Page 97 of Dragon's Honor

Cillian’s expression looked pained. He gave a small nod. “Yes.”

“How do you do it?”

“Blood connection.”

Finley’s mind latched onto that idea.

Syrena and Gavin appeared out of the darkness coming right for them.

“Thank the gods you’re all right. I was afraid you got trampled,” Gavin said to Finley. He glanced over at Cillian. “Is Grey in charge?”

Cillian sighed. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

Finley seized her opportunity. She didn’t know how much longer she had. “Syrena, how do you normally cancel out a spell?”

Syrena’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you cast a spell and it goes wrong, how do you undo it?”

“Depends on the spell and what it was bonded with and cast by.”

“Vampire. Blood. Dragon. Witch magic.”

Her eyes widened. “I’d purify it.”

Finley jerked her hand free and grabbed Syrena’s hand. “How?”

Syrena’s eyes were wide. “Salt.”

Everyone turned to the giant dragons battling on the beach with the dark looming ocean behind them.

21

Dragon Fire

Ash was exhausted trying not to hurt Tristian. He’d killed his parents and kissed his mate and yet he held back. If Tristian didn’t truly do those things on his own accord, then he didn’t deserve to die, but Ash wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to keep them both alive either. Tristian was strong and controlled by a psychotic vampire.

More than anything he wanted to stop this fight and find Finley who was nothing but Grey’s puppet.

Distraction didn’t make for the best battle strategy. Tristian launched himself at Ash and they tumbled into the water. Ash was on his back unable to push Tristian off him. Tristian’s sharp teeth ripped through the flesh of his leg, pushing forward trying to get his jaws around Ash’s throat. It was the best way to incapacitate a dragon and then kill it.

Tristian, like Ash, had been trained to fight in human form and dragon form. It was tradition for the royals to be ready to go to battle. They always led the charge into a war. They were expected to kill more and do more damage than their court. Royals weren’t protected, they were the protectors.

Tristian’s grip was too tight. Ash did the only thing he could think of and shifted back into his human form. He was now lost under Tristian’s dragon while the ocean lapped over his naked skin. He sputtered and flailed a bit as he tried to get back onto his feet. He had to avoid being stepped on and Tristian’s flicking tail. He dove into the water and swam out of reach before he shifted back into his dragon and took to the sky.

Tristian roared and charged toward him, his wings flapping, carrying him into the air as the battle went to the sky.

Ash didn’t know if he should lead Tristian away from land and out the sea where they could fight it out in the clouds. They were already drawing more attention to dragons than they needed to be.

Ash’s one job as king was to protect his people.

He couldn’t help but look back at the shore. When he saw Finley standing on the sand waving at him and the others shouting something, he didn’t understand.

Tristian caught him off guard once again and collided with him like a semi-truck with no brakes on an eight percent grade. They went straight down into the water, slamming hard into the shallows.

Ash pushed him off and scrambled toward shore. He would see if he could figure out what they wanted. Maybe they had a plan. Or maybe they were just trying to cheer him on.

Tristian’s bluish white flames seared his back side. He rolled into the water to get out of the path of the flames and cool off his rear flanks. This needed to end. He made it to the shore and tromped through the sand kicking it until he reached his mate and friends.

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