Page 39 of The Forbidden Dragon King
I twist my warped bronze and emerald ring, which isall that I have left of my Da. What will he think, if his shade is watching, when his son dies under the same dragon fire that killed him?
So much for making him proud. But then, I’m not sure that I’m the type who makes anyone proud. I’d settle for keeping my kingdom safe. I just don’t want the people I love to die.
How many years have I fought and endured for that?
I snarl, as terror chokes me. My heart is thundering. I scramble to the end of the branch.
Heat hits my cheeks from the wildfire, which is raging through the forest.
Aurelius has even declared war on nature. He’s defeated my ash grove.
“Daire,” a panicked voice yells above the roar of the flames.
It’s Ciara, my Beta best friend and closest bodyguard.
Raising ourselves as kids alone amidst the ranks of an army of child soldiers, we are as close as twins. She’s the other half of my scoundrel soul.
She’s still alive.
My shoulders slump in relief. I grin, sharply.
I peer through the smoke at the treeline across from me. Have some of the featherglass survived?
If you catch the king, you win the war.
I can’t allow myself to be captured. I need to get out of here.
Ciara is hunkered in an ash tree like I am. Her normally immaculate chainmail and emerald padded jacket uniform, which matches my own, is torn andbloody. She has lost her silver helmet in the skirmish, and her brunette hair is tangled over her bruised face.
Her claws, which are black and as long as daggers, are sunk firmly into the branch.
“Who else is on that side?” I ask.
Ciara shakes her head. “Just me.”
My heart falls.
How can they all be gone?
Every. Last. One.
“I’m sorry.” I wrap my wings around myself, burrowing down into my feathers that smell of frost under a winter’s sun and allow myself, for a brief moment, to remember the long ago magic and safety of the Winter Court, which now only exists in the scent.
“Don’t be a bloody idiot.” Ciara scans the ravaged clearing below, which has been blackened by fire and is now eerily quiet and devoid of life. “I’ll get you out of here. We’ve been in worse scrapes than this before. You’re always falling wing over arse into trouble, and aye, this here fae gets yououtof it. When have I let you down?”
“Never.”
“The arseholes have lost if they don’t catch you. They’ve…” Ciara’s voice cracks. Everyone who has died today were like her family, as well as mine. We’ll have time to grieve later. I hope. “You never let anyone win, Daire. Whether it’s at dice, cards, or when you’re charming someone with those pretty eyes of yours in order to knot them. You’re not going to let this bloody Golden Dragon win now, aye?”
“Aye.” I clench my jaw, preparing to fly across the clearing to join Ciara.
Suddenly, a giant shadow flies across the moon.
I glance upward. My feathers vibrate with tension.
A giant Golden Dragon flies across the moon without a rider.
The dragon is riderless because King Aurelius always is.
