Queen of Jade: a dragon shifter fantasy (The Dragon Mage Book 2)

by LJ Andrews

  “Let’s go,” I said, though it frustrated me to not sense the same things. I was charged with protecting Jade, and how could I protect her if I didn’t get a hint at threats?

  Jade took my hand, and together we scurried back to the path that would take us to the reform house. We didn’t get far.

  The attack came in such a blur, I hardly had a chance to react. Jade was ripped to the ground; her hand violently torn from mine. The gleam of a crimson streak cut through the night. Someone—or something—was holding a blade, hovering the point over Jade’s chest. The enemy was dressed in a dark cloak, like a poisonous zomok would wear. My mind only took a single heartbeat to catch up to the situation before the powerful burn of mage energy rushed my blood and fueled my body.

  The High Priest blades were still back at the reform house, but I carried a dagger on my leg. Raffi had given it to me after Bron had been banished. The craftsmanship was immaculate, with a carved head of a warrior dragon on the hilt and a blade that could cut through bone.

  The weapon was in my hand in half a breath.

  Before the assailant could draw the knife down against Jade, I dug my hand in the collar of the dark cloak and tugged hard.

  “Go,” I shouted at Jade.

  She scrambled to her feet, eyes wide and furious. If I’d had time, I might have rolled my eyes at her stubbornness. She wouldn’t leave.

  Jade’s skin peeled away, replaced with her sea foam scales, her towering form, and silken wings.

  “Jade, go,” I shouted again as the cloaked attacker released a rogue dagger into the night. It was aimed at Jade’s heart. Holding my hands in front of my chest, the appeal to my power came naturally. Blue light surrounded the dagger and it fell. Stopped by my magic, the dagger sunk into the soil, no longer a threat. Jade took flight. The wind beneath her wings added a tumultuous breeze through the branches.

  Holding my blade tighter in my grip, I rushed at the enemy. The markings along my arms took shape, hardening into the jade armor. I raised my arm, blocked a strike, then sliced my weapon against his thigh. My dagger struck something hard and did little damage.

  Spinning out of the attack, I backed away.

  He struck with fury. Enough that I stumbled to my knees. My arms trembled overhead as his blade pressed on my dagger. Jaw tight, I called to the energy in the earth, the soil, the trees, all the way to the damn bedrock.

  Beneath my knees a shudder rolled the snow in waves. Furious energy surged from my attacker’s blade. A power not unlike mine, but different enough I didn’t recognize it.

  When he shifted, exposed skin on his wrist came into view, and I slashed my cutting edge across the tendons. With a shriek of pain, the cloaked figure backed away, giving me time to rise to my feet. I dropped my dagger, palms open. Magic floated from the forest floor like steam, coiled around my fingers and arms, gathering in blue and gold and white mist.

  Before I stood against Bron, coupling energies would have taken a long time, but whether I was getting stronger or because this person had directly attacked Jade, mage magic came swiftly.

  The trees rocked and the attacker stumbled.

  I tossed a flare of power. It struck his chest. He groaned and scurried away on hands and knees. No way would he leave without a bit of damage. I crouched and dug my fingers deep into the snow, sending out broken roots from the soil. The figure rolled away with a low gasp.

  He staggered to his feet and raised a palm. The hood concealed his face, but clearly the way crimson sparks dotted his slender finger he was a mage. Bark splintered and cracked.

  I rolled my shoulders, jaw tight. Again, I’d face a mage, no doubt one who’d had centuries to master their power. But if he fought me, if he tried to kill a royal, he stood with Bron. Not us.

  As if we read each other’s thoughts, we faced each other with open palms, the energy swelling between us.

  Then it stopped.

  I jumped back when the fury of air nearly knocked me to the ground.

  Jade’s powerful claws ripped through the cloak, dragging the mage to the ground in a breathless heap. Sapphire joined her, his gleaming teeth bright in the dark. I recognized Raffi’s enormous, fiery form. The warrior stomped angrily along the earth, but surprisingly, slowly his wyvern form crumbled away until he was standing bare-chested in the trees with only dark, tattered pants along his legs. Jade eyed me, though she said nothing, a billow of steam escaped her throat. Her claws lifted off the back of the attacker, and the mage drew in a desperate breath of air once his lungs could fill again.

  I wrapped my hand around the collar of the cloak, and forced him to roll onto his side.

  My eyes widened. Not him. Her.

  A woman with a molten swirl of gold in her eyes, glared up at me. Her arms and legs beneath the cloak were coated in fiery armor. The red richer than blood.

  I wrapped my hand around her throat and squeezed. Hard. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

  She gasped and slapped at my arm, coughing when I released her neck.

  “Teagan,” Raffi said.

  I promptly ignored him and pressed the cutting edge of my dagger against her flesh, drawing a trickle of blood. “Who are you?”

  She glared at me, her gilded eyes sparking violently. “I was about to ask you the same thing. I sense something powerful in you. Are you working with the lindworms?”

  “You attacked a royal, that makes you the only mage here who’d be with the lindworms.”

  The snow and ice shifted as Sapphire melted into his human form.

  “I saved you from a lindworm snake!” she snarled. “When you fought me, I . . . believed you to be one of them.”

  “Teagan, wait,” Sapphire said, his hand finding my shoulder.

  “Lindworm? You attacked the queen of the jade bloodline!”

  “Teagan,” Sapphire interjected before the mage could respond. “She’s hallucinating. She’s been poisoned and can’t see us as royals.”

  Holding tight to the mage, I glanced at Sapphire curiously.

  Jade stomped her feet and Sapphire when to her side. “It’s true, Jade.”

  “You’re lying,” the mage shrieked, her eyes desperately finding me in the dark. “Can’t you see, they’re serpents?”

  The mage reached for her dagger, the blood-red armor hardening even more. I placed my hand on her head, practicing an idea Mini had taught me before she’d died. I could silence energy in others, bring them to a rest. The mage was strong and resisted for a moment, but when I placed both palms over her head, her head flopped back, and her energy went quiet.

  I slumped in the snow, my palms burning as I gathered my breath. Slowly, with the threat gone, my armor melted back into the marks along my skin and the seal across my back. Jade remained in her wyvern form for a few tense moments before she molded into her slender body. The glittering green gown hugged her curves in a way that made it difficult not to stare.

  “What do you mean she’s been poisoned, Konrad?”

  I accepted Raffi’s hand to help pull me from the ground. The exhaustion began creeping into my veins. Something I had yet to master was handling the effects of using so much energy, then allowing it to leave. Already sleep sounded like the only possible thing.

  Sapphire glanced between us before stooping low over the sleeping mage.

  “You need to come back to the house. Something has happened.” He scooped the mage into his arms. “There’s been an attack on a royal. This is the mage who defends her. It’s Ruby, Jade. She’s at the house, and I’m not sure she’s going to make it.”

  Chapter 5

  My heart still thumped wildly against my chest to the point my ribs ached. My fingers were stiff once we arrived at the house, for I hadn’t realized I’d clenched my fists the entire walk home. The mage was silent in Sapphire’s arms, her head bobbing against his chest. The armor over her limbs had faded, and through her sheer sleeves the intricate crimson tattoos spanned the length of her arms.

  Jade said noth
ing, but tension I could taste mounted in her heart. Her unease danced down my own spine, and I wanted nothing more than to take it all away. Gently, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

  “Jade, say something,” I whispered.

  Her emerald eyes were large and brilliant when she reached for the handle on the door. “I have nothing to say.” Her shoulders curled in defeat. “Let’s just help Ruby right now.”

  She left me at the door.

  “She blames herself for any attacks,” Raffi grumbled, stepping next to me. “As queen, Jade will always blame herself. It’s something she must learn as time goes on that sometimes even the most vigilant rulers cannot stop all the bad.”

  He didn’t give me a chance to respond before disappearing into the house. I rubbed the ache over my eyes and followed.

  Sapphire wasn’t lying—not that I ever doubted him—but I hoped he had been. Sprawled along the long kitchen table was a young woman. Eisha stood at her head dabbing a pungent oil along her skin. Dash murmured healing instructions from an old grimoire and Frenrir obeyed on the other side.

  Sapphire placed the mage on the sofa in the living room, then joined to help care for his fellow royal.

  Ruby was beautiful. Smooth, chestnut skin and raven wing hair. Her lashes were so thick they shaded her cheeks. On a closer look, clearly, she was forced asleep. Her injuries too great, too painful, should she be conscious.

  Cloth padded her middle, sopped with blood. Ruby’s hands were stained red, and the small finger on one of her hands was wrapped. From the amount of blood, I had no doubt one, if not a few fingers, were lost. A large gash Frenrir dabbed spanned her neck down to her protruding collar bone. Truth be told, I didn’t know how she still breathed.

  “Who did this?” Jade asked through her teeth. She bent over Ruby’s unmoving form.

  Sapphire cleared his throat, and I caught the quick glance in my direction before he spoke. “The mage was tainted . . . by another mage. It was intentional that she might attack a royal. That’s all Ruby was able to tell us before Eisha had to place her in a sleep for her own safety.”

  “So Bron did this?” I said, darkly.

  Jade met my eye. She seemed angry and empathetic in one glance.

  Eisha answered, her voice was direct yet kind in its essence. “We can assume Bron left Wyvern Willows and found Ruby, yes. The power over the mage was incredible and will take someone equally as powerful to reverse the poison polluting her mind.”

  It was painfully obvious Eisha wanted me to correct the damage from Bron, but I had no idea where to begin.

  “You are blaming yourself,” Jade whispered as she placed her hands on the sides of Ruby’s face. Jade had a power all her own. I’d seen her perform amazing things with her touch. If anyone could help Ruby, it would be Jade. “Banishing Bron was the only thing you could do, Teagan. This is not your fault. It falls to me.”

  Frenrir huffed, and Eisha shushed him quickly. I wanted to break his jaw. Jade was wrong. I banished Bron. I didn’t kill him. All I’d done was let him go free to unleash pain on others. I turned away, ashamed. “It’s not you who didn’t kill Bron when you had a chance.”

  Frenrir wasn’t hiding his distaste for the mage; I could sense his arrogant bitterness like a humid swallow of air. What ached more was the palpable hint that there were others in the room who felt the same. Who? Was Eisha still blaming the mage for the pain caused here? Did Dash hold me responsible? Did Jade?

  So many energies meshed together, I couldn’t discern where it all came from.

  Raffi clapped me on the shoulder after a long pause and eyed me with sympathy. “You should help the mage before she wakes up and tries to slaughter us all again.”

  “I don’t—”

  “It must be a mage who rids her of the poison,” Eisha interjected before I could complain. “Help her, Teagan. Or we will be forced to destroy her. I will not have her attacking Jade, Konrad, or Ruby again.”

  “Did she harm Ruby?” I asked.

  “Not all these wounds are old. Some are quite recent. We split the pair up when they arrived. The mage had just started attacking.”

  My stomach toiled in sick waves. A mage attacked her own royal. I thought of the powers that had altered the mage’s mind, and for the first time since the bond had strengthened between Jade and me, I feared for her safety—even with me. Bron was powerful, twisted, and driven by his power lust. He could corrupt my mind; he could make me harm Jade. I’d die first.

  Jade didn’t look up, and the crushing burden of her hidden feelings weighed along my shoulders. I nodded and slowly backed out of the kitchen, leaving the wyverns to save their royal.

  The mage stirred, but her eyes remained closed.

  Hanging on the banister was a messenger bag with a canvas strap. I broke the strap and wrapped her wrists until I was satisfied she couldn’t reach for a weapon when she woke. She looked to be a couple years older than me, but after meeting Mini, that didn’t mean anything. The mage could be four centuries old for all I knew. She seemed strong and athletic, and the crimson marks along her skin contrasted nicely with her pale features. Satisfied she wouldn’t move for a moment, I rushed up the staircase to my bedroom. The two swords remained where I left them. My fists curled around the hilt; a bite of energy bloomed over my palms. I’d use them against another bloodline mage if needed, no mistake.

  With a blade in each hand, I took a seat near the mage whose breathing grew more even and peaceful. After a few moments, her eyes fluttered and she jolted upright. She scanned the room until she saw the two swords.

  “You are a mage.” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you end the lindworms?”

  I kept quiet for a long pause, needed to tread carefully—I didn’t want her to lose her wits again and begin attacking everyone.

  “I am a mage,” I answered, “for the jade bloodline, and there are no lindworms nearby.”

  She eyed me quizzically. “The jade bloodline severed at the divide of races.”

  “I don’t have time to explain.” I adjusted the swords to lean against the chair and rolled up my sleeve. “You can see for yourself.”

  She stared at my green armor, and her tension eased. She actually smiled at me, still not realizing her wrists were bound. “Amazing. I never thought it possible to restore a bond with a broken bloodline. Wait!” Her eyes took on a crazed, frantic glow. “Where is Ruby!”

  All at once, she noticed her hands. Shaking her wrists desperately, she tried to break through my tether. I should have known as a mage, a strip of canvas couldn’t hold her for long. She cursed me and the fabric burned with small, bright embers along the edges.

  “Stop,” I said. “I’ll remove it if you promise to listen and not . . . freak out.”

  “What are you talking about? Where is Ruby? Why do you bind a fellow mage, unless—”

  “I’m not working with the lindworms. Don’t even go there. You’ve been a little antagonistic, so I did this for your safety and mine.”

  “Antagonistic? I don’t know what you mean. I need to find Ruby.”

  “She’s safe,” I said, drawing the mage’s swift gaze back to me. “She’s sleeping. Whatever happened to you both, she was injured, but I’ve helped take care of her.”

  I thought it best not to tell her who was actually caring for Ruby, not if she was going to try to slaughter them.

  “I must see her,” she said, trying to sit up.

  “Just wait.” I touched her shoulder and kept her in place. “I want to help you, but I need to ask a few questions.”

  “What?”

  “If another mage had . . . corrupted a mage to make them think something, how might you go about ridding the poison from the system?”

  Her brow furrowed, and she looked at me as though I were a lunatic. “What a strange question. I don’t see its purpose. Now, let me pass. I should be near Ruby to help her heal from any wounds.”

  “It has a purpose. Please, it’s important,” I insisted, keeping my h
and firmly on her shoulder.

  She shoved my grip away. “I sense your strength, so I find it odd you would ask such a question when it’s clear you would know.”

  “Pretend I don’t.”

  She stared at me, utterly confused. “Poisoned energy requires replacing corruption by transferring positive mage energy in its stead. Now, release me.”

  “Give me a little time.” How I wanted Mini to be here right now. Transferring energy, okay, I’d done that before. I usually . . . touched something and pulsed my will into the energy streams. I adjusted, so I sat beside her on the couch.

  There was certainly a strangeness rushing through her blood. Dark. Painful. The shadows swirled in my mind the longer I kept my hold on her. The mage tried to shrug me away. I heard her shriek at me, but my mind focused on nothing but the darkness.

  I used my own desire to protect Jade, to help the elemental dragons, as an anchor. My fear, my loathing for Bron for what he’d done to Mini, as motivation. I used it all, urging the mage to accept the truth.

  She breathed heavily, her body slumping against my shoulder. Her eyes closed, and for a moment I thought I’d done something terribly wrong. She lay still, breathing and writhing against me until all at once her eyes shot open.

  “What did you do to me?” she asked. Already she had a radiant, warm energy emitting from her body. She used my body for support and tilted her face to study mine.

  I eased her upright over the arm of the sofa. “How do you feel?”

  “Lighter,” she said. “What did you do?”

  “You were corrupted into thinking the royal wyverns were lindworms.”

  “What! Where’s Ruby?”

  “As I said, she’s getting her care. But I need to know what happened first.”

  The mage shook her head, brushing hair from her clammy forehead. With effort, she shifted and rested her face in her palms. “Several . . . several days ago I felt . . . I knew something was going to happen to Ruby. We’d stayed in close contact since the divide. We were careful never to be seen with each other, for we didn’t know how the wyvern council nor the Priesthood of the mage would react. But I had this . . . ache inside. I knew something was happening, so I rushed to her. Just in time. Ruby was fighting him.”