by S. D. Grimm
Franco rounded the corner with more men. “At least you’ve come out empty handed.”
Kara stood beside the king, daggers drawn.
“I want them alive,” Franco said.
All seven guards sprang toward them. Serena turned to Ryan and touched him, filling him with her strength. Then she faced her enemies as they shot toward her.
She stabbed one of the guards in the shoulder. He slammed his arm into her, and she fell to the ground, rolled, and sprang up in time to duck another blow. He was slower. Heavy armor plagued his movement but hindered her from finding a weak spot.
She pulled out a small dagger and threw it as he charged her. It smashed into his face hilt first and stunned him enough for her to move in and slice his exposed throat. He stumbled backward.
When she turned, five men surrounded Ryan. He fell to the ground, injured. She ran toward him.
“Don’t heal him,” Franco said, and Serena felt the tattoo like a noose around her free will. She shook and stared at Franco, her skin heating with hatred.
“Follow me or he dies.”
Kara rounded on Madison and held a sword to the Healer’s throat. “I’ll chop off her head if you don’t follow him back to your cell.”
“Well done, Kara.” Franco narrowed his eyes. “Heal the Deliverer, Madison.” Slowly Kara pushed Madison toward Ryan.
Serena’s heart spurted. She could do nothing. And Kara had warned her, but still, this felt too much like betrayal. As she stood there, Franco grabbed her arm and squeezed. How was he so strong? He glared at her, eyes narrowing. Did he know her healing powers weren’t connected to him? “I have many Healers.” His voice was low. “None as powerful as you. You will learn to obey me.”
He tossed Serena to the ground, and she scrambled away from him. Closer to Ryan. As Madison’s healing flooded through Ryan, Serena felt it. She glanced at him, but he was looking at Kara. She nodded once and flung Madison aside.
Ryan plucked Madison’s dagger from the ground and stabbed Kara through.
“No!” Serena’s knees weakened.
Kara fell, hands against her abdomen.
Madison got to her feet and ran. Kara met Serena’s gaze as life slipped out of her eyes. “Run.”
“Kara, you’ll—”
“Knife my heart, Serena. Run.” Kara lifted a dart shooter to her lips and started shooting darts at the guards who tried to go past her.
Ryan’s strong arm curled around Serena, and he pushed her down the tunnel. Why? Why would she . . . we were so close to freeing her.
“Franco won’t let her die, Serena. Trust me.” Ryan tugged her forward. He was so weak. The ripped bond was reclaiming him.
She pulled her leaden feet from the mud, grabbed Ryan’s arm, and ran after Madison. She ran until sunlight spilled onto her face. Then Ryan stopped and faced the door. “I think three guards made it past Kara.” He hunched over, hands on his knees.
“I’ll get them. You three need to get out of here.” A familiar voice pulled at Serena’s memory, and a young man raced toward them from the direction of the stables. He smiled, green eyes sparkling, and held his sword ready.
“Luc!” Madison looked as though she wanted to wrap her arms around him.
“Luc?” Serena recognized him. The fire-eaten boy she’d healed.
He winked. “I said I’d return the favor.”
“Luc?” Ryan gripped his shoulder.
Luc touched Ryan’s arm. “Good to see you looking better. But you’d better run.” He turned toward the door of the tunnel they’d just exited. As the soldiers chasing them came to the doorway, Luc fought them. All three slumped over in the doorway, and Luc cleaned his sword on their clothes before he sheathed it.
“I hope Connor wasn’t planning to get out that way,” Ryan said.
“He’s already out. Follow me.” Luc tried to usher them forward, but Serena felt Ryan’s strength leave him, and he stumbled to the ground.
A huge, winged beast lowered from the sky and landed behind them. “Blaze.” Serena’s hope rode on that word as she recognized the dragon. The friend of Kara’s bonded dragon.
“It’s okay,” the dragon said softly. Ryan placed his hands on Blaze’s neck, who helped him up. A newfound strength filled Ryan. Blaze’s strength. They would share it until Ryan had his own again.
Dash rushed across the dirt-covered earth, sending up billowing clouds in his wake. “I worried that this moment would never come.”
“Dash!”
“You don’t want that horse,” Luc said.
Serena smiled. “He’s no horse. He’s a unicorn.”
“Of course! I hadn’t recognized him in that disguise.” Luc chuckled as a brown stallion with a black mane followed Dash to where they stood. This horse was already bridled and saddled. Luc swung onto the horse’s back and held out his hand for Madison.
Serena mounted Dash and looked at Ryan to join her. Dash’s nostrils flared. “He smells like a dragon.”
Ryan hesitated, but Serena held out her hand. Ryan slid from Blaze and crossed to mount Dash behind Serena. “You sure he’s okay with me being up here?”
“Yes.” Serena looked back at him, and his gaze entrapped her. She couldn’t turn away. He was so close to her. His eyes trailed to her lips, and Serena’s heart pounded. She wanted to kiss him, but she stayed motionless. Offered him a smile. The look in his eyes intensified, and he leaned in quickly and kissed her, on the cheek.
“For luck,” he said and glanced away, hiding a bashful smile.
Hope warmed her insides. “For destiny.”
A deep shadow covered them, and they turned as it blocked the sun.
Ryan hugged Serena tight, trembling. “He found me.”
She stared up in the sky at the huge, black dragon that made Blaze seem like a baby.
Smoke.
Chapter 40
The Battle Brews
Ryan shielded his eyes as the black dragon rose high into the air
above them. Its shadow covered them in its darkness. Its gravelly voice laughed inside Ryan’s head and out. “You dare rip your bond with me? She still has your heart, which means it’s still mine.”
“It’s not yours.”
The dragon’s laugh drowned out his plea. Ryan wanted desperately to believe it was true. Every time he felt a piece of himself returning, something beat it away from him.
And right now he was so tired of fighting.
He pitched forward and Serena steadied him. “Hang in there. You’re weak from . . . a lot of things. You don’t have to do this alone.”
Did she know what those words meant to him?
A green form, a tenth of Smoke’s mass, stood in between Ryan and the black dragon. Blaze. Fire shot from Smoke’s maw, and Ryan pushed Serena forward, into Dash’s neck. He covered her the best he could as sparks flooded out around them. Only around them? Ryan looked up to see a purplish haze, like a sphere of violet light shining out from the point in Dash’s horn. And through the light, Ryan saw Blaze’s body, wings outstretched, shielding them the best he could from the rest of the fire.
“Get cover!” Blaze’s voice rang in Ryan’s head.
“We need shelter, now!” Ryan said to Serena.
As the stream of fire stopped and Smoke reared his ugly head in what appeared to be another fiery attack, Dash ran out in broad daylight.
But Smoke’s head didn’t follow them. Instead, the dragon roared. “Where are you?”
Ryan covered his ears. “Why doesn’t he see us?”
Serena glanced back at him, her eyes round and forehead wrinkled. “Dash is making us invisible.”
The unicorn leapt through the castle grounds as Smoke took flight. Blaze streaked across the sky, toward the massive black dragon.
What was he doing?
Blaze hurtled toward Smoke, a stream of fire out ahead of him, blinding Smoke momentarily. It was enough for Blaze to strike with one serpentine-like bite on Smoke’s long neck.
&nbs
p; Smoke lashed out, and Blaze darted away from the palace. But as Smoke tried to follow, his head whipped back, as if some invisible leash tied him to his spot.
“He’s bound to the Mistress. He can’t leave her,” Serena whispered. He spouted flames into the air and on the ground, swinging his head around angrily. Ryan watched until a building covered his view.
Dash had brought them around toward the front of the palace and beside a small cottage near the courtyard.
“Are you all right?” Serena faced him.
He nodded. “For now, but—”
Blaze found them from the west. He landed near them. “The unicorn is right about you not doing this alone.”
“Unicorn?”
Blaze nodded. “The Healer girl. Dragons call them unicorns.”
“But Smoke still has a hold on me? Why?”
“Your heart has been split nearly in half. Part of it wants me; the other part has been transformed somehow. By her. She’s made you her vessel. Thankfully the bigger part wants to remain bonded to me.”
Transformed? The word hung in Ryan’s ears like a thick fog. Because he’d been made her vessel, just like Smoke had said.
“When the Mistress dies, that part of your heart will die. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’ll die.” He swallowed. “I don’t want to be her vessel.”
“Then we have to build a wall in your heart, section it off, and fight back against the black blood. If it taints less than half your heart, I think you’ll live even if she dies.”
“Why would you bond with me if you knew I was such a mess in there?”
Blaze’s red eyes appeared full of the same longing Ryan felt. “The good in your heart speaks of untold bravery. You would fight for the weak. The helpless. The fatherless. So would I. There was no other heart, half or otherwise, that I would wish to bond with.”
Ryan’s heart squeezed. He didn’t deserve such loyalty.
“Thank you.” Serena held out her hand, and Blaze leaned his head nearer to her. But Dash whinnied and sidestepped farther from the dragon. Serena sighed. “Well, we aren’t out of this yet. We have to take out that beast the Mistress insists on calling a dragon.” She smiled at Blaze.
Something in Ryan’s heart warmed. “Okay, how do we take it out?”
Serena flinched and touched the tattoo on her neck. “Franco.” Her wide eyes met Ryan’s. “He’s looking for me.”
“He won’t find you,” Ryan insisted.
Luc rounded the corner of the cottage on horseback. Madison still rode with him. He seemed out of breath. “There you are. This horse knew how to find you.” He moved his horse closer to them. “I need to take Madison to find Connor.”
“Go. Help Connor.” Ryan smiled. “We’re going to slay a dragon. I don’t think that can be done from horseback.”
Luc turned his stallion around.
Blaze brought his face close to Ryan. Close enough that he saw the turquoise shimmer in the dragon’s scales. “Now, you do know only a unicorn can slay Smoke, right?”
“Let me guess. A horn to its heart?”
Blaze smiled. “That’s right. That’s what the sword of noble light is. Grab your little unicorn friend. We’ll take her to the sky, and she can slay a dragon.”
“With what horn?”
“Her daggers. They work like unicorn horns, do they not?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s find out.”
Ryan touched Serena’s shoulder. “Would you like to help me slay Smoke?”
Dash stamped his hoof.
“Dash says if we can lure Smoke close enough, we can slay him. He’s already weak from the bond ripping.”
“Blaze seems to think you can slay a dragon. He’s much faster than Smoke.” Ryan jumped off Dash’s back and climbed up onto Blaze. His scales pulsed warmth. He retracted the spikes on his back so Ryan could straddle him. Then Ryan held his hand out to Serena. “Want to take a ride?”
She stared at him with those blue eyes huge. Then she grabbed his hand. “You should know—”
He pulled her onto Blaze’s back. She squeezed his middle as if she might otherwise fall off and buried her head in his back as wind swirled around them. “I’m afraid of heights.”
A mix of warm and cool. Of dust and air. Of flowers and rain. Everything swirled and whipped, and, as Blaze climbed higher and higher, Ryan wanted to reach into the air. Feel every current on his hands and his face. For the first time since Belladonna had held a dagger to his neck and forced him onto the back of a black lion, he felt free.
Serena’s arms around him made him believe he could take on the world. She might be the Healer, a “unicorn,” but right now, he was her protector.
Then he saw Smoke, and the weight of reality settled deep and dark into him. His heart screamed to reattach to the black dragon. The source of the Mistress’s power. “If we kill him, the Mistress will be weakened. And we can’t kill her unless Smoke is dead.”
“Good. Let’s.” Her voice seemed so small up here in the sky.
Blaze flew closer to Smoke.
And the black dragon spotted them. It roared loud enough to shatter the window in the tall tower. Then with one flap of its mighty wings, it jumped to the top of the palace. Roof tiles crumbled beneath its weight, falling to the ground.
“Hang on,” Blaze warned.
And Smoke leapt into the air.
Blaze zipped forward, wind pushing into them. Serena squeezed Ryan’s waist, and he hung on to Blaze’s spike. The wind grew hot and stale as they passed below Smoke’s body. Weaved between dragon claws and castle spires. Blaze was fast. Smoke was long.
His tail sailed toward them, and Ryan hunched low. It knocked into him, and he held tight to Blaze’s spikes, but Serena’s grip tore from him and she fell.
Smoke dove for her.
So did Blaze.
Smoke’s claws swiped into Blaze’s green scales and sliced through the smaller dragon.
Serena fell straight toward the black dragon’s massive jaws. He snapped at her. Fire shot out of him and she screamed.
Flames flooded into the air. Black smoke choked her.
Blaze’s body darted beneath her, and Ryan caught her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll never let you fall again. Never.” He touched her arm, near her burning skin. “Why aren’t you healing?”
“I am. It just takes longer.”
Blaze fell unnaturally fast, and his pain pulsed into Serena. She placed her palms against his back, his green scales hot to the touch. And she pumped healing into the dragon.
“Thank you. Now hang on.”
She gripped hold of Blaze’s spike as a torch of dragon fire headed toward them. Ryan was right; Blaze was fast. He dodged the flame and soared higher. Straight toward the Smoke’s chest.
“Pull out a dagger.” Ryan clutched her waist and anchored her to him. “You ready?”
She nodded, hands shaking. The last of her scorched skin finally healed.
Smoke’s body started to turn, but Blaze changed direction like a leaf riding a wind current. Serena extended her arm as he flew toward the black dragon’s chest.
“Serena! Come when you’re called, slave. You belong to me now!” A throb in Serena’s neck made her buckle over. Franco called her to heal someone, and she had to obey. If it was Kara, she’d end up dead.
But Smoke’s chest was so close.
“Serena? What’s wrong?” Ryan hunched over her.
“Franco,” she whispered. “He’s calling me. I–I have to go.”
She tried to stay, tried to hold out her dagger, but her body wouldn’t listen. She started to jump off the dragon. She knew where Franco was, but he also knew where she was.
Ryan grabbed her shoulder. She struggled against his grip even though she wanted to hold on to him. “I have to heal—Franco is calling me.”
He glared at the mark on her neck, and she covered it up. “Listen, don’t jump.”
“I have to. He—”
“No. Blaze and I will take you to him.”
She stared at him and shook her head. “Ryan, if you—”
He grabbed her hand. “I will not let him hurt you. You understand? I will get your soul back from that monster.”
She hoped he could. Tears burned, but she kept them from forming. “Thank you.”
Blaze turned in the direction of Franco, and the urge to jump left her.
“Ryan.”
“We’re in this together, right? That’s what you told me.” That small smile she remembered returned.
“And I meant it.”
Chapter 41
Strike Hard
Jayden stared at the purple cloud as it dissipated.
Gone.
No Belladonna.
Ethan picked up the Sword of Black Malice and held it. A fire lit his eyes, and then sorrow coursed through him, crushing Jayden. He raced to Chloe and pulled her limp form onto his lap.
Jayden touched his back. Her voice trembled. “Is she . . . ?”
Ethan shoulders shook, and his emotions slammed into her. Pain rippled off him like a volatile storm trembling to become a tornado. Chloe. Chloe was dead.
A laugh cut through everything, and Franco tilted his head to the side in mock pity. Jayden’s blood heated. The only way to kill him was to kill Kara and Madison. How could she bring more senseless death? Lightning pulsed into her. She could strike him where he stood, but he wouldn’t die.
“You should join me. If you don’t, the Mistress will claim you. Neither of us wants that.” Franco held out his hand toward her.
Where was Kara now?
Ethan stood in front of Chloe’s body, his sword in his left hand, the Sword of Black Malice in his right.
A black horse dashed up the hill, hundreds of soldiers following. Stormcloud landed beside Jayden and reared, but Zephyr stuck close to Ethan as another gryphon—one with a white head—landed near him. Cliffdiver.
The black horse pawed at the ground, and the rider dropped to the earth. She recognized him right away. Connor.
His army surrounded her and Ethan. A storm beat in Jayden’s chest.
And the sky cracked.
Franco laughed. “Captain, you’ve brought the army to help me take in two Deliverers.”