by G. Bailey
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Wings of Fire
Protected by Dragons
G. Bailey
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Afterword
Also by G. Bailey
Links
Excerpt from Winter’s Guardian…
-
Excerpt from Strip for Me…
—
© Copyright 2017 by G. Bailey.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products, brands, and/or stores referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Cover design by Christian Bentulan.
Created with Vellum
Introduction
Four lost dragon guards. Three choices. Two betrayals and one secret…
Dumped on earth with three dragon’s guards, who have no idea who Isola is, isn’t what anyone had planned. With the biggest betrayal still haunting her heart, it's hard for Isola to remember what she has to do, and that she has to return to Dragca. Only making her dragons remember her, isn’t as easy as she hoped. The three guards, who she knows it’s forbidden to love, are doing everything to make sure they win her heart… So, what could go wrong?
With dreams of her betrayer literally haunting her, and the dangers of earth becoming a problem no one can protect her from, everything seems lost when it’s dangerous to be.
The curse must fall, like fire for ice, betrayal and death must be the price…
18+ reverse harem with possible triggers.
For Meagan, who is a true friend and I honestly couldn’t do anything without her.
Every step he makes to get closer to me is dangerous, because of what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I don’t want to lie to him, and yet, I can’t let him closer. I can’t tell him anything, but he doesn’t remember enough to save himself. He pushes me further into the wall, his body pressed against mine. I close my eyes, knowing I can’t be trusted to look at him.
“I know if I kiss you right now, you will taste as sweet as a peach, and more addictive than anything I’ve ever tasted in my life,” he growls, and I feel a finger tracing down my cheek, towards my neck. His hand slides to the back of my head, gripping my nape and angling my face towards his. Even then, I still don't open my eyes, not even when I feel his warm breath on my lips. I know he is inches away from me and if he kisses me, I won’t have the power to stop him. To fight what feels right.
“Open those eyes and tell me the truth,” he urges, yet it feels like a demand. A dark, seductive one that sends shivers through me.
“I can’t,” I whisper, freezing when I feel his hand tighten on my neck and his lips ever so gently brush mine.
"Soon then," he promises, and lets me go. He steps back, and I release the breath I'd been holding. I open my eyes, seeing him open the bedroom door and walk out without another word.
What the hell am I doing?
Chapter 1
Isola
Fire must fall for ice, and ice must fall for fire. Evil and good must be equal. Not all evil is truly lost…remember princess…not all evil is truly lost…
“Melody?” I shake my head to clear the haze I’ve been in, looking around at the tiled ceiling, and feeling the cold from the floor I’m lying on. Everything I'd forgotten for the last...well, god knows how long, comes rushing back to me like a smack to the head. Thorne betrayed me. My father is dead. My dragon guard don’t remember who they are, much less who I am. I shouldn’t remember, but I do. I’m back on Earth, apparently in…school? And I’m angry, so damn angry. Ice shoots out of my hands, freezing the floor below me and starts to spread. I close my eyes, begging my dragon to calm down just a little. We can’t do anything now.
“You’re back? I was trapped,” she whispers to me, her voice distant in my mind, even now.
“I’m back, and so are you,” I confirm and shut her away to get some answers.
“Do you remember? I’ve never quite done that before,” Melody says, her head appearing above my face as she stands/leans over me, her long black hair falling over her face. I remember her being my friend in one part of mind, but then I remember her from my dreams and her voice from when she made me forget everything. She is the seer and a relative of mine. Holy crap, I’ve been friends with her for what I remember is a long time. Then I remember Elias, Dagan, and Korbin not recognizing me on the bus. She must have taken their memory too. I don’t know if I can trust her.
“You took them from me? And you’ve been in my dreams! Who the hell are you? You aren’t Melody, my childhood friend,” I shake my head, getting up off the floor as everything starts to get confusing. It’s like two stories are playing in my head, the one where I grew up in this small town with Melody as a friend, and the other where I’m the princess of Dragca, who was seriously betrayed. I have to close my eyes, focusing on the princess story, my real-life story so I don’t get confused. She sighs, waving a hand over herself, and the black swirls of the seer marks appear on her face, and down her arms. Her jeans and crop top are replaced with a long red dress that looks amazing on her.
“My name really is Melody, but people I like call me Odie,” she explains, and I just stare at her, gapping like a fish, before I snap myself out of it and walk away. She doesn’t follow me, just watching as I go to the sink. I turn on the tap, getting a handful of water and splashing my face. I feel like I’ve just woken up from a long, sleep. I dry my face with a paper towel, chucking it into the bin before turning to look at her. She is all I have left now, no other close family. Except my uncle, but I doubt he is still alive.
“I don’t want to know about your name Melody, who the hell are you to me? A cousin? An auntie? What are you?” I demand, getting frustrated. The happy look finally drops f
rom her face, the seriousness of the moment appearing in her eyes.
“Your sister,” she says quietly, a hint of sadness on her face as I step back, shaking my head.
“That’s not possible,” I say, knowing she can’t possibly be my sister. She has to be a distant relative, not this. My parents wouldn’t have lied to me like that.
“You’re not stupid, Isola. You knew I had to be closely related to you in order to visit your dreams,” she says. As she steps close to me, her body shimmers ever so slightly in the light.
“You’re not really here, are you?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“An illusion, one only you can see because we share blood. Others just have memories of me, but I’m not really here for them,” she shrugs. “It’s complicated magic. It took me months of reading about it in the royal library to learn how to appear solid and not ghost like.”
“Are you my father’s daughter? Or my mother’s?” I ask, needing to know which of my parents betrayed the other. Melody looks the same age as me, or she must be close, meaning one of my parents was a cheat.
“My mother was the last royal seer, and my father was the king,” she says quietly, and I stare at her. She doesn’t look at thing like me or my father, no blonde hair or pale blue eyes, but there’s something in the shape of her face. She gives me a look that reminds me of one my father would have when he was sad about something. I step back, looking away from her as pain spreads through me. He is dead, and we never really had any time together. All I have of my parents are lost memories and secrets it seems. I lost the throne my father worked so hard to keep, I've failed him.
"I can't believe he betrayed my mother like that," I whisper in disbelief, shaking my head, and turning away from Melody. I can’t even call him out on it, because he is dead. One of the last things he promised me was that I’m the only heir, that he never had any other children. It was all lies, plus he betrayed my sweet mother. She loved him, I remember that. I remember how they looked at each other, I thought it was love, but I guess no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors. A lot apparently.
“I’m alone,” I whisper, mildly panicking. That thought hurts more than all the other pain in my life, because it's so true. I can’t even think about Thorne, not without wanting to walk through a portal, find him and punch him straight in his good-looking face.
“No, you’re not. I’m here, and you are all I have left, too,” she says and I turn to stare at her for a little while, both of us silent. We both share a father, who we recently lost, but she is still a stranger to me. I look at her, really look, and just see the confident friend that part of me thinks I've known for years. But I know that's not who she is, or at least, not all of her. The black, tattoo-like designs covering her arms and extending up her neck and cheeks remind me of who she really is. They meet in the middle of her forehead, curling at the ends. I don’t remember her mother, only that she died at some point when I was still in Dragca as a child. Melody is alone too, I know that, but I still can’t completely trust her.
“What is Thorne doing?” I ask her, needing to know if she is still in the castle, and what is going on back at home.
“Your step brother is, well actually, his mother is making a lot of changes. We need you back, everyone thinks you’re dead,” she explains, biting her lip a little when snow starts falling from my hands again. It’s only because I’m thinking about him, my anger is just too raw to control. I know I need to rein it in though, when I see Melody's slightly worried face as she steps back from the ice spreading across the floor.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell her. and she laughs.
“You couldn’t anyway, not without a big fight and I don’t think we are those kinds of siblings. I’m more worried about Thorne,” she says, and a flash of jealousy shoots out from my dragon. It overwhelms me, reminding me that she thinks of Thorne as hers. He never was; he's no treasure to hoard/collect, just a viper in a nest.
“I’m going to kill him when I see him next,” I seethe and she just smiles like she knows something I don't. I don't like it.
“Don’t ask what you don’t want to know, sister,” she says, calling me sister like it’s a normal thing. Not like it’s the very first time she has called me that.
“Where is Bee? She was in the castle last I knew,” I say, starting to panic, and I look down at my hand, seeing the tree mark. It looks normal, nothing wrong with it. Surely if something happened to her, I would know?
“I have her. When you come to rescue me, you will get her back. She misses you, and is getting powerful. Also, it's getting more difficult to hide her, trickier. I will protect her will my life because of who she is. She is all that is left of the light now." I’m relieved, but still a little worried. I watch as her eyes start to glow blue, and she shakes a little.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
“I have to go, but you need to get the others to remember, and then sneak into Dragca with their help. Once they remember, they will know what to do,” she says abruptly, and I turn to see her move closer, tilting her head to the side.
“Who?” I ask.
“Dagan, Elias, and Korbin. They need to remember who they are, so they can save you. Remember sister, not everything is as it seems. There is only one way you will get them to remember. I just can’t tell you how to do it,” she says.
“Why not?” I demand.
“Because it would mess with fate, and fate has messed with you enough, Isola,” she explains. Melody then gradually fades away, until I'm stood alone in the bathroom, surrounded by snow and ice. I walk over to the sink, the ice cracking under my boots. I stare at myself, inspecting the changes from the last time I saw myself. My hair is a lot longer, hitting my waist, and my face seems older and is covered in makeup. Who wears so much of this crap? I pick my bag up off the floor, putting it on the side. I open it up, seeing textbooks, a pencil case, and my phone inside. I flip my phone on, seeing that it is basically empty of texts or anything, but the date throws me off a little.
“Two thousand and nineteen,” I say, dropping my phone back into my bag in shock. It’s been two years since Thorne betrayed me, two years since I lost my father because of him. How am I even still in school? Two years...I swear I’m going to make him pay for every single day I've lost and so much more.
Chapter 2
Isola
Everything okay, Miss Dragice? You aren’t usually late to my class,” a teacher stops me as I walk past a classroom with its door open, so she can see me. There goes the plan of finding the guys and following them, okay, stalking them. But stalking is okay if it’s for their own good, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. I stop, turning to face the teacher who is tapping her foot on the floor with an unimpressed look. She is an older woman, with short grey hair tied at the back of her neck, and her skin is covered in wrinkles that pull across her face when she frowns at me. I remember her being a nice teacher, but the memory of the class is fading. I think it’s history, no maths? I don’t know.
“Are you coming into class? Or just planning on standing there staring?” she asks me, and I look at the doors of the school once more but looking back at the teacher and deciding maybe I need to act normal for a while. I doubt Thorne left me here alone, I bet someone here is a dragon in hiding or something, watching me for anything suspicious. Thorne is too smart to leave me on Earth without a guarantee that I wouldn’t come back and kick his stupid ass off the throne.
“Sorry I’m late,” I say, pulling my bag up on my shoulder and walking into the class. There are thirty or so students in here, and it’s weird that I sort of remember them. It’s like the memories of being here as a student, and growing up in this town are stuck in my mind, but so is the actual truth. This is still the town I grew up in, this is the same school I went to with Jace. I swallow the bitterness I feel that he isn’t here. That Esmeralda is still walking around free of punishment when she killed him. My vow to kill her, it just bothers me now be
cause I know I won’t be able to keep it for a while. I need to train, get much stronger, and somehow get the people of Dragca behind me, to get back my throne. I slide into my normal seat, two rows back, and next to a girl named Hallie. Hallie winks at me, before looking back towards the front of class as the teacher starts talking about William Shakespeare. I suddenly remember this is my literature class, and that was what we were studying. It’s all confusing, and is slowly giving me a headache. I guess that is what happens when someone messes with your head.
“Everyone knows what we have been going over. With your upcoming test next week, I suggest you all start studying. Please come and see me if you have any problems,” the teacher says, and everyone starts pulling their textbooks out their bags. I get mine out, opening it up to the page I remember.
So weird that I remember the page, but not the teacher’s name.
“How come you were late?” Hallie asks me, flipping through her own book. I look over at her, and scrutinize my friend. She has black hair, and currently has the tips dyed blue, though she changes the colour depending on her mood. She also covers her brown eyes with blue contacts; she hates wearing glasses and likes blue eyes. I remember meeting her when I was ten in the fake memory, but I also remember seeing her around school when I was here in my real life with Jace. We certainly weren't best friends like we are now, I didn't even know her name then. Yet she is the only one that isn't fearful of me, like most human females are. I know everything about Hallie now, from her messed up parents, to the two guys she's sleeping with that don't know about each other. She knows everything about me too, all of the fake lie of a life anyway. The real me, the princess of Dragca, she knows nothing about. I feel a little guilty that she has been dragged into my mess of a life.