Wings of Fate: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance. (Protected by Dragons Book 4)

by G. Bailey

  There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of dragons in human form on the ground around the castle, and the sky is full of them as they kill what is left of my army. I manage to stay low and go left, avoiding the fight until I’m well into the forest and free. We keep flying, ignoring everything and knowing that there is only once place I want to go to. There is only one place safe in Dragca for a dragon like me now.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Isola

  I land right outside the academy castle, carefully putting Kor and Bee down on the ground before shifting back and collapsing. My dragon doesn’t even speak to me, and I can feel her uncertainty of the situation coming from her. Part of her wants to avenge everyone Tatarina has taken from us, but the other part won’t let Elias die without a fight. Elias is hers. He is mine…and I can’t lose him. Elias was killed though…and what is left of him, I don’t know if I can save. I cry silently as I think of how alone he must have been.

  I don’t feel the pain in my leg or anything until a warm hand on my shoulder shakes me from my misery. Kor sits me up carefully, pulling me into a tight embrace as I breathe in his smoky scent and try to calm myself down. I love how Korbin doesn’t need to ask what happened or what is wrong, at first. He just knows I need him close, and that is all that is important. I watch past Korbin’s chest as Bee flies into the trees, no doubt trying to find something light, but from the looks of it, the whole of Dragca is in darkness with a queen who found the perfect way to make sure I never kill her.

  “What happened, doll? Where are we?” Kor asks after a while of complete, comforting silence. It’s too dark to see where we are, and the castle doesn’t have any lights on outside. I don’t know why I chose to come here when I should have run further, because I don’t know how to face my uncle, but it is the only place where Elias, Thorne, Dagan, Kor and I were happy. Since then, something has always been wrong, and now I don’t even know if I can fix it.

  “We’re at Dragca Academy…I was a coward and ran from Tatarina as she sat on the throne. I let her live…” I whisper to him, and he tenses but doesn’t say anything for a moment. Rain falls from the sky as I press myself against Korbin’s chest, hearing his beating heart, and not knowing if Elias’s heart even beats anymore.

  We are coming to the academy. Many of us survived. We killed enough to escape, Dagan’s worried, tired voice comes into my head, but I can’t even make myself reply to him.

  “You aren’t a coward. I know that for a fact, Isola,” Kor finally tells me, kissing the top of my head. “Whatever made you run…I know you wouldn’t have had any choice about.”

  “Tatarina killed Elias,” I whisper, bursting into tears again at even saying it out loud. Kor soothes me, holding me tight as he whispers words of comfort until I stop crying and gain some kind of control.

  “Elias was alive and fighting Thorne…he isn’t dead, doll,” Kor says, not understanding anything about what I just said, and I don’t blame him. It is crazy.

  “Tatarina brought him back to life like she did Esmeralda. She said if I kill her, I kill Elias, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it,” I keep repeating the same sentence throughout my cries, feeling like a massive coward for putting Elias’s life before the whole of Dragca.

  “Look at me,” Kor demands with a growl, lifting my head with both his hands and wiping my tears away with his thumbs as he forces me to look into his eyes.

  “Elias is still alive, and we will find a way to save him. You are no coward for choosing love over duty to a throne. We don’t want a heartless queen on the throne anyway, and if you did that, there would be nothing left of Isola Dragice. Somehow, we will figure out how to save both Dragca and Elias, I promise you that,” he tells me, I nod, agreeing somewhat, even as guilt chokes me still. “Now let me look at that leg.”

  “Okay,” I shakily reply before he kisses me on my tear-covered lips and lets my face go. I flinch when Kor moves me gently off his lap, and he follows my gaze to my thigh where Esmeralda’s dagger is still in, and there is blood everywhere.

  “I need to pull it out. You ready for this? I don’t need to tell you this is going to really hurt, doll,” Kor asks me, looking at me for an answer for when I am ready. I nod, resting my head on his shoulder as he places his hand on the dagger, the slight movement killing me. I scream loudly as he pulls the dagger out, chucking it away as everything goes blurry and placing his hand on the wound for pressure which is extremely painful.

  “Me help,” Bee says from my left, surprising us as I didn’t hear her, and she flies out from the trees. Bee floats over my leg, and Kor moves his hand away, letting Bee sprinkle familiar looking powder into the cut. It stings, making me feel dizzy, but I manage to stay awake even as darkness gets into the corners of my eyes.

  “Thank you, Bee,” I crackle out, not even recognizing my own voice.

  “No sad,” she says, moving to sit on my shoulder, and her tiny hand wipes at the tears on my cheek as I look at her.

  “Sometimes you have to be sad,” I tell her, and she doesn’t say anything as she hides in my hair and rests against my neck.

  “We will fix this all, Isola. Come on, you are stronger than her. Tatarina can’t win,” Korbin tells me.

  “She already has,” I choke out, lifting my teary eyes to his worried eyes as I hear the distant sound of wings and feel my mates getting closer to me. “Help me stand up?” I ask Korbin, and he kisses my forehead before jumping up and then helping me stand. I wobble a little, and Kor keeps his arm wrapped around my waist to make sure I don’t fall over. I look at my arm, amazed for a moment how the spear transformed with my shift into dragon form and is spiraled around my arm. I soon look away as dozens of dragons land around us, but I focus on the one carrying a dragon in his claws, like there isn’t anyone else around. Dagan’s dragon drops Elias’s knocked out dragon on the ground before landing in front of it and shifting back. Dagan is covered in cuts, bruises and blood, and I worry for a second until I hear his comforting, gentle voice inside my head.

  I am okay. Are you? I feel nothing but pain from you. I don’t respond to Dagan, only because I don’t know what to tell him. I am not okay.

  “What happened? Why isn’t Tatarina and her army dead?” my uncle growls, stepping in front of me with his hands on his hips. Blood drips down his forehead, and he is covered in dirt, claw marks and more blood than I thought was possible to see on someone’s clothes.

  “I couldn’t kill her,” I whisper, not wanting to admit it, but I know I have to. I expect to see disappointment, confusion and hate in his expression, but there is nothing but burning anger.

  “Why the fuck not? I thought you had long lost the stupid young princess routine and become a queen!” he growls loudly, shaking his head.

  “Don’t speak to my mate like that,” Thorne snaps, moving to my side. “You forget who she is. If Isola didn’t kill my mother, there is a reason.” They all look to me for an answer, my uncle clearly getting more frustrated with every second I don’t reply as I glance at Elias’s dragon.

  “If I kill her, Elias dies too…” I whisper, and my uncle growls, shaking his head in utter disbelief. I knew he wouldn’t understand this, and he is too angry to be reasoned with now. I made my choice, and I have to accept the consequences.

  “Stupid child! One dragon is not worth the whole of Dragca!” he growls out, his hands setting on fire in his anger. “Millions of people will suffer because you put a boy before them!”

  “Elias is worth Dragca to me! Elias is worth every world to me, and if I can find a way to save him, I will!” I scream at him in reply, my voice echoing around the trees. There is silence as my uncle shakes his head in disgust before walking away from me like he can’t bear to be around me. My gaze drifts back to Elias’s dragon who shifts back into his human form, still knocked out and looking so different from the Elias I know. I stare at the man I am in love with, barely recognizing his thin, pale and short-haired body. Elias is still him, he
just looks ill and close to death. I know better. I go to step closer, just as his eyes pop open, and those once beautiful dark blue eyes are now black. I don’t know if it’s the pain from my leg or the shock of seeing my Eli like this, but my body falls to the floor as my world fades into a deep, anything-but-peaceful sleep.

  Chapter Twenty

  Isola

  I grumble as I wake up, my eyes and lips feeling dry like I have slept for ages, and some deep part of me just wants to go back to sleep and pretend the world isn’t so cruel. So harsh. I know I could stay here, pretending to sleep and be more of a coward than I already am, or get up and fight. Though every part of me doesn’t want to, I keep my eyes open. I stare up at the white painted ceiling, wondering where exactly I am, before I sit myself up slowly as my whole body feels exhausted. The room I’m in is plain with white walls and two other beds. I feel my thigh, only feeling a simple scar where the dagger went through and a small amount of pain. I slide myself off the side of the bed, looking down at the oversized men’s shirt and long boxer shorts I have on. My hair is plaited when I feel it, and there is no blood or dirt on me, so someone must have cleaned me. I glance around the room, looking for my leather dragon clothes and not seeing them anywhere.

  I suddenly remember passing out and the reason why—Elias’s cold stare—and I try not to cry. I need to fix him, not cry about it. Not yet. He isn’t lost…yet. I walk to the door, only limping a little bit which is impressive, and crack the door open. I go to step out when I hear talking and pause instead, wanting to listen.

  “That boy is lost,” my uncle’s demanding voice states in annoyance. “Seeing him in that cage proves to me he is better off dead.”

  “Elias is my brother, be careful what you say next, Louis,” Dagan growls out. “If anyone can save him, it is Isola. Dark magic ruined him, light magic surely can fix it.”

  “You can’t let Isola see him like this. There isn’t anything left of the dragon she loves, and Isola needs to focus on the war that will be coming. Tatarina let her go for now, but only so she will suffer about Elias before she kills her. Letting Isola near that boy will destroy her,” my uncle demands, annoying me because I know he is right. Tatarina wouldn’t have let us go with Elias if she thought there was any way I could save him. No, Elias is here to hurt me, but I won’t let him. Tatarina doesn’t know everything…and I will save him.

  “Elias loves Isola, and some part of him is still alive in there. No matter what that bitch did to him,” Dagan replies.

  “It still stands that Tatarina and Elias are linked by dark magic. Killing her kills him, and we both know Isola won’t let anyone hurt Elias. We also know Tatarina has done this on purpose. Elias is the perfect protection against the only dragon that truly threatens her,” my uncle states. “I will speak to Isola. Go and see the seers, make sure the academy is protected. This is where we make our stand and the final fight, with the seer army at our side. If Isola won’t kill Tatarina, then I will. One way or another, Elias will die, and as her mate, you must prepare her for that,” my uncle says, and Dagan doesn’t reply as I hear the sound of footsteps walking away.

  “You can come out now, princess,” Dagan affectionately says, and I step out of the door to see him stood waiting for me with his arms crossed. Dagan looks much better now, cleaned up with a black shirt and jeans on, and a sword on his back clipped by a hold around his chest. Dagan and I only stare at each other for a moment before he is walking to me and pulling me tightly into his arms, his fear for his brother and me slamming into my own emotions. Though it’s not like I don’t feel the same way.

  “Take me to him, Dagan,” I whisper into his chest, and he holds me tighter for a moment like he doesn’t want to let me go and face reality.

  “Elias isn’t the same…don’t listen to anything he says because he doesn’t mean it,” Dagan warns me, and I feel him pull away from me a little. “Wait here.” I nod, watching as he goes back into the room I came out from and brings out a cloak. He covers me with the cloak and clips it at the front.

  “There, covered up. There are a lot of people in the castle,” he explains and drops some flat shoes onto the floor for me. I slide my feet into them and flash him a thankful smile. “We could go and get you some food first—”

  “I need to see him now, Dagan,” I reply, interrupting his idea of distracting me, because I couldn’t even think about eating or doing anything until I have seen him. “I have to figure out how to save him. Is Bee around? I want to ask her if light magic can help.”

  “No one has seen her in days. She went into the forest and didn’t come back,” Dagan tells me, and I go still in surprise. Bee wouldn’t just go off when I was hurt after she healed me. I don’t understand that one at all.

  “What? She wouldn’t leave me, us,” I whisper in shock, trying not to feel upset that she would do that.

  “I’m sure she will come back. Bee wouldn’t have left you without a good reason,” Dagan states, and I know he is right, though it is hard to think of Bee being out there alone and so far from me again. I thought we agreed not to leave each other. Maybe she is disappointed in me for choosing Elias?

  “Let’s go,” I whisper, not wanting to focus on Bee right now when I need to see Elias. Even if I know he is going to break my heart.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Isola

  We walk silently down the empty corridors of Dragca Academy until we get to the stairs, which have gaps in from broken stone and burned black walls. The once grand academy is in ruins now, but surprisingly full of people when we walk down the stairs. They have set up lights, tables with food on them, and there are even children running around laughing. I don’t know who they are, but they all pause whatever they were doing when they see me, bowing their heads. Even seeing them bow makes me feel sick with guilt. I chose Elias over all of them, over the whole of Dragca. I shouldn’t be bowed to.

  A familiar face walks through the people. Essna. She now has a massive scar down her one cheek, and little cuts next to it which have healed but are still red. Her hair is cut very short and shaved on the one side, and she is dressed for war. The black marks are so striking on her pale skin, though that seems like the only thing the same about her.

  “I heard you gave up the throne for one of your lovers,” Essna states, and I nod, waiting for her to tell me how stupid I am or how disappointing, but instead she smiles. “It seems like something a true queen would have done. Any queen that is willing to kill those she loves for the throne isn’t a queen anyone should support.” Her statement is somewhat humbling, considering my uncle and likely everyone else thinks I made a mistake.

  “Are you here to support me?” I ask her, watching her reaction closely. I’d certainly be shocked if she was.

  “Yes. While you were on Earth, I gathered an army for you. Dragca Academy is protected by seer wards, and we can hold off Tatarina for a little while.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “I had a vision which I believe the last of the magic in Dragca sent me. If there is going to be a future here for any of us…you are our last hope, Isola Dragice,” she tells me.

  “What did you see?”

  “Didn’t your sister explain how you should never tell someone what you see? Where is Melody?” she asks me. Seers and their rules.

  “On Earth,” I reply, and she crosses her arms.

  “Good. The seers need a leader when this is over, and I doubt I will be alive to be one…or I’m retiring if I am,” she laughs, almost making me smile before she turns more serious.

  “If the war is won, I’m sure you can retire in peace,” I respond.

  “Perhaps I might. Do try to save your lover…but know one thing, Isola,” she says, and lowers her voice so only Dagan and I can hear her. “When Tatarina finally comes here, I will kill her to save everyone, and if I don’t, there will be a line right behind me to finish the job. It is best you kill her though, and then no one will doubt your rule. Or your children’s
in time to come.” My eyes tear at her truthful words, knowing that she is right. I may have walked away from killing Tatarina, but if anyone else gets the chance, they won’t pause like I did. If someone else kills her, they have a claim to the throne even if it is decided to be given to me. Then my children could pay the price if one of the killer’s children decided to go for the throne.

  “Thank you for your advice,” I respond, clearing my throat, and she bows her head with a look of understanding before Dagan leads me away.

  “We have time to save him,” Dagan whispers to me, and I can’t reply as we walk through the people to a door on the other side. Whatever time we have, won’t be long. Tatarina will give me time to suffer, not time to save him. I need a miracle.

  Dagan opens the door and waves me in, closing the door behind us. There are steps going down, with a light from a fire at the bottom, lighting the steps so I can see where I am walking. I try to connect with my dragon as I walk down, but she seems tired or simply doesn’t want to speak to me right now. I don’t even blame her, though I sense her pain mixed in with mine. I keep walking down the steps, my heart beating loudly in my chest with every step. I almost don’t want to look as I get to the bottom of the steps and see Thorne and Korbin sitting on chairs outside a row of cages. They smile nervously at me, their eyes flashing between me and the cage. I step further into the room, my every step feeling forced as I want nothing more than to run out this room and pretend everything is okay. I have already run from Tatarina…I won’t run from Elias. I smile back at them, before looking into the cage where Elias sits on the ground, a collar around his neck that I recognize.