Page 2 of The Soul of the Dragon

“She will. Take my word for that, Isaac, if nothing else. She loves her children above all else.”

I still thought this whole thing sounded insane. “How can you put so much faith in an amulet you’ve never seen? If it doesn’t exist or cannot break the curse, then this will all be for nothing. Let me keep searching. I’ll find another way.”

He stepped closer until the tip of his knife poked at his chest in the exact location of his heart. “Your king has given you an order and you will do as he says.”

The power infused in his voice washed over me. My father was done talking. Instead the ruthless king had taken his place and nothing would change his stance. Not me. Not his mate. Not even—

“What are you doing? Stop!”

We both jerked at the sound of my brother's loud, angry voice. Unfortunately, I moved forward as did my father, and the dragon blade pushed roughly between bones and muscle in his chest and directly into his heart. My eyes went wide at the same time my father's mouth parted in a small smile.

He'd gotten what he wanted.

Fuck.

With my hand still on the hilt of the knife, I wrapped my free arm around his shoulder and a harsh whisper escaped me. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he whispered in return. "This is what had to be done. Don't forget that. Now you must do what we talked about. Find the amulet and save your mother. It’s all I ask."

"Get away from him!"

Before I could say anything by way of an explanation, I was jerked away from our father so fast, I lost my grip on the knife.

"Ian."

"What have you done?" He eased our father to the ground. "Be still. I can heal you."

Our father opened his mouth to say something, but blood bubbled out instead of words. Ian didn't realize it yet, but no magic would heal a wound from a dragon blade. The iron was forged in sorcerer magic eons ago, and had stood the test of time.

He placed his hand against our father's bleeding chest, and the warm glow of his magic lit the area. For a second there, I thought it might actually be working as our father grabbed his hand in a surprisingly quick move. But the now ashen color of his face told the truth as the blade quickly drained his dragon fire.

"No. Father. Hold on. You're not going to die today. Isaac can't become king!"

Again, he tried to form words but the gurgling sounds of him drowning in his own blood were all that escaped him. I squeezed my eyes against the sight. This wasn't how I wanted to remember him. My king was invincible. He'd ruled over shifter kind for nearly a century with a decisive, iron fist. That he'd chosen this path for his end broke something inside me, and I had a feeling it would never be repaired.

A low rumble caught my attention, and my eyes popped open as my brother turned to me. Anger twisted his face a moment before a blast of his dragon fire scorched my skin.

Instinct took over and my body shifted into its dragon form instantly, both extinguishing the flames and ripping my clothing to shreds. As grief for my father fled my mind, my dragon focused on my twin and his attack.

Don't do this.I don't want to fight you.

I spoke the words in my mind, hoping that for once Ian would listen to me, instead of discounting my words as those of a madman. Despite my larger size, we were well matched. The last thing we needed was an encore to our last fight. I'd provoked him over his mate, Cordelia and threatened to take her from him. I'd learned a hard lesson that day. My twin might be smaller, a few minutes younger, and not quite as quick, but when properly motivated, he was a foe like no other.

You think I'm just going to let you get away with killing our father? You did this. And for once, you are going to reap the consequences.

I pawed at the ground and released a stream of dragon fire in pure rage and grief. How dare he? He would not be the only one who suffered from this.

It was an accident.

Ian snorted, returning my fire with his own. The black scales that covered my body protected me from his blast, but the violence of it triggered something in my brain and what civility I'd recently found dropped from sight.

I launched in his direction, rolling him to the ground and attempting to pin him down. But my brother was not an easy adversary. He fought hard and vicious against the claws ripping into the red scales of his dragon. I released him and took to the skies. If I could put some space between us...maybe then he would listen.

He clearly didn't see it that way as he launched in my direction and caught up to me in mere seconds. I didn't realize how close he'd gotten until the sharp points of his dragon teeth pierced the tip of my tail and jerked me backwards.

I tumbled ass over end several times before finally regaining my balance.

I don't want to fight you, Ian.

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