by L J Andrews
The jolt of electric energy ignited my body in a flash of flames—or so it seemed. I shot up in bed, the flash of clarity filling my mind with fierce understanding. I saw a sprawling manor. The house was surrounded by trees, but there were no mountains or hills. In the distance was the scent of salt and sand. The shore, it wasn’t far. The electric vision revealed lindworms—everywhere. The serpents lined the lawns and halls of the house. It was when I saw a glimpse of his silver eyes that I understood.
Kicking the quilt off my body, I rushed out of my small cave. As Gaia had known Bron would come for me as a child in her memories, I knew what I’d seen without a speck of doubt. Somehow, I’d seen King Nag’s lair. And I knew where to go.
Chapter 5
The Queen
I couldn’t find Amber. There wasn’t a sense of danger, but it had been some time since I’d seen my fellow royal. Then again, I hadn’t seen Prince Ced for most of the morning, either—shuddering my anxiety away, I convinced myself Ced was with Amber. They were fine.
The window along the corridor revealed the entire back lawn of the manor. The lindworms didn’t revel in much colorful foliage. Mostly shrubs, ferns, and other green things. Though I didn’t want to like anything about King Nag’s manor, I found the grounds beautiful.
A chill filled the air. Narrowing my eyes, I turned briskly, knowing he would be near. Bron smirked arrogantly. The dark High Priest wore the stone blade on his shoulders. I could see the fire stone set in place along the steel. Bron wasn’t donned in his powerful cloaks and robes, and he looked more like a man without them.
“What do you want?” I snarled, facing the window again.
“I sense your disappointment that your mage did not come for you,” he mocked. “There’s no bother denying what you did, Highness. I know it was you who sent the signal, though I’m curious how you learned such a thing would happen.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and reeled around so I met Bron’s eye with the powerful hatred boiling across my brain. “If you’re so positive I did this thing, I wonder why you slaughtered your own mages?”
Bron sneered. “They were disappointing. It’s such a shame your bond is stronger than that of Teagan Ward.”
“What are you mumbling about?” I snapped. “Why are you still here?”
Bron chuckled. I hated his chuckle. “There hasn’t even been a hint the jade mage has attempted to break through our barriers. He isn’t coming; perhaps he doesn’t care to. You did do the leaving, after all.”
Taking a deep breath, I knew Bron was manipulating me, but his words cut through my heart like a jagged knife. “Teagan knows how deep my bond goes—something you cannot understand.”
Bron scoffed and leaned against the wall. He smiled widely, and I felt his pleasure in torturing me with his words. “I understand bonds, though you will pretend I do not. Remember, I ruled with the High Priestess as one. We were bonded deeper than you can imagine,” Bron snarled, leaning closer to my face. “But I also know how easily the strongest bonds can be broken.”
“Leave me alone,” I snarled through my teeth.
“You despise me, but you feel truth in what I say,” Bron hissed. I held firm when he pressed his body right against mine, though inside I was terrified. “You fear many things—that someone else has stolen his affections. That the elementals will gather without you. That he views you as a traitor.”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I shoved against Bron’s chest so he broke away slightly. “Your words mean nothing to me,” I growled.
“High Priest,” a dangerous voice broke through our unsettling conversation. Inside my chest, it seemed as though ice coated every inch of my heart and lungs. My breaths were rapid shudders when I lifted my eyes toward the end of the corridor. How foolish I was to believe I would escape the manor without a single interaction. My palms were clammy and gripped tight to the folds of the black gown I found laid out on my bed this morning. “I wonder if you might give me a moment with the queen. We’ve never met, and I would be very interested in learning more about my son’s mate.”
Bron chuckled with twisted pleasure, glanced at me once more, and left me alone with King Nag.
I faced the window, desperate to find some solace in the brilliant sunlight, though my body was coated in prickling agony being in the king’s sights. Nag stepped to my side. He wasn’t as tall as I would have thought, but I still would have to look up to meet his eye. The lindworm king had wavy hair that seemed damp traipsing down his shoulders. His body was powerful, broad, and strong. His thick arms were wrapped in a black leather armor, and about his waist were serrated swords made of steel black as midnight. Nag’s face was clean shaven, and a scar crossed one cheek when the light struck his face.
His eyes, I wouldn’t forget.
King Nag squared his shoulders to me, and I found it impossible not to look up. His eyes were terrifying and fascinating in one breath. Black satin spread across his irises, with the slightest hint of white giving some light to the corners. I swallowed the fearful lump in my throat and straightened my shoulders when the king stepped closer.
“You fear the High Priest?” Nag rasped.
I shook my head. “I have nothing but disdain for the dark High Priest.”
Nag chuckled, a low rumbling sound that ached along my spine. “You speak plainly. I shall have to instruct my son how to manage the opinions of his mate.”
“You asked me a direct question, Your Highness,” I growled. “I answered truthfully. Would you rather I speak in deceit?”
Nag seemed amused, his grin nothing like his son’s. No, Nag had a smile lost in years of evildoings and corruption. “Deceit. Such an interesting thing. There is a part deceit can play in our lives. At times, it can keep us from harm.” I closed my eyes when Nag drew his finger along my jaw. “Lies can serve a great purpose in the rise of power, Queen Ariana—you don’t mind if I call you by your given name?” He only continued when I said nothing. Nag’s hand brushed over my shoulder as he began to circle me. “But so can truth. Sometimes the truth is what gives us the most power.”
“I will speak the truth to you and anyone who asks what I truly feel about what happens inside this manor,” I hissed.
Nag laughed. “I am not interested in your truth at the moment. But I would very much like to tell you a few bits of truth.” I gasped when Nag’s painful grip locked around my arms. His lips were against my ear, and I felt the blow of hot breath against my face when he spoke. “You blame the High Priest for the death of your family, but never forget, young queen, it was me who slashed the life from their bodies.” Nag slowly lifted a black knife from his sheath. “With this very blade I slit your grandfather’s throat and watched him bleed until his last breath along the cold stones of his own throne.
“Your father begged for his life like a coward. His suffering, his slow death, only added to my strength as I shredded his body with my own claws.” My chin trembled, and boiling tears bled down my face as I stared straight ahead, refusing to give Nag the satisfaction of watching me crumble. “Then there was your mother. She was so…beautiful. I considered taking her for a mate, but when she fought back—well, such spirit wouldn’t suit. She was braver than most, I’ll speak the truth, Ariana. She didn’t beg, she only battled—for you. Her last word in my presence was your name when I dug my blade so deep in her chest, the very fabric of her heart dissolved beneath the power of night. I heard she lived for some time after—suffering.”
Nag released my arm and stepped in front of me, blocking the sun from my gaze. I met his eye, my body trembling, and I knew he saw my agony in my tormented expression. Nag smiled, gently wiping away some of my tears. “I tell you these truths, Queen, to warn you. You are planning something. I saw you the other night with my son. I have yet to know if my son is involved. He is worthless in many ways, but I keep him alive because he is gifted with night energy—perhaps even more than myself. It would be a shame if I were forced to kill him.
“I w
arn you—if you cross me, or do not go forward with this union, I will give you the honor of watching me take this same blade and tear through your precious royal here with you. Then I will take the rest of them, one by one, until each bloodline is slaughtered. Only to be followed by your mage.” Nag grabbed my arm, pressing his thumb painfully against my mage seal. “The mage, I will spend time destroying. Days of his screams will haunt your memories. Then, when I’m finished, my son will die for his failure to control his mate, and you will become my mate. Do we understand each other?”
My jaw was clenched so tight I feared I would chip each tooth. Nag never lowered his gaze, his confidence and promise showing firm in his face. “You’re a monster,” I breathed, slightly fazed when my voice cracked.
Nag narrowed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine. “Yes, Highness. I can be the monster of your nightmares if you cross me.” Nag pulled back and smiled his wicked smile. As though his filthy words hadn’t passed between us, he strode down the corridor. “Take heart to my words and accept your fate of joining your bloodline with the lindworm people.”
When Nag was out of sight, a tormented sob broke through my chest. I leaned forward to brace myself out of fear I would fall to the ground. I couldn’t stay here another moment. Whether or not Teagan had received the energy from the signal, I was leaving. Wiping my tears, I rushed down the hallway, desperate to find Amber and Prince Ced.
“I don’t know where he is,” Amber hissed at my back when we slipped from our room just before the sun was due to set. Despite the added light to our escape, leaving at night would be more dangerous when the lindworms’ energy was at its peak.
“We can’t stay, Amber,” I insisted. “I told you what Nag said.”
“Jade, that’s all the more reason we cannot leave without Ced,” she whimpered.
I bit the tip of my tongue, hating that I was rushing away without finding Ced. He’d disappeared hours before, and after meeting his horrid father, I feared perhaps King Nag chose to dispose of his son and skip right to the threat of forcing me to be his mate. I hoped I was wrong, but Ced wasn’t here, and I vowed to leave.
“Amber, he will kill you. I’m certain of it. He will kill Ced. Nag doesn’t want any of the other royals—they will die. There will be no peace, even if I united with the lindworms. We must go—for our people’s lives.”
Amber was tormented, her furious expression racked in guilt and concern. After a tense pause, she finally nodded. “For our people, we must go.”
Linking her arm in mine, we rushed toward the back part of the manor. I thought the side door would be our safest option. I wished Teagan and Amber’s mage, Rochelle, were near. Amber and I had power of elements, but that power only amplified when the mages were near. The corridors were empty—odd, and it sent the hairs on my arms on end.
Shoving into the enormous kitchen, we found the space empty, the door unprotected.
Amber knelt on the ground, her hands splayed wide. The ground rumbled as she spoke to the earth. Amber ruled over the earth element and had a knack for sensing troubles only the trees could see.
“The warriors,” she whispered, her eyes still closed. “Something draws them away. The grounds are empty. I fear we could be walking into a trap.”
Amber rose swiftly, her body trembling, but she didn’t stop me when I turned the handle on the door and shoved outside. Winter was still wrapped around the land, but wherever King Nag had settled his people, there was a muggy warmth in the air. I could smell salty air and believed a shore must be nearby.
“Amber, hurry,” I gasped, clutching tight to her arm. The burn of the shift trembled over my arms, but a sinister chuckle kept me in my human form.
King Nag stepped out from the trees, his body clad in a regal, ebony cloak. Nag was lined with dark lindworm men, and most looked similar. I could only imagine they were Ced’s brothers, though none had the light in their eyes as their younger brother.
“I had a suspicion you might try to run after our discussion earlier, Your Highness.” Nag growled, a devilish grin spreading on his lips. His sons laughed as their father stalked closer. “Actually, that isn’t entirely true. I knew with a certainty you would try to escape. Thanks to my son.”
My heart burst in devastating waves when Ced strode from behind his brothers. He wore a similar smirk on his face, though it seemed to take more effort.
“Ced,” Amber mumbled, her grip tightening on my arm. “How could you?”
“It was simple, really,” Ced declared. “How better to get the queen to trust me, than befriending you? Tell you everything you wanted to hear? I knew your loyalties would be made known soon enough. You’ve shown me just what I will deal with once we’re mated. I’ll be certain to hold back on freedoms.”
Nag chortled and gripped the back of Ced’s neck. I thought I saw Ced’s jaw tense, but I had to have been mistaken because the way he joined his brothers in their wicked laughter, Ced was anything but my ally.
“Now, this son is finally learning,” Nag growled. “Mates are for one purpose—I’ve told all my sons this. I hope you fall in love with her silence, Ced.”
Ced smirked, his dark eyes falling on me with a determined look.
I wanted to scream, shout my hatred at the prince, but Amber’s voice stopped me. “You are nothing but a disgusting serpent,” she bellowed, reaching for the ground where she could unleash her connection for the earth element. One of Ced’s brothers shot behind her, his blade tucked just beneath her jaw, only stopping his slaughter when Ced shouted for his halt.
“Father,” Ced began slyly. “What’s better than one elemental mate, then to take two? If it pleases you, I think I’d like to take both.”
Nag chuckled as Ced sauntered arrogantly across the grass, Ced’s strong fingers cupping Amber’s jaw while another brother gripped my arms when I lunged for the prince. “You’re despicable,” I screamed, desperate to shift, but Ced held up one hand, his energy remarkably strong, holding me in my human form.
“Now, Your Highness, no need to change into true form.” Ced leaned his face close to mine, his eyes wild with a strange exhilaration. “Yet,” he finished slowly.
“Take the royals back into the manor,” Nag commanded his sons. “But place them in Ced’s chamber. No use drawing out formalities.”
Ced scoffed and pulled away. I glared at him through angry tears, catching the gleam of his dark blade tucked in the folds of his dark clothes. I wished I could grab for the weapon, but Ced’s hand was already resting on the hilt. One of Nag’s sons struck Amber across the face, bringing her to painful submission. Ced’s jaw twitched—I was certain.
“You’re a coward,” I hissed at the prince. “I see how you are still tormented, but you stay silent.”
“Think what you will of me, Highness,” Ced cautioned. “But I am the one with your life in my hands.”
At his final word, I heard a furious cry into the night. Nag and his sons stopped and stared toward the distant north. Nag’s fury was shuddering from his body when, in the distance, I saw a hoard of enormous dark lindworms screeching with maddening speed directly toward us.
“What is this? Who released the mates?” Nag seethed.
The lindworm mates drew closer, but a fierce blast near the manor shook the sprawling lawns, and from the depths of the soil, countless lindworms burst into the night sky. Some had chains shackled to their ankles—their wings crooked and bent from being stagnant countless hours. But when they took to flight, they were ferocious black serpents breathing torrential blue fire across Nag’s manor.
I stood stunned when I watched Ced reel on his father. “You won’t harm them any longer,” he snarled. Nag reached for his son, but Ced lifted his hands above his head. A crushing blow of darkness surrounded the sons of Nag, and the king himself.
I fell to the ground in the commotion, Amber glancing around until Ced gripped her arms, shouting close to her face. “Take flight!” He bellowed, his eyes finding mine in the darkne
ss.
I didn’t hesitate, nor did Amber. My skin peeled away so quickly, it was almost painful. Ced was soon changed and launching into the dark sky. The lindworm prince shot gilded flames across his brothers still locked in his powerful darkness. The night energy kept them stationary while the freed warriors from the prison and the mates rushed against the royal lindworms.
Amber roared, her taupe wings wide and regal.
We must hurry. I can’t hold them much longer, Ced’s voice echoed in my mind. The warriors, they shall meet us at a designated place.
You tricked us, I snarled.
I had to get my father and brothers out in the open. It was the one request of Magnus and the mates. And it would take them away from the dark High Priest. I would not have allowed them to harm you. Now hurry, he snapped, flying next to Amber. I’m sorry my brother struck you.
Just get us away from here, Ced, Amber’s voice filtered through both Ced and me.
I felt her anger, yet also her relief as we soared higher. Only the shrieks and bloodthirsty cries from the lindworm warriors was left as evidence of what we’d just escaped.
I glanced down at the carnage on Nag’s lawn. Bron burst from the fiery manor, his dangerous energy dissolving what Ced had placed around the lindworms. I could feel Nag’s fury even as I raced toward the clouds. Nag burst a wave of darkness that seemed to chase me toward the stars. My scales rippled as I pulsed my wings to take me higher before his rage struck me. I was positive if Nag’s night energy touched my flesh I would crumble and die in agony. With a powerful dig of my wings, I breathed easier when the soothing power of the wind filled my lungs and the night energy faded.
I couldn’t know what happened to the scorned mates of Nag, or the lindworm warriors. Bron would destroy as many as he possibly could—that I knew for certain. Nag was powerful, but thankfully, as he’d said earlier, not as powerful as his son. I was positive the King of Lindworms, should he survive the ambush, would reign terror on any mage, lindworm, or elemental he could get his hands on. Ced, in this moment, should he ever be caught by those loyal to his father, had signed his own execution. I followed closer to Amber, who was just behind Ced. I followed without question, still reeling from the confusion of the night. All I could do now was pray some of the warriors would survive and find us, and that somehow I would find Teagan and my people.