Page 75 of A Dagger of Twisted Starlight

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. It was time I attempted to take some control of the situation. Maddox’s tail whipped against the ground.

“I mean that we serve one god. One king. One ruler. And so shall you.”

“The Chaos King?” Blake asked. His voice was steady, even though I could practically taste the fear rolling off him. I had come to know him extremely well, and I could sense that he was scared. It pained me. My natural instinct was to keep him locked up in my horde, safe and sound, while we dealt with this.

Simon opened his arms and smiled, his teeth no longer human but wolflike. “The one and only.”

“You mean the one and only jailed ‘king’?” I spat out the last word.

Suddenly, both Joshua’s and Simon’s red eyes rolled back in their heads. Cassius gasped.

“You shall speak to me with respect.” The voice came from the two men simultaneously. It had the same cavernous echo as an expansive cave, with the cutting edge of a butcher’s knife. Chills multiplied down my back as though someone had dumped a bucket full of spiders down my shirt.

It couldn’t be. Blake reached for my hand. He was pale, his wide eyes glued to the two men.

“I am the stars and the dirt and the air and the blood. I amyour nightmares turned true. I am jailed but free. I am Niazatos, the Chaos King, and you shall bend the knee under my reign.”

This couldn’t be happening. This had to be some parlor trick.

“You’re the one who manipulated my father,” Cassius said. He didn’t show any fear. I wasn’t sure if I could sound as brave as he did. This moment—it was unheard of. Niazatos never should have been able to communicate through his prison, much less take control of two individuals who were miles and miles away.

“It did not take much, child. A simple seed planted at the base of a tortured mind takes root with little care. All your father needed was a promise: bring back his wife. Reunite his family. I gave him that promise, and he gave me his servitude.” The voice seemed to echo through the desert. Damien snapped his jaws, fire brimming from under his lips.

Claire stepped forward. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to change, having run out here in her sleeping shorts and a rock band T-shirt. “How is this possible?”

“A Marvel with power such as yours should know. With one of my locks broken, I can stretch out. I can embrace the world that pushed me away.” Joshua, still with the whites of his eyes showing, reached for the hilt of the dagger at his side. He unsheathed it. The blade nearly took my breath away if I wasn’t already so shocked.

There was no doubt as to why it was called the starlight dagger. It was made of some kind of dark metal set with hundreds of tiny glowing stars, glittering and twinkling like the same night sky that sat above us.

If it were any other situation, I’d have my breath taken away. It was beautiful. Otherworldly.

And it was made to destroy me.

“Now, enough chatter. It’s time to free me.” He lifted the dagger and pointed it at me. “No one hurt him. I need him alive.”

Without another moment wasted, the battle had begun.

The fae lunged at Claire, whose attention had been on Joshua. Robby reacted quickly, stepping between them and grabbing the fae’s wrist, twisting and disarming her, grabbing the serrated dagger for himself. Two of the Shade dragons took flight, pursued by a roaring Maddox, who tried to use his horns to batter into their sides. The two other Shade dragons went for Warrick and Damien. Joshua and Simon ran directly toward me with deadly intent in their eyes—no longer turned up to the tops of their skulls. They were intercepted by Claire as she gave a shout and unleashed whips of fire-red mana at them, holding them back momentarily.

The ground shook beneath us as dragon met dragon, claws and teeth clashing in a storm of fury.

Dawn unleashed a bolt of electricity toward one of the Time Turners, the crackling energy lighting up the night sky, making her ivory-white scales gleam almost blue. The tiger shifter dodged, but not fast enough, and the bolt struck its hind leg, sending it tumbling to the ground with a roar of pain.

I kept Blake close to me as the chaos unfolded, my every instinct screaming to protect him at all costs. He had his eyes fixed on the battle, determination etched into his features, but I could sense his fear.

“Blake, stay close,” I urged, my voice strained as I blockedan incoming swipe from one of the Shade dragons with a wall of sand. The impact sent me reeling back, but I quickly regained my footing, summoning another barrier to shield us.

Blake nodded, but he wasn’t standing idle. I watched as he shifted into his wolf form, his fur bristling as he prepared to attack one of the Time Turners who had slipped through the chaos and was coming straight for us. The wolf and the Time Turner clashed, Blake’s powerful jaws snapping at the vampire’s throat, but this was a dangerous game, and I couldn’t keep my focus split for long.

A roar through the chaos caught my attention. I looked up in time to see one of the Shade dragons bearing down on Warrick, its jaws wide open and aiming for his throat. Without thinking, I acted, summoning my bow and arrow and sending a volley straight at the Shade dragon’s side. It let out a screeching roar, turning its attention toward me instead.

Good, I thought.Come for me, not my family.

Claire stood next to me. She continued to send bolts of threaded red mana at the two men, but they were deflecting them now.

Warrick’s eyes glowed green as he caused thick roots from the nearby trees to burst up through the cracked desert ground. They wrapped around the Shade’s body and slammed the twisted dragon down into the dirt. They tightened around its neck like a python, snapping it with a sickening crunch.

One down, three more to go.

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