Of course, you think that. You were never properly prepared. You hate what you are.
Do I? Peter cocked his head. Or did I just hate what you tried to make me?
Richard focused on Peter for a moment and then turned his head back to Rosa, trying not to be distracted.
You fashioned him into a tyrant, Alexander put in, circling him. When in truth, he's a much better king than you could ever dream to be.
Richard snapped at Rosa, and she jumped, trying to be brave. Nicholas got in his way, his nostrils flaring.
Why don't you give up, Father? He asked. You can't win.
You forget, boy, Richard said. I taught you everything that you know. I know how you move. I know how you fight. I know how you think.
Do you? Alexander taunted him. Do you think we take after you?
I think we take after Mother, rest her soul, Peter said.
The conversation was hard to follow; Richard's head going every which way. Ariel pushed herself up against the wall, taking a step and then another one and another. She was edging behind Richard, moving carefully, one leg behind the other.
Rosa snuck toward Thomas and Cole. She didn't dare take off their bonds for fear that Richard might notice. But she thought she could channel their power better if she was touching them.
She didn't need to touch Charity, for they were forever bonded as mother and child. Even apart from her, she could feel Charity's heart beat in her own and feel her life force growing stronger with every moment.
She crouched down very slowly, almost not moving. Luckily, Cole picked up on what she was doing and leaned in, touching her. Thomas did the same, and she felt their magic flow through her.
This was much different than when she had two bodies of magic in her. Those didn't belong there had made her sick. But this way, it flowed through her and out her fingertips, growing every second. A gift, rather than a duty. A choice, rather than a punishment for being alive.
She could see the scene in her head half a second before it played out. She knew, somehow, that Peter was going to step to the right and Alexander to the left.
Ariel had made her way behind Richard, and had her arms spread out, ready to grab his massive sides.
Rosa nodded very subtly to her, and Ariel tensed.
This was it; it was now or ever.
Peter did exactly as she predicted he would. Nicholas ducked, Alexander moved to the other side, and she shoved every bit of magic forward.
To her surprise, it was white as well – pure.
“AHHHH!” she cried, as it shot from her hands and hit Richard square in the chest.
It was an explosion; it was fireworks – pain and pleasure all at once. He rose half a meter off the ground, Rosa's magic filling him.
This was for Charity, for the Halloway, for all the carapaces that he had murdered. This was for Nicholas, for Peter, for Cole and Alexander. This was for her sisters-in-law who had to live in the hell Richard had created.
She wasn't sure how long it was. Her arms grew tired, but she didn't waiver, focusing on her goal.
And then, in another second, it was over. Richard was gone as if he had never existed, fading quickly.
Ariel fell backward, her head slamming into the wall. The windows shattered, and the bedframe collapsed with a terrible crunch.
And then there was silence.
“He's gone,” Rosa said, in shock. “He's just gone.”
She turned to take Cole's gag off, operating on autopilot. He sputtered, shaking his hair.
“Into the Other,” Cole said. “I felt it.”
“I killed him.” She had never killed anyone before. It felt shocking, and yet, peaceful. He couldn't stay here; he was ruining their lives. He didn't belong here.
She hadn't expected to feel this way the first time she killed someone. She knew as a witch, a supernatural creature, it would eventually happen. But now, she was in peace, knowing that she had done the right thing for her child.
“You sent him back to a place that he had already gone,” Cole replied. “That was all. Welcome back, Halloway.”
“Ariel!” Alexander had shifted back to human and rushed to his wife.
“Ah.” Her eyes were fluttering open. She had gotten a good knock on the head, but she was already moving. “Damn it.”
“You did so well, my love,” he kissed her head. Rosa smiled as Nicholas came toward her.
“I think that is the first time that Alexander has said he loved her.”
“We dragons are loving creatures,” he took her in his arms. “Very loving. I am so proud of you my love.”
He wrapped her in a hug as Cole moved over to undo Thomas' bonds.
“I can't believe that we did it,” Rosa said. “I can't believe, all these years…”
“This is what you were meant to do,” he said. “You saved us.”
“Not just me,” she said, humble as ever. “We all played our part. And we all couldn't do it without each other.”
“Ah, my love,” he couldn't stop holding her, kissing her. He never wanted to be separated from her again. “I love you. I love you. I can't think of anything else to say.”
“Let's go see our daughter,” she said into his ear. “That's all I want to do.”
“Yes, I agree,” he finally managed to tear himself from her neck and shifted to let her take his arm.
All around him, everyone was standing, recovering. In a reverse of power, Ariel was in Alexander's arms. He was taking no chances with her head, although he looked like he'd rather cuddle her all night than take her to the sick bay.
“I can't believe we are finally free of him,” Cole said as they walked. “Although, it is just like him to come back uninvited.”
“He won't come back,” Rosa assured him. “Not with the four of us here. Even if the Other spits him out again, it won't be hard. Your rule,” she turned to Peter, “is secure.”
“For now,” Peter said, with a soft smile. “No rule is ever secure. But I think mine is as safe as it can be.”
“I want to thank you all for not throwing me in with him,” Thomas suddenly spoke up.
“And how will you repay us, Thomas?” Yvette turned to him, a small smile on her face. She knew that there was good in him, deep down. Thomas only wanted a life where he was treated well; where he could be himself. He had never meant to hurt them. He only wanted to be free, and now he was.
Thomas surprised them by getting down on one knee, his head bowed.
“I promise you, I shall be your loyal servant. In anything that you need.”
“Mm,” Peter said, hugging his queen. “Since you did provide us such information, perhaps I can trust you again. In a position closer to the palace.”
“What?” Thomas' head shot up.
“Yes,” Peter mused, looking to Yvette. “Perhaps you would like to resume your post as a warrior in my army.”
“My Lord,” Thomas sputtered. “I would be honored.”
“Excellent,” Peter said. “Then rise. You shall return to your position as a lieutenant in the army.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said, rising.
Yvette and Enya had kept their promise, and they proudly handed Charity back to Rosa, safe and sound.
“Thank you,” she said, and Enya smiled.
“I have a feeling that we have a lot more to thank you for.”
The moment that Charity was put back in her arms was the happiest moment in Rosa's life. She felt complete as she turned to Nicholas.
“We will make this world a beautiful place for her,” he said, as the others gave them a moment to be reunited with their child. “A beautiful place that she can rule over, with a fair and just hand.”
“I just want her to be happy,” Rosa said. “And free.”
Nicholas kissed his wife's head. “I will always give her those things, no matter what our position in this world.”
The others came forward then to revel in the newest heir to the throne. Nicholas convinced Rosa to
let her go for another moment, drawing his wife into his arms.
“Well,” he said, “when she grows up, we can tell her quite an entertaining story about her birth.”
“Not a story most children want to hear,” Rosa rubbed her nose against his. “But I think in this case, we can make an exception.”
“She and her siblings will have quite the experience,” Nicholas grinned. Rosa choked.
“Sorry, her siblings?” she asked. “Nicholas, she's not a day old.”
“Well,” he replied. “We better start planning at the very least. I want so many that the throne room will be full.”
She chuckled, leaning in to kiss him. She didn't know what the future held. She was sure there would be more challenges. They might even see Richard again, if they were so unlucky. But whatever the future brought, she knew they would be able to stand tall and face it together. Together, with Charity between them, they could do anything they set their hearts to, for love could conquer all.
Aris Preview
(Stratham Dragons Book 1)
SARAH J. STONE
CHAPTER 1
Aris fell to the hard floor, and his body convulsed rapidly. Each joint fought for control – contorting and changing – but his dragon didn’t even stand a chance. His jaw locked, keeping him from screaming out his agony. Sweat coated his skin in a thin layer, and he slid on the hardwood floor, bruising his body. He had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it needed to stop.
The scent of his fear was syrupy and sweet. It made him prey, and he had no way of stopping it. Weakness was not acceptable to his kind. He learned early on that it was kill or be killed. In his world, there was no room for the weak. He strived to change that with those he loved. The five of them had built a family, but he knew their instincts could take over at any time.
From a distance, he could hear his brothers’ calls. They were frantic, but he could do nothing to ease their minds. No, someone else had to lead, if only for a little while. Muscles he didn’t even know existed spasmed in a way he’d never thought possible, sending shots of liquid fire through his entire being. Every inch of his body froze, locking in place, and he was unable to move. The tremors stopped, yet bursts of pain soared through his veins. His eyes were forced closed, but he saw something.
Two hand-carved thrones sat on the dais surrounded by men dressed in sheer festive fabrics. It was a celebration of some sort – no, it wasn’t a good day, never again would the sun rise in her eyes. She looked down, and his honey colored eyes stared back at her – strange. Aris knew this body he possessed wasn’t his own, but when he tried to pull himself out, he found he couldn’t. He was forced to see what was to come. She floated in front of the two who sat upon the thrones. They were her leaders, and it was up to them to decide, though she knew the fate of the child in her arms. She bowed before her king, holding the infant tight. She had no hope they hadn’t figured out she had lain with another.
“You have broken our most sacred law,” the king bellowed. He stood in all his glory and looked down upon her. She didn’t dare tell the truth. No one would believe her anyway. She would suffer her sins in silence. Because no matter what, in the end, it had been her fault. She had flirted with danger, and now she had to pay.
“Yes, my king. I do apologize, it was a mistake,” she replied. She hoped that admission and saying what he wanted would save her son.
He chuckled and gripped her jaw, forcing her eyes to meet his. The crowd gasped. No one was allowed to meet his eyes, especially not someone on trial. “You have lain with a black dragon. We are the golden ones; we are GODS. They are nothing, and you created…” His voice was thick with emotion, and spit from his lips sprayed over her face. She didn’t dare move.
“This is an abomination, and he must be destroyed!”
He pointed to the silent baby in her arms. This baby would be killed, right here and now, unless her plan worked.
“No!” She held tight to her son. She closed her eyes and silently recited the spell she had memorized. Aris, the name she had given him after her father disappeared, and she prayed he went to the one who would save him…
Aris screamed and shot up from the floor. He blinked and saw four sets of eyes staring at him as the pain receded from his body, but not from his heart. What the hell was he seeing? He knew what he saw, it was him as a baby and his birth mother. He knew it. And his mother was a golden dragon. He’d heard of them through the years. They were royalty. But apparently as a Halfling he was different.
His heart raced, and his breath came out in pants. The feeling of someone’s hand on his shoulder calmed him. He knew without looking who it was. Blane was the most nurturing. A ‘mother hen,’ they called him.
“What happened?” he asked. His voice was low and comforting. Blane never raised his voice. When he spoke, everyone listened.
“I’m not sure. It’s been happening lately.” He ran a shaky hand through his flattened mohawk. “But less painfully. More like dreams, but this…this was different.” After what just happened, he was beginning to understand. Could he just now be coming into all his powers? What did that mean for the others? Did they each have another side of themselves they didn’t know about?
Aris stood and stretched his neck, trying to relax the muscles in his body. Everything hurt worse than it had been before. For the last couple of years, he’d been really sick. He wasn’t the only one in the group though; Zarin had been noticeably sick, and Max, too. The other two were fine, but if his visions were correct, they wouldn’t be for long.
“If you talked to us about it, maybe we could help. We’ve all felt strange lately. You don’t always have to be strong, ya know?” Ilias whispered.
His first instinct was to put Ilias in his place, but maybe he was right. Aris was the one who saved them, and they all looked to him to lead, but if he was dying he needed them to know. Who would watch out for Ilias or Blane if he died? And that was his biggest fear. He held up his hands in surrender, something that felt right to do for the first time. “I get it. You’re right.”
The others went to the den, but of course Ilias stuck behind. “You’re going to be all right, aren’t you?”
Ilias was like a child in so many ways. He hadn’t fully healed from his past. Aris didn’t expect him to recover this soon. It had been a year and a half since they’d found Ilias in that cold ditch barely breathing and covered in wounds new and old, and still he didn’t know his story, not fully. He wrapped an arm around the young one’s shoulder and pulled him into his body, letting his warmth soothe him. “Yes, I’ll be fine. No matter what it is, we’ll figure it out. That’s what we do, eh?”
“You’re getting sicker.” There was no question behind the words – just a simply stated fact.
Aris nodded and dropped his arm when they got to the stairs. It had been nearly three years since he’d found Blane, and now their numbers had grown. The den was their sacred place. It had a little bit of everything for each of them. It was the one place they could be themselves.
He did his best to be human, but some things weren’t as easily avoidable, and even though he learned long ago he wasn’t human, he knew he needed to pretend. The humans wouldn’t be able to handle knowing what really existed, and he wasn’t going to be the one to fill them in.
The others sat in various states of unease, waiting for him to take control. He allowed the pain to swallow him as he slumped back in the old recliner that Max insisted would be perfect. It was ugly as hell, but it was the most comfortable chair.
“So, what did you see now?” Max asked around a mouthful of pizza.
The guy never quits eating. Aris wrinkled his nose and glared at him. Max automatically closed his mouth and set his food down.
Good.
“It was like all the others except for the pain. But this time I saw myself as a baby. I wasn’t me. I was my birth mother. She saved me with magic somehow, and that’s why I’m still alive.” He was raised with a human family who
hated him – almost like the people from his vision. What had he ever done to be hated so badly? He was a baby for fuck’s sake.
“Aris, you’re a big boy now. You don’t need us anymore,” his mother said. Her voice shook as if she was afraid of him – and he knew she was. It was the way her eyes never quite met his and how she avoided being too close.
He was 14 today. Strange things happened. He woke up much taller, and he had tripled in weight. He went from being a boy to a man overnight. He didn’t bother watching his parents and younger sister walk away. He didn’t bother wiping the tear away. How was he supposed to live?
He studied his face in the mirror and realized he was different. He was a man now, and the honey-colored eyes staring back at him no longer cared. He was on his own, and he would survive. He hissed at his reflection and gasped when his eyes shifted. They were pure gold shining brightly back at him. Aris cocked his head to the side and licked his teeth. They were sharper, and by the coppery taste in his mouth, he’d bitten his tongue. It was all too much. In that moment, his black hair faded like magic to a white so pure it reminded him of snow. Oh, and it was soft – oh so soft.
“What am I?” It was a question that would take years to answer, but he knew then and there he would figure it out. He wasn’t human; that’s all that mattered. He swung his fist so fast he didn’t even feel the glass shatter beneath his knuckles. When he looked at his knuckles, they were already healed.
Fingers snapped in front of his face, and he blinked. He stared back at his brothers, he saw his family – the tribe who he’d allowed into his life. They wouldn’t treat him that way. A part of him still waited for the day they would leave him, too. Each one of them stared back at him as if they knew exactly what he was thinking and how he felt. He knew they felt it, too: the lingering worry that something would happen and they’d be alone all over again. He wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt. He needed to remember that, and if they were dying, it was up to him to find the cure – no matter what.
CHAPTER 2
Ilias: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Stratham Dragons Book 2) Page 46