Page 144 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
‘But would you?’
‘Selena—’
‘WOULD. YOU?’
‘I’d slit his throat for asking. I know I lied. I know I messed up. It’s a lot right now, but I lo—you’re my everything. My heart. My soul. My reason to exist. I made a mistake. A huge one. But please don’t end things because of it. We can work through this. I’m on your side, Selena.’
My heart ached.‘You’re not on my side. You’re working with him. Not me. Even if I let the fated mates thing slide—which I’m not—you still kept everything with the gryphons from me. I thought I learned the real you, but it was just another mask. I can’t be like you. Iwon’tbe like you. I won’t use the people I claim to love.’
‘Selena—’
I closed my eyes and wished I could sleep for an eternity.‘So many times we talked about trust and working together. You made me look like a fool. You had so many chances to come forward, but you didn’t. I trusted you despite everyone telling me not to. I’ve never done that before. Never allowed myself to hope and listen to my heart instead of my brain. But today you proved that was a mistake. It’s one I won’t make again.’
Kieran let out a pained sound.‘Selena, please—’
‘We’re done talking about this. The trust is gone between us, and it can never be regained. If it wasn’t for the dragon eggs and Faustus, I’d leave in a heartbeat and never see you again. You knew that Clara came first. She always will. And you still… you want to work with the man who hurt her. You still kept me in the dark when her safety was involved. I can’t forgive that. So just stop.’
‘Please. Don’t end this.’
‘We’re stuck with the bond, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. Not anymore. I won’t let it.’
Pain rippled through the bond. I ignored it. I’d gotten good at that. The connection fell silent for a long moment.
CHAPTER FORTY
When Gareth intercepted me, he healed my hand and then took off toward the border. An hour later, Hesperos managed to catch up and fly beside me. Neither Kieran nor I said a word. After flying in tense silence, we heard the sounds of dragon roars.
Kieran and I exchanged a look, and our dragons flew evenfaster.My lungs constricted. This was it. The very thing we were trying to avoid. But we needed those eggs. My breath hitched when the battlefield came into view. Ben, Aurelia, and Gareth were already there. I didn’t know what town we were in, but even if I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to name it. Because now, the village was mostly rubble.
Fire blazed around us, consuming various homes. People screamed and ran through the streets, trying to avoid any falling debris that a swipe of a dragon’s tail brought. Three Andovan dragons fought against our own. One of them—the purple dragon—wasmassiveand only a bit smaller than Hesperos. I knew whose dragon it was—King Tancred’s.
My heart stuttered. That meant he was here somewhere, waiting for the battle to clear so he could take the eggs. But at least he didn’t have them yet,because atop Praskovya, the gray dragon, the woman still had the satchel containing them slung across her shoulder. The dragonsguard was trying to get to her but struggled against the green dragon, Asterius, and the purple dragon.
I looked at Kieran for direction, letting go of my anger for now.‘What’s the plan?’I asked down the bond.
‘It’s game over if Tancred gets his hands on those eggs,’Kieran said.‘Once those eggs are hatched, none of the dragons will be willing to fight. They’ll prioritize the hatchlings’ safety.’
‘Can you use your shadows to take the eggs?’
Kieran clenched his jaw.‘I’ve exhausted my magic. I can’t.’
Fuck. That complicated things.‘What do you need me to do?’
‘You won’t like it.’
‘Just tell me.’
‘Stay away from the fight. We’ll need you in case that woman manages to slip away. Especially if you can unlock that power of yours.’
Kieran didn’t wait for a response. He jumped into the fight. I thought I’d knew chaos and danger before but… Kieran was right. We’d been too cocky. Seeing all these dragons fight… three from Andova and four from Lusadia… we were out of our league.
I hated this. I wanted to step in. It seemed like a no brainer—five dragons against three. But I only had half a year of training. I’d get in the way. So instead, Igritted my teeth and flew up ahead. Umara was tense under me, her gaze going between Thaleia and the dragon eggs.
My heart went out to her. I rubbed her scales.‘It’ll be okay. Your mate’s a badass. She’ll be okay, and we’ll get the eggs back.’I expelled a breath.
From far away, the inexperience was clear to see on both sides. The flames our dragons shot nearly clipped our allies half the time. Even the Andovans faced the same problem. On that front, the riderless purple dragon, the king’s dragon, had an advantage. He didn’t have to worry about his rider getting burned. He weaved himself through the onslaught, firing at the dragonsguard every chance he got. It was only because of how hard my friends trained that they managed not to get caught up in it.
“Catch me if I fall!” Ben screamed at Kieran and then unclipped himself from his seat.
