Page 57 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
“I feel it every time I shift,” he confessed, his voice pained.
“What?!” I asked again. Zariah didn’t seem completely there. Then those silver eyes swung toward mine.
“Magick,” he whispered.
ChapterSeventeen
Idon’t know why the thought of magick was so shocking. I’d seen men shift into giant dragons, so I could hardly not believe in it.
“Are those … demons?” I asked incredulously, not having another word for the dark, mindless creatures I’d seen.
Zariah panted, still trying to catch his breath. “I-I don’t know.”
I caught the hesitation and fear in his voice, and seized it like I was back in the bathing pools and it was the edge of the tub.
“Yes, you do,” I challenged.
“I don’t!” Zariah roared back, his face red and flushed.
I refused to back down. “You have a guess.”
Zariah went silent, glaring at me.
“You have a guess,” I spat again, giving him just as much venom in my stare, “about these demons, and thenot slaveswho worked in the mines.”
Zariah grit his teeth as if in pain, then grabbed his head and put it between his knees. My anger stepped aside as worry shot through me.
“Zariah? Are you alright?”
His eyes were closed as he took deep, measured breaths. “We can’t argue now. We have to leave. Zion figured out I shifted and that we’re out here. He’s … not happy.”
Yeah, I bet that was an understatement.
Zariah grunted in pain as he slowly shifted back into his dragon form as if this time it was laborious and painful, each scale and talon costing him something as he forced the change to come.
I clambered up his neck as soon as he was done, knowing he was losing strength. He took off into the air, in a direct path for the dome that was a distant shimmer in the distance. I kept my screams internal as he dipped low suddenly, then straightened out. Was he going to fall? If he didn’t get higher, we’d crash right into the walls of the kingdom!
“Come on. You can do this,” I shouted over the wind, not knowing if he could hear me or not. The dome was growing closer, but we weren’t high enough to land on it.
“Zariah! Up!”
The dragon groaned and rumbled under me, but the heavy wings on either side of me flapped hard, straining. Little by little, we rose.
“We’re going to make it! Just a little more!”
I reached forward and stroked my hand down Zariah’s neck, trying to offer what I could. We rose a little more, and I yelled as the dome rose in front of us and we skidded across the very top, Zariah’s belly sliding against the bottom. He shifted as we stumbled across, both of us rolling together until we landed, me on top of him.
A dragon roared from behind me.
Vaguely, I realized it wasn’t Zariah because he was currently under me and obviously a naked man and not a dragon.
The dome shook as Zion landed in his dragon form, identical to Zariah’s, except for a slight narrowness to his snout that Zariah didn’t have.
I shouted, but Zariah’s movements were sluggish under me. I don’t know why I did it, but I stood over him and put myself between him and his enraged dragon brother.
Zion’s massive body came hurtling at me, and there was no way he was going to stop in time.
I yelped as he crashed into me, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought. And instead of hot scales, flesh and bony elbows crashed into me. All three of us rolled six feet before coming to a stop. Zariah lay trapped under me, and Zion pinned me down on top.
