Chapter Two #2
London steps forward, white hair whipping around her face, her eyes pure black as her Ethos, born of her bond with my brother, rises.
The air changes instantly. It thickens, compressing into a visible distortion, a wall of wind that folds forward with force, catching the next wave of dragon fire midair and sweeping it sideways.
The flame bends like it hit a glass barrier, ripping across the street in a redirected arc that slams into the far wall, exploding against stone with a heat so intense it turns the air white.
London’s jaw clenches as she holds it, muscles in her forearms trembling under the strain.
“She’s going to burn out!” Knight rushes toward her, his eyes blackening with the rise of his Ethos.
My power stirs, fingers twitching to let it loose, but it’s like trying to breathe with a hand over your mouth. Something is suffocating it. Forcing it at bay.
Probably because it’s unnatural to go against the creature born to own our skies.
“Move,” Sinner snarls, sprinting down the steps and into the street as ash begins to fall like black snow.
The dragon turns, his eyes flashing cobalt. Dragons are not mindless beasts. They’re sacred for a reason, and that reason is begging to be seen.
“This is fucked,” Sinner grits out. “Dad is rolling over in hell right now.”
The dragon dives again, faster than before, and this time his fire doesn’t spill wide across buildings. It narrows, a concentrated strike aimed toward the palace entrance.
I whip around to make sure the area is cleared, only to find Arabella standing on the steps, one hand lifted toward me, her expression composed in that soft way of hers.
The fire streaks toward her and my body moves.
Magic surges, violent and instinctive, and I feel the sharp, familiar rise of something waking from a long sleep.
Shadows spill from my feet, climbing up my legs, crawling over my arms, and the air around me drops ten degrees as darkness swells outward, hungry and immediate.
But it’s not my ethos as I hoped it would be.
It’s demonic smoke, royal magic created only for the kings it serves, coming to my aid, feeling my desperation.
“No!” I scream, running for my mate.
Knight’s Ethos answers at the same time, his demon form taking over.
London’s air wall falters for a heartbeat as she sucks in a breath, then braces harder. The wind screams around her as she tries to angle the fire away again, but the dragon’s power is too old, too determined.
I knock Arabella from where she stands at the last second, the heat of the flames making the demonic smoke around me spark with anger.
Blackness collides with sapphire scales, the dragon disappearing inside it.
A sound rips through the smoke, it’s half roar, half scream, and something in my chest tightens. It’s an unexpected ache and makes no fucking sense.
The smoke convulses.
It tightens like a net, wrapping around wing and tail, spiraling upward until it binds him from jaw to spine. The dragon thrashes, wings struggling hard enough to send shards of roof tile raining down, claws scraping against nothing as he fights the darkness trying to drag him out of the sky.
Creed’s hands lift, fingers curled like he’s holding invisible chains.
“Bring him down,” Knight growls, voice deeper now, altered by the presence of his demon. “Slowly.”
“We are not killing him,” London snaps through clenched teeth, and it isn’t a request: it’s a rule, as old as the realm itself.
Killing a dragon isn’t like killing a man.
A man dies and the world moves on.
A dragon dies and the sky remembers.
The dragons are woven into Rathe’s bone, into its oldest magic. To kill one would be to fracture the realm’s spine. To announce to every creature and power watching from the dark edges of the world that the Kings of Rathe have turned their blades on their own guardians.
We do not do that.
Not unless we want the realm to collapse in ways no council could rebuild.
The smoke tightens again, forcing the dragon still until his claws finally scrape the ground, carving trenches through stone as his weight hits the street. The impact shakes the buildings.
The air above us whooshes again accompanied by a second shadow. Another one? I tuck Arabella safely behind my back, but before we can do anything else, London rushes forward.
“It’s just Ben!” She runs toward the dragon with both hands lifted, palms out.
The ground vibrates under Ben’s sudden landing. He lifts his massive foot as Kaia pops up from his back. The green-haired pixie wastes no time in sliding off Ben’s back and sprinting toward them. “What the hell happened?”
Creed raises a hand in warning, bringing her to an immediate stop. “He’s out of control. You go closer and die—that is your problem. Not ours.”
Steam huffs out of Ben’s nostrils, but Kaia agrees to the terms so that Creed will finally allow her to pass.
“Thyrix,” she whispers, recognizing the dragon. “Why is he shaking? Is that—”
“Demonic smoke.” Knight glares, gripping London by her waist and yanking her into him.
My brows pull in, and I know I’m not the only one confused, because everyone else here is sharing the same weird expression.
Demonic smoke doesn’t just restrain its victims; it’s absorbed by them—forcing them to face or live through their deepest fear.
“A nightmare,” Kaia whispers, sinking to her knees beside the beast’s snout.
Everyone stills.
Because dragons aren’t supposed to fear anything.
They are fear.
Yet this one thrashes like he is drowning in his own mind, tail whacking against the ground, wings twitching in uneven spasms, his breath coming in harsh, ragged steam.
The smoke clears enough to reveal a single eye, and as Kaia shifts closer, the thick rubber-like skin lifts and a blinding blue eye reveals itself, its pupil the shape of a diamond and tinted red.
“He’s fighting it.” Kaia scans the smoke as if she can see through the darkness into whatever horror it’s forcing him to face. “He knows it’s not real.”
No one can understand a dragon, but Earth pixies can at least feel their emotions.
Creed’s posture stiffens before he steps closer, his power attempting to press through the beast’s mind while it’s weakened. Whatever he sees, it melts the hardness from his features as he staggers to the side.
I step forward. What the fuck? “Creed?”
This motherfucker is always seeing some shit.
His eyes glaze over, unfocused as he continues reading the beast’s mind until his mouth snaps closed so hard I swear I hear teeth crack.
“What is it?” Knight asks, voice low.
“Release him.” Creed’s voice cuts through the air, firm.
We all snap to him.
“I said release him!” he demands, tone nearly burning with panic, his hands fisted at his sides. “Show the demonic smoke you’re going to yield. Put your magic away!”
Sinner acts first, followed by Knight and London—though not without a few cuss words. But mine still swirls beneath my skin.
I turn to Arabella. “Go inside.”
Her big blue eyes meet mine. “You’ll be alone.”
Does she not see my family all around me?
Stop that. She’s your mate. She’s worried about you. Be better.
My smile softens. “Our bond is still fragile. My magic won’t relax with you in danger.”
“Okay, my mate.” She reaches out to touch my cheek, but the ground vibrates beneath us. Her lashes flutter as she looks over my shoulder, before quickly heading back into the castle.
Demonic smoke slowly clears, revealing the beast completely.
His one eye closes for a moment before they both snap open—locking directly on me.
I don’t even register that I’ve moved until the heat of his breath brushes my face and shattered stone crunches beneath my boots.
Magic surges between us, but it doesn’t come at me the way it should.
It threads through my ribs and settles under my skin until I can’t tell where his fury ends and mine begins.
There’s something beneath it all, though: something jagged and wrong for a creature forged from loyalty. And I don’t understand why it feels like it’s mine to carry.
Betrayal. It burns straight through my core.
Slowly, painfully, he rises, wings dragging against broken stone as he lifts back into the storm.
Only when a hand clamps onto my shoulder do I realize I’ve fallen to my knees.
I look up at Creed, but his eyes aren’t on me.
They’re fixed on the dragon disappearing into the clouds. And there’s something on my brother’s face I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
Fear.