Page 194 of The Demon Tide

Naga the Unbroken!Raz’zor’s snarling, defiant call sounds in my mind, his aura spitting crimson and purple sparks.I summon thee, Defender of Dragonkin! Friend of the Bound Wingeds!

“What shall we do with the dragon, Excellency?” one of the Shadow Mages inquires.

“They’re especially cursed, the white ones,” Vogel evenly replies, keeping his eyes pinned on me. “Break him. Then use him as bait for training the larger creatures.”

“No!”I growl against my bindings as Raz’zor attempts to snap his teeth against his gag.

Naga the Unbroken!he blares at the heavens.

Vogel steps toward Raz’zor’s bound muzzle and presses the tip of his boot over it, bearing down, Raz’zor’s enormous chest puffing in and out. Fury explodes in me as waves of Raz’zor’s crimson fire aura lash through my lines and a multitude of soldiers surround him.

Naga the Destroyer!Raz’zor sends out as one of the soldiers raises his wand and hurls a bolt of dark earth magic toward his head.

I recoil against the blow, Raz’zor’s fire extinguishing as he’s knocked senseless, our horde connection blocked as the Mage sends a second tether of Shadow vine around him. Dazed by the blow’s reverberation through my mind, I watch, unable to stop the soldiers as they grip my horde-kin’s Shadow netting and drag him into the mountain with unnatural strength.

I become vicious, biting and hurling every ounce of my strength against my bindings to no avail as Vogel strides to Or’myr. He lowers himself onto one knee beside my gagged cousin, Or’myr’s green eyes blazing back at him with a feral look of rage. Vogel takes hold of Or’myr’s face, his nails digging into my cousin’s temples. Then he lifts Or’myr’s head with bizarre ease, effortlessly stretching his Shadow binding, before slamming the back of his skull against the stone so hard I flinch at the sickening smack.

Vogel withdraws his hand, a trickle of dark blood now flowing from Or’myr’s temple. My cousin’s ferocious green stare is undimmed, lethally focused as if he’s trying to impale Vogel with it.

“Break his mind,” Vogel orders his soldiers as he rises. “Then absorb him into the lesser hive with the other heathens.”

“Your Excellency,” the Shadow Mage beside Sparrow says, a wicked smile on his mouth as he motions toward her. “You said she could be mine.”

Vogel turns toward the young Mage as Sparrow’s grayed eyes find mine with furious desperation. “Do what you will with her, Tilor,” Vogel says, eyes flicking toward Sparrow with clear distaste. “But keep her alive and bring her West. She’ll draw Thierren Stone to her soon enough.”

Pain slashes through Sparrow’s eyes, and I fist my wand hand so hard, my nails bite into my skin, everything in me desperate for wood as another hard rush of Yvan’s heat flashes through me. Panic tightens my throat.Don’t come here, Yvan!

My cousin and Sparrow are dragged into the cavern as Vogel draws near and glides down onto one knee beside me, viper calm. He gestures to the soldiers beside him with a flick of his hand, and they drag Lukas closer. My heart tightens with agony when Lukas has no reaction to our proximity save his lips lifting into a snarl, my insides cleaved through with longing.

“Lukas!” I cry against my gag, wild with desperation to break through to him.It’s me, Lukas! Come back to me! I love you!

Vogel closes his eyes and murmurs a spell.

My emotions spin into violent chaos as he touches the Wand’s tip to Lukas’s hand, then mine, then his own. Multiple thin tendrils of Shadow twine up and wrap around all three of our wand hands in a complicated, undulating net. Then Vogel murmurs another spell, and the net cinches tight, confusion ripping through me as our hands pull together.

I watch, my confusion giving way to shocked horror as Lukas’s fastlines turn gray...

...then transfer to Vogel’s skin.

Only the dark Sealing lines around Lukas’s wrists remain, his smoking fastlines now marking Vogel’s hands.

“My fastmate,” Vogel croons as he slides one slender finger over my identical fastlines. “Elloren Vogel.”

An obliterating rage shoots red through my mind, the feral urge to tear the finger clear off Vogel’s hand ripping through me as my power lashes out in vengeful chaos, pummeling against Vogel’s hold on my lines. Vogel gives a slight shudder, his gaze on me narrowing tight, as if sensing my mutiny. He flicks a finger, and two Mages move forward and grab hold of Lukas’s bindings, dragging him away from me.

“Leave him be!” I cry against the gag, scoured out by the ravaging desire to go after him, furious tears scalding my vision.

“Silence,” Vogel bites out as he brings his Wand’s tip to my neck and murmurs another spell.

Pain shoots through my fastlines as Vogel’s power strikes through my lines with merciless force, my teeth chattering against the cord in my mouth.

Yvan’s Wyvernfire ramps up, as if he senses my agony, and Vogel’s eyes flash silver. “His Wyvernbond...it’sall over you.” His face twists with a look of almost jealous betrayal before he grasps my hair, his nails biting against my scalp. “Did he force his Icaral kiss on you?”he seethes. “Push his serpentine tongue into your mouth?” He murmurs another spell, and my gag bindings disappear so fast my teeth clamp down on my tongue.

I level an acid glare at Vogel. “Yvan Guryev didn’t force me,” I snarl, baring my teeth, tasting blood on them. “Iwantedhis Icaral kiss.”

Vogel’s eyes spit silver fire.He draws back a hand and slaps me across the face so hard a breath is forced from my mouth. Outrage spasms through me.

“We’re fasted now,” Vogel states, chillingly calm as he stares me down. “You’ll speak no more of your staen’en taint. And soon, you will be fully Sealed to me.”

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