Page 57 of Kingdom of Darkness and Dragons
“Other mates?” Antonius asked. ""What does he mean?”
“Tarshi and Septimus,” Marcus said. “But they’re…”
He trailed off as a dark shadow passed overhead the distinctive beat of wings sent a cold wind over all of us. I looked up, praying it was Imperia, but the dragon that landed mere feet away from us was dark in colour, almost as dark as Sirrax. Fire danced along the ridge of his terrifying face and over scales that gleamed midnight blue, and my heart stopped.
A figure slid from its back with a groan and staggered towards us. Marcus raised his sword, but instead of attacking, the figure veered off and promptly threw up.
“Fucking dragons!”
I frowned. That voice was so familiar.
“Septimus!” Marcus strode forward and swept the figure into a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you brother. But where did you get a dragon? And where’s Tarshi? Livia said-”
“Ah yes, Tarshi and the dragon,” muttered Septimus, sinking down to sit next to Sirrax. “I’ll leave that for him to show you.” He turned his head, as if noticing Sirrax for the first time. “Alright mate? You look like I feel.”
“What in the name of all the gods…” breathed Marcus, and I turned to see the dragon shifting, his features shrinking and warping until Tarshi stood before us, as naked as the day he was born. My eyes dropped slightly and I blinked, before wrenching them away again. Damn. I might be the highest ranked in this weird family, but I was most definitely not the best equipped. maybe she just lied for my sense of humour.
The thought of Livia sent a wave of despair over me again, and as Marcus stepped back from embracing Tarshi, I stood up and faced them.
“The army is retreating. We should scavenge what supplies we can in the confusion and slip away now. They can list us in the dead, and won’t send scouts out looking for… well, me.”
Tarshi looked at me with a black gaze. “Emperor’s son.”
“How did you…”
“Dragons and mates talk minds,” said Sirrax struggling to his feet with a grunt of pain. “I call. Tarshi brother mate. help find Livia.”
Marcus looked round at all of us.
“Well, I guess that settles it. Let’s go get our woman.”
21
The mountain face rose before me like a wall of black granite, its surface broken only by the occasional ledge or outcropping that might offer purchase to someone foolish enough to attempt the climb in daylight. But I was not someone, and this was not daylight. In the absolute darkness that preceded dawn, I moved up the treacherous slope with the fluid grace of a predator born to hunt in shadow.
My fingers found holds invisible to any eye, my body a whisper of movement against the stone. The shadows clung to me, a familiar cloak that deadened sound and blurred my form into the rock face.
My white eyes pierced the gloom as if it were bright noon, revealing every handhold, every potential misstep, every loose stone that might betray my presence to the enemy forces camped far below. The gift of the Veyr-sha was both blessing and curse—enhanced senses that came at the price of pieces of my soul, each use a step closer to the madness that waited in the temple's deepest cells.
Just create a bridge,whispered a voice at the edge of my consciousness, seductive and reasonable.One small tendril of shadow to span that gap. So much easier than risking the jump.
I gritted my teeth and launched myself across the chasm between two outcroppings, fingers finding purchase on rough stone. The voice wasn't mine—not entirely. It was the echo of magic used, the residue of power that cost more than gold or blood. Each time I shaped darkness to my will, something inside me grew a little dimmer, a little more distant from the man I had been.
The whispers had started three months ago. Small things at first—fleeting thoughts that felt foreign, moments where I couldn't quite remember if I had spoken aloud or merely thought something. Sayven had warned me this would come, back when he still had lucid days between the episodes that left him screaming at shadows only he could see.
"The magic takes what it will," he had told me during one of our last coherent conversations. "First it takes the trivial uses, the convenience. Then it takes the joy in small things. Then the ability to love without pain. In the end, it takes everything that makes you who you are."
I hauled myself up another section of cliff face, muscles burning with the effort but refusing to acknowledge the fatigue. Physical pain was simple, honest. It didn't whisper lies or promise easy solutions that would cost me fragments of my humanity.
The Imperial army sprawled across the land beyond the valley like a plague of tiny lights, their torches firing as the sun sank lower revealing the scope of the force that had come to finish what their previous raids had started. Thousands of soldiers, hundreds of dragons, enough steel and flame to burn what remained of my people from the face of the world. They thoughtthemselves safe in their numbers, protected by their formations and their enslaved beasts.
They had no idea what waited for them.
I reached the final ledge as the last pale light of the sun dipped below the western horizon. The position was perfect - high enough to survey the entire battlefield, concealed enough that even their scouts wouldn't think to look for threats at this elevation. More importantly, it was close enough to the valley floor that my shadows could reach their intended targets when the time came, and as darkness fell across the valley like a shroud, I could feel my power stirring in response. This was when the trap would truly be sprung - when night claimed the battlefield and the shadows became my allies.
Settling cross-legged on the cold stone, I pressed my palms flat against the mountain's surface and closed my eyes. This was an old ritual, one Aytara had taught me in the early days of my training when I still believed the magic might be contained, controlled, used without consequence.
Feel the earth,her voice echoed in my memory.Feel the life that flows through stone and soil, the connections that bind all living things. Remember that you are part of something greater than yourself.
