by Ophelia Bell
When his vanguard attacked, Nikhil followed, reaching the line of battle swiftly and diving in, his blood hot with elation over finally being on the right side of a war for the first time in an eternity. The difference this time was that the woman whose honor he fought for stood at his side, resplendent in her conjured armor of deep blue leather, her talons and horns shining with the blood of their enemies. This was a side of his little beast he’d never seen, and was further proof of how much he had underestimated her all along.
One by one, the Ultiori soldiers fell, many simply collapsing to their knees and repenting as the turul song affected them. Others fought on, their bloodthirsty rage unaffected by the purging music that surrounded them. The dragons made quick work of them with talons and fire, until nothing was left but the charred remains and rows upon rows of Ultiori prisoners bound and kneeling to await their final fates.
The battle was coming to an end. With a nod of acknowledgment from Nikhil, Calder met Assana and the pair of them peeled off and left to find their parents. Gavra and Aurum and their other mates followed close behind.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bitch had sabotaged her body somehow. Even though Meri’s spirit flowed into it like she belonged there, there was a wrongness that kept her from finding complete comfort in this shell. She stared down in detachment at the smears of blood Nereus had left on Nyx’s body, then over at where he lay slumped against the grotto wall.
Grief and shame overwhelmed her and she shook her head vigorously to clear it. Those were Nyx’s emotions, not hers.
“No. He is not my lover. Fuck him.”
But the cold detachment Meri relied on to do her work escaped her. Raw, wild emotion flooded her instead. A desperate need to protect all she held dear. The Haven. Her home. She had to expel the invaders at all costs.
No. She was the invader. She and her army of Ultiori soldiers. She had come to conquer, to possess, and she had achieved her goal. All except for the final step of securing an immortal shell she could use to begin the next phase with—that of producing an entire army of immortals who would bend to her will. With her new power, she needed only the blood of the other immortals here to do what had taken her centuries to complete outside the Haven.
She pushed the power of the Source through her body, becoming dissolute as a fine mist, leaving the grotto and Nereus behind.
Her warriors were scattered, the ones that had survived no longer compliant to her will. Pity that Nereus was no use to her now. He’d have made the ideal stud for her plan. But he was not durable enough, despite his virile beauty and the cock she’d always imagined would pleasure her the way he nearly had before the fucking Dionarch’s betrayal.
“The Haven will never be yours.” The words were an itch inside her mind, taunting her with a lie. The Haven was hers. The other realms would be as well, once the day was out.
Her first targets appeared through the trees. Nyx’s children and their mates—the perfect place to begin.
With the Haven itself as her servant now, this should be easy. Meri could sense the very limits of her home, every locked portal and link to the outside world. All the tributaries of the River that flowed through this place, connecting it to the waterways on Earth and in the higher realms. And connected to that water was the life of the creatures who were tied to it, not least of which were Nyx’s own son and daughter.
For whatever reason, Nereus’s bond to Nyx’s spirit was too strong for her to break, but she may yet be able to fool the others.
She hovered in the air around them as they approached, the six of them striding hurriedly down the mossy path. Within seconds, Meri encompassed them fully in her cloudy mist, using her newfound power to immobilize them completely. Their faces barely registered shocked realization before the six were frozen in place, completely at her mercy.
Meri reformed her primal shape, coalescing out of the mist to stand before them.
“Mother, what are you doing?” Assana cried. “We have to secure Meri’s body. Make sure she’s contained.” The nymph’s eyes darted back and forth in confusion.
“We’re too late,” the red-haired dragon at her side said, his eyes narrowed. “Where is Nyx, Meri?”
“And what have you done with my father?” Calder growled.
A surge of tenderness for them all nearly destroyed Meri’s resolve. She quashed it and pushed more power into the mist that held them. Assana attempted to speak again, but the mist sank into her throat and all she emitted was a strangled squeak. It was not as strong as a blood meld for control, but it would do for now.
Only their eyes moved, tracking her as she produced the blade she’d kept on her for this very purpose.
She approached Gavra first. The Red’s potent magic would provide the ideal foundation for the rest. The point of the blade sliced easily through the conjured armor he wore, straight down the center of the chest to reveal his smooth, unblemished muscles beneath. She pushed the leather apart and grazed the metal tip across one tight nipple, circling it around and beneath the bulging pectoral. A muscle ticked in the man’s jaw, but he remained frozen, his red eyes blazing.
“If looks could kill, I might be in danger,” she drawled, still teasing the blade in a crisscrossing pattern across his chest, enjoying the way it left tiny scratches in skin that was effectively impermeable to any other weapon. But this ancient blade had been tempered by immortal dragon fire and would easily cut the skin of any immortal Meri used it on.
She moved farther into his space, gazing up into his eyes, as though standing even closer to the fire were a test to prove her own power. To prove that she could break him.
The challenge in his eyes grew even fiercer up close, and a spicy aroma suddenly filled the air. Meri’s focus shifted, her mouth watering as she gazed down between them, admiring the cut of his muscles and the way is thighs bulged in the leather that covered them. The generous bulge at his groin made her core heat and her vision tunnel with the craving to unleash the wild, sexual beast this red dragon must be.
The blade slipped from her hand, and in a reflexive burst of panic, she grabbed at it to hold on. Sharp pain shot through her palm, obliterating the brief wash of desire that had nearly distracted her from her goal.
“You son of a bitch,” she snapped, realizing he’d tried to seduce her with his breath. “No more of that.” She commanded the mist to flood into his nostrils until she heard the strangled sound of his throat closing up and his eyes watered. Raising the blade, she aimed it into the center of his chest, started to push, then paused, thinking better of it.
The blood from mortal dragons lost all potency once its owner died. She didn’t want to take the chance that shoving this blade into his heart could actually kill him.
His gaze still held hers, calmer now despite the fact that he had lost the ability to breathe. Suffocating couldn’t kill an immortal, of that she was sure. But where to cut …
The throbbing pulse in his neck drew her eye, mesmerizing her with its strength.
She raised the blade and aligned it with that arterial pulse, entertained by the fresh look of challenge in the gaze that met hers. The second she applied pressure and made the slice, he blinked and his eyes widened as the blood began to flow.
“Didn’t expect that, did you?” she said, holding up the blood-streaked blade in front of him. “I know there is only one way for your skin to be pierced. You forget that I was there the day you and your brothers made your trade to reclaim your sister’s blood. I was also there the day your sister had this blade crafted. Her wedding gift to her lover, created to enable him to do just this to her.”
She tilted her head, watching the shimmering red liquid as it made its way over the ledge of his collarbone and followed that ridge to the base of his throat, then flowed down the very center of his chest. She resisted leaning in for a taste—controlling him with her power would be a distraction an
d burn magic she’d rather save for other things. It would be much easier to simply keep them all trapped for now, and eventually immobilize them completely once her task was finished.
She moved to the golden-haired dragon at his side—the sister who she had only seen once on the fateful day of Nikhil’s wedding. “Aurum, is it? So sorry about not letting you breathe. I’m sure you understand why I can’t allow it. It is your turn to bleed.”
The skin of the woman’s delicate throat gave easily under the sharp edge of the knife, and her blood flowed instantly, deep red and fragrant. The others bled even more freely, their skin parting with barely a breath of a stroke of the blade that was designed to cut an immortal dragon.
Standing back, Meri fixed her power on the six flowing streams of red, the keys to her dominion over her world. Hands upraised, she commanded the lifeblood to come to her, and it obeyed, lifting into the air in fluid threads, the six streams coming together and entwining. She cupped her hands and twisted them around each other, pulling the magic fluid into a sphere in the center. One stream glowed with faint green energy. Gaia’s power? Curious, she followed it back to its source.
The ursa male who stood closest to Assana had a particular sheen to his skin Meri hadn’t noticed before. An ursa male who carried that much power was something she’d never encountered, but this was even better. Gaia’s life-creating magic flowed in his veins.
Between her hands, the sphere of blood coalesced, forming into a tiny cell that she had envisioned over the course of centuries while attempting her experiments. For the first time, she had all the power she needed to make it happen without all the mess of forced breedings. The blood of these six merged perfectly. Two dragons, two ursa, and two nymphaea. Three out of four elements would be more than enough with the power of the Source to merge them.
She lowered her hands in front of her belly. The glowing cell flooded with the essence of immortal life, but needing an immortal womb within which to grow. It sank into her on command, easily taking root, that small drop of Gaia’s power making it impossible not to grow. She felt the quickening instantly, like an egg cracking open and the life within surging out. Her own blood found it in that moment, subsuming whatever identity it might have had with the one she chose.
Secure in her success, Meri lifted the blade again and with slash after violent slash opened the necks of the first four of her victims and let them bleed. The two ursa and dragons remained frozen, wide-eyed with shock, but still unable to move to stop the flood of their life from leaving them.
She reached Calder and stopped, a building resistant burn in her arm making her wince when she went in for the kill. Agony flooded her hand and she cried out, dropping the blade.
More pain shot through her abdomen, hot wetness flooding down her thighs. She stared down in horror at the rush of blood as the life within her body faded and disappeared.
Nyx.
“No! I will not let you stop me, you bitch!”
She bent down to reach the blade and unbearable pain gripped her from the core, causing her to gasp and double over. She fell to her knees and grabbed the knife, stood, and forced herself to focus the power once more. Holding tight to the blade, she aimed the point at her own breast this time.
“Do not fuck with me, Nyx. I will shove this knife into your chest and force your daughter to do my bidding instead.”
The two ursa and dragons had grown pale from blood loss, a lake of red pooling around their feet. Their eyes were glazed, barely holding onto consciousness, but held up by the confining mist. Only Assana and Calder remained unharmed, aside from the cuts she’d first given them, which had all but sealed themselves already.
“You will never succeed, Meri. With my body or any other.”
“We’ll see about that,” she sneered. She summoned more power, commanded more blood into the clawed hand she held out, pushed her magic into it to create that perfect little seed of life once more. This time she infused it with more destructive power before sending it into her womb. “Damage this creature and it will damage you back.”
“You would harm your own chance at creation? I have had my children already, I have no use for a womb anymore.”
“No!” Meri howled, redirecting all the power of the Source inward at the incessant voice that tormented her. The six frozen figures went slack, four of them falling in limp heaps to the blood-soaked ground. Calder and Assana immediately disappeared in puffs of mist.
Nyx’s spirit fought back, holding her ground and refusing to budge. It took all of Meri’s command of the Source itself to even maintain a stalemate, to keep the mad Dionarch from sacrificing her own fertile core to spite Meri.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When the rest of Nikhil’s army reached the Source itself, they met the others who had fought their way in from the Sanctuary. Belah exclaimed in joy before rushing into the arms of a brown-haired woman whose coiling green horns identified her as Belah’s sister, the dragon responsible for finally finding a way to allow Nikhil and his army to enter.
Five males surrounded Numa, all naked and covered in blood. Numa herself appeared as pristine and put together as her sister. That kind of attention to appearance seemed a uniquely draconic trait, which was verified as he glanced around at the rest of the army, who were on guard but relaxed now that the enemy was subdued. All the dragons looked as fresh as if they had just arrived.
The injured and dead were numerous on both sides, the dragons and ursa spreading out to tend those they could. But despite the relative quiet and subdued mood, there was a sense of unfinished business that Nikhil knew he was not alone in feeling.
Ked approached him first, the black dragon’s deep-set, inky eyes reminding Nikhil of how his power had burrowed into his very soul. He had no secrets from this dragon any more than he had from his own mate. He could have even predicted Ked’s words before he spoke.
“Something feels wrong.”
Nikhil’s blood chilled fully at that observation, so close to his own worry that he could no longer deny his instincts. “What do you sense?”
“Aurum and Gavra should have reported back to us by now. We’ve heard nothing from them or Assana and Calder. The nymphs who survived are restless, as are the Thiasoi we rescued from Meri’s base.”
The white-haired Aodh approached,with Neph and Vrishti at his side. The Dionarch looked so grim Nikhil immediately knew something was gravely wrong.
“My sister is compromised,” he said.
“And this is different from before somehow? We knew she lost her sanity for a time. Her mate’s return was meant to alleviate that problem.”
“It isn’t her sanity that’s in question now. It’s her command of her own power.”
“She’s been possessed by Meri, hasn’t she?” Nikhil asked.
“Exactly. She would sooner leave than let the corruption taint her spirit. If she went adrift, it would break her bond to Nereus, prevent him from being manipulated by Meri. Nyx would not risk having the blood meld with her mate used against him.”
“This is what she wanted,” Nikhil said. “The child she created was taken from her, but that doesn’t matter anymore if she has the body of a fucking demigod at her disposal. Can your sister be killed?”
“Enough!” A booming voice cut through the alarmed chatter and the entire area went silent. Nikhil’s gaze shot up to the angry horned man who towered above them all, even Neph who still maintained his primal form. The angry creature who glared at Nikhil wasn’t a satyr, though he was close. He had immense horns, but his legs and feet were as human as the rest of his impressive shape.
“Do you have something to add?” Nikhil asked.
“I will not countenance discussion of execution of my own daughter,” the man said. “Her death would not serve your cause in the least. Besides, she cannot be killed by normal means, just as any of the immortals cannot.”
&
nbsp; “Your daughter …” Nikhil began. “Then who does that make you?”
“Today I am only Numa’s mate,” the big man answered, turning and bowing his head to display the full effect of the immense glowing dragon mark on his back. “But before she claimed me, you would have heard of me as Dionysus, god of wine and sex. The nymphaea are my creation. Nyx is my daughter, and any creature who makes the ill-reasoned decision to control her is in for a rude awakening. We should wait for Nyx to give us a sign.”
Nikhil bristled at the man’s confession. “You’re a fucking god? And you didn’t stop this? Did you give up that godhood when Belah’s sister marked you? Do you care so little for your creations that you let them be slaughtered?”
Dionysus slowly shook his head. “My hands were tied, I’m afraid. Only humanity is bound by few enough rules to assert free will in every situation. The higher races are more restrictive, due to their origins. The gods are even more tightly bound by law and our power is limited from meddling in the world, thanks to Fate’s twisted knots tangled around our lives. We could not intervene without an actual prayer for help, and even if that came, my power can only be channeled in one way.”
Spurred by rising anger, Nikhil’s voice carried deep and booming over the rush of the water behind them. “Then I pray to you, oh god of lust, to fucking fix this!”
Dionysus’ expression remained impassive until Nikhil had taken a breath, forcing himself to unclench his hands from the hilt of his sword, lest he attempt to shove it through the other man’s chest, god or not.
“I will give you a moment to think on your prayer, brother,” Dionysus said. “I am not the divine power who can lend the best aid in this situation. If you permit, I will offer my advice on how to proceed, but prepare yourselves to pay a price for the desired outcome.”
“Have we not paid enough?” Nikhil spat. “I lost everything and was turned into a monster. All the higher races—including your own—were forced to suffer under the hand of a creature that, by my estimation, is also one of yours. If my own children misbehaved so abominably, you can be damn sure I would spank them for it. As it stands, one of my daughters has only just been united with the mate Fate chose for her, and the other …”