us, they can’t breathe fire.
These creatures are all claws and teeth and rage.
And they don’t die easily. Whatever realm they come from must be pure hell because if you don’t kill them correctly, they regenerate and come at you again.
There’s dozens of them. Creatures of skin and bone and shadow and light. Beasts summoned by my sister.
And they’re all diving toward us.
Power sizzles in my veins, my magic responding to the familiar thrum of the creatures, as if we’re the same.
The monsters circle us, then dive. My blade glows, igniting like a beacon and I charge, slicing the wing clean off.
The shadow dragon bellows, an ear-splitting sound that grates inside my brain like two stones scraping against one another.
Before the wing can grow back, I stab the creature to subdue it, then slice off its head. It solidifies instantly but when my boot meets it, the monstrous effigy crumbles, the remaining ash blowing away in the wind.
Another beast slashes my arm with its claws as it flies past me. I spin, then lift my hand to send a surge of light. The creature glows white-hot, then stills, when it hits the ground, it explodes, scattering more dust to the wind.
“Brevan!” Caiden yells. “Stop her!”
Movement catches the corner of my eye and I turn to see Anya darting from the tower. Her arms over her head, she’s screaming as she runs.
A swarm of shadow dragons rises up from beyond the cliff and, as if summoned by her cries, they plummet toward her.
Shit.
I run, sending a flood of bright light toward the oncoming hoard.
Caiden is closer, but he’s fighting his way there as monsters dip from the sky to bite and claw at him.
He sends his shadows, binding them, but they’re creatures of the shadows and anything he does is only temporary.
Until he lops off their heads, they’re still screeching and snapping at him.
“Run, Anya!” I yell. “Over here!”
She glances my way, then changes her path, pumping her arms as she sprints. I send more magic into the sky, felling beast after beast but they just keep coming.
I’ve never seen anything like this before. Usually, my sister summons a few. Ten at the most. Never a swarm like this. My chest tightens. Where is she? Did something happen to her?
Has the madness finally claimed her?
In my momentary distraction, one of the shadow dragons manages to surprise me, screeching just as it reaches my back. I turn too late and the monster slams into my chest, claws first as if trying to capture me in its talons.
It tears up my tunic and slices into my flesh. I curse through gritted teeth as I grab it by the throat. My hand ignites with a golden glow and the monster explodes into dust.
Two more are on me before I can stand, and I fight them off, sending both of them back to the depths of where they came from.
Anya screams. My heart thunders as I get to my feet. She’s surrounded, but Caiden is in front of her, shielding her with his own body. The creatures dive at them, claws and teeth intent on killing.
I lift my hand to send my magic, then lower it. Caiden and Anya are moving too much.
“Get her out of there, Caiden!” I shout.
He catches my eye and must realize what I plan to do.
For a moment, terror grips me. Caiden has never sacrificed for another soul in his life.
I start running again, but he’s dropped his sword and he’s tossing Anya over his shoulder.
The shadow dragons dive at them, snapping their jaws and tearing through their clothes and skin.
Anya isn’t screaming anymore. Fuck, if she’s dead…
No.
That can’t happen.
I drop my sword as well and I let my magic surge through me, it surpasses the point that I usually hold it back. It roars with approval, eager to break free.
My body breaks and I scream as I stop fighting it. Fire burns through my veins, but just as I think it might consume me, it invigorates me, bringing life to the monster I hide.
I roar and the ground rumbles. My wings feel strange after so long in my human body, but they respond when I spread them wide.
Gusts of wind ripple the grass and foliage around me as I flap the massive wings.
I’m out of practice, but my body rises. Pulling in my arms, I tuck my talons, then swing my tail to help me maintain balance.
The shadow dragons circle back, all of them racing toward the greater threat.
They might be difficult to kill, but even they can’t survive dragon fire.
The heat builds, a familiar friend that’s been too long suppressed. My body tenses and as the fire builds, I extend my wings, catching the wind so I can glide, then I release everything I have.
Orange and gold flames explode from my jaws, the heat so intense that even my black scales feel warm. A few of the shadow dragons had fled, but I flap my wings and give chase. They’re fast, but their wings are small.
I let the heat roll though me again and with a rumble, it rises into my chest and I exhale, sending another burst of fire at the retreating creatures.
Rising higher, I let out a roar that shakes the nearby trees. A flock of birds fill the sky in a chattering, squeaking cloud, warning the other animals in the woods of a predator. They fly north, toward the cold, but away from me.
Ignoring the birds, I circle the tower, then fly beyond the cliffside to ensure that I’ve eliminated all threats.
Now, the only threat left is me.
When I land, the ground rumbles. I tuck my wings and take in the world through the eyes I almost forgot how to use. Everything is heightened. I can smell the coppery tang of Caiden’s blood, it’s different from that of Anya’s.
It’s raining ash and several nearby trees are charred and smoking. When my legs hit the earth, I call the power back, then collapse to the ground.
I haven’t done that since...I can’t remember the last time.
But I only did it once in Pendralia. I thought nobody had seen me, but Caiden showed me his father’s captive dragon the next day.
It wasn’t a shifter, but the poor creature was a prisoner.
With her clipped wings, even if I released her, she’d have no life beyond that dungeon.
I should have realized he saw me. I understood it as a warning, but I didn’t want to believe it. All these years, he never told his father. I shove that thought down so I can unpack it a different time.
The wounds that tore open on my back while I was using magic in my human form are already healing.
As a dragon, none of the bindings hold. I’m free to use everything I have.
But my kind were hunted to extinction. My father was very clear that we never needed to shift.
I used to dream of traveling to Safira where there’s more of us, possibly the last place where dragon shifters can find freedom.
When my sister’s magic manifested, my plans changed.
Caiden approaches, Anya cradled in his arms. His clothing is torn and blood seeps from the cuts on his face and arms. I’m sure he’s got more injuries I can’t see.
“They would have killed us both,” Caiden says.
“I know.”
“You could have been done with me. But she’d never forgive either of us if something happened to her.” He glances down at Anya.
“That’s why I did it.” I groan as I stand. Every single muscle in my body protests the movement. I forgot how fucking much this hurt.
“You saved my life, even if it wasn’t out of kindness to me. I will continue to keep your secret, but nothing else changes.” Caiden glances toward the tower, then looks back at me. “I’ll send more guards after I return with Anya. If this happens again, I can’t let her live. We both know that.”
“It won’t. Something must have happened. There was no reason for her to change the future.” I shake my head. Even as I say the words, I don’t believe them.
The old emperor, Caiden’s father, had no problems demanding she change the future.
Every time she did, shadow dragons escaped into our world.
Without that, there shouldn’t be any, but I know the stories.
I know that everyone with her gift eventually loses touch with reality.
Then they begin to summon the monsters either unintentionally or to purposefully create chaos.
But I don’t want to believe that of my sister.
The stone mutes her power, she shouldn’t be able to call that many at once.
“You have until the guards arrive to figure it out. It’ll be kinder if you’re the one to end it,” Caiden suggests.
“I’ll fix it,” I promise. “She can be cured.”
Caiden shakes his head. “You and my father spent years searching for that cure, hoping it was hidden with those relics you hunted. Don’t you think you’d have found it by now?”
“I can take her away from here,” I suggest.
“Where can you go where they won’t kill her the second they discover what she is?” he asks.
My shoulders slump. He’s right. There’s nowhere left for us with her condition so advanced.
“What happened?” Anya’s voice is weak. She winces, her eyes squinting against the sunlight. “Wait, emperor?”
“You were attacked,” he says.
She squirms. “You can put me down.”
“I don’t know—” Caiden’s brow furrows with concern.
“I’m fine,” she insists.
He sets her down and as soon as she collapses, he’s there to catch her. He lifts her again. “I don’t think so. I am not letting anything happen to you. You are not allowed to die, you hear me?”
“You need to work on your bedside manner,” she snaps.
I chuckle at that and Caiden glares at me, then his attention snags elsewhere.
I follow his gaze and see Roselyn standing in the doorway. She watches us, expression impassive.
“Go,” Caden says. He turns and starts walking toward where we last saw our horses. Hopefully, one of them is still nearby.
I head toward my sister. Every time I see her, it’s getting harder to convince people that she’s not a monster. If I’m being honest, it’s getting harder to convince myself.