Page 129 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
I always thought the Corona would make me all-powerful. Capable of anything. But my uncle is right. It would seem the crown of my forefathers merely enhances what strength is already there.
And for me? There wasn’t much to begin with.
“Bene…”Aurelia’s voice unfurls within my mind, calm and sure—so at odds with the storm of emotions raging in my heart. As if she simply wishes to remind me she is here. Waiting for me to come back to her.
And that she believes in me.
My queen has no further words for me. No encouraging speeches.
All she has is her love.
It burns across the bond, filling me with warmth, chasing away the last vestiges of my self-pity. So I am not a prodigy with the elements, even with the Corona lending me its power. So I am not the greatest weaver who has ever lived.
But Aurelia loves me, now and always. With that alone, I am blessed beyond measure.
It is her love that saved me from my nightmare prison. It is her love that called me home.
It is her love that lends me strength now.
I pull taut the threads of my weave, binding my uncle further. He will not escape me. He will not win.
With another roar cracking from my throat, I rush through his wall of wind and bodily crash into him again, wielding all that I have against him—both my brawn and what little brain he thinks I possess.
Together, we fall from the sky like a meteorite. Landing hard amongst the hills. Sinking deep in the sod. I have him pinned.Trapped. And for once in my life, I sense an emotion oozing off Malice that I thought him wholly incapable of feeling:
Fear.
“Don’t,” he begs me like the coward he is as I wield Air to flip him over, exposing his throat, and Earth to bind him. Vines whip upward from the ground, lashing him tight. Strands of Spirit follow, strengthening my other weaves.
“Please, Nephew,” he implores again, the words strangled as I slam my forepaws against his chest and crush the air from his lungs.
I bare my fangs, rumbling with my snarl of triumph. All I need do now is rip out his throat and be done with it. Never again will he darken Drakara. Never again will he threaten my people. Nor my queen.
We can be safe. Happy.
Freefrom the threat of his shadow.
I sense movement on the wind. Aurelia, my aunties, and members of the fae court approach upon currents of Air, no doubt coming to witness Malice’s execution.
But just as I lower my head to crush his throat in my jaws, just as my maw parts and my fangs catch around Malice’s neck, the Aether is there again. Wending around me like a warm breeze.
Reminding me of my pledge.
« Mercy. »
I growl again, annoyance spiking in my heart. Beneath me, my uncle quivers.
But he has killed so many, I argue.
Again, the Aether replies. Again, it has only one word for me:
« Mercy. »
Anger sparks to life deep inside, a roaring conflagration with a mind of its own.But it can end! Here and now,I scream to my God.
My children can grow up in a world without the threat of Malice haunting their dreams. I will not have to live in fear that he might one day strike them from the sky. I will not have to constantly look over our shoulders and question if he will come back forNa’therya. If he will try to claim her for his own again.
Please,I beg, my jaws longing to twitch closed around Malice’s jugular.Please, let me kill him. Let us be done with it all.
