Page 40 of The Forbidden Dragon King
Aurelius’ wings glitter like he’s the sun eclipsing the moon. I’m mesmerized.
A silver dragon flies at his shoulder.
I snarl.
It’s Maximinus.
“Daire.” Someone is calling my name, but the sound is faded and in the background. I can’t focus. “Daire,now. Fly here. Please…”
Dazed, I force myself to shake my head.
Ashamed, I’ve become increasingly drawn to Aurelius in a way that I don’t understand when I bloody hate that scaled tyrant with every drop of my fae blood.
Yet somewhere singing in that blood is a connection that confuses me. My destroyer is bound to me by fate. My magic senses it. Perhaps, tonight will prove it if he kills me.
Yet the thought of sinkingmydagger into the Golden Dragon’s heart makes me want to hurl, despite the fact that he’s my greatest enemy.
What’s wrong with me?
I shake my head desperately to clear it.
Suddenly, fire shoots from Maximinus, the worst of the serpents in the Shadow Court.
“Ciara,” I howl, “bloody get out of here. Leave me.”
But it’s too late.
The fire hits the treeline that’s opposite mine, where Ciara is perched.
Our gazes meet, and I feel a lifetime of love and friendship in the look. Then she’s blasted by the flames, before her ash and wisps of shadow are scattered onto the nighttime breeze.
There isn’t even time for me to speak.
Numb, I collapse back onto the branch.
I’m hollow.
I watch, as Ciara’s ashes join the leaves and crushed blossoms on the floor of the grove that earlier she danced around in my arms.
She’ll never dance again. Never laugh. Never fight at my side.
Am I worth this many lives? Is a king worth this much destruction?A kingdom?
My eyes are red rimmed but dry. “May you fly well with the Shadow Gods.”
The trees opposite me groan and fall. Their canopies flame on fire like an army with their heads set alight.
I glare upward at the circling formations of dragons, who are swooping over the glade in triumph, ruby, silver, and gold.
All of a sudden, my magic rises up in me in outrage and horror. It trembles through the trees, whipping outnot to heal but this time, tohurt. To avenge the ashes of every fae who is now reunited with their ancestors in their sacred grove.
Does that bloody Shadow Dragon King even know the sacrilege he is committing?
Does he care?
I howl, flourishing my wings. I leap from the branch and soar to land in the center of the scorched glade.
My shadows whip out from me, volatile and violent. The ravens burst furiously after me in a black cloud.
