Page 41 of The Forbidden Dragon King
“Here I am,” I roar. “Fight me, Aurelius. Bloody fight me.”
I spin the daggers in my hands, baring my sharp teeth.
I stare up at the sky but I can no longer see where the Golden Dragon is anymore.
“Coward,” I howl.
Finally, the true storm in the sky breaks. Only the most ancient — or most powerful — fae can channel the elements.
Yet I am the King of the Unseelie. I may not often act like it but tonight, I am.
If I am to die in this scorched glade, then I will die wearing my heritage as firmly as the feathered crown upon my head and my da’s ring upon my finger.
Thunder rumbles louder than the dragons’ roars, before jagged lightning slashes across the sky.
I grin with savage joy, as magic sparks across my skin.
The dragons panic, breaking ranks in disarray. I ball my hands, struggling not to control the storm but guideits outrage, as it strikes the shifters and makes them roar in pain.
The dragons are driven from the skies above the glade. My ravens caw, patrolling.
I pant with exertion. Then I collapse, leaning over to rest on my knees, taking desperate lungful’s of air.
Magic has a cost. What doesn’t?
Rain pelts down from the storm clouds, plastering my curls to my head. My muscles protest in exhaustion and grief, but I push myself to standing again. The energy is drained from me. Even my ravens fly up to settle on the remaining, smoldering tree branches.
I’m alone now.
I take a shuddering breath.
All of a sudden, through the heavy rain and smoke, a tall dragon prowls toward me.
She is a gleaming nightmare of gold armor, wild ash blond hair, and hazel eyes that are fierce enough to slaughter armies with a single look. Her eyebrow is bisected with a scar.
Imperial Legate War Scipio Varus.
War, as she’s simply known to every remaining fae because she’s as much a symbol of the Draca Kingdom’s conquest as their Golden Dragon standards: Aurelius never fights without bringing both into a battle.
She is also the fiercest warrior in their army.
I struggle to raise my daggers and crouch into a fighting stance. I blink the rain out of my eyes.
“Tantrum over?” War draws her short, double-edged sword. “Fucking impressive with all that lightning andshit, but we both know that exhausted the last of your magic.”
The breath is punched from me. So, it was a battle tactic for the shifters to hold back, until they’d forced me into a place of desperation where I’d use my elemental magic. They knew that it would drain me.
I’m an idiot, and Aurelius is a cold blooded arsehole.
“Who looks exhausted?” I raise my shaky arms, circling War.
“You’re just embarrassing yourself right now.”
“I don’t embarrass easily.”
I dive at War with a speed that almost no one can match to take her by surprise. I fly up, wielding both daggers at the same time, while aiming for her unprotected throat.
Taken by surprise, she only just knocks me back in time with her sword. Furious, she punches out, catching me in the chest with her fist.
