The onyx creature stepped forward.
Rafe moved to block.
It ticked its head, then stepped to the other side.
Rafe leveled his blade at its throat, his message clear.
She’s mine.
Possessiveness oozed from his pores, sinking into the mental bond with undeniable authority. They wouldn’t be allowed to pass. The line was drawn, Lyana on one side and these creatures on the other—and Rafe knew exactly where he stood.
Go, he ordered. Leave now.
The shadow beast hissed, baring its teeth. Beside him, the earthen creature did the same. They moved together, communicating with their thoughts, a conversation he couldn’t hear as one slid left and the other right. Rafe yanked his other sword from his back and menacingly whirled the twin blades before his face. Behind him, magic stirred.
“Rafe?” Lyana murmured, stunned.
“Stay back, Ana.”
“I can help.”
Golden power flooded the air. Immediately, both creatures snapped their heads toward her. Hunger flared deep in Rafe’s stomach, a yearning so intense he could hardly breathe for want of her magic. It oozed with life and spirit, like air to a drowning man, promising vitality. One touch and he could drink in her power. A yawning abyss opened deep inside him, a darkness and a need only her magic could fill. It took every ounce of strength he possessed not to spin toward her and lunge, to remember who he was, the human and not the beast, his love for her like a tether in the storm, keeping him anchored.
“Ana, no—”
It was too late.
The creatures attacked.
“Cover your ears!”
Rafe lunged for them and released his raven cry. The green creature stopped cold, frozen by the power in his call. Made of shadow magic, the onyx one didn’t even pause. They crashed together, flames and darkness, claws and swords. Rafe stabbed. The creature dodged. He swung. It rolled. Sparks flashed on steel as his blade scratched razor-sharp scales. The beast was fast, but so was Rafe, and unlike its other victims, he always knew where it was thanks to their mental bond. Even though the creature was made of smoke, Rafe followed it through the night, neither gaining ground. As the green one started to stand, he released another raven cry.
“Rafe!”
He couldn’t stop to look at her. It took everything he had to stay on top of the shadow monster, to stay between them.
“Rafe!”
Her magic swelled, the golden sheen so thick he could hardly see the trees of the sacred grove. The creature became nothing more than an onyx wisp darting between rays of sunlight, her power turning midnight to midday. The sky glittered.
“Rafe! It’s fall—”
The ground gave out and her voice turned into a yell. Branches, bark, and wood grain rushed by as he snapped his wings to catch the air. The isle dropped out from under him, the canopy of the rainforest giving way to a canvas of stars. The shadow beast hovered beside him, but no one else. Lyana was alone with the earthen creature.
Rafe dove.
The monster dove after him.
Below, the forest shimmered, a golden aura spreading across the trees, wider and wider, until the whole isle glowed like a comet falling in the night.
All at once, the light blinked out.
“Ana!”
Rafe collapsed his wings, not bothering to dive or aim or fly, but rather plummeting with as much speed as possible toward the ground far below. The shadow beast kept pace. They fell, faster and faster, the wind a whistle in his ears. Against the backdrop of the dark forest, a glint of metal caught his eye. The spot grew, surging toward them, surrounded by flecks of gold. Rafe grinned as the cage flew past him, golden bars warped and twisted in an uneven circle holding the green creature inside.
Lyana was all right.
She was alive.
The isle slipped between the folds of fog, disappearing into the Sea of Mist, but not before the golden aura returned. Twice as bright as before, the spirit magic was fueled by a heart more determined than any other he’d ever encountered. Whatever she was trying to do, she would succeed. Somehow, she’d find a way. All he had to do was give her time.
Rafe flipped in midair, turning to face the onyx creature trailing him. In one deft move, he opened his wings and held out his swords. The beast plummeted into the blades before it could stop, taken by surprise. A wail filled the air, more anger than pain. Rafe sent an image through the mental bond—his sword plunging into the heart of the earthen creature. Exactly as he’d hoped, a roar surged up from below.
Darting skyward, Rafe searched for the glow of the cage in the air. It was falling now, no longer suspended by Lyana’s magic. The beast was still trapped inside, but it wouldn’t be for long. The bars were bending beneath its strength, stretching wider and wider. Rafe cut across the sky, smooth as a sharpened blade through flesh, holding his sword aloft.
Claws dug into his ankle.
His skin tore open.
Healing magic rushed to the spot as he kicked the shadow monster free. A moment later, those same talons raked across his calf, then dug into his thigh. Rafe hissed against the pain. The creature climbed him like a tree, claws taking root in his spine then his shoulders as a hand came around his neck. Rafe flipped his sword and drove the blade backward. The metal met resistance. He forced it deeper, then twisted the hilt, satisfied when he heard a crunch.
The shadow beast released him.
Rafe ripped his weapon free and spun to face the creature. It clutched its midsection, ebony blood seeping through its fingers. Hurt struck his mind, sharp and piercing, deeper than any physical pain, strung through with betrayal.
This wasn’t over.
Far from it.
Deep down, Rafe understood this battle was only just beginning. But tonight, he’d won. The demon retreated, fleeing back into the dark folds of night, and the green one raced to follow, still new to this world and willing to go where led. They’d be back. They’d never stop coming for him or for Lyana, not now.
Let them.
Rafe collapsed his wings and let the fog envelop him, happy to leave the moon and the stars behind as he raced toward the piercing pull of Lyana’s magic, still a potent elixir gnawing at his gut. By the time he reached the isle, her power was little more than a dull shimmer in the air, fading more and more with each passing moment. The land was no longer falling, which meant it must have reached the sea. He had to find her before it sank.
Hold on, Ana. Please, hold on.
He cut through the trees, passing broken branches and severed trunks, the destruction unmistakable. As he neared the city, her magic gave out. That last bit of light disappeared, leaving him blind and without the hunger to lead him forward. Wisps of vapor curled around the trees, turning the forest dark and gloomy. An eerie tingle itched up his spine as he flew past rope bridges swaying and creaking loudly in the silence. Homes were destroyed. Once-sturdy platforms were little more than splintered fragments. A few gentle cries echoed across the air, in pain and fear, their desperation obvious. Looming ahead was the familiar entrance to the massive tree containing the sacred nest of the House of Paradise, now little more than a hollow core of wood, empty of all that had once made it holy.
He found Lyana in the spot where he’d left her, white wings drooping to the ground as she swayed unsteadily on her feet. When she fell, he caught her.
“Rafe.”
She said his name as though everything good in the world were contained within the sound. He melted, the fire in his blood replaced with something just as warm, just as potent, yet infinitely more powerful. Love.
“Ana, I’m here.”
He stroked her cheek as she lifted her palm to his face and ran her fingers along the edge of his jaw. No magic lit her skin, but her touch was electric just the same.
“I did it, Rafe,” she murmured, a smile widening her lips, even as her eyes grew dazed. “I did it.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, so he just brus
hed his thumb across her skin and threaded his hand through her braids, holding her head up as her muscles weakened. They dropped to the ground together, Lyana’s body failing as he cradled her to his chest.
“They’ll have an isle to come back to,” she whispered, voice growing softer with each word. “When all this is over, they’ll have a place to call home.”
The last bits of her energy gave out and she went limp in his arms. Breath slid evenly between her lips as her chest rose and fell in a soothing rhythm. She was exhausted and spent but alive, and that was all that mattered. Rafe shifted them into a more comfortable position, content to let her sleep across his lap however long it took for her to wake. There was no place in the world he’d rather be and no one in the world he’d rather be with.
Maybe he was the King Born in Fire.
Maybe not.
Either way, he would never leave her side again, not unless she asked, and maybe not even then. Brighty had been right. Protecting her was what he’d been born to do. From now on, where she went, he would follow. Nothing would break them apart again.
27
Lyana
The gentle thud of a heartbeat stirred Lyana from her slumber. Warm arms held her close, leaving her calmer and more peaceful than she could ever remember. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know who it was. His spirit called out to hers, steadfast and true. The fingers gently stroking her cheek were as familiar as her own, she’d felt them so often in her dreams. The gentle scratching of his rough knuckles lured her back to the world.
“Rafe.”
“I’m here,” he murmured, the deep timbre of his voice sending a shiver down her spine. “You’re safe.”
His blue eyes held more promise than the vast open sky as she lifted her hand to trace the chiseled curve of his jaw. “I told you I’d come back for you,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips. “But I guess you beat me to it. How did you know?”
“That you’d be in the most dangerous place possible?” His mouth twisted into a grin. “Experience.”
She rolled her eyes. “I meant that the isle was falling.”
“I—” The humor vanished from his face, leaving dark shadows in its place. Shame burned at the edges of his soul, a stain she wished she could wipe clean. “I heard it.” He swallowed the knot in his throat. “I heard it waking up.”
The creature.
Cassi had told her about his nightmares, about his communication with the dragons, about his interaction with the shadow beast. He was connected to them somehow, a fact that clearly grated at his thoughts.
“Good,” she said simply, not giving his discomfort space to thrive. “If you hadn’t, I’d be dead. Where are they?”
“Gone…for now.”
Lyana nodded, understanding the unspoken implication—they’d be back. Though she wanted to remain in his arms all day, there was no time for her own desires. Already, the souls of the injured called out to her from across the city, their pain and yearning too great to ignore. She was a queen first and a woman second, no matter how much she wished it could be different. Dropping her hand from his cheek, she pushed off his lap with a sigh.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Not long,” he said, following her to his feet. “Half an hour, maybe.”
“And the isle’s been steady?”
He knitted his brows. “What?”
“The ground hasn’t moved? It’s been stable?”
Rafe glanced around, as though only just realizing the truth in the statement, and nodded, more confused than before. “How?”
“When the House of Whispers fell, I was too weak after the tidal wave, and I got there too late to stop it from sinking into the sea. But this time…” The walls of the sacred nest were fissured, the trees broken, the birds once housed within long gone, but the ground was steady under her feet. It didn’t sway. It didn’t shake. The isle was level—set. “I think I saved the House of Paradise. Instead of thinking it was falling into the sea, I tried to envision it returning to the soil beneath the water. This land once belonged here, before our homes were lifted into the sky. I focused on that. I thought of the cliffs as tears and breaks, I thought of the deep-sea floor as a vacant cavity, and I healed them, like I would a person. I healed the earth, and I think it worked. Now the isle is just that—an island, surrounded by water instead of air.”
Laughter, full of pride and marvel, spilled from her lips. If she could preserve the isles, then maybe her people’s way of life wouldn’t die. Sure, she still had to figure out how to prevent a war from breaking out between the avians and the mages, how to ease their fear of the world within the mist, how to seal the rift, and how to stop the eggs from hatching, but it was a start. Maybe she could do this. Maybe she truly would save the world.
“Ana.”
The hesitant scratch to his voice brought her back. Worry coiled like unruly threads in her gut. “What? What is it?”
“There’s something I think I should tell you.”
“Are you injured? Is someone hurt?”
“No, no,” he rushed to say, taking a step closer. “It’s nothing like that. It’s something my captain told me this morning, something I’m not sure how to believe.”
She tilted her head, studying him. “What?”
“She said— She said—” He turned his face to the side as a breath escaped his lips. Lyana reached for his hand. Their fingers danced across the silence, his every move making her heart flutter. The flames along his wings dampened, the light growing softer, almost romantic against the darkness of the night. When he finally looked back at her, his eyes smoldered. “She thinks I’m the King Born in Fire.”
A gasp escaped her lips.
“I know it sounds ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head as he tightened his grip on her hand. “But it also, somehow, might be true.”
Before she could answer, he launched into an explanation, reviewing his time beneath the mist and his interactions with the dragons, his nightmares and his experiments, his conversation with his captain. Lyana half listened, but the other half of her mind was spiraling back, back, back to that morning on the sky bridge. Meeting him had felt like fate, like destiny. The dragon being there. His being alone. Her watching. And later in the caves, as their magic merged in the firelight, their spirits had grazed, the touch like two halves of one whole finally rejoining. He’d been a stranger, yet at the same time a soul mate, no matter how insane it had seemed. They’d been drawn together, time and time again, no obstacles able to stand in their way, almost as though a force outside of their control had willed it.
“I don’t believe it. I can’t believe it,” he murmured, his voice softening. “But they were right. Against those monsters, I’m the only person in the world who can protect you.”
And he would.
Lyana could feel the promise in his touch, could hear it simmering in the back of his throat, could see it churning in his gaze. No matter what she said, no matter how she answered, he would spend the rest of his life keeping her safe. Because he loved her. Because he believed in her. Because despite all that had come between them, he’d never once turned away. He’d been her prince in the dark, her raven in the night, her dragon in the mist—why couldn’t he be her king, too?
“Rafe.” She took his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her chest, so he could feel the steady beating of her heart. “What if you are the King Born in Fire?”
He sucked in a sharp breath.
For a split second, all his walls came crashing down, and behind them was the boy who’d lost his mother, his father, and his very place in the world all in one devastating night, the man who’d been content to live in his brother’s shadow because at least it was somewhere to call home, the bird who had been a phantom among his own kind, and the beast who knew he would never again blend in. Hope burned like a fire amid so much darkness, shining with the belief that maybe, just maybe, he’d finally found the place where he belonged—by her side.
A blink, and it was gone.
“What if I’m not?”
He stepped back, removing his hand from hers as his jaw clenched. His hooded brows furrowed, with torment, with regret. She stepped forward.
“Rafe—”
“Ana,” he pleaded.
The tone made her freeze. Suddenly, they were no longer in the fog-enshrouded grove at the heart of the fallen House of Paradise, but back in a room now buried beneath the sea, with heavy curtains and thick stone walls, the air full of secrets and sin. They weren’t a king and a queen, but a raven and a dove surrendering to one stolen night that had destroyed so much. She wouldn’t have taken it back, and she knew he wouldn’t either, but there was no denying what their passion had cost them. His relationship with his brother. Her future with her mate. Nearly an entire kingdom.
Now the stakes were even higher.
If they were wrong, if in their desire for each other they allowed themselves to believe in something that might not be true, this time it would cost them the world.
“What should we do?” she asked, helpless and unsure.
“We don’t need to decide anything tonight, but I do know one thing. I’m not leaving you again.”
“But your wings—”
“I don’t care. I’ll keep to the outskirts of the cities. I’ll stay out of sight. I’ll live on the cliffs if I have to. Whatever it takes. I need to be there. I need to be close when they come again.”
That wasn’t what she wanted, for him to hide like some outcast, like some criminal. He was a hero. He deserved dignity, not shame and shadows and solitude. “Rafe, no—”
“Ana, I won’t risk it.”
“I know,” she cooed gently, closing the distance between them as she lifted her hand to his cheek and rubbed his skin once before sliding her fingers through his silken onyx hair. His head dipped into her touch, worry in the lines of his face. “That wasn’t what I meant. I’ll come with you.”
The Dragon and the Queen (The Raven and the Dove Book 3) Page 19