Page 234 of The Forbidden Dragon King
Maximinus’ gaze is fixed on the sword like he does recognize it. His hand twitches toward it.
Another tear chases down my cheek.
“What if I have a third option?” Aurelius yells above the chanting.
He grabs the executioner sword between his bound hands. Sparks ignite from his horns, dying into embers over his crown like confetti.
The chanting dies down, and Maximinus looks calculating.
I slump in relief.
A third option, rather than execution or sacrifice has to be better, right?
“Everything can be survived, as long as you’re alive, remember?” Daire calls across to me.
I struggle to nod.
Unexpectedly, the sudden noise of fighting and clang of weapons rises up behind the apse.
Are those knotless Bloods attacking again?
Aurelius leaps off the apse to stand protectively in theaisle between whoever is attacking and Daire and me. He raises the sword, as shadows wind down its length. The councilors cower behind the statues.
Maximinus doesn’t even rise from the throne.
Why would he be worried? His weapon is already all around him in the walls of this basilica.
War bursts onto the apse.
She is dressed in her gleaming gold and ruby armor. Her ash blond hair is tangled and matted with crimson. Her face is still smudged with the dirt and blood of battle; it’s impossible to tell how much is her own. Her scarlet stained sword is grasped in her hand.
Lucius limps at her shoulder.
Lucius may be alive but his pretty face and tunic are scratched with claw marks. His snowy shoulder is painted black and blue, where it shows through the tattered ruins of his clothes. He appears to only still be standing by strength of will alone. His eyes are red rimmed, as if he’s been crying for longer than I have.
My heart swells with relief.
Why do they look like they haven’t even changed since the attack? What’s been going on in the capital? Why do they look hollow, grief-stricken?
I let out a sob. “Luc, you’re alive.”
Lucius’ gaze instantly swings to me. “And let’s keep you that way as well.”
Only now that I see him standing in front of me, the shifter who saved my life and saw me through my heat — my first Omega friend — I realize that I wasn’t only playing him. He truly has worked his way into my heart.
It would have devastated me to lose him.
Aurelius’ knees buckle and he collapses onto the marble floor. “War…Luc…”
He breaks down, unable to say more.
Maximinus stiffens but doesn’t move, merely arching his brow in interest.
Decima, on the other hand, marches up to the most powerful warrior in the army and pokes War in the chest. “How did you get in here? I have a dozen guards posted outside.”
“Not anymore. Well, a dozen corpses.” War shoves past Decima, sending her stumbling back in outrage. Lucius follows her. “We’re here to protect my King and his mates.”
Decima glances over her shoulder at someone who more slowly steps out of the shadows and into the moonlight of the apse.
