Page 131 of Deadwood
I hadn’t even realized the familiar gray crawling up the path of my veins.
Tapping the edge of the bar once, I shoved off and left the saloon, the color in my arms refusing to dissipate as it reveled in the chaos I’d just created.
Despite my conversation with Lux and having enacted some sort of revenge, though, I didn’t feel an inkling of reprieve knowing Auria had been hurt tonight, and I feared that feeling would never leave me from this point forward.
* * *
The cool nightair did nothing to calm the rage that remained filtering through me like magic trapped in a vial. Tendrils of smoke traced gray veins from my elbows to the tips of my fingers, and even after I’d wilted the leaves of a nearby oak tree, it refused to be contained. My power fed off my fae side, and both were currently pits of uncontrollable feral energy.
Piss and blood is almost a step up from human stench,Vulcan grumbled into my mind as he stuck taloned feet into the mushy soil behind me, folding his wings in on himself as he landed.Still unbecoming, though.
I shoved the sleeves of my jacket up farther, the leather tight on my biceps. “I took care of the problem.” My voice was hoarse. Tired.
Whose problem may that have been?Vulcan asked as I turned to face him.
I shook my head. I wasn’t doing this with him again. He didn’t want me anywhere near Auria unless it was to use her, and yet, that didn’t sway me. Little of what Vulcan had to say did. He was an opinionated dragon whose input I didn’t need.
Scaled eyelids blinked over dark, gold-flamed irises, and the judgment in his gaze was all too apparent.Are you so willing to go against your people for harming a girl who means nothing to you?
I scoffed, ribbons of smoke curling toward him. He didn’t bother glancing at the approaching threat as a low growl reverberated through his chest. “Order is to be kept in this town.”
You have guards for that,he reminded me.
“I like to get my hands dirty sometimes.” I refused to be a leader who made others do all my bidding. I wasn’t afraid of a fight. If anything, I rejoiced in them.
Vulcan did his best attempt at an eye roll.Ever the king.
“I amnota king,” I gritted out. Twice in the span of a few hours, the word tainted my tongue. I wouldn’t replace my father, and I wouldn’t be like the other leaders on this continent.
Flynt and his stone dragon, Silax, along with Siara and her water dragon, Azurina, landed on either side of the clearing.
Lovely.
They both slid off their dragons’ backs. Azurina watched Vulcan with a curious eye. She was a dangerous dragon when provoked, but otherwise shy. Her quietness was polar opposite to Siara’s volume.
“Bridge is looking good so far,” Siara announced, running her fingers through her thick, blonde strands to untangle them from flight.
“Still thinking the same completion date?” I asked.
Flynt nodded. His hair was windblown and his cheeks were splotched in red. “Doubt it will be longer than a week now.”
They were making good progress. It was bittersweet. “Good.”
“Are you thinking of checking out Torbernite again?” Flynt asked, taking his leather gloves off and shoving them in his jacket pocket.
“Maybe next week,” I clipped.
Flynt raised a suspicious brow before eyeing the charred tree nearby, likely getting the gist of just how stir-crazy my magic was making me.
“He would have been successful the first time had he not been distracted by the girl,” Vulcan muttered, speaking aloud so the others could hear his judgment.
Silax, the lazy dragon that he was, lay in a ball, releasing a huff in response. The dragons weren’t happy with how long our plan was taking, but a civilization couldn’t bestow major changes overnight.
“What happened with what girl?” Siara asked, always the curious one.
“Nothing happened with any girl,” I bit out, shooting Vulcan a warning glare to keep his putrid mouth shut. “I have this covered. I just need to go back, do some more digging, and we can move on.”
Steam misted the grass below as Vulcan chortled.
