Page 96 of The Kingdom of Flames and Ash

My patience snapped. With clenched jaws, I bared my teeth at her. “Do you want Lira to be kidnapped and forced to breed with the dragon prince? Because just saying the words is bad enough for me… to be expected to live through it—”

Eiric lifted both hands in surrender. “Okay. I don’t want it either.”

I exhaled, relief flowing through me. I personally cared about Eiric only because Lira did, but I also knew there was no chance of Lira leaving if her sister remained behind. “Good. Go before I make you.”

“I… I can try to fly. I’m just weak.” Eiric chewed on her bottom lip.

Lira walked past me, taking her hand. She said, “I’ll be there and help you.”

“The dragons are almost here,” Lorne gritted out, and I looked at Lira one last time and linked,Get somewhere safe. Avoid the fighting and stay toward the sky. I can cloak you.

She nodded, knowing better than to argue.I love you, Tavish. I swear to Fate, if something happens, I will come back. I can’t live without you either.

I moved forward, kissing her quickly and pulling back.Leave before we distract each other and both of us get into trouble.

Blowing out a breath, she turned her back to me. Still, I could feel the agony of her leaving me behind, heavy in our bond.

She and her sister flew away. I spun back around to find the eleven dragons twenty feet away. I linked,Hurry, get out of here.I allowed my magic to funnel toward the two of them.

Pyralis was in the middle, flanked by five guards on either side. I raised my sword, my hand throbbing from the dragon flames, and prepared to fight off at least five. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work, but I had to believe they had enough sense not to kill me. Either way, I wasn’t turning my back on the species that threatened my fated mate.

The sword hilt vibrated in my hand, reminding me it was full of dragon magic. I tried to push away the odd sensation and soared into the sky. We couldn’t just stand here and expect to take them. We were going to need to fly around and divert them.

Knowing Lira was hidden from sight, I was able to move more easily. Lorne followed my lead, the two of us breaking apart, causing five to peel off in my direction and the others to follow Lorne. Pyralis kept flying straight, no doubt searching for Lira. Something he’d eventually realize would be futile because I had her and Eiric cloaked tightly. I refused to chance anyone seeing them.

I flew straight up, pushing as hard as I could into the sky. The dry air made it hurt to breathe, and my hand throbbed. There was no way that I would be able to fight with my right hand, so I begrudgingly switched the sword to my left.

The dragons were gaining on me, and I hated how their larger bodies didn’t hinder them. Instead, it was all muscle, allowing them to move faster than us. But we were more agile. I paused midflap, allowing my body to plummet toward the earth. The five dragons took more time to change course, and I dropped past them, catching them off guard.

One spun around, trying to hit me with its tail, so I adjusted my weight, caught a little air, and landed on top of it. The dragon jerked his tail to the side, trying to knock me away, but I wrapped my legs around it and swung the sword down.

The blade sliced through half the tail without even requiring me to use all my strength. The pale-yellow dragon groaned and jerked to shake me off as the dark-orange dragon on its right flew beside me. The orange dragon opened its mouth, so I cloaked myself and dropped back toward the ground. Flames exploded where I’d been moments ago, and the dragon whose tail was almost cut off thrashed, hitting the navy-blue dragon on the other side of him.

Knowing that the orange dragon was in attack mode, I twisted to the right, avoiding the flames. I kept myself cloaked and flew toward the dragon. I needed to end all these ashbreaths once and for all and get back to Lira.

I moved right behind the dragon when it stopped spewing flames and looked around to see if it had hit its mark. Not waiting, I sliced through its neck, causing the other four dragons to stare toward me. The beheaded dragon dropped, and the indigo one roared, spewing flames at me.

I lifted my hand, allowing ice to fly from my palm and collide with the flames. My magic showed the other three dragons exactly where I was.

My magic dwindled, and my body throbbed. I pulled back the darkness, needing to conserve my strength for Lira and Eiric since I was now getting dangerously low.

More fae flew past, but I could use the distraction. The pale-yellow dragon’s wings weren’t moving quite as steadily, evidence that the injury had affected him more than I’d expected. However, the pupils of the indigo one on my right and the violet one on my left slitted more as they locked in on me.

Tavish, I’m coming back,Lira connected, her panic flowing into me.

My heart raced harder, and the indigo dragon lunged at me. Swinging the sword, I aimed for its snout, but the indigo dragon jerked back, and the violet dragon snapped at my already injured arm. I kicked its nose, pushing myself away, and angled my wings so that I sailed past them and had time to recenter myself.

I’m all right. Don’t come back here. Just keep going. That’s the only thing that’s going to help end this battle.I firmly believed that when the dragons realized Lira wasn’t here, they’d fall back and regroup to attack another time. But we’d have time to create a better plan than this, which would include hiding Lira in the Unseelie underground shelter.

I could feel her hesitation, but then she said,If you get hurt again, there won’t be any talking me out of it.

Despite my horrible pain, I felt my cheeks lift. She was my rain on a warm sunny day. I spun around to find both the indigo and the violet dragon slithering toward me. Their smoking nostrils indicated their plan. Worse, my magic was almost depleted, and I had no clue how far away Lira was. She still felt close.

I readied my sword. I couldn’t risk using more magic to hide myself. Yet, I couldn’t get hurt again, or Lira would come rushing back.

I had to do something they wouldn’t expect. I sheathed my sword and ignored the stinging, burning sensation in my arm every time I moved. Flicking my gaze between them both, I flew toward them as fast as I could. The violet dragon’s eyes widened. I held out my hands and shot ice just as the two dragons expelled their flames at me.

The flames met my ice, a collision of their magic and mine, neither one taking over for a long moment. Then, the dragons’ fire began to push through my ice toward me.

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