Page 84 of Of Fate So Dark

Overhead, the harpies fell silent, and a low growl rumbled from the dragon. But it didn’t seem pleased or victorious.

That was the growl of a predator who suddenly saw something it really didn’t like.

A terrifying new possibility suddenly filled me with dread. Had Roan been taken over by a worse Voidborn than whatever was in that dragon?

Roan drew himself up again. Every trace of fear and pain melted from his face like it’d never been. A regal sort of amusement took its place, colder and more callous than anything I’d ever seen, even from him. His dark eyes swept the dragon, and he regarded the giant monster like it was an impetuous kitten trying to convince him it was a tiger.

Anguish joined my dread in a dark wave. Gods, please, no. Roan couldn’t be gone. The Voidborn couldn’t just?—

“I said…” Roan’s brow arched like a king eyeing the pathetic fool who’d thought to touch what belonged to him. “No.”

The red glow in his eyes became fire. In a rush, it spread in a jagged pattern from the corners of his eyes through his temples, down into his cheeks and jaw like flames cracking through the surface of the earth. Around each fissure, his skin turned gray like it’d been burned to ash.

And suddenly, he transformed.

I stumbled back, shocked. His bones shifted and his body grew larger, until he towered as tall as Ozias’s massive beast in height. Enormous wings ripped from his back. His clothes ripped and burned as all of his skin charred from deathly pale to the dark gray color of ash, though a glow like fire still showed through jagged cracks around his eyes. His cheeks and jaw became sharply pronounced, like a savage mask that only barely looked like the man I knew. A thick, sinuous tail whipped out behind him, lashing the air like a weapon unto itself, and his wings were tipped by curved points of bone that looked ready to tear flesh. Thick black horns rose from his head, their glossy surface reflecting the firelight, and on his massive hands, his fingers were tipped by dark claws that appeared as vicious as knives. When he grinned, his teeth were chipped to jagged points, interrupted by two long fangs.

He was also totally naked. His thick cock hung free between his legs, his length ridged and not remotely like a human or Erenlian’s.

But he clearly didn’t give a damn that he was naked. Or that he looked like every bit as much of a monster as any of the creatures around us. The full extent of that alien gleam I’d sometimes seen in his eyes was present now.

Holy gods… this might not be the Voidborn. This could be Roan or whatever had been inside him, whatever he’d warned me about all those days ago.

And it had just fully taken control.

Gone was the way he shrunk into the shadows and the way he avoided everyone’s gaze. Gone was any trace of reticence at all. He stared the dragon down like he already knew he’d won, his lips curling into a smile that promised death, dark and bloody.

The dragon took a step backward, stones and wooden beams crunching under its enormous clawed feet. Inhaling deeply, it opened its maw to blast us with fire.

Roan chuckled.

Flames surged around his body like a blaze inside him had only been waiting for an invitation to emerge. In a blur of burning light and beating wings, he surged forward and slammed into the dragon, sending the massive creature tumbling backward into the street.

The harpies screamed and dove after them.

Gasping, I ran, trying to keep Roan in sight. Beyond the gap torn by the dragon’s landing in the ring of houses around me, the city was an inferno, but that didn’t matter to Roan. It was like he didn’t feel the flames at all.

“Gwyneira!” Dex’s shout rang out behind me.

I turned. He and the rest of my men raced through the gap between the houses at the other end of the gardens. Byron had a vicious burn on his shoulder, and Clay bore a gash on his head with dried blood trails dripping down his temple, but none of them delayed rushing in my direction across the wide space.

At least until they caught sight of Roan and the dragon fighting past the gap in the houses ahead of me.

Eyes wide, Clay gaped at the battle. “What the fuck is that?”

I was almost entirely certain he didn’t mean the dragon. “It’s Roan.”

The way he turned his stare on me told me I was right.

Niko’s head shook. “That’s not… He isn’t…” His mouth moved as he seemed to run out of words.

Another roar came from the dragon, yanking my attention back. Swinging its fanged jaw, the creature slammed the side of its snout into Roan, succeeding briefly in knocking him aside.

But even the dragon had apparently concluded it was outmatched. Beating its wings hard, it took the small victory as an opening and launched into the sky in what looked like a desperate attempt to flee.

Roan wouldn’t allow that.

Leaping upward, he caught the air with his own wings and raced after the creature, colliding with it at high speed and sending it careening wildly through the air. Harpies screeched and circled, darting at him like an angry flock of birds trying to drive away a predator. But none could get close enough to the fire all around him to stop him slashing at the dragon.

---