Page 23 of Trial By Fire

“It was created by the Fae emissary. Only the Fae can call it forth. That’s all I know.” His eyes shift away from mine. He cups his mouth in his hands, as if he can save the precious blood flowing. I don’t believe that is it at all as he chances a quick glance up at me. That was a lie. I grab hold of one of my hilts. “Okay, he went to Incantatia. The queen summoned him,” he says as he holds up a hand to ward me off. I smile. Again, another puzzle piece added to the puzzle. Torin quickly crosses the room and stands beside me.

“Stop stalling and explain, you worthless piece of shit.” Torin’s impatience doesn’t help, but I am feeling exactly the same way. We need to retrieve the rest of the information from him as fast as we can. We have pushed our emotions down for far too long for the sake of our mission, but underneath, we are a raging storm. Every day spent away from Cordelia has been torture. In just this short time she has become our entire world, without her—well, I, for one, don’t want to experience a world without the love of my life. She is never leaving my sight again.

“Oh, your precious queen is in heat. Must really suck for you three.” Slap! Yep, I couldn’t control myself as I slapped the asshole right out of the chair. My skin begins to itch, my thoughts go all over the place. My Dragon presses against me, I can’t tell where his rage ends and mine begins. I need to fly. Thaddeus’ little lacky just laughs from the floor, spitting blood at our feet. I guess he no longer cares for his life.

“She’s going to auction her off to the highest bidder. I wonder how many cocks she can take at once. Considering she’s in heat, her pretty little cunt will be begging to be filled. Our Lord will surely get the heir he deserves when he comes out the winner. Do you think—”

I slit his throat mid-sentence. I heard enough. My rage and panic flood through our bond. Behind me, chairs are being thrown. Torin screams his frustration. The door to the council chamber bursts open, and a very bloody Adrian stalks into the room like a vengeful berserker from Earth’s Viking history. His chest is bare, and his brown skin is painted in the war paint of Thaddeus’s guards. Clearly, he and his Dragon have decimated the ones that dare to keep fighting, and now he wants in on the little game of torture. Unfortunately for him, the blood-gurgling fuck will be dead soon, so the fun’s over. Adrian walks with purpose as he crosses the room. He stops at the man who’s still choking on his own blood, looks down at him, then looks back up at us and raises an eyebrow.

“We got what we needed.” I shrug. I didn’t want to think about what he told us just now. By the looks of it, neither does Adrian. Torin is the only one still raging, breaking shit all around the room. I think my brother has the right idea. I think it’s time we break some shit.

“What are we going to do?” I ask them both. Adrian’s eyes still watch the dying man like he’s offended he didn’t get the chance to end his life. Torin doesn’t answer, so I continue. “Don’t tell me we can’t go into Incantatia! Fuck the portals. War has already begun! It started when they took her. Consequences be damned. We fight, and we bring her back. We are fucking Dragons! Our mate needs us!” I scream in frustration, before I can speak again, I shift. Well, damn, I lost complete control. Thank goodness the palace was built to accommodate us. I roar. I might as well blow off some steam. My tail has a mind of its own as I start wreaking havoc in this ridiculous room. No more people are going to die here, no more decisions were going to be made in this room, and our queen will not step foot into the place where her mother was murdered. I roar. I want to bring this entire place down. Hell, we can rebuild, start anew.

“Hey, you done?” Adrian shouts at Torin and me. We are definitely on the same page. “I’m all for destroying this place, but we need to keep it together for just a little longer. If what he said is true, then we know exactly where Cordelia and Dravyn are going to be.” Well, look at that bloody one being rational. I shift back to two legs and start to walk straight out the room.

“Where are you going?” he asks. He’s clearly jealous of my gorgeous display of nakedness. “You’re right. We do know what portal they will use. So, I say we go and find it.” I shrug.

“We can’t just walk into the Barren Lands. Hell, I’ve never even flown near it,” Torin says. Finally! He speaks.

“We have to try,” Adrian bites out. “We go and scout out the border, if Cordelia doesn’t land there then we can take another portal into Incantatia. Gale’s right. The war has already begun. We take the fight to them. Fuck the Fae!” That stops my naked ass in its tracks. Did he just say that I was right? Well, today is just full of surprises.

“Dravyn will save her,” Torin says to us. His thoughts are clearly on the knowledge that Maurelle is planning to auction our mate off! I want to fucking kill her, then bring her back to life, and kill her again and again. “We give him a chance to bring her back. If Cordelia’s father is helping her, then that is exactly the portal he will send them through.” Adrian nods his head in agreement.

“Dravyn won’t need to save Cordelia. I think she’s more than capable of doing it herself.” We don’t know the half of what she is capable of. I have faith that the worst will never happen. She will burn them all to ash before they even look her way.

“The Barren Lands it is. I’ve always been curious about that place!” I yell as I turn to leave.

“Find some clothes, Gale!” Torin shouts with just a bit of humor in his voice. Good, we have a plan. He’s happier when we have a plan.

“I’m flying, I don’t need clothes!” I shout back. “I don’t care if people see my body. We’re shifters. Let them see what they can never have. I’m a taken Dragon. Well, maybe I can hide my serious case of blue balls, though.” I laugh.

“Tell me about it,” I hear Adrian say before I turn the corner out of sight.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

CORDELIA

Dravyn disappears into the shadows right before the morning attendants arrive. Not before he took me into the shower and cleaned away the evidence of our lovemaking. He washed me reverently, reigniting my lust, and he ended up fucking me against the shower wall. He then proceeded to repeat the process once, well, maybe twice more, before he wrapped me in a fluffy white towel and brought me back to bed.

“I will be watching from the shadows. You are not alone. I will follow your lead.” He kisses me gently and vanishes out of sight just as the door opens. I feel the pang of his absence even though I know he is still here. I miss Torin, Gale, and Adrian. I can’t wait to shower them with kisses. I can feel their anger and rage. I want to ease their pain. I can feel their longing. I long for them too. My heart aches for them. I need them. If you had told me this would be my life a month ago, I would have laughed in your face. I would have laughed into my soap mixture, poured it into a mold, and called it a joke. Now I am a lovesick, and extremely horny mess with four mates at her disposal. Even with the cards stacked against me, I count myself one lucky bitch.

I turn over and notice a white envelope on the table next to the bed. Dravyn hadn’t mentioned writing me a note, but I guess we were both a little distracted. Not wanting to let the attendants who were laying food on the table notice my actions, I quickly grab the envelope. Tucking it into the blankets, I sit up, looking out into the room, and pretend to be interested in what they are doing. One smiles sadly at me. I wonder what that was for. Even though that was the first time one of them showed me any amount of attention or emotion. I don’t react, shrugging it off, I discreetly open the letter.

Delia,

If you are reading this, it means Dravyn has made it to you, and it eases my mind just a bit. I can’t imagine what you must be going through, and the fact that I can’t help you through this kills me. However, all is not lost. I know you will find a way to free yourself. As you like to remind me on the odd occasion when I become a little overbearing, “You are a grown-ass woman, and you can take care of yourself.” I will be sick with worry until I hear from you. Because that is what a mother does. We worry. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Wait, I take that back, do exactly what I would do. Kill whoever gets in your way so you can make it back to the ones you love.

I love you, my daughter, more than life itself.

Mom

P.S. I have sent you a lifeline in the form of a silver bracelet. Something that no one will question. My mate, Pax is Ferrokinetic, forged this for you to be used in an emergency. It will not burn you when your fire gets a little out of control, and it will reshape around your Dragon form. This bracelet will create a portal if you may ever need it. Just throw the bracelet on the ground or in the air and say these words: “Da mihi accessum” to activate it. Commit these words to memory. It will bring you straight to me. One time use only, I’m afraid. Use it wisely.

Burn this letter as soon as you read it.

I read the letter three times as I hold the delicate bracelet in my hands. I’m happy I can at least see her handwriting. I know she is safe, and I take comfort from it. I’m smiling because, despite the situation, she can still make me smile. Holding the bracelet in my hands, I see the metal is intricate and beautiful. Those men don’t know me, in fact, they have every right to hate me. I took their mate from them. Yet, they still help me because they love her. It warms my heart to know that she won’t be alone in Celestia. On Earth, all I wanted was for her to move closer to me, make new friends, and have a life of her own. But she was more than content to keep looking after me, even when I didn’t need her to. Now that I know the truth, the whole truth, I feel guilt. Of course, I know that there was absolutely nothing I could do about the events that led to me being spirited away to Earth. It still hurt me to see the hurt in those men’s eyes when they saw her after all this time.

I think about Torin, Gale, and Adrian, and how they all looked at me like I wasn’t real initially. They had all placed me in a nicely gift-wrapped box of what could have been in their souls. Before they found me, I was some unattainable thing. Definitely a shock to the system. Shutting down my rambling thoughts, I keep my eyes on the attendants as they make their way out of the room, leaving me to my breakfast. I couldn’t eat if I tried. My stomach is tied in knots, tears are threatening to fall, and I slip out of the bed. My heart and soul are full-on conflicting emotions. I grab my discarded t-shirt and slip it over my head. Crossing over to the fire, I begin to rip the letter into tiny pieces and throw it into the flames. I watch it burn, silently reciting the words I was supposed to remember in my head. Sitting slowly on the plush chair, my body deliciously sore, I feel almost normal. The heat that’s been raging through my body is a dull ache at the moment. I guess after all the sex last night, I’ve been granted a reprieve. Reconsidering my decision not to eat, I stand and cross over to the table where I fill my plate with fruit, toast, and jam. Who knows when the next time I will eat will be, so I need to at least try.

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