by ERIN BEDFORD
"Dragon!" a nearby villager shouted as he pointed up at the sky and then darted into his home.
I jumped to my feet as everything went into chaos. The villagers scrambled out of the way, running into their homes and the woods around us. Bea stared in horror up at the immense form of the dragon coming toward us fast.
With wings made of night and a long neck and tail whipping back and forth as it searched the ground, the dragon’s raze claw clenched and unclenched as if preparing to grab something or someone nearby. I had a feeling I knew what. The glowing green eyes of the dragon zeroed in on the village as it descended even faster. Its large body made a shadow that covered the ground in night, its scales the same bottomless black as its wings shimmered with the dying light.
Move!" I shouted at her which woke her up enough to get her to panic. Clamping my mouth shut, I gave Bea a shove to get her feet moving.
There was only one dragon that I knew, Shirazan, and she didn't like me too much. Actually, she didn't like me at all. Besides, the fact that she thought I was taking the king away from her had driven her to try to kill me once already. That made the bad feeling in my stomach justified. There was no way this was a coincidence.
Bea and I darted behind the broken-down carriage, and I peeked out through one of the unbroken wheel's spokes. Cailean jumped down next to us moments later, his second set of eyelids opening and closing rapidly as he tried to regain his breath.
"What is the king's dragon doing here?" Cailean asked, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Bea shot a look in my direction. "I don't know. Maybe she decided she had a taste for brownies?"
"Bea!" I smacked the woman next to me on the arm and scowled. "That's a horrible thing to say."
"Better than the alternative," Bea muttered, her gaze sliding toward Cailean.
"What's she talking about?" Cailean inquired, his head canted to the side as he stared at the two of us suspiciously.
"Nothing," I reassured him with another shake of my head. "She's got a wild imagination."
"Ericka," Shirazan's sultry voice called out in a singsong manner. "Come out, pet. I just want to talk."
I snorted. Fat chance.
Bea shot me a look. "See? I told you."
"Told her what?" Cailean glanced between the two of us as confusion marred his face. "Ericka, what does the king's dragon want with you?"
"Likely to eat me." I gritted my teeth and glared through the wheel at the dark-haired fae sauntered around the campfire. Shirazan had shed her dragon form and stalked around the clearing in one of those body fitting dresses she seemed to be so fond of. Her eyes glittered in the failing light, her lips tipped up to reveal her sharpened canines.
"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, dear," Shirazan crooned. "I know you are here. Either you come out or..." Her eyes turned red, and she opened her mouth wide. Flames burst forth and caught a bale of silvery hay on fire.
The horses nearby neighed in alarm and rushed to the other side of the fenced in area but couldn't go any further. The chickens crowed their displeasure as the sheep baa'd incessantly. Still, I stayed where I was.
"If you won't come out on your own, I guess I will just have to flush you out." Shirazan tapped her chin with her long black nails before turning her attention toward one of the nearby houses. Her eyes glowed red, and I knew what she intended to do.
"No! Stop!" I jumped to my feet and rushed around the carriage before Bea or Cailean had the chance to stop me. "You don't need to hurt any of these people. I'm here. Let's talk."
Shirazan grinned broadly, those sharp canines making her smile wicked. "There you are, human. Brave of you to come forward. Smart too. We wouldn't want innocent bystanders to get in the way of our... discussion."
Sure, we wouldn't. If Shirazan only wanted to talk to me, I was a hippogriff.
"What do you want, Shirazan? Shouldn't you be with the king, you know...'talking.'" I used air quotes around the word and I shifted my feet in preparation for whatever she threw at me. Or in this case, blew at me. Of all the ways I expected I might die, burning alive wasn't one of them. Food poisoning from one of my own dishes, yeah, but dragon fire, yeah not even my parents would have guessed that one.
Shirazan's eyes narrowed, the smile on her lips dying. "No, actually. The king and I won't be talking anymore. No thanks to you." She stalked toward me watching me like the reptile that she was.
I side stepped until the fire pit was between us. Not that I thought it would stop her. "That sounds like your problem not mine. I don't want the king. So have at it."
A dark chuckle slid past her lips as she smirked. "It doesn't matter what you want you wretched human. The king wants you and that's all that matters. And as long as he does he will no longer turn to me to fulfill his needs."
My nose scrunched up in disgust. "Well, I'm leaving, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. I'm sure he'll forget all about me and be happy to let you..." I swallowed thickly, not able to stomach the words coming from my mouth. "... you know."
"It doesn't matter how far you go, the king will find you.” Shirazan lifted a clawed hand up and examined her fingernails with a bored expression. “And believe me, you may say you don't want him, but he can be rather persuasive when he wants to be." She paused and slid her hands down her form until they landed on her hips. "How do you think he got me?"
"He just whistled?" The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I had about a millisecond to dodge before the dragon bitch roasted me alive.
"Stop moving, you insufferable leech," Shirazan screamed at me, stalking around the fire pit to come after me.
I didn't give her the chance to catch me as I rushed around the barn and into the woods.
Shirazan's voice carried to me as she shouted, "I will burn this whole forest down and you with it to get what I want! Be a good little human, and die with some dignity."
I snorted. Like I had any dignity left to give.
I scrambled behind a tree, my heart thudding against my chest as I caught my breath. She wouldn't really do it, would she? Kill all these trees just to get to me? It didn't take long before I had my answer. Flames roared into the sky, and the scent of wood and glass burning hit my nose, making me sneeze. I pulled the front of my dress up over my nose and tried not to breathe in the fumes.
Peeking around the tree I hid behind, a wall of fire sat before me. It spread like wildfire, because it basically was, and her threat of burning the whole place down just to get to me became all too real. I turned from the fire and ran further into the trees, hoping to outrun the flames. Of course, my foot caught on a branch, and I went sprawling into a clearing.
Seconds later, a dark shadow fell over me, and a looming presence came rapidly for me. There was no time to run, so I tried to make myself as small as possible and squeezed my eyes shut against the pain that was to come.
"Ericka," a familiar growl called out my name, and I chanced a peek up at the shadow. It wasn't a dragon, but it didn't seem like anything I'd ever seen before. Except the face. The face I knew all too well.
Balefire.
"What are you doing here?" I hurried to my feet and rushed towards him. "How did you find me? What the hell happened to you?"
My mouth fell open as the nearby fires illuminated Balefire's new form. Large wings spread out a good five feet or more on either side of his back. Golden horns protruded from his head, curling up about a foot in the air. He was missing his shirt and the tattoos on his chest and arm glowed an ethereal yellow against his skin. Those gorgeous blue eyes of his seemed to be alive with energy as they assessed me.
When he didn't speak, I cautiously walked toward him. My hand reached up and touched the glowing tattoos on his chest. I didn't know why I was being so forward. I never would have touched him on my own accord before, but there was something about him now, sometimes different. Perhaps, it was the way his nostrils flared at my nearness or how his chest muscles shuddered under my palm, but I had to make him know it wa
s okay. As my hands moved over his chest and cupped his face, I made shushing sounds like one would to a baby.
"It's alright,” I cooed. “You're okay. I'm okay."
Balefire's eyes locked on me, then he huffed a grunt and grabbed me around the waist. My spine stiffened, and I instinctively wanted to tell him to get his hands off of me but held back. He wasn't himself right now, that much was clear. The Balefire I knew would have been talking my ear off by now. The man loved the sound of his own voice. However, this version of him watched me like a predatory watched its prey.
Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what kind of prey he was looking for. The food kind or... the other kind. I didn't particularly want to be either. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but his head jerked to the side back toward the village. All of a sudden, his wings beat behind him, and his grasp on me tightened.
"What are you—" I didn't get the full question out before my feet were lifted from the ground, and we were soaring through the sky. A scream caught in my throat, but I clamped down on it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him closer than I ever would have dared before.
The ground grew further away, and I wondered briefly how far up he was going to take us when Shirazan's dragon form came bounding out of the fire-lit trees. The black scales on her body hid most of her in the shadows, as the sun had set during our chase. Her long spiked tail whipped from one side to the other, knocking glass trees over, and their leaves and branches shattered on impact. She sniffed the ground where I'd once laid before her eyes shot up to the sky.
A long, loud roar erupted from her throat as her wings pounded against the air, lifting her up and off the ground. Balefire didn't seem bothered by her approach nor did he release me. Shirazan, however, saw me clutching onto the king, and her eyes glowed red. I cowered against him, sure of what was coming, but Balefire simply turned his back on her. Warmth came from behind us, and I lifted myself up to see over his shoulders.
His wings, they blocked the attack from Shirazan. The dragon’s flames being absorbed into the long golden feathers on his back. Busy gasping in surprise, I didn't even notice what happened next until Balefire was already barrel rolling us toward the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a long horrified scream as we descended. When we jerked to a stop, a choking gasp poured out of me.
Balefire suddenly released me on to my feet. He must have landed, because I collapsed on the ground instead of falling to my doom. I stared up at him in partly in awe and partly in terror, and Balefire locked his glowing gaze with mine.
"Stay." The word came out in a snarl right before he lifted up into the sky once more.
I could do nothing but watch from the ground as he went to face Shirazan.
The dragon tried to descend as well, but Balefire rushed at her, pushing her up and away from me. At least he was in his right mind enough to know who the bad guy was. I could count my blessings for that.
"Ericka!"
My eyes jerked away from the scene of the fight above me to the charcoaled trees. Cailean, Bea, and Finch rushed toward me. While Bea and Cailean pulled up a few feet away, Finch came to kneel at my side.
"Are you alright?" His usual jovial smile was turned down with worry.
"I'm fine." I waved him off and tucked my hair behind me ears as I worked my way up to my knees and then my feet. "How did you and Balefire even find me?"
A loud roar above made the ground quake, and we all looked to the sky. Balefire had his arms around Shirazan’s massive neck, and she wasn't too happy about it. I wanted to help him, but there was nothing I could do from the ground. I flinched as Shirazan swiped her tail at him, hitting him repeatedly in the back until he released her. I winced.
"His Majesty found out where you were going from Jasmine." Finch began pulling my gaze from the fight for a moment. "When we went to get horses to go after you, they were all chased away by Shirazan." Finch paused and his lips pressed into a thin line. "Balefire used his family’s magic to change forms to get to you faster."
“Why would he do that?” I frowned hard, my eyes narrowing as I squinted to see the fight. “I'm not really worth all this hassle, am I?"
Bea scoffed and shook her head. "Please tell her the king is head over heels for her. She won't believe me."
I glared at her before turning back to Finch. "It's ridiculous. There's no way he..." Finch simply gave me a pointed look, and my brows furrowed in confusion. "But why? I'm nothing special."
Finch and Cailean shared a look before they both broke out into a chuckle.
"The heart wants what it wants.” Finch placed a hand on my shoulder. “His Majesty isn't very good at showing his emotions, and the majority of time, they even elude him. Believe me, he wouldn't be here if he didn't think you were worth it."
My gaze trailed back up to the sky and the raging battle I couldn't help with. I worried my bottom lip between my teeth as I tried to figure out what the fae before me could ever see in me. And why in the hell hadn't he told me?
Chapter 22
Balefire
My back ached from the lashes it had taken from Shirazan. My power waned, and I knew I couldn’t maintain this form for much longer. Still, I pushed down my fatigue and tightened my hold on Shirazan's neck. I couldn't stop now. She had to die, not just for attacking Ericka, but for what she threatened to my kingdom and my people.
Shirazan roared and tried to breathe fire on me again. but my own powers blocked it. In this case, she couldn't fight fire with fire. Of the two of us, my fire was far more powerful than hers and all the more lethal.
As my exhaustion grew, I flew out of the reach of her tail and her long neck. I had to end this before it went any further, and that’s when my gaze slipped down to where Ericka and the others waited.
It was all the distraction Shirazan needed. Her claw lashed out and caught me across the chest. I cried out and grabbed my chest as it burned in pain. My mind back in the moment, I managed to dodge her next attack, even as blood seeped down my chest and arms.
Her roar of frustration was the only thing that kept me going. I should have put her down a long time ago. I should never have taken her in as some kind of pet that I hoped to tame. She was a dragon. A beast.
Just like I was.
My wings allowed me to hover in the air, flapping steadily behind me as I lifted my hands and summoned up the rest of my magic to unleash upon her. The power built up in my chest, and it felt as though it was burning through my veins, my flesh, everything. As the flames exploded out of my hands, I screamed. My scream was quickly followed by that of Shirazan, as the dragon couldn't resist against my magical flames. Nothing could.
Her wings gave out on her and she rushed toward the ground, breaking trees and bones as she fell. With a sickening crunch, she plowed hard into the earth. She tried to rise feebly once, but then collapsed on the ground in a heap of burning scales and flesh.
A sigh and a grunt escaped my throat before my wings gave out, and then I too was falling. The wind fluttered against my hair as I fell down, down, and then there was nothing but darkness.
When I awoke, my body burned with my intense exertion. It was as if every part of me had been stretched beyond capacity and then shoved back into a very small shell. I groaned and shifted. The ground was so soft... too soft to be the dirt and rock I'd landed on. I struggled to open my eyes and a cool hand touched my forehead, a soothing voice shushing me.
"It's alright. You're safe. Just sleep."
I didn’t have the energy to fight the command, so I fell back into unconsciousness. The blackness of unconsciousness shifted into the dreams of sleep for a while. I was back in the garden with Ericka, but this time, there was no yelling or threats of death. We were laying before the encased rose, and she wrapped up in my arms. She giggled at something I said and snuggled in closer. I didn't remember the rest, but I was at peace.
The light hurt my eyes when they fluttered open at last. I squinted against the brightness and lifted a hand up to cover my
eyes. My body still hurt but not as much as before. White bandages were wrapped around the arm I lifted, and with a cursory feel, I could tell that they were all over the rest of my body.
Pushing to a seated position as my eyes adjusted, I searched around the small barren room. Besides the tiny bed that I had been shoved onto that left my feet hanging over the edges, there was only a single stand next to the bed. On that stand sat a glass of water. I quickly grabbed it even though the sudden motion caused my back to scream in protest.
After I gulped down its contents, I sighed and sat back on the bed. I contemplated moving, but the world started to spin. Taking slow shallow breaths, I waited until I didn't feel like my stomach would reject the water I had just drank before slowly sitting back up.
I shifted, inching my legs over the side of the bed until I was able to stand. The door to the room opened, and Ericka's dark eyes landed on me. They widened a fraction before she rushed to my side. That’s when I noticed the bowl of steaming hot soup in her hands, which she sat on the side table before giving my shoulder a little nudge.
"You shouldn't be up yet, Your Majesty," she chastised me as I allowed her to sit me back on the bed. "You're not well enough yet."
"I feel fine," I croaked out, but I still let her fuss over me some more.
As she did so, I watched her face closely, searching for any sign of pain. When I found none, I sagged in relief. She was alright. I'd gotten to her in time.
"What happened?" I asked at last.
Ericka paused in her task of tucking me back into bed and lifted her head to meet my gaze. "You don't remember?"
I shook my head and then winced at the action. "I can't always control my beast when I unleash it."
“Got it.” She nodded and sighed, before she clasped her hands together and stepped back from the bed. "Well, you kicked Shirazan's butt and then, because you're a right bastard determined to send me to an early grave, you almost killed yourself falling from the sky."
My lips twitched at her blatant insult. "Is that right? You weren't worried for me, were you, Ericka?"