Page 12 of Court of Dragons and Twilight

“My fire mate,” I whisper. Our fingers link together tightly as we step through the arch and into the darkness. It’s warm, ridiculously warm. I frown as I see it’s a room that looks like a classroom, with desks and rows of bookcases, science-like ornaments everywhere. There is a thick layer of dust and cobwebs on everything here, and I just know no one has been here in a long time. All I can smell is fire though, and smoke. So much smoke. “This reminds me of the first test I took for the crown.” I walk over to the nearest window, looking down. Except outside, it isn’t the spirit castle. It’s just pits of lava inside a massive volcano.

Arden’s pale when I look at him. He turns from me, slamming his fists on the stone wall where the arch just was. “You bitch. You fucking bitch.”

I run over, touching his shoulder and sliding between him and the wall so he has to look at me. “Arden…what is this place?”

His voice is hoarse. “The home of my only surviving family. My great-grandfather. His name was Marcelli.” I don’t understand why that’s a problem, why Arden looks spooked. “My father showed me this place once before, along with the family secret, because he thought every ruling royal needed to see what happens when you stretch your magic too far. When you become the fire and touch a deeper part of our fire magic than is advised.” I still don’t understand. “This place is a volcano, deep in the north part of my realm where some people from my court live, but it’s mostly deserted. It’s a grave.”

“Why? What happened?”

“It was a school for teenagers to learn with the king, to experiment with our fire element in uncontrolled manners. The strongest of my court was sent here. It was meant to be a place of hope.” He looks down. “Underneath it is a monster and death. They all died except for him.”

I don’t want to look at the creaky floorboards. “What kind of monster?”

“Marcelli. He is transformed into his dragon form by the death and magic, a spell so strong no one could break it and survive. He is one with the flame at the very core of this court. He couldn’t shift back due to the magic of this place, and he eats or burns anybody that comes here except for me and the descendants of the teenagers who died here.” He grits his teeth. “Aphrodite wanted you to come today because she knew you are neither of those things. My great-grandfather is going to attack you, and I’ll have to kill the only blood family I have left alive. If ‘alive’ even means anything to him at this point.”

“We probably have not long before he’s going to come up here and start attacking us?” I question.

“If I shift, I won’t be able to shift back within the volcano, and the magic might latch onto me and force me to stay in my dragon form. I—” Arden pauses. “My father was warned by his father never to shift here. I never asked more and didn’t have time to before he was dead.”

“Lucky your mate can make a shadow dragon, then, huh?” I question. “We can just fly the fuck away from here.” I know it won’t be that simple, but still, it’s worth a shot. “We can ride it together. I’ve never done it, but I think it will be fine. Just pushing my limits, and that’s a good thing.”

“Will your dragon be able to attack a fully grown male dragon as big as what my great-granddad’s dragon will be like?” Arden rightfully asks, his eyes wide. “I won’t risk you. Anyone touches you and they die, that means family too. You’re my entire world, the beginning and end. I’ll shift first and risk it all to save you.”

My heart leaps. Family is everything to Arden, especially because he has none left. I understand why he doesn’t count his great-grandfather as being alive when he is in this state and the fact he would kill him to save me… I take his hand and lean into his body. “I love you and it won’t come to that.”

I’ll make sure of it.

Arden cups my cheek and I melt for him, almost forgetting the seriousness of the situation we are in. “I don’t know how much is left of his mind, but it won’t be a lot. All I know is he’s ancient, stubborn, and was even before his final shift, from what my father told me. He is all dragon and a hunter. We—” The floor underneath us starts to shake, and Arden cuts himself off. The books, clutter on the desks, and glass vials lining the sides slam onto the floor one by one. “Princess, don’t you dare leave my side.”

The walls themselves start cracking, but I look away from the danger and to my fire mate for a second. “Don’t shift.”

He smirks at me, even with pain shining in his eyes. “If there is a choice between saving your life and becoming a dragon here trapped forever…I’m shifting.”

“Arden”—I shake my head before I lean up on my tiptoes, and I kiss him, just softly brushing my lips on his—“we leave here together, or not at all.”

“Princess, I love you too. I have done since you got mad at me for burning your ex.” He steps back. “Still don’t regret that. I would have killed him anyway for touching you.”

Shaking my head, I put the memories of that day behind me, even knowing he is telling me the truth. If Arden hadn’t killed him, I would put money on Lysander or Grayson doing it. Emrys, he might have just made him disappear. “You’re possessive.”

“Proudly.” Arden grins. “Show me what a good spirit princess you are. Call the shadows.”

I grin at him, knowing that we’re in this together and nothing can stop us. It doesn’t take long for me to pull shadows, like they have been waiting for me, begging me to embrace them. I pull them and whisper around me, spreading them out across the room until giant wings are pushing against the boundaries of the brick, cracking them. Arden comes with me to climb onto the back, which feels solid, yet it’s nothing but spinning shadows constantly moving to make a dragon body. Its shadow tail tears through the back wall of the room, sending bricks and roof flying everywhere. It roars like it’s alive, like it’s not just my magic and it’s a real being I’ve pulled from the shadows.

Thank any gods that still listen for my shadows, because the floor suddenly gives in. Nothing but balls of flames shoot out of the floorboards until the room is red with flames, and smoke is hovering around us like a fog. A scream echoes out of my throat. I can’t help it and Arden grips me tightly down onto the dragon from behind, right as my dragon jumps up and uses shadows topropel us up in the air, crashing through the roof. Bricks, sharp rock, and who knows what else fall on my body as we burst out of the top of the room. Lava shoots high up into the air, narrowly missing us as my dragon swerves to the right and rises higher, giving me a good look at the tower we just escaped from. It reminds me of Rapunzel’s tower, but the top is now caved in and it’s sinking into the lava. Arden holds his hand out, and the pools of lava instantly drop away under his command.

We turn around and come face to face with a dragon that is nearly the image of Arden’s, but it’s a giant in comparison. This monster dragon, with chipped, burnt black scales and a red line of spikes down its back, was once a Fire Court king. Now there’s nothing much left to him except his dragon form. His eyes are glazed darkness, not red like Arden’s. Arden once told me all the kings in his family have those red eyes, and this must be what happened to him under the spell. He lost himself to the fire, and his eyes are proof. He is terrifying, sending a cold chill down my spine. Instinctively, shadows rise in every direction of the volcano, swirling up in the air to meet my call. I take a deep breath of the smoky air as Arden links his hand through mine on my dragon. “I’m going to need a bigger dragon.”

I feel the tingling of the power down my spine as I pull the rising shadows to me, to my dragon, and it grows under us, spreading out its now massive wings. More and more shadows come to my dragon. It’s almost mimicking the size of Marcelli, but I make sure to wrap darkness around us, protecting Arden. Protecting my mate.

Marcelli roars at us, spitting fire before diving straight off the cliff edge of the volcano and straight our way. My dragon spirals to the side, its claws ripping across Marcelli’s giant wing. Marcelli roars louder, shaking the volcano around us, creating massive cracks right in the edges, just before he crashes into the side of the volcano, rock spitting into the lava that pools aroundhim. The lava and fire don’t hurt this dragon; he simply shakes it off with a growl. Arden isn’t watching Marcelli though, his eyes are down. “There’s a fucking village down there!”

I look down, my heart racing, and I see he’s right, there’s a village at the bottom of the volcano just below where Marcelli has crashed. His big body is holding the fire back, but the moment he flies, that lava is going to pour down to destroy the village. Without saying a word to Arden, knowing he will agree, I turn my shadow dragon straight towards the village to warn them. The force of swooping down on a dragon this big feels like the pressure and wind is ripping apart my skin, and I grit my teeth all the way down. When we are close to the village, Arden’s shout finally reaches my ears. “I can hold the lava back for at least ten minutes!”

“I’ll distract Marcelli and get him as far away from the volcano as I can. I’ll give you all the time you can get, but Arden, who knows how she spelled this place? She could have added to your grandfather’s spell. She could have made it so that if you shift anywhere near here, you get trapped in your dragon form. I don’t want that, so do not shift and come after me.”

The wind roars around us as Arden leans in and kisses me softly before jumping right off the side of my dragon before I can even grab him. Arden flies down, landing smoothly on a tiled roof and rising to his feet. His hands glow like red burning stars, and he faces them towards the volcano. The red light spreads down his body, making every inch of him glow until he looks like a fire god. The lava actually stops in its tracks, a wall of fire spreading around the volcano, and it’s impressive.

As much as it scares me how much power Arden is using, I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off Marcelli, because the big old bastard is right on my heels when I glance back, and I push my dragon to fly away as fast as possible. We dive over the town, leaving a wave of glittering darkness in our wake. I spin backto the volcano, narrowly missing Marcelli’s claw and the blast of fire he sends in my direction. When I spin around, my eyes widen at Marcelli, who has somehow turned faster than I did, and he is about to crash right into me.

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