Page 86 of Don't Fae With Dragons

Then, I can see. I don’t feel my eyes opening, but I can suddenly see everything.

I’m back there –back in the Den of the White Warlock. I’m on my stomach on the floor, my palms outstretched on the rough stone, and I quickly flip onto my back to protect my wings.

Oh, Realm’s Mother, my wings. He’s going to hurt me, he’s going to trap me here, then he’s going to break them so I can never fly again and –

“Milica,” sings Kar. Then I hear a blade unsheathe.

I growl so I don’t cry as he appears before me, then I scramble backwards to try to put distance between us. Kar doesn’t even move, he just smiles.

“A little further now, hm?” he says.

My growl turns pathetic as I push myself backwards, too panicked about Kar’s newfound powers as the White Warlock to feel the malevolent presence behind me. I gasp as I push myself back into a pool of bright, white light.

The Moon is here.

I try to throw myself to the side to get out of its clutches, but the Moon’s rays wrap around my arms, my legs, my waist, and hold me fast. I choke as the rays wrap around my throat and yank me violently back against the ground.

His illusion powers are in my dreams, even though the spell failed. He’s in mymind, even now, and he’s brought the Moon with him. I squeeze my eyes closed as the Moon forces my head backwards, threatening to blind me with its wicked light, and I start to pull my magick together.

Then the Moon’s rays grip my throat tighter, and I squeak pathetically as my breath leaves me.

Kar’s voice speaks, although his mouth doesn’t open. “Silence, faery.”

I think back, “Don’t do this.”

His voice rings out in my head, so violently that it makes me dizzy, “You are still mine.”

I try to scream, but nothing comes out. Then he walks over to me, footsteps reverberating like cold stars flung through space, as I gasp for air.

The White Warlock kneels, grabs my hair in his callous fist, and drags his jagged, rusted blade through it. My hair pulls against my scalp, his knife too dull for a clean cut, and Ichoke out my best attempt at a cry for help as my black locks fall to the ground beside me.

All the while, he smiles.

I feel the Moon shifting around me, and I struggle to gain some purchase against its grasp –to no avail. My wings get pulled out to my sides and pinned down, as if I’m a butterfly in some perverted collection, and Kar smiles and smiles as he drags the blade in vicious gashes on each wing.

“Mili!” Cory yells.

I hear screaming, and I open my eyes to realize that it’s me. Cory is holding me in his arms, and Max and Port are on either side of him, a hand on each of my arms.

“Oh, thank the Realm’s Mother,” Max blurts out.

Port whispers, “You’re okay.”

Cory, though, is horribly silent. I gaze into his eyes, trying to will myself to calm down and trust that I’m safe now. His expression flickers from relief to sorrow to complete, utter hatred. I know he knows this was Kar’s doing –I don’t even blame him for his anger. I just don’t know what can be done about it.

“It was the White Warlock,” I sigh, rubbing my eyes with my hands. I check my wings next, brushing over them with ginger hands. Cory’s healed them already, as best he can. I can still fly, but I’ll be slower for a little while yet.

The thought of them being broken for good ... it’s too much to bear.

Cory nods, his nostrils flaring with fury at my words. “Kar.”

“Yes,” I whisper. “He gave me a vision. He –he broke my wings.”

I see Port and Max’s eyes both widen, and they glance at each other before looking to see Cory’s reaction. They must feel him before I see his reaction, because they both wince a second before he lets out a roar that shakes the cottage’s very foundation.

My jaw falls open in shock at the ferociousness of his reaction, and I sit in shock as he turns to the other shifters. He points at Port, then at me.

“Keep her safe,” he growls.

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