Page 9 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Its thunderous roar shook the mountain and sent waves rippling over the putrid swamp. She watched as Garrik shook his head in exhaustion and stood on shaking legs, unsteady, yet determined, with an outstretched sword.

One moment he was flesh and bone and blood. The next …

What tore across the leveled clearing was a manifestation of the pits of Firekeeper’s realm and nightmares combined.

In a whirling funnel cloud, as black as a treacherous storming night, Garrik …transformed.

Thatsomething moreshe had once thought he could be was no longer simply a question. Itwasreal.

A thing of nightmares, a face of death incarnate, reformed from Smokeshadows and exploded from the creature—from Garrik—until a mighty ruler of night emerged.

Made entirely of darkness, tendrils burst from a mess of dagger-edged claws. Horrendous spikes jutted from every inch of his new body. Razor-sharp teeth gnashed inside a head so terrifying, one look threatened her with rebirth in the afterlife.

Like fog on a misty morning, haunting wings of shadow tripled his size as he slammed his front legs onto the forest floor, rocking the entire mountain and splitting trees from their roots.

Alora’s traitorous lungs couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t form words for what she witnessed.

Forwhathe was.

A shadow dragon.

Void of light, Garrik’s reptilian eyes swirled with vortices of shadow, unmoving as if he were merely a sculpture.He measured the beast across the clearing, who seemed as astonished as she was.

That moment of calm shattered when Garrik’s head simply cocked. As if it were a battle cry in the wind, chaos unleashed itself.

Every blade of grass, every leaf, every branch bowed as Garrik’s breathtaking wings flexed and shot him skyward.

The dragon launched forward, meeting him with a clash of bared teeth and spikes and claws.

Garrik’s shadowy body countered, expertly blocking each blow. But those wings … those wings tangled in a mess of shadow and membrane, and the dragon’s rage echoed off every mountain peak.

Alora trembled in horror and amazement as they attempted to rip each other apart. Claws sunk into one another’s bodies, teeth snapped at throats, explosions of Smokeshadows tore across scales as blood sprayed to the ground below.

Garrik roared when claws tore across his chest.

He buckled into himself before swinging a damning blow to the dragon’s head.

The swirling heap of Smokeshadows and dragon flesh barreled toward the forest floor, landing in a dust cloud that sprayed debris hundreds of feet around them.

Whatever foolish part of her that possessed a death wish—beyond the stars-given tattoo on her arm—had her running. Before she could protest the stupidity, she stood beneath her High Prince, sword outstretched. Ready to fight.

Garrik’s spiked head swung down, contorting to stare directly into her eyes with the abyss of swirling smoke and ash. Death Incarnate’s razor teeth appeared inside that snarling mouth.

It was painfully clear he wasn’t pleased with her presence, but as he whipped his head to the incoming swing of claws,his terrible mouth opened. Exploding with an imperceptible air wave that ripped across the carnage and slammed into the beast, enraging it more.

Sunbursts of sparks and white flames intensified inside her palms, and bones shaking, Alora scanned the molten pathways around the dragon’s scales as it heaved in a hot breath.

But she’d help fight fire with fire. They would not die today.

She had lived through the gamroara. Had slain a reike. Escaped Kaine.

Nothing will break me.

Flames burst from the dragon’s mouth.

Aloraignited.

A blazing white inferno choked the incoming flames. Lapping them up in a storm of white fury, the stars in the sky pulsed.

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