by Black, C. I.
She could figure things out so fast. Why couldn’t she be interested in him? “Yes to the inamorata.” Grey wheezed in another breath. “No to the beating me up. Grab a sword. Hunter needs someone at his back.”
Gig rushed inside, but Capri narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll explain on the way.”
She nodded, her expression still grim. “You’re a good friend, Grey.”
He squirmed under the truth of that. “I’m an even better lover.”
She flashed him a hint of teeth. “So I hear.”
CHAPTER 35
Xanthic drew even more energy. Brilliant light surrounded Anaea and Hunter, then vanished. She, Hunter, and Regis stood in the center of chaos. The front of the feast hall writhed with battle. Dragons roared and screamed, swung blades, and shot lightning and stone and ice. Blood and sweat and other things Anaea didn’t want to think about slicked the floor. She couldn’t tell who was on what side, or who was winning, but there looked to be a good number of the trench-coat wearing assailants in the mix. Hunter staggered to his feet and relief flooded her. Thank God the lightning hadn’t killed him.
“What is going on? I demand an explanation,” Regis said, his gaze jumping from Hunter to Anaea and back again.
“You demand?” Xanthic snorted. “It’s obvious. Someone is stealing my coup! And doing a terrible job at it. But that’s what happens when Nero finds out about one’s plans.” He gated onto the table on the dais and raised his hands. Power surged through her. It raced over her body and poured from Xanthic’s palms, exploding in a thunder clap that crashed through the hall. Everyone froze, the sudden silence deafening.
“That’s better. Now, where were we? Right, my coup.”
“What in the name of the Mother is going on?” Regis screamed, his voice shrill in the quiet.
“The idiot doesn’t realize who’s in charge now.”
“Hunter?” Regis asked.
“I’ll take care of this,” Hunter growled.
Xanthic snickered and clapped his hands. “The mighty Hunter will take care of this. This should be good.”
Energy gathered within Xanthic. Anaea squirmed in her cage.
“Get out,” Hunter said to Regis. “I’ll explain later.”
“No.” Regis crossed his arms, looking every bit the petulant child. “You’ll explain now.”
Hunter’s presence within her billowed with frustration for just a heartbeat then was shut off.
“Come on, Hunter. Explain now. In front of everyone.” Xanthic hopped off the table onto the front of the dais. “Explain how you body-shared this sweet little human.”
Mumbles echoed through the hall and Regis glared at Hunter. “You what?”
Hunter reached into his coat and growled again.
“But you were too stupid to see what you had,” Xanthic said in a singsong.
The energy within her continued to grow.
“No, you hopped out as fast as you could. Too dumb to know a true sorcerer even when you’re in one.”
Xanthic raised a hand and wind whipped through the feast hall. Dragons yelled and rushed for the doors or drew energy to make gates.
“No gating. No leaving.” The doors slammed shut and shimmering cages enveloped the drakes. “You all need to bear witness. There will be a new Royal Coterie.” Xanthic glared at the group. “That would be me. But first, a little business to take care of.”
He drew more energy and Anaea’s cage wavered for just a moment. A gate whooshed open and Zenobia stood before him, beautiful and perfect, dressed in black with pieces of armor similar to what Anaea wore during the wasu tahazu.
“Not getting your hands dirty, my dear?” Xanthic asked.
Confusion clouded her expression for a heartbeat and then recognition burned it away. “He said you were dead.”
“Actually, he said I was still in there, you just didn’t believe him.”
“Xanthic, I—”
“What? Planned to save me all along? Thought of me daily?” He stepped close and a strange sensation slipped through Anaea. It felt like regret.
“If I had known—” Zenobia reached a tentative hand to Anaea’s cheek and Xanthic leaned into the caress. “If only I—”
Fury filled Anaea. “If only,” Xanthic sneered. “If only. If only I hadn’t whored myself to that whale we call a Prince.”
Zenobia jerked back, but Xanthic seized her wrist. “This is my coup, bitch!”
A new power curled out of Anaea, crawling up her arm and out her hand like a swarm of biting insects. Zenobia screamed. Blood welled on her wrist under Xanthic’s grasp but he held tight. His fury burned cold. She needed to suffer like he had suffered. More. Worse. Painful.
He brushed the power across her face. Welts formed, burst, and her cheek collapsed, revealing stringy muscle and pocked bone. She screamed and the bone and muscle reformed, covered with flesh and burst again.
Xanthic giggled and clapped his hands, releasing Zenobia. With a moan, she scrabbled away, blood weeping down her cheek.
“Oh my, I didn’t anticipate that you’d heal faster than a disintegrating touch.” He giggled and sexual pleasure billowed over Anaea. This was just too good. She would suffer and suffer, always healing and always disintegrating, until he got around to killing her. Perfect.
He turned his gaze to Regis and Hunter. “I’m King. Any disputers?”
* * *
Regis’s chambers were empty and the door hung ajar. Capri turned to Grey. He looked marginally better, but sweat still slicked his forehead and his skin remained pale. He really was a loyal friend. She hoped Hunter knew how good he had it.
“Looks like we missed the fight,” Capri said.
Grey nodded. “No bodies. They must be at the feast hall.”
“You think he’ll risk accusing Hunter in public?” That wasn’t good. With the Handmaiden missing since the attack at the rebirth chamber, Hunter’s soul could be lost in the medallion. But there weren’t a lot of other explanations. Unless those human mages Grey had mentioned had caught up to everyone.
“They have a head start,” Gig said.
“Then we’ll just have to run.” Grey bolted down the hall.
Capri raced after him. Hunter didn’t stand a chance if Regis accused him in public. As good as Hunter was, he couldn’t survive a fight against every drake who’d be in attendance at the feast. And fight he would if his inamorata’s life was on the line.
Grey skidded to a halt in front of half a dozen drakes standing guard before the feast hall doors. They all wore black and all had glazed looks in their eyes. She squinted. Something wasn’t right. Four of the six auras flickered, weak and uneven. She’d only seen that once, right before the only human mage she’d ever met called up a cyclone and killed thousands of people. No one else had seen the flickering aura, but she knew she hadn’t hallucinated. And now she knew what it meant. Those men weren’t dragons, but human mages. Shit.
Grey raised his sword, but he wasn’t in any shape to take on all six.
* * *
All the dragons in the feast hall stared at Anaea with wide eyes then their gazes shot to the floor.
“Not a defiant one among them,” Xanthic said. “Of course, we can’t have a new Royal Coterie with the old one still around.”
Xanthic jabbed a finger at Regis. Lightning shot toward the Prince. Anaea’s cage ballooned, slightly, for just a moment. Hunter tackled Regis to the floor and the energy shot past them to the back of the room and burst against the doors, scorching the wood and showering the marble floor with sparks.
More energy surged in Xanthic. The cage expanded again, a little further. Anaea shoved against the gap. Hunter’s presence filled her. He was determined, ferocious, and terrified he’d lose her.
I’m still here, she called.
Xanthic shot another bolt. Hunter shoved Regis out of the way and jerked back, but the lightning sliced open Hunter’s side.
Xanthic faked a yawn. “This is boring. Do you mind
?” He turned to three drakes… no, human mages by the weakness of their auras, but they stared at him, trembling.
“Oh right, take the cage off.” He flicked his wrist and the shimmering cage melted around them. “Now kill him and don’t make me ask again.”
The three mages leapt at Hunter. The first grabbed him and the second slammed his fist into Hunter’s face. Hunter’s head snapped back.
Anaea bashed against her cage.
Magic fluctuated around the third mage. He was preparing something but she couldn’t tell what.
* * *
Both drakes and humans guarding the entrance to the feast hall raised their blades. A muffled explosion shook the great doors and they shot nervous glances at each other.
“Gig, a distraction,” Capri said, keeping her voice low and not looking back at the young drake. He’d know what to do. He’d sense whatever technology was in the vicinity, hopefully something like a cell phone on one of the assailants, and activate it. She stepped aside and barked her power word, ramming her magic into the minds of the four humans. She couldn’t influence the two drakes, but she could take care of the mages. She prayed she was right about the meaning of their flickering auras.
“You’re tired,” she said. “Go to sleep.”
Their weapons sagged in their hands.
The two drakes growled and Grey rushed at them.
A cell phone rang—Gig working at his finest—and distracted the drakes just long enough for Grey to slice the closest drake’s neck.
The humans stumbled back, still blocking the door. Her magic slowed their movements, but not enough. She needed more power.
Grey gasped and brought his sword across the first drake’s torso, slicing him open from crotch to sternum. She hoped he was a slow healer. No one wanted to take a dragon’s life without a medallion nearby, but she didn’t doubt Grey would do it if he had to.
Gig jabbed his short sword at the second dragon, a squat blue drake with a pale aura.
She yearned to help him but all four humans were still a danger. Pain seared Capri’s temples. “Go. To. Sleep.”
One of the humans dropped to the floor.
“Sleep.” She wasn’t going to be fast enough, and Grey looked exhausted.
* * *
Mage number two punched Hunter in the face again, blood and spittle flying into mage number one’s face.
With a growl, Hunter jerked a hand free. He pulled a gun from his coat and shot mage number two in the forehead as he came in for another strike. Hunter twisted and killed the man holding him before the first one hit the ground.
His rage swept through Anaea. It fed her, strengthened her. She pounded and pounded at the cage holding her until a crack appeared in her confines.
Hunter shot the third mage between the eyes and rushed up the aisle toward the dais, pulling a second pistol and pointing both at her.
CHAPTER 36
Two more humans dropped to the floor under Capri’s magic. Her head pounded. The last one started reciting a spell in ancient Egyptian, drawing power.
Gig’s strike missed. Grey seized the distraction to slash at the blue drake’s legs, but his blade was blocked. Metal clanged against metal. Blue swung at Gig’s head. The youngling ducked and Grey tackled Blue, smashing his head against the granite floor.
Capri growled her power word again. Her magic exploded through her skull and the remaining human mage gasped. His eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground.
Grey rammed Blue’s head against the floor again then met Capri’s gaze.
She nodded at him and shoved the closest human away from the door. “Open it.”
* * *
Xanthic jumped from the dais, hands flicking at his shimmering cages, releasing more of Zenobia’s mages and screaming, “Kill them! Kill Regis and his assassin!” More than a dozen men, their faces etched with fear, jerked forward and rushed across the hall to Hunter.
Panic filled Anaea. Do it now, Hunter. Kill him. The men were going to overtake him and he wouldn’t stand a chance.
Hunter bared his teeth, his guns trained on Xanthic, on her. His index fingers twitched near the triggers but he didn’t fire.
The great door swung open. Grey and Gig, doused in blood, and Capri, her aura blindingly radiant, stood in the entrance. They paused for a heartbeat, then raced to meet the men.
Anaea dragged her attention back to Hunter. Screams, roars, explosions, and metal screeching against metal filled the chamber. She couldn’t look, couldn’t bear to see Hunter die. This had to end. Xanthic couldn’t be allowed to continue.
Hunter, please. She rammed everything she had at the crack. Kill him.
Xanthic sneered and sick satisfaction washed over her.
“What’s wrong, Hunter? Can’t kill a human?” Xanthic held up the medallion. “Can’t kill this human?”
Hunter’s hands trembled. He wasn’t going to stop her. He couldn’t.
“I didn’t think so.” Magic swept down Xanthic’s hands and enveloped the medallion.
Anaea’s heart raced. She couldn’t lose him.
Someone wailed nearby. Metal caught light and Grey brought down a mage. Lightning zinged toward him and Capri tackled him out of the way. No please, not Hunter, not his friends. But she couldn’t get control of her body.
The magic within her billowed and a wind snagged Hunter, dragging him the remaining few feet to Xanthic. She could sense Hunter’s flurry of thoughts. He’d failed her, couldn’t save her, but had to keep fighting.
The crack in Anaea’s cage widened. Just enough. It had to be enough to stop all of this.
Xanthic giggled and shoved the medallion against Hunter’s forehead. Hunter struggled against the wind, but it held him tight, pinning his arms to his sides. Xanthic barked the words to activate the medallion. Blue flame leapt from his hand, surrounding Hunter.
Anaea shoved through the crack, seizing the magic within her, but she couldn’t pull it back. It engulfed Hunter, tearing at his soul.
Please, no.
Hunter’s gaze met hers. I love you, inamorata.
And I won’t lose you. She released everything she felt for Hunter: love, respect, awe, determination, into the magic devouring him. She shoved it through the medallion into him.
Hunter dropped to his knees. His red aura blossomed, growing with each beat of his heart. He moaned and glanced up at her.
Her heart stuttered. Something was wrong. He gasped for breath and trembled. Then something cracked and he howled.
“Oh, God. Hunter.” She dropped to her knees. Her knees. She had control!
But Xanthic lassoed her essence with a sticky thread. She struggled against it. She needed to stay in control of her body and help Hunter. She shot a mental bolt of light at Xanthic. He absorbed it and her body released a manic giggle.
Hunter collapsed to his side and hugged his gut. Something writhed under his skin, drawing another scream.
God, she’d killed him.
Xanthic sniggered at the thought.
No, please.
Hunter’s face contorted. He heaved onto his hands and knees and the back of his coat split. His gurgled cries turned to growls. His face stretched and turned red. Smoke billowed from his mouth and nose. Flesh peeled away, revealing scales bathed in blood.
His aura surged, surrounding him in a red nimbus, and with a great roar he spread enormous, leathery wings.
You have something I want, Jester. Hunter’s voice rang through her. He spit a blast of fire into the air and peered at her with enormous, slitted eyes.
“You can’t have her.”
More sticky tendrils wrapped around her. She seized the magic in her, burning at the blackness, but it was too strong. Xanthic’s manic desperation made him wild.
A calm sparked within her. She could feel Hunter’s fear and love.
And could still feel the ridges of the medallion digging into her clasped hands.
She stared at Hunter. Here, in his true form, he was majesti
c. His scales shimmered red and gold. Powerful wings curled along his back and the tip of his tail flicked, revealing his rage.
She met his gaze. It was still him. She’d always been able to see his spirit, regardless of what body he was in, and he was filled with absolute love for her. She drew her magic around herself.
Xanthic struggled to rebuild her cage. His sticky tendrils wrapped around her and his fury swept through her.
But it couldn’t touch the love in her heart.
She squeezed the medallion between her palms and activated it with a thought.
Xanthic screamed. His cages around the dragons in the feast hall burst apart and the drakes swarmed Zenobia’s men.
Light swept through her, tearing away the darkness, scouring her clean of everything that was Xanthic, sucking his essence into the medallion. Flames danced over her hands, searing her flesh. But it didn’t matter. She was a phoenix reborn, rising from the ashes of her empty life into a new one. The life of a true human sorcerer, something that hadn’t been seen in over two thousand years. She healed like a dragon, had the lifespan of a dragon, but was so much more than a dragon. She was the reason for all the dragon laws. But they didn’t have to fear her, not like the originators of the Great Scourge. Unless, of course, they hurt a member of her coterie.
Hunter spread his wings, roared and spat fire, and all knew he belonged to her.
Then he trembled, his form shrinking, his scales melting away, until he stood once again before her in his human form.
She slid her gaze down his naked body, desire heating her. It was still Mark’s body, but it also wasn’t. It was the soul inside that counted.
Hunter followed her gaze and coughed, the only indication he was even the slightest bit uncomfortable. “Looks like there are some downfalls to transmutation.”
Anaea bit back a grin. “It’s only a downfall if we’re in public.”
“True.”
And even though they were still surrounded by the elite of dragon society, she didn’t care. All that really mattered was Hunter.