Page 46 of Defy Me

Jett held her so tight she couldn't see his face, but his body was shaking. She wanted it to be with laughter, but he was in shock. "That's not a thing."

"I think it is. I've been doing it for a while. Until I ran into you and your forced me to start living me life. Thanks for that." The goddess had said she hasn't shown that person she'd lost that he had value beyond what he could do for others. Yvaine had been on that same path. Out of anyone in the whole world, Jett should have been the one to want her to use that value to save himself and his brethren. He hadn't wanted that at all.

Jett clasped her tight in his one good arm and stood up, turning in a circle. Looking for a way out. "I'm not sure I'm the one to thank, but I'm happy to oblige you some more later. We need to get out of here now. The demon dragons are revolting. They've got Ereshkigal and the Annunaki on the run. I think her curse is breaking down. She doesn't have control over them anymore. We can escape while they're distracted."

A demon dragon whipped by them shooting fire in every direction like it was in a parade. A group of them danced in a circle around a big rock with metal handles in it. The were lashing it with their tales breaking it to bits. Oh, yeah. They were revolting all right. Like a group of teenagers whose parents were out of town for the weekend. "Jett. I want you to know that you're more than the man who has to save the demon dragons from your father. That's a great mission, but it's not going to make you whole. I know you think you're missing something inside. You're not."

The fire in his eyes flickered. "Because of you. You've shared your soul with me. I think it's what saved me from succumbing to Ereshkigal's curse again. My brother was not so lucky." He pointed to a dragon swinging from a stone stalagtites in the ceiling. "Your blood alone could break the curse. But without a soulmate their demon selves took over. Your soul saved me."

"I did share my heart and soul with you, but I can't save what isn't already there. You did that. You saved yourself."

"I don't think I believe that." He stopped her from interrupting. "But I will maybe concede we saved each other together."

That would do for now. She kind of liked his theory. "What about these guys? Can we get out of here and take them with?"

"That's easier said than done. I can open the shadow, but I can't fly. My wing is still shattered. With all of them running amok, I'm afraid Cage and the dragon warriors would not take to kindly to us releasing them from hell."

Poo. "Lead them then. They've revolted against Ereshkigal, it seems like you put it in their heads that they don't have to be enslaved to the Black Dragon. All they need is someone who actually cares what happens to them to show them the way."

Jett's eyes flamed with pure blue hot flames. She watched as his mind turned the idea over in his head. He'd thought for so long that he had to free them, but they'd freed themselves. "I'm not their savior. I'm their Wyvern?"

He shook his head. Not believing his own train of thought.

She kissed his jaw in her favorite spot. "Duh."

"The Wyvern." It wasn't a question this time. "Of this motley mess of half dragons. The other Wyverns will not accept them, us. We're half demon, what they've been fighting against their whole lives."

Yvaine remembered what she'd seen in the goddess's tea time. "You'll find a way to convince them. They were already prepared to fight with you. I saw them battling in the field around the abbey above ground. At least I think that's what I saw."

"We can't simply join their ranks. These guys have known nothing more than death and destruction. I can't be the Black Wyvern and think everything is going to be all hunky dory."

From out of the back of the cave and enormous dragon appeared. His scales were every color of the rainbow and he was twice as big as any other dragon Yvaine had seen. But she recognized his eyes. They were kind and had helped them before.You're right, son. You cannot be the Black Dragon Wyvern.

It's mental voice echoed through the cavern so loudly that every demon dragon halted in its tracks. A few hissed and screeched, flapping their wings at the big dragon. The majority of them simply stared. The dragon shook his head at them, looking slightly disgusted.No manners, these ones. They're going to be a handful, my boy. But you'll lead them just fine.

"You just said he wasn't the Wyvern."

The first son of the First Dragon is always the Wyvern. What I said is he isn't the Black Dragon Wyvern. Because there are no such things as black dragons.

Yvaine waved her hand around the room. "Then what are these guys?"

I believe you've been calling them batstriches. I'd like to see them be more than that. Rise up, my son.

"So you can bring the Black Dragon down to kill me and take over his Wyr? He is your son, isn't he?" Jett snarled and his dragon shimmered to the surface. He clasped Yvaine's hand in his, grounding himself to her.

He is. He is the first born dragon of mine and Inanna's. But he isn't the first son of the First Dragon. He has no claim to the Demon Dragon Wyr. Before I met Inanna, or rather, before she fought her sister and saved me from the depths of this hell, I had another son. The product of my union with a Galla Demon. Your mother.

The big dragon, who Yvaine now understood must be the First Dragon blew a swirl of rainbow colored fire into the cavern, lighting each of the demon dragons on fire. But they didn't erupt into flames, they grew and stretched their wings and transformed into big black dragons with fiery eyes, almost identical to Jett's.

You aren't the Black Wyvern, my son. You're the Demon Dragon Wyvern.

Wyvern of Another Color

You are the Demon Dragon Wyvern.

The words played over and over in Jett's head. The Demon Dragon Wyvern.

Demon Dragon.

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