30. Devastation #2
“Thou art the one who does not understand,” I said roughly, pressing my nose to hers, needing her to see me. “There has never been a more perfect match. It is thou who is wrong.”
“No,” she repeated with growing desperation. My knees sank deeper into the warm mud, embers glowing orange as they landed on her hair and shoulders like snow.
I was supposed to remain suave and coldly removed around her as I led her through a courtship with the subtlety of an Autumnal Fae’s waltz.
In theory, she was the one thing in my life that was supposed to be easy.
She was the only person who made sense and the only person who was supposed to understand me.
But she had taken one look at me and seen every inch of my rotten soul. I could not hide my true self around her. My passions were too . . . volatile. She disarmed me to a dangerous degree.
Zora scoffed, but her lashes fluttered, her back bowing as she pressed against me. “You’re delusional.”
“Incorrect.” My mouth brushed over hers, inhaling her with every desperate breath as I couldn’t help but gloat, her proximity the most dangerous aphrodisiac. “I am Aleksander the Sadistic, illustrious High Emperor of the Immortal Storm Fae, and now it is my turn—to hold all the power.”
I stood up and tossed her over my shoulder in one swift motion. CRUNCH. Trees were crushed to pieces as Plague dropped from above. She landed in a blur of golden scales, bowing low for me to mount her.
Zora beat her fists against my back, but I reveled in her touch, shivering with ecstasy as I climbed up into my saddle with her hanging across my back. The chain connecting us rattled loudly as she fought.
Plague roared beneath us as she took to the sky, flying us to Palladium.
Zora grappled desperately, grabbing at Plague’s scales behind me, trying to get purchase.
I laughed at her futility, looking off into the sparkling violet horizon.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, the sound grating.
Wait, what was that?
I listened, but it was just her voice ringing in the air. I could have sworn a woman’s voice had spoken when she screamed. Madness runs in the family.
Zora resumed beating her fists on my back, and I relaxed, enjoying her touch. I urged Plague to fly slower, spiraling lazily through the sky as I savored the sunset with my woman.
Zora had never stood a chance that day on the bridge. I’d already decided she would be mine. But when I tasted her blood, everything changed. Rare and precious beyond belief, she was a jewel that came along only once in many immortal lifetimes.
An Emperor with a rare syxzal by his side was unstoppable. More myth than real, she was the type of providence that inspired the bestselling Storm Fae romance of all time, Faerie’s Tales.
“You never understood,” she said cryptically as she stopped struggling.
We banked in a wide circle.
I rubbed the backs of her legs soothingly. “Do not fret, my princess . . . thou art my syxzal. Everything will make sense soon.”
“You’re a fool,” she said.
“Yes—I am a fool for thee. If thou need warmth, I shall set myself aflame . . . If thou art injured, I shall open up my vein . . . If thou need to feel powerful, I shall let myself be electrocuted and stabbed for months on end. Anything and everything, all of it, I do for your satisfaction.”
Her breath hitched, heart racing where it pressed against my back.
Plague banked lazily, and we tilted to the side, riding an air current high above the romantic cloudscape.
Blue streaks tendrilled up from the ground.
Why is the Mist chasing us?
“But what if . . . I’m dissatisfied by you?” she asked loudly. “Aleksander.”
Tremors of delight jolted through me. “Then there will be chains,” I said, distracted by her. “Until thou feel differently, syxzal.”
I wanted her love more than I wanted power. Zora Ravenal would never be free of me.
She trailed her nails up my back.
A loving caress.
“My Zora,” I gasped out, shuddering with pleasure as she did it again.
“My Aleksander,” she repeated.
I relaxed back in the saddle and loosened my hold on the reins. Laughter burst from my lips. Joy rushed through my veins because this was it. My pinnacle.
The success . . . the world . . . all of it was mine for the taking. I tipped my head back, clutching at my chest, laughing with an endless glee that I’d never felt before.
In my highest moment, she struck.
Quicker than I could process, Zora rolled off the back of my shoulders, flipping over.
I grabbed for her legs, but it was too late.
I turned my head, and we made eye contact.
She balanced on the back of Plague, wind blowing through her long hair, scars stark, covered in bruises and dried blood.
High above the clouds, rays of darkening scarlet light drenched both of us.
“Goodness will prevail over Antichthon,” she said, eyes haunted like she was reciting someone else’s words.
“Zora,” I said calmly, reaching for her like I would a skittish animal. “Do not do anything rash—”
“You said you would do anything I want.” A halo of sunlight shone behind her head as she pressed a cuffed hand over her heart, fingers flexing. “I want to win the Storm Wars.”
A red light flashed at her feet.
Something was protruding from Plague’s back. An arrowhead? It was the reason the Mist was following us.
“Checkmate,” Zora whispered. “For those who cannot fight for themselves.”
She jumped.
The chain pulled around my waist, and there was a split second of abject horror as I was yanked forcefully from my saddle.
Down we plummeted, chained together.
A loud whistling echoed high above in the atmosphere. There was a sonic boom. A missile hurtled down toward Plague with impossible speed. Mist streaked closely behind it.
Zora hadn’t been grabbing at Plague’s back trying to get away. She’d implanted the device, and she’d screamed to cover up the woman’s mechanical voice. The memory whispered dangerously in my ear. “Target designator activated.”
It had been tracking us the entire time.
“NO!” I roared, platinum wings exploding from my spine. I started to shoot back up, counteracting gravity, returning to Plague. I faltered, wings pulling tight to my back. Zora was attached to me. I can’t put her in harm’s way.
We plummeted down through the sky, away from Plague, who roared with confusion at the top of her lungs. Fire exploded in every direction. Fear whistled down our bond. Her confusion—why is my bonded leaving me?—echoed through my skull.
I reached a hand up, platinum cuffs burning my flesh as they channeled eons’ worth of power.
My storm magic exploded up at the monstrous technology, battering against it.
The ginormous missile wavered but didn’t stop its descent.
The speed was too great to counteract. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
A moment of awful silence stretched.
Missile slammed into fire-breathing dragon.
“PLAGUE!” My voice sounded far, far away, moisture streaking down my face.
Bloody golden scales, and flames, exploded in every direction. A secondary dull thud echoed. BOOM. A mushroom cloud ballooned, sickly white in the violet sky, and our bond flatlined. We were supposed to have centuries together.
Plague was gone.
Vibrations punched through my stomach, shock waves flinging us away, hurtling us toward the mountain valley.
Screaming, spinning, heart breaking in my chest, I wrapped my fist around the chain and yanked it, link by link, pulling Zora through the air toward me.
I grabbed her cheeks, holding her head close, wanting to tear her smile off her betraying face.
“How could thou?” I breathed out. “How could thou . . . do . . . this?”
“Why did you kidnap my mom and take Aurora from me?” Zora’s voice was terribly quiet.
Her smile is full of pain.
Colors lost saturation as my world crumbled.
As I stared into her bleak desolation, a horrible understanding dawned.
I had to make this right. Gripped, possessed, by the overwhelming urge to earn her absolution, I said in a rush, “I wanted thee for myself. Tarantula disobeyed my orders. Aurora was not supposed to die . . . Forgive me. I only wanted to win thee over. Please.”
Her eyes were a searing, burning amber—the gaze of a hunter. “You did nothing but take them from me, and now I’ve taken from you.”
It was too late.
Zora was in my arms but out of my reach.
Worlds separated us.
All this time, I thought we were the sun and moon, chasing after each other, but really we were two asteroids on a collision course.
Everything was suddenly so obvious. How did I not see it? She had her father’s ruthless eyes.
I’ve misjudged . . . everything. The depths of her loyalties. The lengths she’ll go for revenge. The consequences of what I’ve done to her. We were far more alike in temperament than I’d ever comprehended, in the most awful of ways.
She’s never going to forgive me.
Zora tipped her head back, arms up, not even bracing for impact. I wrapped mine around her head protectively, pulled my wings wide, and flipped, taking the brunt of the fall.
Cratered deep in the smoking dirt, broken and bruised, I held her to my aching chest as droplets splattered down on us both, soaking the ground crimson.
Dragon blood fell like rain.