The Dragons of Paragon

by Genevieve Jack

  “Of course.” Leena bravely jaunted out from Colin’s wing and lifted Charlie from her mother’s arms.

  Colin watched his mate take the child tenderly and swelled with pride at her bravery. Raven led Gabriel deeper into the palace.

  Leena cast him a worried glance. The only thing that separated them from the warring goddesses was the tattered remains of a wall. “Where do you think she’s going that is more dangerous than this?”

  Colin shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  It didn’t take long for Raven to return and pull Colin into her plan. Leena remained huddled behind the piece of wall with Charlie in her lap. She was surprised to find she still had her satchel with her, the scrolls safely inside. She had done what she said she would do. She’d guarded the scrolls with her life, and although she planned to leave the order and fully become Colin’s mate if she survived this ordeal, as of today, she remained a scribe.

  “It’s okay, Charlie. We’re going to hide right here, and you are going to help me write down everything that happens so that future generations remember.” She dug her spare quill and a blank scroll from her bag, thankful they were both enchanted, the quill to never run out of ink and the parchment to never run out of room. Who knew how long this would go on? With Charlie’s back against her chest and one arm holding her gently in place, Leena positioned her satchel under the parchment on her legs and began to write.

  Obsidian Palace

  Paragon

  Year of the Goddess: ͵βιθ, Capricorn 6th

  I, Leena of Niven, scribe of the Order of the Sacred Pools, record the unprecedented war between goddesses as it unfolds at the entrance of the Obsidian Palace. Eleanor, empress of Paragon, having used the blood of the child of Raven and Gabriel, drained the power from the true goddess, Aitna, to the point her celestial energy ceased to exist. Hera then ascended Eleanor, making her a goddess of equal power and strength. Eleanor used her newfound power to rain hellfire down on Paragon, turning the tide of the war in favor of the dragons, who can withstand the volcanic heat.

  Under the leadership of Raven, the three sisters were able to revive Aitna using the combined magical energy of the Treasure of Paragon. Each of the heirs and the diamond heart of Marius were placed in a circle at the heart of the mountain. The three sisters used their extraordinary power to funnel their energy into Aitna’s remains.

  Although the spell worked, Aitna is not strong enough to regain control. Now the two goddesses fight for the mountain. The battle appears to be a stalemate, and the heirs, along with the three sisters, have a plan to tip the scales in Aitna’s favor.

  The witch, Raven, has taken charge, giving each of the heirs a part to play in the attack she has orchestrated. Her efforts can’t come soon enough. Eleanor has succeeded in lassoing Aitna in her magic, and the true goddess has fallen to her knees, her fire extinguished wherever Eleanor’s electric whip touches it.

  The plan starts with Rowan. She distracts the empress with a story from her youth, how she lost her virginity to a stable boy at sixteen. It doesn’t succeed in breaking Eleanor’s attack on Aitna, but it keeps her from noticing what’s happening behind her.

  Alexander draws a large symbol on the obsidian floor behind his mother. Given his work as an artist, this is suited to his abilities. It’s a triangle of Nathaniel’s design with ancient runes at its three points.

  Raven motions to Colin. Something is happening. The twins are attacking. While Eleanor struggles to contain Aitna, Sylas and Colin dive and stab at her like biting flies. Eleanor’s attention slips for a moment, and Aitna breaks free, her fiery fist landing a scorching punch to Eleanor’s face. The true goddess has one foot under her. She rises off her knee.

  Eleanor’s snapping magic connects with Sylas, and he goes down, but Xavier and Tobias are there to take his place, broadswords swinging. Xavier blocks her magic with an iron blade—his mate’s blade, Fairy Killer. The iron is specially enchanted against some forms of magic.

  Gabriel loops a length of chain around Eleanor’s neck and pulls her backward toward the symbol. Alexander joins in the tug-of-war while Nathaniel uses smoke from his pipe to weaken her. Aitna stands, tries to push Eleanor. But the empress is strong. She holds her ground.

  Rowan calls Eleanor’s name. She has Marius, resurrected during the same spell as Aitna, propped in the empress’s throne, Eleanor’s yellow citrine crown balanced on his head. This psychological jab seems to affect the goddess more than any other. Her dark eyes turn to pits of rage, and she abandons Aitna to redirect all her wrath and magic at Marius. She never has a chance to release the blow. Aitna pushes and the heirs pull, and Eleanor’s feet land in the center of the triangle.

  Clarissa sings a high note, and the outline of the symbol ignites in purple light. Gabriel and Alexander drop the chain. Sylas recovers and joins Colin, Tobias, and Xavier at her side.

  Eleanor raises both hands, but when she unleashes her dark power, it is unable to penetrate the containment of the symbol. The three sisters are chanting, locking Eleanor in and draining her, feeding her energy to Aitna. The true goddess grows stronger as Eleanor shrinks, twelve feet, to ten, to six, until she drops to her knees, looking no stronger than before she ascended.

  Raven breaks from her sisters and reaches for her daughter, Charlie, plucks a feather from her white wings, and takes it to Eleanor. “You murdered Medea and Tavyss to keep their unborn child from being born, not because the baby was a danger to Paragon but because it was a danger to you.” She drops the feather into the triangle.

  Eleanor gags, holds her throat like she can’t breathe, and then she starts to age. The heirs circle around the symbol. Eleanor’s hair goes gray, her eyes rheumy, and she collapses. With a wave of Raven’s hands, the glow around the symbol dissipates. Raven stands over Eleanor, her sisters behind her. Eleanor’s skin puckers to her bones.

  She reaches her hand out toward Nathaniel. “Help me.”

  Of all the heirs, Nathaniel seems the most distraught about watching his mother fade, but he shakes his head once and turns his back on her.

  “You don’t know what you have done, witch,” Eleanor hisses at Raven. “You will never have peace. You will never have unity. Ouros will never accept a dragon mated to a witch!”

  Her eyes sink into her head. Her hair and teeth fall out. And then her body crumbles to dust. A loud clink echoes in the empty space when her citrine heart, damaged and hazy, falls to the stone. Gabriel crushes it underfoot.

  Aitna grows, towers over the mountain, her light illuminating Paragon all the way to Hobble Glen. With a turn of her wrist, she calms the volcano. The lava stops flowing and cools.

  A row of lights shines in the distance. Soldiers from all five kingdoms watch in wonder. She reaches down and plucks the crown from Marius’s head and places it on Gabriel’s. As she does so, the gems in the setting change, morphing from citrine to emerald. Then the goddess forges another in her palm with fiery magic and places it, still smoking, upon Raven’s dark head.

  Marius doesn’t move. Doesn’t protest. He stares unblinking at the lightening sky.

  Gabriel and Raven are left speechless. The goddess becomes normal-sized again and places her hand on Charlie’s head, casts a smile in Raven’s direction, and then she is gone.

  The two suns break over the horizon, shining light on the effects of war. Paragon is carved in rivers of steaming lava, the palace is destroyed, and Eleanor has been reduced to ash. Pieces of her blow away on the wind.

  I, Leena of Niven, have witnessed the end of Empress Eleanor and the beginning of something entirely different. Entirely new. Perhaps the folktales of old were true. The child of a dragon and a witch did bring about Paragon’s destruction, as did the three sisters, but they also saved it. Now a new day dawns on a new kingdom.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Raven’s bones ached. The power she’d used to hold Eleanor and drain her immortality was unprecedented. She’d depleted herself down to her essence. If it weren’t for
Gabriel’s steadying hand on her back, she wasn’t sure she could remain standing.

  She stood on the edge of the veranda, staring out over a palace in tatters, a garden destroyed, a kingdom in pieces. From the mountain to Hobble Glen was nothing but smoke and stone. There was no ceiling left above them, just a hole in the side of the mountain. The ornately carved wooden doors that used to separate this area from the great hall had been torn free and probably burned in the magma which had now cooled below them.

  The walls were gone, save for a few random pieces that jutted up between fallen stone and smoldering furniture. Raven had a clear view of Marius, who still sat on the throne at the far end of what used to be the great hall, staring at the sky and its rising suns. She was too tired to consider what his resurrection might mean for Paragon.

  Behind him was nothing but rubble. She thought of the golden grimoire. Hera had it now. That was for the best. She hoped the queen of the gods would rest, her vendetta finally appeased.

  Raven glanced over at Gabriel, at the crown on his head, and felt the full weight of the crown on her own. It was clear what the goddess wanted, but that didn’t mean their roles as king and queen would be accepted by the people. After thousands of years of brother and sister ruling side by side, would Paragonians accept mated monarchs?

  What about Charlie? She glanced at her daughter, still in Leena’s arms, and worried she wouldn’t be accepted either. Maybe it was her exhaustion, but despite Eleanor’s death, she felt defeated, felt like she was at the bottom of an uphill battle. She closed her eyes. She couldn’t think of this now. Later, after she rested.

  Gabriel turned to her, a smile stretching across his face. “Do you hear it?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Listen closely.” He took her hand and held it above their heads.

  Raven silenced her breath and listened. Her eyes focused in the direction of Hobble Glen, of the people in the streets and what remained of the gardens. They were cheering.

  “I can’t see that far, Gabriel.”

  “But they can see you. They’re cheering for us, Raven. They’re dancing in the streets.”

  Warmth started in the general vicinity of her heart and spread out across her body. Hope. She reached for Charlie, and Leena delivered her into her arms. The cheers grew louder.

  “Oh, Gabriel…” She was overwhelmed. What did it all mean? Where would they even begin rebuilding this kingdom?

  He kissed the side of Charlie’s head. “I know.”

  “Come, everyone!” Raven gestured to the others. “You have to see. You have to hear this.”

  Colin and Leena hugged each other beside her. Rowan beamed next to them, adjusting her dress and her hair as she smiled at the crowd. Sylas, Alexander, Nathaniel, and Tobias stepped to the edge on the other side of Gabriel; Clarissa joined them, tucking herself into Nathaniel’s side.

  “Where’s Xavier and Avery?” Raven asked.

  “Avery?” Xavier’s growl rumbled behind them. “Whit’s happening to ya?”

  When Raven looked back, Xavier’s face was bloodless, and Avery was draped across his arms, unconscious.

  “She just collapsed!” He squeezed her jaw. “Come on, mo ghaol, open yer eyes!”

  Raven let go of Gabriel and rushed to her sister’s side, where the others had gathered. Xavier pulled her hair back to reveal a bloody gash in the side of her head.

  “When did that happen?” Raven tried to think back but the night was a blur.

  At her side, Tobias swallowed hard and addressed Xavier. “May I examine her? She’s human. I’m a human doctor.”

  Xavier nodded. Tobias helped him lower her to the ground and began assessing her. When he lifted her tunic to press on her abdomen, he made a low grunt. Her left side was purple and swollen down the back of her hip. Tobias’s fingers felt along her bones, evaluating the damage. He dropped his ear to her chest.

  Raven was impressed at Xavier’s restraint. As a mated dragon, his instincts must be tempting him to take off Tobias’s head at the moment.

  “Her heart is failing,” Tobias said softly, his voice cracking. “Her hip is most certainly broken, and she’s likely been bleeding internally.”

  “How? Why?” Raven blurted.

  Clarissa spoke up. “The resurrection spell. We were all thrown against the walls of the cradle. You and I healed but—”

  Raven made a sound like a gag. “She can’t take Xavier’s tooth.”

  “Wh-why didna she say anythin’?” Xavier asked, in obvious torment.

  “She always puts others first. It’s who she is,” Raven muttered. Goddess, Avery. She should have known this could happen to her sweet sister. How could she be so stupid?

  “Maiara and Nick stayed at the palace in Rogos,” Rowan said, “to help heal injured soldiers in the infirmary there. Alexander or I can retrieve her and her healing amulet.”

  Alexander ran his fingers through his wild dark hair. “I can be there and back in less than an hour.”

  Gathering her strength, Raven shook her head. “Don’t bother. I’ve got this.”

  Xavier’s pleading eyes met hers. “You can heal her?”

  “Yes, I can. The same way I healed Leena.” Raven mumbled the incantation. Her palms glowed purple. But as she lowered them toward Avery, a soft breath passed over her sister’s lips. Her hands connected but the magic fizzled.

  Avery didn’t breathe again.

  Chapter Thirty

  Franticly, Raven pressed her glowing hands to Avery’s chest again and again. It was like touching stone. Like her magic had nowhere to go. She jerked her hands back.

  “No…” Ice filled her veins. “Tobias, do something!”

  Tobias placed his hands over Avery’s heart and started CPR.

  “Whit are ye doin’ to her?” This time there was a warning in Xavier’s voice. Even Raven could hear that he’d been pushed to the brink.

  “Trying to save her life.” Tobias tipped back her head but hesitated. “Xavier, you need to blow two breaths into your mate. Human breaths.”

  To his credit, Xavier did as he was asked. Raven pressed her healing magic into Avery again, but as the minutes ticked by, Tobias’s face became more and more grave. Avery’s skin was gray. He stopped chest compressions, placed two fingers on the side of her neck, and then fell back on his heels. He slumped in on himself. “I’m… sorry.”

  Raven trembled in Gabriel’s arms. “Sorry? What do you mean, you’re sorry?”

  Tobias’s gaze locked on to Xavier, who was still trying to breathe for his mate. “There’s nothing you can do. She’s dead.”

  Across their sister’s body, Raven met Clarissa’s gaze and held it. Could she feel what Raven was feeling? Like a vacuum of space had been torn between their souls?

  Clarissa shook her head like she couldn’t accept it. “No… She can’t be dead. Don’t say she’s dead!”

  Raven searched Gabriel’s face for the truth. Her mate would fix this. Somehow, someone had to fix this.

  But Gabriel was weeping, as was Tobias. Raven cried out and clutched at the base of her throat. Her soul was cleaving in two. Clarissa wept inconsolably in Nathaniel’s arms. Alexander moved toward Xavier, no doubt reliving his own loss in Avery’s death, but the dragon had gathered Avery up and was rocking and growling like things were going to get ugly if anyone touched him or her.

  “It’s not your fault, Xavier,” Gabriel mumbled. “She couldn’t take your tooth. Her magic wouldn’t allow it.”

  Xavier bared his teeth and growled so loudly Gabriel turned Raven to put his body between her and his brother.

  Raven collapsed onto her knees and dry heaved toward the obsidian. She’d overused her magic. The grief and exhaustion were unbearable. She couldn’t even process it. Nothing would be right. Nothing would ever be right without Avery. They were the three sisters. Three. Without her, Raven would never feel whole again.

  Long, tapered fingers landed on Raven’s shoulder. Through blurry eyes, she saw it w
as Leena.

  “The scrolls said that Isis and Circe raised Medea from the dead.”

  Raven blinked at the scribe as if she were speaking a different language.

  “You have their wands,” Leena said. “You have their power. You have the spells from the grimoire.”

  Clarissa stopped shaking and staggered toward her, stopping on the other side of Avery. Her eyes roved wildly from Raven to Leena and back again. “We have to try.”

  Raven tried to stand and failed. Tried again with Gabriel’s help. Her whole body started to shake, and she landed on her knees again. Tears carved down her cheeks. When she looked back up at Clarissa, she couldn’t stop herself from raising her voice.

  “I have nothing left!” A sob ripped from her throat. “I held back the mountain. I raised Marius and the goddess from the dead and used everything that I had left to kill Eleanor. I’ve tried to heal Avery with the last of my power. I’m so hungry my stomach is eating itself and my mouth feels like a desert. I don’t think I can do it, Clarissa.”

  She hugged her knees into her chest and buried her eyes in her hands. Everything in her was glass, and she was shattering, shattering into a million tiny pieces.

  Gabriel’s scent surrounded her, and he hugged her shoulders and whispered encouraging words in her ear, but he didn’t understand. She could not do it. Not this time.

  “Do you know the spell?” Nathaniel’s voice was harsh, demanding.

  Raven nodded. “It’s a variation of the same one we did downstairs, only we direct our magic on Avery rather than throwing our energy into the cradle.”

  “Alexander, the symbol. Draw it here, around where she lies.” Nathaniel barked the order, and Alexander immediately plucked his charcoal from inside his jacket and started to sketch on the uneven floor.