Shadow of Flame

by Caitlyn McFarland

Kavar jerked on his chains, nearly lunging for her as realization struck. This was why she’d arranged his capture. Owain had taken his advice instead of hers, searching for the Sunrise Dragon and attacking Rhys through financial channels instead of besieging Eryri. “Owain’s goal is to subdue the humans, not waste dragons in some useless, bloody, final confrontation!”

  Jiang jabbed a finger in his face. “I am tired of this war. I want to be bonded to the dragon who holds the entire mantle. The conflict has dragged on for too long, each side prancing around the other, afraid to kill. Owain could have finished Rhys and Deryn off hundreds of years ago.”

  “So kill him.” Kavar settled back. “What are you waiting for?”

  Jiang shot him a venomous look. “It’s not much use gaining power if I’m too dead to use it. I would never escape. Do you have any idea of the challenge it’s been, getting close to Rhys while avoiding Ashem before I could steal these?” She indicated her black ring. “Just keep my secret, Kavar, and I’ll see that you regain your freedom. I’ll even let you kill Ashem and his heartsworn.”

  Kavar offered her a sardonic little salute. Inside, his rage boiled. “I live to serve you, Majesty.”

  “You do.”

  Jiang left, closing the door behind her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Broken

  Cadoc flew back to Mair’s sanctuary amidst another gathering storm. She was waiting for them on the steps, smiling. “Did you get it?”

  Cadoc transformed to human and produced the ruby-red blood charm.

  “Excellent!” She turned to Ophelia. “And you?”

  Ophelia, who had just landed and become human, handed Mair the black bag. Mair threw her arms around Ophelia, embracing her. “Yes! This is it. This is everything.”

  Cadoc, distracted from his own exultation, raised his eyebrows. He’d nearly forgotten about the bag that Ophelia had taken from the cache. “What could you possibly need from a cache, Mair?”

  Mair looked to the sky as if she hadn’t heard. Snow began to fall, thick and fast. “Are you ready to break the curse?”

  Don’t get your hopes up, boyo. She’s not your mam. There’s no way her blood will break the curse.

  Still, Cadoc couldn’t smother the hope.

  His heart climbed into his throat with every step they took toward the house. They went into her office, and Mair pulled out a small, black bowl and a hooked silver dagger. Without hesitation, she drew the dagger across her palm, letting her blood drip into the bowl. She held out her hand, and Cadoc placed the oddly shaped red stone into her palm.

  Mair dropped it into the bowl, and it fell with a heavy, wet thunk into the blood.

  Nothing happened.

  “Well?” Mair asked.

  Rhys, Cadoc thought, calling his friend clearly into his mind. Red hair. Blue eyes. Serious expression.

  Ice pierced his brain. He clutched his head and gave a muffled grunt of pain.

  Lladd y brenin ddraig.

  The room dimmed. A red mist rose. Hope died.

  Stars, he should have known better. He should never have hoped. It hurt worse every single time.

  He hummed, focusing on the sound of his own voice, throwing himself into the music. Leaning on the memory of Seren’s voice. The memory helped—grounding him, forcing him to remember who he was.

  After an eternity, he opened his eyes. Mair was cleaning the blood from the charm, her face tilted downward. She looked...satisfied.

  No, when she raised her eyes to his, they were shining with tears. His mind was playing tricks on him. It was fond of that, lately.

  When she was finished cleaning the charm, she handed it to him. “I’m sorry, bach. I do love you. But apparently we aren’t quite as close as family.”

  Cadoc took it from her. Cold lingered in his veins. His eyes blurred. “It’s all right. Thank you for trying.”

  He squeezed the stone that held his curse in his good hand until its irregular edges bit into his skin. Mair reached for him, soothing words washing over him. But he didn’t hear them. Shrugging off her solicitous hand, he strode out of the cabin and into the snow-shrouded night. He needed to be alone, just for a few hours.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dragonrider

  Hours after Ashem’s departure, Kai looked down at the world from the back of a dragon.

  Ready? Rhys asked.

  The dragons on either side of them, a cloudy silver Air Elemental named Nye and a male Lung named Yunru, who had creamy scales that reminded Kai of a toasted marshmallow, flicked their tails and chorused that they were ready.

  Kai inhaled. Juli had said to go. She’d be okay. And when Kai got back, Juli should be better, and Henry Harrow might have news about Morwenna.

  Kai pulled down her flying mask. A gift from Deryn, it was shaped like the face of a white raven with a beak that curved down to her breastbone. The metal feathers around the top half of the mask were detailed in gold, with painted flames sweeping back from the eyes.

  For some reason, Rhys had been less than thrilled when he saw it. He’d even tried to get her to leave it. But it was just too awesome not to use. Besides, it reminded her of Cadoc, and that made her smile. She hoped he was all right.

  Rhys shifted beneath her. “Are you ready?”

  Kai clicked her carabiners once. She was getting used to dragon clothes, but for this, she’d put on jeans. It had felt good, but it wasn’t some huge, climactic return to normal like she’d thought it would be. It was nice to have ‘biners at her belt again. She hoped, wherever they were going, she’d get a chance to climb. “Ready.”

  Rhys walked to the edge of the ledge and dove, their guards close behind. Kai bared her teeth in a fierce grin as the ocean rushed toward her, the wind whipping around her mask. She threw her arms up and leaned back, giving herself over to the fall. For that moment, she forgot about Juli, Ashem, Morwenna and Owain. She forgot about her parents, who were pressuring her to come home for Christmas. She forgot about Owain, who hardly seemed real, anyway. She forgot about everything but now and flying and Rhys.

  Utterly, completely free.

  With a snap, Rhys’s wings opened. Kai braced herself, then relaxed when he slid upward, beating his wings until the ocean fell away. Until they rose above the mountain and lost themselves in the sky.

  Flying was joy.

  Flying with Rhys was coming home.

  Every daylong hike, every peak, every cliff’s edge had been in search of this.

  Rhys dove once, then again. Kai whooped and shrieked and sang into the wind, Rhys letting out the occasional bugling roar as he spiraled upward into the sky.

  They passed the islands of the archipelago, Rhys keeping up a one-sided narration about which clans lived on each. Then even the southernmost island fell away behind them. Rhys headed for a dark blotch on the horizon. The waves grew, the floor of blue rushing toward them.

  With a wicked chuckle in her mind, he said, “Hold your breath.”

  “What?”

  Rhys plowed into the sea. Kai screamed, but it was cut off by a mouthful of salt water. Her head popped up above the waves. She swore loud and long at Rhys between bouts of coughing as he slogged through the ocean and up onto the beach.

  Kai ripped off her mask, gasping, and hooked it in its place on her belt. “I hope you got bitten by a shark!”

  A rumbling dragon laugh emanated from Rhys’s chest, vibrating his scales as she slid down his side. She smacked him on the leg, but that only made her palm sting.

  He nudged her with his snout. She fell backward into the sand and threw some at his nose, which made him lift his head into the air and sneeze.

  Kai’s laugh was cut off by a wall of flame that engulfed her, making her hair sizzle. “Hey!”

  The flam
es fell away, revealing a very human Rhys. He offered his hand. “You’re flame retardant, George.”

  “My clothes aren’t. Look! They’re scorched.” Kai took his hand.

  He pulled her up, then pulled her close. “Only scorched? Next time I’ll try harder.”

  Kai laughed and tipped her face to the darkening sky. After over a week in Eryri, she was starting to see the patterns in the southern stars. “I guess any deserted island is a decent place to get to know someone.”

  He gave her that knee-melting half smile. “I know it’s abrupt, and I know you’d rather be with Juli and I should be doing any number of things—”

  “I’m worried about Juli. But...I mean, I like you. You know that, right? I want this to work.” Understatement. She loved him, and the more she loved him, the more she was afraid of not being loved by him.

  Abruptly, she realized how stupid she was being. Holy hell, why was she waiting to find out? She was tired of being a coward. Maybe Rhys wouldn’t feel as much for her as she did for him, but...maybe he did. Besides, he’d been patient long enough. “Do you remember when I told you I was afraid, and you said I didn’t trust you?”

  He tightened his grip. “You had a point.”

  Kai chewed her lip and nodded. “Yeah. When you took over, it hurt. A lot. I’d only known about dragons for a week and a half and I’d already lived through two battles and heartswearing—it was a knee-jerk reaction. I’ve regretted it for a while, especially when I was home. But once they were up, I wasn’t sure how to bring them down. I mean, I know how, I just...it felt too late and weird and I didn’t know you.”

  Rhys had gone very still. Hope came through the cracks between them. “And now?”

  “I think we still have a long way to go as far as knowing each other, but I trust you,” she whispered.

  She demolished her walls.

  Rhys flooded her. Warm and bright and whole, he filled all the parts of her that were empty and broken. This was right. This was how things were supposed to be. This was...

  As if he’d been leaning against the mental shields, everything he was rolled into her, over her. His amusement turned to shock. He inhaled sharply and staggered, sending both of them to their knees, still holding each other.

  Something deeper, bigger, rose up inside him. But Kai couldn’t grasp it, it was too much. He was too much for her he’d always been too much for her and she couldn’t she was suffocating it was too close she needed space this was a mistake—

  No! She wouldn’t put the walls up again. She had to give him a chance. Desperate to ground herself, she yanked up his shirt and put her palms against the skin of his back. “I trust you.”

  Like a wave receding from the beach, Rhys pulled his mind back. “I’m sorry. Ancients, Kai.” He swore inside her head, but he was happy. He put trembling hands on either side of her face and tilted her head up. He was beaming. “Warn me, next time.”

  Kai took a shaky breath, coming to herself. Soon he would see everything, her mind and personality naked before him. She gripped his hands and swallowed. “I kind of don’t want there to be a next time. I mean, I don’t plan on blocking you out again.”

  He leaned down to kiss her just as Nye landed, the gusts from his wings spraying sand. Kai turned her head to the side and spat, wiping her mouth, disappointment welling into the bond from both of them.

  “You’re supposed to be unobtrusive, Nye,” Rhys said in a dry voice.

  Something moved in the sky behind Rhys’s head. An odd shimmer in the air warping the dying light. Kai counted four figures inside the haze.

  “Sorry, Majesty. But we have to go. Now.”

  Kai frowned. “Are those dragons?”

  “Yes, and they aren’t responding when we hail them, even though they’re headed right for us. We believe they’re hostile.”

  Rhys twisted to look behind him and swore. “Get the harness.”

  Kai ran, the flames of Rhys’s transformation exploding behind her.

  She yanked the length of sandy leather up and pulled it back toward Rhys. The straps were stiff from being dumped in the sea and Kai struggled to straighten them. “Damn it!”

  Rhys, once again a massive, crimson beast, grabbed the leather in one claw and pulled it over his head. “We have to get in the air.”

  As the dragons grew closer, the shimmer dissipated, revealing two enormous Draig nearly the size of Griffith—a rainbow-feathered Quetzal and a sandy brown Bida.

  Kai ran around Rhys, yanking the straps smooth and pulling them tight with Nye’s help. She leapt onto Rhys’s elbow, pulled herself up hand over hand, and swung a leg over his spine. “Go!”

  She locked her carabiners as he leapt into the air, his vast wings working, the muscles beneath his ruby-scaled hide bunching and releasing, bunching and releasing, sending up sprays of sand. Kai unhooked her mask from her belt and pulled it over her face, leaning close to Rhys’s neck. Nye was right behind them. Yunru, who’d been circling in the air above the island, darted after them as they headed back toward Eryri.

  “Who are they?” she asked into his mind.

  “I don’t know.” They left the island, flying south and circling back toward Eryri. Rhys’s wings churned the air. Beneath Kai, his sides heaved as he fought for speed.

  The other dragons cut them off. Instead of fighting them, Rhys turned, trying to outflank them.

  “Majesty, what are you doing?” Yunru shouted.

  Not exactly sure how heartswearing worked, Kai felt along their bond and encountered fear. He wasn’t afraid of fighting the dragons. He was afraid of fighting them with her on his back.

  “I won’t risk the queen!” Rhys shouted back. “They outnumber us. We’ll go around.”

  Kai leaned in close to Rhys’s neck. Fear set in, and her palms prickled with heat. The island grew small in the distance behind them, but every time Rhys tried to cut toward Eryri, he was herded farther away. The strange dragons were driving them out over empty sea.

  Kai clutched at the straps, fear burning a hole in her gut.

  Something on the hastily put on harness was rattling.

  Full night fell. Kai didn’t know how long they’d been flying, but no matter which way Rhys turned, the dragons behind him followed, slowly drawing nearer. It had been at least two hours—long enough for the fear to turn into nausea, a throbbing headache and a swirling, raging heat trapped beneath her skin.

  Finally, Nye called out, “If we keep flying this way, we won’t be able to make it home. There’s one island close by. You fly for it, and we’ll try to stop them.”

  Bonded to Rhys as she was, Kai could feel his tearing frustration. He wanted to stay and fight. He hated leaving two dragons against four.

  “Then let’s stay and fight!” Kai said into his mind. “They don’t outnumber us if I fight with you.”

  Rhys didn’t respond with words. He didn’t have to. The overwhelming wave of emotion that Kai could only describe as “absolutely not” was crystal clear.

  Kai craned her neck, watching as Nye and Yunru turned to face their enemies. She saw Nye streaking for the Bida. And then he jerked to a halt, his body spasming, black lightning crackling over his body. He roared, but it sounded more like a scream, and then his entire body was covered in eye-searing green flame. By the time he reached the sea, there was nothing left but ash.

  “Holy hell. Rhys, he’s dead. They shot him with something—I don’t know what, but there was fire and Nye is gone!”

  “Sunder it. They have an artifact.” Rhys flew harder.

  Yunru dove for one of the Elementals, tangling around its body like a boa constrictor, fouling its wings and plummeting them both toward the sea. The Elemental fumbled with something, but whatever it was, it was too small for it to hold easily. Yunru tore the object away and made a stabbing motion.<
br />
  That dragon went up in green flames, as well.

  Yunru struggled, but couldn’t extricate himself. Before he could get away, the green fire spread. And then both dragons were gone.

  Stunned at witnessing such sudden death, Kai tried to relay to Rhys what had happened but found she didn’t have to. Bonded to her, he already knew. “He took down the dragon with the artifact. He died so they couldn’t kill us with it.”

  Kai closed her eyes and sent a silent, profound Thank you to Nye and Yunru.

  That left three against one, and though he tried, Rhys couldn’t outfly them.

  The Bida opened its mouth, and a blast of piercing sound smashed into Kai’s ears, driving all questions from her mind. She pressed her hands against her head as the sound intensified. Rhys staggered in his flight, but righted himself. Pain stabbed somewhere deep inside Kai’s head. Then the sound stopped, leaving only ringing. Unbidden, flame burst from her palms.

  Spin it, Monahan, spin it! She gritted her teeth. Slowly, the fire within her began to revolve.

  “Are you all right?” It was bizarre to hear him in her head when her ears weren’t working.

  “Fine. Just do what you need to do!”

  They soared past the oncoming dragons, who hadn’t had time to turn around. Vibration rose from Rhys’s spine through her body. He was roaring. Light blossomed as flame shot from his mouth, scorching the green hide of the Elemental.

  To Kai, everything was silence.

  The wind rose, the surf below them tossing white and frothy. Rhys fought the current of air, turning sharply to make another pass at their attackers. Kai gasped as something on the harness gave. But whatever had happened, she was still anchored firmly to Rhys’s back.

  The Quetzal was on them, hissing as it slashed long ivory claws at Rhys’s tail. Rhys pulled hard to one side. It missed.

  One of the straps broke.

  Kai didn’t hear the snap. One moment she was seated, the next she was tumbling head over heels down Rhys’s side. She thought she was screaming, but all she heard was the ringing in her ears. She threw her hands out, searching for something, anything that would stop her from plunging into the ocean.