Chapter 82 Valen
VALEN
My Drake bursts out of me and is already breathing fire by the time he emerges.
The guards back up in a hurry, their eyes wide as the gout of white-hot flame shoots over their heads.
“MINE!” the Drake roars, his deep voice bellowing into the night sky. “SHE IS MINE!”
“Shit!” I hear one mutter as they begin to back away. “It’s a fucking dragon—a real fucking dragon!”
That’s right—most of them haven’t seen one of my kind before. Not in Shifted form, anyway. Now—when faced with the reality of a twenty-ton beast—they stare at my Drake in horror.
Horror turns to terror when he breaths flames again—this time much closer to their heads. Several get sparks in their hair and have to beat them out.
“Run! The Princess is lost—run!” one shouts.
And the lot of them turn and rush away—as though they could outrun my Drake’s fire if he decided to burn them.
Luckily for them, we’re both more concerned with Irena. Gently…so gently…my Drake scoops her up in one enormous foreclaw.
Be careful! I tell him and I can feel him promising he will.
Then we lift off into the air, flying high above the kingdom I’m never coming back to.
I just pray that I can find someplace safe where I can examine Irena…and that she’s all right.