Page 55 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

Serylla takes hold of my jaw spikes and tugs my head lower so she can speak into my ear. “Be careful of Jessiva. She wants you dead.”

She releases me, and I recoil, dread and pain piercing my heart. Is that what Jessiva and Serylla were discussing momentsago, when Jessiva helped her down from the rock? Surely my darling couldn’t wish me dead—not after what we have shared.

“You’re wrong,” I tell the Princess.

“I hope so,” she says fervently. “Just… be careful.”

Abruptly Kyreagan shoves his way between us, snarling at the Princess. “You’ve chosenhim? You’re going to shelter with my brother?”

“No, I’m not!” She turns up her nose, a look of prim defiance on her face. “I’m going with Rothkuri.”

Kyreagan glares down at her. “Rothkuri?”

“Yes.”

“No.” His answer is a low growl, a threat that makes my scales tighten with apprehension. She is pushing him beyond his limit.

I linger near them, waiting as they continue to argue, until Serylla announces her preference for Rothkuri once again and spins away from my brother, ready to saunter off to her new mate.

My brother’s reason snaps.

I sense it right before it happens, but I’m not fast enough to stop him. With a choked roar, Kyreagan catches the Princess up in his huge jaws. Seizes her in his mouth, right in front of every woman and dragon in the valley.

He’s not hurting her—not yet. But if he exerts even the smallest bit of pressure, he will pierce her soft flesh with his teeth. And if he injures her, kills her, or devours her, it will be the end of him. He will never forgive himself, nor will he ever lead the clan again.

“Kyreagan!” Serylla gasps. “Put me down.”

I leap forward, bringing my face near to Kyreagan’s. “Brother, what are you doing? Release the girl, right the fuck now.”

Kyreagan hisses at me through his throat, but he knows me as well as I know him. He hears the threat in my voice, the urgency. Lowering his head, he lets the Princess tumble out from between his jaws. But the next second he pounces on her, pressing his heavy body compulsively to hers, keeping her still. Growling, he licks her throat, and a shudder of craving passes over him.

For a moment I simply stare, dumbfounded by the sight of my brother so obsessed, so maddened by his passion for a human girl. As much as it must frighten the Princess, it makes me strangely glad. Serylla has unlocked a part of him that I’ve never seen before. She has made him feel something besides grief, guilt, and responsibility.

“Be very still, Serylla,” I warn her. “Give him a moment.”

Then I lower my head and speak directly to Kyreagan, with the authority of the Bone-King in my tone. “My brother, if you don’t get your shit together, I will have to battle you myself, right now. You said yourself that no woman would be forced by a dragon.”

Before he can respond, Serylla lifts her head, her eyes bright with triumph. “It’s alright. He’s not forcing me into this. I choose him. I’m going with him.”

Kyreagan’s eyes widen and he withdraws, letting her climb to her feet. Serylla places her hand on his nose, a gesture of calm and comfort. “He’ll be alright now,” she tells me. “Thank you.”

As I bow to her, I catch a familiar scent and turn to see Jessiva coming toward me. She’s smiling brightly—too brightly. Frequent mating with her has taught me to interpret the shape of her eyes, the tension of her jaw, the quivers and twists of her mouth, the angle of her head. Something isn’t right with her. Either she is truly planning to kill me, or she has done something else that’s causing her pain and regret. Guilt leaks through that beautiful smile of hers and aches behind the sparkle of her eyes.

Last night, when we were in the hollow, I thought I smelled traces of another dragon on her, but I assumed she came into brief contact with one earlier in the day, or that another male had been in the meadow and left his scent on the grass. But perhaps, when she was out of my sight, she became close to someone else, and she is now scheming against me.

Jessiva starts to speak, but I intercept her with soft, venomous words. “What have you done, darling?”

16

Somehow, he knows. Varex knows that I gave Serylla the dragon claw I found and asked her to kill Kyreagan.

I regretted it during the dance, when I glanced away from Varex and saw the way Kyreagan was dancing for the Princess, his eyes locked with hers. When he snatched Serylla up in his jaws as if he was about to gobble her up, my heart went into my throat and I wished him dead, desperately.

But then he let her go. He hovered over her, pressed his body against hers, and stared at her with such intense longing that I couldn’t breathe. Serylla gazed up at him and smiled,her face triumphant, almost smug, as if she finally elicited the confession she wanted. She chose him of her own free will, and I knew in that moment that my temporary hope, my wild plan, was a failure.

My scheme to kill Kyreagan was a vestige of who we were when the dragons first brought all of us here. It does not reflect the relationship we have with our captors now.

Only those of us who’ve been on the island could possibly understand what has happened here. I’m not sure I understand it myself. But undeniable bonds have developed among humans and dragons. We’re joined now in a fight for our very survival; and as Kyreagan flies away with Serylla, I finally abandon my last thoughts of killing the princes, or any of the dragons.

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