Page 168 of Gift from the Nexus

“I’ll have everything I want. With my son ruling beside me and the blood coursing through your veins, I’ll have everything I want and more. This realm and any other I choose. You will bow to me and do my bidding, Willow. It makes no difference to me if it’s willingly or forcefully. It is just a matter of time.”

His matter-of-fact tone coats me in ice and my body breaks out in chill bumps. There’s no denying he believes every word he’s spoken and he’ll continue to hunt for me until I’m in his grasp. He’ll truly, wholly, destroy this realm. A realm he’s so adamant to rule no matter the personal cost to everyone else.

“I’ll swear to you the same thing I swore to your son before I turned him into a pile of ash with no promise of the beyond, so mark my words here and now. I will destroy everything you’ve spent millennia building. I’ll erase every scrap of your existenceoff the face of this realm and any other you’ve poisoned. I’ll figure out your family name and drag it so far through the ground, people will spit when they hear it uttered. You’ll have no following left to keep your name alive because they will fall to my Nexus’s and my hand as well. My true Nexus, my family, the one I’ve chosen to create, the people of Elementra will not fall to you. You are and forever will be nothing. I’ll see to that.”

Power bursts from both of us, colliding like atomic bombs, and the bubbles we created explode around us. I push everything I have within me. All seven of my gifts, all four of my elements, and every drop of magic I possess flow from my outstretched hands.

The power that’s not rightfully his pours out in a stream of black. It crashes with mine, holding the same ferocity, fury, determination. I refuse to back down, to give up, despite the sweat dripping in my eyes, the pounding of my heart, and the tremble vibrating through my limbs.

The pressure between our abilities builds and builds until the ground beneath our feet splits open with a thundering boom. The orb of power that had been collecting between us erupts with a painful blast and sends us flying through the sky away from one another.

I catch the briefest glimpses of his back smashing into the ward concealing the cave, tearing it to pieces before my body is wrapped in air, vines, shadows, and blue flames, then I’m lowered into four sets of awaiting arms.

Slowly, they sit me on the ground and check me over, but I can’t take my eyes off him.

The Summum-Master sluggishly, wobbly gets himself to his feet using the cave mouth for balance. Although I can’t see his face, I know he’s staring at me. My cheeks heat from the unsavory feeling caressing my skin and my pants come out faster.

A dark promise wraps itself around my heart and with that, he transports out.

“Princess, are you—”

Corentin’s words are cut off when the ground beneath us begins to shake in pulses. They grip me and snatch me up, cocooning me in the middle of them when loose rocks fall from the mountain and the birds that were brave enough to stick around during the battle take to the sky, squawking.

“What the fuck is that?” Caspian asks.

Pushing myself from in the middle of them, despite their demands and arms reaching out to pull me back, I wave them off as I stare at the cave mouth.

“Tanith,” Me and Keeper breathe together.

Emerging from the darkness, she makes herself and all her beauty known. The first thing she does is tilt her head up to the sun, the sun that she hasn’t felt caress her in so many years. When she shakes her body out, the chains around her neck clang loudly against the stone and she growls low.

“A dragon. Little wanderer, she’s a fucking real-life golden dragon,” Draken breathes and a massive smile takes over his face as he steps toward her unconsciously.

“I know, my dragon. We come from her,” I say softly as I link my fingers through his and step toward her.

She’s the one who passed our beast down to us.

Twenty-Six

Draken

My eyes, maybe my mind, are playing tricks on me.

Must be.

Maybe when Willow’s and that cocksucker’s power exploded, I hit my head.

“No trick, Draken. She’s real,” Willow says softly beside me as we take in the sight of Tanith, and she does the same to us.

One second, the golden dragon is standing there alone, observing the large crowd with some apprehension. The next,Keeper, my dad—nope, don’t like that yet—is standing in front of her, crying. Is he crying? What’s he doing?

She slowly lowers her body and bows her head to him. He gently rubs her muzzle and brings his forehead to her scales. It’s deep and emotional. Although I don’t understand it, I know this is important.

Although her footsteps shake the ground, she’s not as large as Willow’s or my forms can grow. She’s maybe the size I was when I first shifted. Her golden scales are darker on her underside, black with a dusting of gold glitter, but the scales littering her back are like rolls and rolls of gold coins. She’s so shiny.

“Little wanderer, what’s going on? I thought you said we were rescuing someone he bonded.”

“We did. She just isn’t…well, human. I don’t know the ins and outs yet, but it’s not romantic like we bond. Think of it like me and Gaster. The only difference is she chose him.”

---