Page 90 of Cruelly Fated
“Torian!” I roared, banking hard, air rushing in my ears. “Shift now!”
He responded with another blast of fire. It scorched the edge of my wing, pain tearing through the thin membrane. I snarled.
He was past reason.
I twisted upward and slammed into him mid-flight. Bone cracked. We spun, locked together, teeth snapping and claws raking across armored hide. His tail whipped around and slammed into my side. I crashed into the cavern wall, sending stone splinters below.
I dropped for a beat, wings faltering, then caught the air and chased after him. I aimed to subdue. He charged, faster this time, jaws wide. I twisted away, barely avoiding his teeth, but his shoulder rammed into mine, rattling my ribs.
We crashed to the stone floor in a tangle of fury and claws. Talons clashed, sparks flaring with each parry. I sank my teeth into the side of his neck, shy of the artery, and bit down hard enough to make him roar.
He raked his hind claws up my belly, slicing into the softer ridges below my ribs. I snarled and whipped my tail like a lash,cracking it into his side. The snap of bone splintering made my blood burn hotter. He staggered, panting through his snout. Madness entered his eyes.
“You don’t have to do this,” I growled.
His pupils flared to slits of endless black rage, and he launched again, wings dragging up dust as he used the walls for leverage. He tackled me mid-lift, and we spiraled through the chamber, smashing into a stalactite that exploded into shards. The far wall crumbled under the impact, allowing moonlight to flood in.
I roared, shook him off, and slammed him to the ground, pinning him with one clawed foot.
“I don’t want your crown,” I snarled. “I’ve stepped aside.”
He snapped at my face, teeth scraping my snout, and spat a cloud of smoke. With a violent thrust of his hips, he kicked free and lunged upright.
We circled again, wings slashing like blades through the haze. Our breathing turned ragged, blood smearing the stone beneath us in streaks and splatters.
This wasn’t about dominance anymore.
This was a death match.
The cavern narrowed as we fought, drawing us toward the new opening where the stone floor gave way to a black maw of nothingness. The abyss yawned beneath us, so deep that not even dragon fire could touch the bottom. I knew the drop was there. So did he.
But Torian was no longer thinking. His kill-or-be-killed instinct took over, and rage clouded his mind.
He sprang. I caught him mid-strike, our bodies smashing together, talons locking and wings flaring wide to counterbalance the force. We grappled like titans, claws tearing scale after scale, our roars drowning each other out.
He shifted his weight faster than expected. We slid. More stone crumbled beneath our claws as we skidded toward the edge. I lodged my left wing in the ground groove for leverage. His hind legs slipped on loose gravel, and I slammed my tail forward, the edge of it catching his wing with brutal force.Snap.
His wing folded at a sickening angle, and his body pitched sideways. I reached for him—gods, I did. He snarled and bit down on my forearm, yanking me with him. At the last second, I twisted free, my claws digging into the ground. My momentum dragged me to the brink, but I held. Barely.
Torian didn’t.
His broken wing flapped uselessly as he plunged. Pain laced with fury imbued his last roar, which was soon lost to the turbulent winds that wailed below in the ravine.
Pressure pounded behind my eyes as I stood there in disbelief, chest heaving.
Brother.
Gone.
The dragon retreated, devastated and reeling from our loss. My knees hit the stone, shoulders hunched and ribs aching with each ragged breath.
Allie’s footsteps drew closer, her presence comforting me. And yet I couldn’t bring myself to face her.
I’d won.
But nothing about this felt like victory.
Forty
