Chapter 37 #5
My heart overflowed with awe.
He was doing this. The flames, the explosion—it was all him. He saved me. This had been his plan all along. He was never going to allow me to succumb to Aurelius’s brutality.
“Just trust me,” he had said. And I had doubted him.
That was when I realized… I was inside a shield.
My heart surged. He was projecting his shield onto me, and it glowed stronger than ever and unwavering.
But a chilling reality shattered that joy—his words from Mount Orid echoed in my mind.
“Nothing is fireproof, only resistant,” and if I was in his shield then that meant…
Oh no. Titus.
Safe within the barrier, I looked at him. The raging blaze pouring off him had killed almost everyone in the room. He was trying to kill Aurelius—but it was killing him… too.
Why couldn’t he shield himself too like he did in the waterway in Coralis Falls?
Then I understood the limits to his magic, and his sacrifice.
He couldn’t hold a shield around himself and me and pour out this much fire.
He had…
He had chosen me. Oh, god.
No!!
The two rulers dueled—fire versus shield. Both seemed equally as powerful; it would come down to who could hold their power the longest. Titus’s collar must have fallen off the same moment my shackles released. They groaned and yelled with strain.
Titus’s beautiful gold skin began to pepper with spots of char and Aurelius’s shield began to shrink. Both males were killing each other equally—or rather, Titus was killing them both equally, because he had no protection from himself.
He would rather shield me.
My heart swelled and broke all at once. I finally had proof of his devotion, but it was going to cost me him.
I would not lose him. Not again. Not in our past life in the car accident, and not now. I screamed, a guttural cry ripped from deep in my core. He was dying, and I didn’t know how I was going to survive losing him again. It had damn near killed me once.
He pushed his flames harder, rage fueling his power to end the Dragon Master once, and for all.
“Give up Titus we both know, I was supposed to be High Lord, I have the higher blood magic level!” Aurelius grunted through his teeth.
Titus’s gaze sharpened. “You could’ve ruled. I would’ve let you.” His voice turned vicious. “But you don’t get to have her. And you
NEVER will!” The flames surged. “You may be stronger—but I’m the one willing to burn for her.”
Titus winced as his beautiful auburn waves began to singe at the ends. The tips of his pointed ears blackened, but he held nothing back, even though he could feel every ounce of his own fury.
“Titus stop, you’re killing yourself,” I cried. “You’re dying— please, I can’t lose you again!!” I sobbed, banging on the shield.
Titus looked back at me for only a heartbeat, and in that fragile sliver of time he gave me a look I would carry for the rest of my life, because I had seen it once before.
It was the same look Danny gave me when his life slipped from his body.
The smallest, saddest smile curved Titus’s mouth, and his eyes were unbearably kind.
Love lived there, steady and surrendering, like a hand slowly loosening its hold on mine. A silent promise. A final goodbye.
“Titus!! NOOO!!” I wailed, pounding on the shield as hard as I could. No, no goodbyes, not again. If I could just get to him, maybe we could share the shield. I had to try, but moving through all of the magic in the room felt like swimming through mud. Slowly, I inched toward him.
Aurelius’s shield shrank again and he kneeled to stay fully protected in his orb.
Titus started to look tired. The energy he was pouring out, his magic—he was fading.
Dark circles formed under his eyes; his golden tan complexion that normally shimmered with gold flakes looked pale and dull.
Aurelius’s shield began to falter, and it rallied the fading High Lord to push harder to stay standing, sending a stronger direct stream of roaring blaze right at the Master of Dragons.
Aurelius looked weaker too—pale, dizzy—and then his shield fizzled out. He tried, but he was unable to summon it back.
Titus fell to his knees in exhaustion, arms still up and outstretched, sending everything he had at his traitorous friend.
Aurelius got hit by the blast for several prolonged seconds, charring his skin and the tips of his ears and nose.
I still pushed with all of my strength to get to Titus, but there was so much magic, so much fire in the air. It was thick and dense, and I struggled to gain any distance at all.
Both males were on their knees, exhausted, fighting to stay upright, but somehow Aurelius managed to block Titus’s fire with a beam of white light. Their powers collided between them, causing another shockwave through the room, rendering the bodies to piles of ash that plumed thick in the air.
Titus’s skin was more black than tan now, and there were only patches of hair left on his head. The flames were taking too big of a toll on him. I pushed and pushed to get to him, but I’d barely moved a foot.
I needed to think of something.
I looked around and saw falling debris moving freely through the air outside of the shield—so why couldn’t I? It had to be because of the shield.
Then, an idea started to form.
Titus fell to one hand to brace himself upright, the other hand still sending continuous, deadly fire at Aurelius, as if he were a living flame thrower.
The Dragon Master also braced himself on one hand, pushing out all of his white light.
“Trying…to ..kill me again with your… white light…brother?” Titus huffed out.
“You’ve always been …jealous…of my ancient blood…I’ll always be… stronger than you.” Aurelius struggled to reply.
K. ROSé
Then Titus grinned and laughed, “But yet,… she’ll still choose me… over you.”
Aurelius growled, “RRRR…you insufferable… arrogant…” (Smack)
Gold flashed as the cuff from my arm struck Aurelius in the head. Hard. A thin bead of blood dripped from the side of his forehead as he realized I was the one who threw it.
“That’s my mate!” I shouted.
It stole a heartbeat of his focus, briefly pausing his white light— and it was the only heartbeat Titus needed.
The High Lord sent out one final shock-wave, and I knew it was probably the last bit of energy he had.
A seismic pulse of energy and fire tore through the chamber and engulfed the Master of Dragons whole.
Aurelius screamed.
A raw, tearing sound that fractured the air and scraped against stone and bone alike. The flames wrapped around him, climbed him, consumed him inch by inch. His skin blackened, split, and curled as the blaze devoured everything it touched.
The fire didn’t even spare his white hair—once a mark of ancient blood and superiority. It caught in a flash, singed away in seconds, the bright silver turning to smoke and ash. In moments, it stripped him of every visible sign of lineage, legacy, and pride.
For a fraction of a second, our eyes met.
There was fury there. Disbelief. And something almost childlike in his shock. As if he could not comprehend that this was how it ended.
His lips burned away mid-cry.
His hands clawed at nothing. At air. At fate. Titus’s flames did not relent.
His limbs locked rigid as the heat hollowed him from the inside out, his once-powerful frame reduced to a silhouette of flame.
The ancient blood he had boasted of—the power he had claimed made him destined for the throne—meant nothing here.
It offered no protection. There would be no mercy from Titus protecting his mate.
His white-light magic flickered weakly around him once more, sputtering against Titus’s inferno, then fractured and shattered like brittle glass.
He tried to summon it again. He failed.
The screaming stopped.
The flames continued for several seconds longer, relentless, and merciless, until even the outline of him collapsed inward.
I had to look away; it was too gruesome to witness further.
Everything that had made him Aurelius—his beauty, his power, his ancient blood—was wiped from existence in a storm of fire and smoke.
And then— Silence.
Where the Master of Dragons had been, there was only blackened ruin and drifting cinders.
The flames subsided slowly, as if reluctant to release their prey. And when no threat remained, my shield vanished.
Titus collapsed to the floor with a thud.
I rushed to my mate who clung to life. I wanted to touch him, hold him, but I didn’t know where I could without hurting him.
He lay on his back, and the extent of the damage was visible. He was so badly burned. Over half of his body was scorched with black, charred skin. He was missing flesh on his ears, nose, lips, and one eyelid. It was horrifying, and I burst into tears.
“Titus.. ” I whimpered. He was still so beautiful.
He looked up at me and breathed out. “I’m …so…sorry.” “Shhhh it’s ok, its ok, we survived, we are going to be ok,” I whispered while my tears flooded my cheeks. His breathing labored with a rattle.
“No, my Pickles, you survived…I’m afraid…I’m going to have to…leave you one more time…promise you’ll find me again... in the next life..” he murmured slowly as his soul faded.
I held his hand gently, noticing his magic had somehow spared the flesh there.
“I love you...Titus, you can’t leave me again, I love you!” I cried.
He looked at me with a faint, heartbreaking quirk of the lips and softened brow. His eyes became watery, as if he had been waiting a lifetime to hear me say it.
“I’d burn for you,” he whispered—my own words, returned to me with a heavier weight than I ever thought possible.
His fingers loosened around mine—once, twice—then not at all.
And then his body went limp.
My heart began to hammer with such violence that I could no longer distinguish my beat from his. The slack in his hand sent an icy panic down my spine.
“NO, NO, NO, please stay with me! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR SECOND CHANCE! I love you…
I finally found you; you can’t leave me…Titus NOOOO!!!!” I sobbed manically, screaming as if I begged hard enough he would come back—but he didn’t move.
Suddenly—
(BOOOOMMMM ROAR CRUSHHHHH CRUMBLE!!!!)
Stone crumbled, debris fell, and dust blew as the roof of the Temple was ripped from its walls, as if a giant sledgehammer had swung across the top of the building. I hunched over Titus’s unmoving body.
Sunlight poured into the dark room. My eyes took a moment to adjust. My ears rang, but through it I heard the guttural roar of a dragon.
A shadow blotted the light—wings.
A massive yellow beast I didn’t recognize perched atop the wrecked wall. It swung its mighty tail across the stone, sending what remained of the roof into rubble.
A male dismounted. He was tall and clearly a Fire Fae, with blond hair. He rushed toward me.
“Delilah, my name is Antonias, you are supposed to come with me, but we have to go quickly, Holy Guards will be here soon.” He ordered.
Antonias? Wasn’t that the name of the council member Titus was friends with?
“I’m not leaving him!” I snapped, psychotic.
Antonias gave me a sympathetic look, then to appease me he crouched down and checked Titus’s pulse. Antonias’s eyes widened and sparked. “It’s weak, but he’s still alive!”
I hesitated—unsure if I could trust a member of the Temple’s Council—but I didn’t want to be here when the Holy Guard army arrived.
Antonias grimaced at the High Lord’s condition.
“It’s a good thing he is unconscious, otherwise this would hurt like hell,” he said as he carefully picked up the High Lord’s massive frame and hoisted him onto his dragon, securing his unconscious body across his lap.
He stretched out his hand and swung me up to the front saddle. I fastened the buckles quickly.
“We need to make this look like a rogue dragon attack,” he informed.
Then he non-verbally commanded his dragon to blast the entire Temple to ash and rubble, destroying any evidence of what actually happened.
And then we flew off into the sky.