Page 30 of The Queen of Ash and Magic

“I will burn this world to ash for you, Little Flame. Even in death, I will always be yours,” he tells me softly. “I love you with all my heart, Lysa.”

“I love you too, Drakarus,” I sniffle and snuggle my face into his neck.

Chapter Twelve

Lysa

Mom and I havebeen working with the flyers all day. The Ignisium in my ring has made my powers noticeably stronger. It’s taking a minuscule amount of energy to cast a spell, even larger ones. Dad is working on armor of sorts for Drake and me. None of us know how being one-fourth witch will affect things but we know he doesn’t have magic in the traditional sense. This will almost play through to our future child because they will also be one-fourth witch but manifesting as a dragon shifter. The thought of being pregnant with a dragon is honestly terrifying though.

We are projecting memories into large stacks of paper made of a native tree to Vulkara. It is called a fire breath tree because it is resistant to fire. This means the flyers are also fire resistant but hold enchantment well. We have several vehicles capable of off-road travel loaded to the door with flyers. They all have remote access so that we can have them follow us when we make the trip to the wall.

“How’s it going?” Drake asks as he comes into the meeting room.

“Eyrx just took the last set,” I say. “I put all of my memories from birth until Eyrx opened the door to the room as well as mom’s life from birth until she woke up after healing. Additional memories are you and I becoming mates, me reuniting with Mom, meeting Dad, and one final message to let the citizens know exactly what is going on. Petra gave us a lot of information this morning so you might want to go touch a piece of paper so you can be on the same page no pun intended.”

“You are a wonderful queen,” he smiles and picks up the last paper we have on the table. He is dazed for a second before looking at Mom and me.

Mom’s life was absolutely tragic. She endured the same abuse and neglect that I did, only Rystar and Isolde saw her as a lover. She was expected to regularly service him and Isolde. She even slept between them until getting pregnant. After that, she was moved to the room she and I shared. Isolde stopped sexually abusing her and didn’t come around her for the duration of her pregnancy. Rystar still regularly assaulted her, and my birth was induced because he was exceptionally rough one day. The day she was nearly killed, it was because she was protecting me. Rystar realized that I was not his biological child, so he was going to rape and kill me out of spite. Mom hit Rystar and he turned on her. She was so severely beaten that it took months for her to wake up. She was beyond the help of any of the witches in Vulkara. She just simply needed time to heal so that her powers were able to heal her the rest of the way.

Petra gave us vital information that helped us put together that Rystar, Isolde, and Aldric were planning to take over the neutralzone and eventually invade Vulkara. They were desperate for Ignisium, so they broke the treaty. What they intended to do was make a big enough distraction, so everyone was focused on Drake and not the neutral zone. Only they did not plan for Eyrx to act so quickly, and they certainly did not count on me mating with Drake. We have all her memories about the layout of the castle, all of the secret tunnels, and the land layout. There are several caves that they could be held up in, but they also have a ridiculous number of sympathizers who are, without a doubt, going to fight back.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says as he pulls Mom and me closer to hug us. “I am so sorry they hurt you two so badly. Neither of you deserve that.”

“They will be dead soon enough,” Mom says with a promise. “Not a rock in hell can help Rystar hide from me. Not after what he did to my baby.”

“Everything okay?” Dad asks.

“Yeah,” Mom says.

“We traumatized him with the papers,” I say. “I think we made Eyrx cry.”

“He’s a softy,” mom smiles.

“My gods, being a brat is genetic,” Eyrx says.

“That’s enough out of you, ham hock,” I say. He suddenly grabs me, tickles my sides, and I squeal. “Drake!”

“I’m not helping you,” Drake laughs.

“Eyrx! I swear to the gods, I will curse you to sob when you knot. Stop!” I threaten.

“Nowthatwould be hilarious,” Julianna cackles.

“You’re a little shit,” Eyrx says as he stops tickling me and grabs my chin. “Why do you insist on picking on me?”

“Eyrx, you tried to strangle me with a belt,” I say. “Payback is a bitch. Also, I’m the annoying little sister, remember?”

“Thatdoesn’tfuck her,” Julianna giggles.

“You’re all sickos,” Eyrx deadpans before hugging me. “I’m sorry for being so cruel.”

“It’s okay. I knew even then that you were desperate to get him back. You didn’t want to think that he was gone,” I say.

“Of course, you’d have pity for the person who tried to strangle you,” Eyrx laughs.

“We ready to go?” Drake asks Dad.

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