Chapter 91
KALLIE
Kallie didn’t have the time to question where the dragon came from or who it was. Not as Domitius tightened his hold around her and pressed his blade to her throat.
It wasn’t long ago when Domitius held another blade to her neck.
This time, she didn’t think she would be that lucky to escape it.
Graeson was chained, and the other dragon was fending off the winged guards that were pouring from every direction, swarming him.
Even if he or the second dragon could help her, what would they be able to do?
Domitius was too close to her for them to save her.
"Come any closer, and I’ll slit her throat," Domitius called out, his voice echoing within his helmet.
Kallie went rigid, and her breathing halted.
Was this how it would end? Kage already had her power. Frenzia was already under his control. He no longer needed Kallie.
Graeson snarled in the king’s direction. His eyes darkened with malice, turning pitch black.
Domitius wouldn’t kill her. He couldn’t. They might not have been blood, but he had raised her. Perhaps first as a weapon, but as a daughter, too.
Still, Domitius increased the pressure, and Kallie sucked in a sharp breath.
Graeson snapped his teeth at the other dragon, who glared at Graeson, his lip curling.
Kallie noted the piles of ash across the field. If this was the result of her being captured, what would Graeson do if Domitius killed her?
Kallie wished she could see Graeson’s true form one more time.
She wished she had listened to Dani and waited to accept the bond until after the war had passed.
Now all it would take was one movement, one slice, and Domitius would kill both of them—one in body and one in spirit.
Their bond might have been new, but Graeson had accepted it a long time ago.
"Do it now!" Domitius barked.
A flurry of guards poured from the castle, but Kallie’s attention went straight to the young man in the epicenter. She squinted, trying to figure out what he was holding. When he hit the bottom of the steps, the fading sunlight beamed on him, and thin metal sparkled in the light.
Kallie gasped just as Graeson released a heart-wrenching screech. The man was holding a syringe, and she could only guess what was in it.
Her power became a hurricane inside her. It flooded her system and poured down her limbs.
Domitius could take away her memories.
He could take away her voice.
He could even copy her power and steal it for himself.
But Kallie was done letting Kage Domitius hurt the people she loved.
She dug, scouring for her power. With one tug, it flooded her body, flowing into her bloodstream.
Her power blossomed inside her like never before.
It was stronger, steadier, fiercer. A prickle of sweat dripped down her spine as her senses sharpened.
She focused on the pressure of the blade, on Domitius’ arm holding her in place.
She could hear his heartbeat thundering, its rhythm thrumming across her skin.
Kallie latched onto it and poured the command through her body and into his.
She kept pouring it, letting her words seep into his skin.
She was Kalisandre Helene Nadarean, and only she controlled her fate.
With a snap, she released the command.
In a breath that seemed to span time, the metal left her throat, and a soft thump echoed.
But Kallie didn’t let herself sit in her relief for long. Grabbing Domitius’ arm, she ducked and bent it behind him.
"But you shouldn’t be able to—h-how did you—" Domitius sputtered, realizing too late what was happening. "You’re too weak!"
Kallie wanted to spit Kage’s words back at him. That he was the one who had trained her and made her a force to be reckoned with. But the mask still prohibited her from speaking. Instead, she kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling.
His body went limp on impact, yet his chest still rose and fell. He was still alive.
Kallie grabbed him by the collar and rolled him onto his back.
Her power, a tangible wave of heat, flowed through her skin and spilled into him. With his limbs cemented to the earth, bound by her command, Kallie frantically searched his body.
Quickly locating a key in his chest pocket, she snatched it and fiddled with the metal lock on the back of her mask.
She heard Graeson’s panic roar behind her. She had to hurry. She had to help him.
The mask dug into her flesh, pinching her skin. Her chest rose frantically, her panic sending her spiraling and causing sweat to bead on her palms. Frustration tainted her movements as she struggled with the lock.
Graeson’s roar continued to ring in her ears.
A pair of calloused hands were suddenly on hers, clamping over the key.
Kallie screamed, the sound mangled beneath the metal.
"I got it."
Kallie nearly sobbed at her brother’s voice. Her body collapsed, and she instantly released the key. In her periphery, she saw another figure appear. Through her tear-stained eyes, she recognized Moris immediately as he kneeled behind Domitius' head.
Kallie tried to ask them how they got here so quickly, but she was not free of the mask yet.
As if reading her thoughts, Terin said, "Moris found me as soon as he saw him." He pointed to the dragon that was now ripping a guard near Graeson to shreds with its teeth.
With the nearest guards taken care of, the beast hovered above Graeson’s form as he grabbed another chain and yanked it from the posts driven into the ground. The end of the chain sprung, and Kallie flinched. But the second dragon didn’t stop there. He grabbed another chain, then another.
"Who the fuck is that anyway?" Moris asked, snapping manacles around Domitius’ wrists and ankles.
Graeson’s wing sprang free at the same time as the mask fell from Kallie’s face. She sucked in a sharp breath, the air cold in her lungs.
"Barinthian," Kallie exhaled. She had never seen Graeson’s father, but she knew intrinsically that this was the god Graeson despised.
"His father?" Terin asked.
Kallie nodded. "It has to be."
Graeson’s second wing sprang free. He shook, shedding the last of the chains. He leaned back, and Kallie saw his chest rise as he inhaled. The back of his throat lit up as he glared at the guards.
Kallie’s heart jumped in her lungs as she saw the fear shining in the soldiers’ eyes. She shouted at Graeson to stop.
Graeson swallowed the flame, snapping his attention toward her.
"What is it, Kals?" Terin reached for her, but Kallie stepped away, holding him off.
She closed her eyes, feeling her power running through her veins. The answer had been there the entire time.
It wasn’t Moris who had stopped the mob from attacking him. He hadn’t prevented their soldiers from killing each other when Rian and the others had arrived last night. She had.
Kallie had barely tapped into her power.
As it flowed through her, she finally understood why Kage had sought her ability. He didn’t steal Kallie to just control a few lords, but entire armies.
Perhaps it was because she had accepted the bond, or maybe it was because she had stopped fighting herself. Either way, it didn’t matter why. All that mattered was that she could end this.
She could stop the bloodshed, here and now.
She reached for the soldiers and mentally grabbed them. Feeling their hearts beating, she squeezed, bending their will.
Domitius' hold on them snapped like a branch.
As Barinthian was about to exhale, ignoring her request to wait, the soldiers collapsed.
When Kallie looked up, her gaze instantly met Graeson’s. For a split second, she thought she would see something akin to fear shining back at her. Instead, there was only adoration. As if he knew she had the power in her all along.
"What just—" Terin gaped at the sight of the fallen soldiers. He turned to her. "Kallie, did you—"
"Let me see that," Kallie said, interrupting him and pointing to the mask.
Still in shock, Terin gave her the mask.
"Take his helmet off," she told Moris.
Moris grabbed the bull helmet by its horns. When Moris pried the helmet off, Kallie’s heart dropped to her stomach as Domitius’ face showed in the sunlight.
Kage had lied—or at least partially. Domitius had not left the fire in Borgania unscathed.
Along the side of his face, a burn mark trailed around his hairline to the back of his head. The skin was red and raw, healed yet scarred from the flames.
"Lift his head," Kallie said quietly.
With a weary glance in Terin’s direction, Moris did as she asked and lifted Domitius' head up.
With shaking hands, Kallie placed the mask around Domitius’ mouth and over his jaw. As she snapped the lock in place, his eyes sprang open, and he screamed in fury as he reached for her.
Terin yanked her off him before Domitius could grab her. Yet Kage swatted at the air, enraged. Realizing his screams were muffled, he grabbed his face and felt the mask. He clawed at the metal with a mix of desperation and madness.
Kallie took a step back as the man before her came undone.
She tried to find a trace of the man she once knew. The man she had cared for. But the man lying on the ground was no more than a stranger to her. And not because of the fresh scar, but because she finally saw Domitius for who he was.
"It’s over, Kage," Kallie whispered.
Anger flooded his countenance, and beneath it, for the first time, Kallie saw true fear shining within Kage’s brown eyes.
"What do you want to do with him?" Terin asked.
"Me?" Kallie asked. "You have more power here."
Terin shook his head. "What happens here is your choice, Kals."
Kallie hesitated. Kage had made her into a weapon, and she wondered if killing him would only prove he was successful.
More than anything else, Domitius craved power.
He wanted to rule the seven kingdoms. He wanted to steal the powers of the Pontians because he wanted to feel like he was a god.
Dying here today would not be the punishment he deserved.
He deserved to wallow in his self-destruction.
He deserved to know what it was like to lose everything.
Kallie took a step back. "Keep him detained. Death would be a mercy."
She looked over her shoulder, finding Graeson and the other dragon in a stand-off, a cloud of smoke swirling between them.
As if sensing her gaze, Graeson turned away from his father and looked at her. He glanced at the king at her feet, his lip curling in disgust.
The other dragon said something, but Graeson only huffed and headed toward Kallie. When he was close enough, Graeson dropped his head to her height.
Kallie lifted her hand and laid it on his cheek, the scales rough and hot beneath her palm. "Let’s end this."
When Kallie looked down as Graeson hovered above the capital, the streets were teeming with thousands upon thousands of people, the battle still raging. Their friends and allies were still holding their ground.
She spotted Medenia and Ophelia locked in a dance of combat as they fought their opponents, the song never ending.
Nearby, Ellie fought valiantly, her hair matted with blood and grime.
Dani’s father was in the thick of it, his weapon slashing violently.
In the air, she spotted a pair of white wings barreling toward a hoard of drakonises with a dark shadow alongside him.
Somewhere, Rian tried to end the battle that had ripped his kingdom in half.
But the soldiers who fought against them? They were not their enemies. They were brothers, fathers, sons.
Kallie gripped the dagger Myra had given her years ago, her fingers flexing around the worn hilt. She didn’t need the dagger for what she was about to do, but the familiar weight gave her strength, the words etched into the blade empowering her.
She tilted her face toward the sky. With strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail whipping around her face, she let her power fill her.
She gathered it, as though she was taking a deep breath and filling her lungs with air.
Then, lifting the dagger high above her head, she released her power, letting it rain down upon the capital.
The war of fires and lies would end today.