Chapter Twenty-Three
Haide
The scent of roasted meat and flowers crashes into my lungs, distasteful after salt and ash and blood. My hands grip the arms of the chair so hard my knuckles ache as I try to adjust to the new scenery again.
Floating above the center of the long table is a shimmering projection of black cliffs and stormwater fading into nothing.
A holographic screen. Projecting the memories I just relived.
The last of Exile’s image flickers and dies above untouched plates and silver cups.
No one speaks.
My gaze lifts slowly.
Legend’s mother, the exiled queen, Cosima, sits at the far end of the table with that same composed elegance she’s worn all night. One hand rests near her wineglass, a smile curved at the corners of her mouth like this was exactly the reaction she wanted.
Everyone else? Stunned into stillness. Knight is half out of his chair.
London looks like she forgot how to blink.
Sinner’s mouth soundlessly hangs open for once in his life. Silver and Vicente are rigid, eyes locked on the space where the projection hovered. Zev looks between me and the fading image with an expression that would almost be amusement if it weren’t laced through with something sharper.
And Legend—
My mate stares at me like the world just shifted under his feet.
Which, to be fair, it did.
A cold pulse works down my spine.
How much of that did they just watch?
Well, if their silence is anything to go by—all of it.
Cosima lifts her glass in my direction.
“Well,” she says smoothly, smile widening just enough to show teeth. “That was illuminating.”
“So, that’s why his Ethos stayed on the island.
” Sinner glares. “To protect the island herself, and in turn, the entire reason it exists in the first place—the keeper of the dragons. You.” His eyes meet mine.
“Love that for you, Haide, but what about my brother?” He turns to his mother.
“You gonna show us how the fuck to save him?”
“Oh, that’s easy, darling.” She smirks, sitting back in her chair. “Feed the island something else.”
Knight scoffs. “You heard that fucking thing. The island took his Ethos because it was the strongest replacement for her. What is stronger than the literal guardian of the guardians of our entire species, or the demon of a Deveraux?”
Her smirk is downright deadly. “The blood of one.”
“What does that mean?”
She leans back into her seat, finger tracing the rim of her glass. “Aren’t you going to ask me how I got back to Rathe, little girl?”
“Watch your tongue, Mother,” Legend warns.
“Awe,” she fake coos. “My youngest has finally grown a pair of teeth.” Her eyes fall to my neck. “Not that it looks like he’s made much use of them. Didn’t he bite the little blonde right away? And you’ve been around how long?”
My lip curls and Legend’s hand comes down over mine. It’s annoying how grounding it is, but I don’t hate the way the chaos under my skin settles.
It’s like he makes it easier to breathe.
Without her, I would have died, but without you, he will, too.
My stupid heart jolts in my chest and I can’t fight the flinch that follows.
Legend’s head yanks my way and the Nightkin purrs in my chest.
I keep my eyes on the bitch in front of me just so I don’t have to look at him. Picturing a wall, I build one in and around my consciousness.
Instantly, Legend’s hand tightens on mine, and his glare grows more pointed. He sends a small spike into me, a tiny little stabbing sensation that pricks across my skin in warning.
“What are you doing?” He hisses, and I know by the tone he tried to send it into my mind first.
But he couldn’t reach me, which means he can’t hear me.
“Beast?”
A beat of silence passes, and then he rumbles deep in my chest. “Hellpet.”
“Say it.”
“Yes. It’s true,” he confirms.
“You knew. You never said a fucking word about him dying, too.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t fucking think. It’s like my ribs are being cracked open from the inside out, cut from within me with one jagged chop of a knife at a time.
Coming here, I thought I stood to lose the beast that loved me freely.
Now I stand to lose the man who was created for me.
Not one, but both.
There was a while there when I didn’t care if I couldn’t have the man so long as I got to keep the beast, but things have changed.
Or maybe they were always this way, and I let fear or anger hide the truth.
I want—no. I need them both.
“You said you wouldn’t leave me,” I press. “Why the fuck would you say that if you can’t fix this?”
“Because it’s true, my mate. The fates themselves couldn’t keep me from you. I would—”
“Shut up and tell me how to keep you? How to keep him? Am I strong enough to fix this?”
“Yes.” The relief is short-lived when he adds, “And no. At least, not on your own.”
“Tell me,” I demand.
“No, Hellpet.”
“What the fuck do you mean, no? Why not?”
“Rage is what runs you and it will consume you if I do.”
“Let it.”
“Little mate, what did I say about trust?” There’s almost a gentle scolding in his tone. “Trust me. Trust them. They are not just the royals of Rathe, the realm you exist to protect. They are your family now.”
“None of that matters if I lose you, you stupid fucking demon!”
“I know.” His words are a warm caress down my spine, and the sting in my eyes soothes.
“You’re petting me.”
“I am. And one day, when I’m back in the body I belong, I will pet that pussy too, my sweet little mate.”
“Another promise, beast?”
“A guarantee. Now let him back in before he tears the roof off this place.”
I blink, and the wall falls, my eyes widening as the space comes back into view.
Cracks run along the previously flawless outer walls, and the table has flipped over.
Food, dinnerware and cutlery are now scattered across the floor.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s responsible for the sudden mess.
Legend stands in front of me, staring down at me with his eyes blown white.
I offer a weak wave. “Hi.”
He growls, gripping my arm and yanking me to my feet. “Why did you do that? You pushed me out. I didn’t–I couldn’t feel you. I thought—”
An unexpected flash of guilt runs through me. I’m not the only one dealing with some fucking trauma here.
He denied me, rejected my bond, and that shit fucking hurt—still does—but he felt my void too. He, too, was lied to, and manipulated, and hurt.
I was torn from him just as he was me. And he experienced the same panic I did back at the island, when I thought he threw me away again.
Only I did it on purpose. To protect him from the truth, sure, but didn’t the fucking outside view of what happened on the island just show him the same thing anyway?
I plant my hands against his chest and instantly, his shoulders loosen.
“Mate,” I call to him.
His brows dip a little, but the white in his eyes clears some, revealing a sorrowed blue. “Mate.” He speaks back through our mind link.
I sigh. “We’ve got a lot of making up to do, but I’m starting to think we always will. I’m going to fuck up more than I don’t, so just expect that. I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?” His fingers wrap around my wrists, tightening, pressing my hands harder against him.
“Don’t make me say it.”
“Say it.”
My jaw clenches and his lips twitch a little.
“Love, asshole. I don’t know how to love. I don’t know what it means and I don’t even know if that’s what I’m feeling. I will tell you one thing I know for certain: If I lose you, I will kill myself just so I can hunt you down and torture you. Do you understand?”
He closes the distance between us so his chest brushes mine. The rest of the room fades, falling into their own bullshit, but none of them matter. Nothing matters but this dickhead of mine.
“I understand, baby. And trust that I fucking love you too.”
“That’s not what I said.”
His hand dives into my hair, pulling until my head tips back and I’m looking up at him through my lower lashes. “That is exactly what you said.”
And then he tugs to the side, dipping his face into the crook of my neck.
His tongue slides along the column of my throat, and then—he bites.
His teeth break skin and the room detonates.
Pain. Pressure. Pleasure.
My bones seem to snap awake like a chain pulled taut between us, the bond roaring through my chest so violently my knees give, but Legend is there. His arms flying around my lower back, anchoring me to him as he sinks his fangs in deeper.
Heat floods the mark, bright and alive, like a damn wildfire tearing through every vein in my body. The magic in me reacts instantly, surging toward him as if it has been waiting centuries for this exact moment.
I think it has.
I gasp.
Power floods outward from the bite in a violent ripple, the air around us vibrates while the jewels at my temples blaze so hot they burn. I’m vaguely aware that the red and blue are shining bright, filling the room with colors of us.
The bond between us twists tighter, deeper, like a new blade sliding home into its sheath for the first time.
Legend’s hand tightens in my hair and through the sudden rush of awareness pouring through both of us at once, I know it’s hit him too.
His magic explodes like a storm breaking open, dark smoke curling off his shoulders while the ground beneath our feet groans in protest. The entire room seems to recoil from the force of it.
My flames answer instinctively, licking across my skin in thin black ribbons before sinking back into my blood again.
“I would have bit you the very first day if you’d have let me,” he swears, and damn if I don’t believe him.
He pulls back slowly, his breath rough against my skin while his tongue drags once across the mark he just made. The sensation shoots straight down my spine and settles low in my stomach. Overwhelming need floods my system so hot and fast I almost whine.
But that isn’t what steals my breath, it’s the presence suddenly shifting inside my chest.
The Nightkin straightens, but not in that lazy amusement he usually carries. This time with a silent sort of interest.
Legend goes completely still in front of me.
His pupils blow wide as something unfamiliar brushes across the bond between us, a second consciousness sliding into the connection.
“Well, well…” The Nightkin speaks, his deep voice curling through the space between our minds like dark velvet wrapped around broken glass.
Legend’s entire body locks.
The whites of his eyes flash for a split second before the blue slams back in place. His breath hitches as he turns to me like he just saw a ghost.
“What—”
The Nightkin laughs softly inside my chest. “So, you’ve finally found your spine.”
Legend’s head tilts slightly, the expression on his face somewhere between confusion and fury as he searches the bond for the source.
His gaze drops slowly to the mark on my throat, then his eyes lift back to mine, but he’s not really looking at me. He’s looking inside me.
“You,” he breathes, meeting the demon that lived beneath his skin since birth. Meeting his Ethos for the first time. Only instead of doing so through his own consciousness, he gets to meet him through me.
I could almost fucking cry it’s so sweet. Almost.
The Nightkin hums. “Careful, boy. I outrank you in more ways than one.”
Legend’s jaw tightens but my lips curve into a smile I don’t know I’ve ever given. It’s soft and—I don’t even know.
I’m feeling a lot of shit right now, man. It’s annoying.
Shocks still roll through him. My fingers curl in the front of his shirt, grounding both of us as the magic still crackles in the air around the table.
“He’s been waiting to meet you,” I murmur.
Those blue eyes lock on mine again, darker this time.
“He’s strong, Legend.” I smile. “You are so fucking strong.”
The bond pulses once more between us, deep and steady now. Beneath it I feel something new—something vast and dangerous sliding quietly into place behind the power we already share.
Legend’s power pulses. Dark magic twines through the room in heavy waves, the ancient blood in him reacting to his Ethos like a crown being placed back on the right head.
Behind us, someone inhales sharply, but neither of us look away.
Legend’s thumb drags slowly across the bite at my throat, smearing the last trace of blood while his eyes darken in a way that promises dirty fucking things.
Then his voice slips through the bond again, quieter this time. Rougher, just the way I like it.
“Mine.”
The Nightkin chuckles approvingly in the back of my mind. “Fucking finally.”
His mouth presses to mine in a hard, hungry kiss and then the roof really is ripped from the room.
We break apart on a gasp, attention shooting to the sky. Debris flies all around us, someone’s magic catching and flicking it away before it can take us out. Angry roars fill the air above us and instantly, my hackles rise.
Suddenly, not one, but no less than ten dragons rage overhead.
They scream and cry, fire shooting from their nostrils and into the open air.
I jerk from Legend staring up at them. “What’s happened?”
“It’s the ward!” Creed reminds everyone, but I stay focused on the green beast above.
It’s London’s old best friend, Ben.
He doesn’t answer me with words even though he can. He roars into the air, the sound a cry of pain that my mind seems to understand.
My face falls. “No.”
“What is it?” Legend yanks me closer.
A sharp gasp escapes me as I bend at the waist as pain flares through my ribs. Black ribbons sweep through the air, stuffing themselves down my throat.
Heat simmers inside me, a pressure building until my head snaps back and fire bursts from my life.
The black flame shoots straight up and before dissolving, leaves behind a floating red ruby in its wake. A ruby the exact shape and size as what I used to know as the forbidden gems.
Now I know better.
My eyes snap to Creed.
His features crumble. “The soul of a fallen dragon.”
I swallow.
The gem lowers until it’s just before my face. Slowly, it dims until it fades from sight. The red gem at my temple throbs and my power jolts.
Just as it does, the prettiest blue scales flash through my mind before fading.
“Thyrix,” I breathe, looking over at Legend. “He’s…dead.”