Page 64 of Prince of Storms
I had one of those keys, gifted to me by my father the day he went to visit the God-King the final time. I would use it to take Mia there, where we would stand before the immortal ruler of all dragon kind and take the Test to ensure we truly were Eternal Mates.
Of course, to do that, I had tosaveMia first.
The sky around me darkened, and thick raindrops splattered against my scales and wings as I continued to accelerate. I had no idea how large a lead Mia had on me, but I intended to close the gap as fast as I could. The lands below flowed past as I built speed like no other dragon could ever hope to achieve.
Threatening me was one thing. I could handle that. But going after Mia meant the gloves were off.
Twin or not, Rica, this will be the last thing you ever do to threaten me or those around me. This, I swear.
Up ahead, despite the growing dark, I spotted a shape moving through the air. It was black and wispy, like a cloud of its own. I likely never would have spotted it on its own. However, a bright ball of human flesh was at its center. Mia, nearly naked and in the grasp of the most terrifying creature in all the dragon lands.
“Release her!” I bellowed as I closed in on it, my voice cracking out with the power of the entire storm, like the sound of thunder after a lightning strike. I saw the Vorgan turn to look at me, its head an elongated snout with four horns and two giant shadowy fangs that dropped over its mouth. Eyes the color of burning coal saw me, and it shot forward with a renewed burst of speed.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I rumbled, the storm echoing my fury. I shot after the creature while all around us, lightning began to fill the clouds, blocking the Vorgan’s path. There was nowhere for it to go.
“Give her to me,” I said, “and I will let you go.”
I would never lie to Mia or those I cared about. But I didn’t consider the Vorgan a creature, let alone something I trusted. I would lie to it all day long.
The creature just laughed, a high-pitched shrieking noise, and surged forward toward the nearest wall of lightning.
“Tor!” Mia screamed from within its clutches as thunder boomed from every side, a cacophony of noise that must have terrified her. I could see perfectly well in the dark as the storm enveloped us on all sides, but she had to be near blind, only able to see from the flash of the lightning.
“I’m coming for you!” I yelled in my amplified voice. “I will save you!”
The Vorgan laughed again, and then it plunged from the sky. I tucked my wings in and dove after it, wind shrieking over my scales as I closed the distance. I had no idea what the evil thing was doing, but I knew it couldn’t outrun me. Not anymore.
Before I could reach it, we burst from the lower belly of the storm, the Vorgan immediately swooping off to the left. I had to bank hard to the right, narrowly avoiding the peak of a mountain.
I bellowed in anger, whipping around as fast as I could in pursuit of the Vorgan. In my single-minded pursuit of the creature, I hadn’t noticed just how close we were to Storm Keep. Now we were over the mountain and my home.
The Vorgan ducked over the crest of a ridge, and I followed, just in time to see it dart into an opening cleverly hidden from view unless approached at the exact right angle.
It had reached its home, and it still had Mia.
So I went after it. There was no other choice.
I wasn’t leaving without my mate. I’d vowed to keep her safe, and I would do just that. Pity the creature that got in my way. Overhead, the storm continued to thrash as it wreaked havoc with the local weather cell. Below, I entered the lair of the beast.
Chapter Thirty
Mia
Iscreamed as we fell from the sky like a stone, and I struggled to free myself from the grasp of whatever terrible thing had me. I could barely make it out, the form shifting and moving around me, a living shadow that held me wrapped in its midst, a prisoner of something I couldn’t see.
Behind us, the mighty roar of a dragon followed us. I hoped it was Tor, but even if I could have seen through the never-ending ripple of pure blackness to confirm, I would probably never know. The only time Tor had shown me his dragon, I’d been more overwhelmed than anything. The color, which was about the only detail I could make out,appearedto be the same, but he’d been asleep when the monster got me. How would he have been able to track me all that way?
The wind whistled as we fell, a reminder that the ground was coming up fast. Very fast. What was the monster's plan? I couldn’t imagine it had flown us all that way just to dash our brains out on the side of the mountain.
My thoughts were confirmed as we angled around slightly until an opening revealed itself. At speedsfartoo fast to be comforting, we shot into the darkness, where we abruptly slowed. I was slammed hard into the grips of the icy darkness fiend, the sheer terror it exuded sinking deeper into me from the extra contact. I whimpered, trembling.
We came to a stop. I had no idea where or what was around me. It wasn’t the darkness of a room at night. It was absolutely pitch black. I brought my hand up in front of my face, but if it had been someone else’s, I would never have known it was there. It was invisible.
“Hey!” I shouted as the thing abruptly tossed me to the side. I bounced off the rocky ground, rolling several times until I came to a jarring halt courtesy of a solid piece of rock.
I got to a crouch, reaching above me, in front of me, all around me, trying to figure out where I was. My feet cautiously tested forward to ensure there was no open chasm that I could fall into. The only thing I felt was the solid wall behind me that spread out to either side.
“What do you want with me?” I shouted into the darkness, though I didn’t expect an answer. The creature hadn’t said a single word the entire trip. I doubted it could speak.
