by KC Kingmaker
“You said you would protect me until we got to Cerophus, Coalt,” she said, her voice wavering. Her eyes fell away from mine and the hurt settled deep in my stomach. The way she had said my name. It broke me.
I growled like a beast and snorted, sure that flames would shoot from the back of my throat.
“I was scared, dammit!”
My words rang out and seemed to shatter our posturing.
A long silence followed. I knew I had to say more.
“Is that what you want to hear?” I spat. “That the great fire dragon has broken down? I’ve fallen for you, Leviathan. But I knew I would hurt you . . . because it can’t happen. I can’t fall for you. It puts everything at risk!”
“Why can’t it happen?” she asked, taking a step toward me. Her big purple eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “It puts what at risk? If it feels right to both of us, why can’t you fall for me, Coalt?”
Her hand fell on my chest and I thought I’d melt into nothingness.
“Because of her.”
She gasped, her hand snatching back as if my chest was a hot flame.
Levia slapped the hand to her mouth in shock. “There’s . . . another?” The disappointment on her face was too much.
I turned away, ashamed. “Yes—no—it’s not what you think.”
“Then explain it to me.” Her voice was resolute and firm now. “I think I deserve at least that much.”
With a heavy sigh, I tried to look into her piercing orbs, but it was difficult to do even that. “It’s complicated,” I said morosely. “There’s a woman in my homeland I am supposed to marry. Her name is Dyna.”
Levia sucked in her breath. “And you didn’t think to tell me this before I fucked your brains out?!” she wailed, her voice almost hysterical.
I put both my hands up in surrender. “Not by choice, dammit. My marriage to Dyna has been arranged, for alliance purposes. It’s not uncommon for the Emberlands, and yet this is supposed to be an important mating ceremony.”
“Because you’re the alpha.”
I nodded.
“And so you haven’t mated with her yet, then?” A tinge of hope eked through her words.
“Of course not.” I scoffed. “I could never.”
“But for your people . . . for the alliance.”
Frustration rippled through my veins. “Yes. For my people, I would. But not anymore.”
“Why not?”
I made a face. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not to me it isn’t. Not after everything that’s happened. I can’t pretend to know about your struggles at home, Coalt, but I want to hear why you can’t have Dyna. From your own lips.”
Our eyes met. I drew in a deep breath.
“Because I love you, Leviathan.”
20
Levia
I stared blankly at Coalt. For a few seconds, I couldn’t fathom his words.
Before I got too carried away or tried to unpack what he’d just said, pounding boots echoed in the distance.
The city guard.
We were still too close to the warehouse, having taken our explosive argument outside.
I desperately wanted to learn more. Every fragment of Coalt’s life he told me was a revelation, and I kept going through a constant cycle of emotions—his dead father, his family heirloom, the dragonrunes, and now his arranged marriage with another woman.
Coalt telling me he loved me was perhaps the only thing that could’ve sated my temper. It made my fury sputter like a sizzling wick at the end of a candle.
Yet I was still infuriated and I didn’t know if I could trust him. He had fallen into the realm of other men in my world—untrustworthy and dangerous—but I had to hope he was different. Up until this morning, he had been.
I felt like I had to give him a second chance, at least. Perhaps I was naïve; we had known each other for such a short period of time.
I wanted to believe him though. I ached with the desire that he was telling the truth and that he wouldn’t hurt me again.
I grabbed his hand and yanked him toward me, already moving to sprint away. He let out a low gasp at my touch and scorching flames surged through me. “Come on, let’s go before the city guard gets here,” I ordered.
He squeezed my hand so hard it hurt, but I loved it. I wanted it. In this moment, it should hurt, I thought.
Coalt was limping pretty badly from a bloody wound across his leg, but he didn’t complain. He simply followed me, our boots echoing on pavement.
I had to hope his wounds were already healing.
“Where are we going?” he asked in a raspy tone.
“I thought you said you wanted to throttle Manek together?”
His smile was vicious. It was enough to send me down the rabbit hole all over again.
I RAISED MY FIST TO rap on Manek’s rickety front door.
Coalt’s arm shot out and he snagged my wrist, freezing my hand in midair.
I scowled at him.
He shook his head, eyes gazing around behind us.
In the dead of night, when the tanning district was shut down, it was much more peaceful here. Hardly a soul roamed the streets, and those who did quickly diverted their attention and shuffled away from us.
I figured Coalt didn’t want me to knock because it would be loud and alert passersby. Plus, we had come here with ill intent.
Okay, his reasoning made sense. I tried to calm down. I was just so antsy to get some answers out of slimy Shiny Manek.
He put his ear to the door. With his eyes zeroed in on the hinges, his brow furrowed.
I followed his gaze and saw the door was cracked open.
We frowned at each other.
He stood tall and I gently pushed the door open with my palm, wincing at the creaking sound of it.
“Manek?” I hissed in a loud whisper. “You’d better not be sleeping, you toad, because you’re about to get a rude awakening.”
I crept into the house and Coalt followed, gently shutting the door behind him. My hand was on the hilt of my dagger, and I saw his fingers drumming the pommel of one of the swords at his hip.
I scanned the area. A candle was lit here and there, but otherwise the place was dark. It was a maze just to walk through all the clutter.
A plump, shadowy figure sat on a chair a few paces ahead, the back of the chair resting against the edge of a table.
I flinched at the sight of Manek sitting so quietly and so close. He seemed to be watching us in silence.
“What’s the meaning of this, Manek? I knew you weren’t worth trusting,” I snarled, stepping forward.
Manek said nothing.
Coalt made a rumbling sound in his throat. I felt his presence leave my side. When he returned, he held a lit candle.
An eerie chill crept up the back of my neck.
Coalt moved in front of me, closing the gap to the sitting tanner, and leaned forward.
I gasped.
The flicker of the candlelight showed Manek’s face was as white as snow, bloodless. His opened eyes were stuck in a grimace of fear, his pudgy lips slightly parted.
“He’s been left here as a sign,” I croaked once I’d gathered my wits. My skin crawled.
“Or a warning,” Coalt answered.
“Who could have done this so quickly?” I wondered aloud, gulping. “Someone who was watching both of us?”
“No, someone who was watching him, waiting for both of us.”
“I don’t like this.” I bit my bottom lip. “We should go.”
There I went with the “we” stuff again, even though I still didn’t know if Coalt and I were on the same page.
I had seen him fight. He was miraculous. He could’ve easily strong-armed me and left me here for whoever was watching us.
A strange sensation prickled at my skin and I had the sudden feeling that trouble was right around the corner again.
Abruptly, I realized something. “The guards headed to the warehouse—how did they get there so q
uickly?”
“They were tipped off by whoever wants us dead.”
“But the thugs said they were going to take you to their boss. Does that sound like they wanted you dead?”
He rubbed his chin. “Good point. Maybe I should have taken them up on their offer.”
“Well, it’s too late for that, but we have to assume we’re playing right into our enemy’s hands.”
He raised a brow at me. “The guards are probably headed here, too.”
I nodded succinctly. “That’s why we should go.” I took a step toward the door.
“Hold on,” Coalt said, his forehead creasing with wrinkles. He crouched and studied Manek at a different angle. He reached to the table behind the dead man, where a mug rested with fluids spilled around it.
Coalt sniffed the mug and recoiled. “Powerful booze.”
“Do you think someone, uh, drowned him to death in his own liquor?”
He chuckled darkly. “It would certainly send a message, but no. I think they wanted to make it look that way, though.”
“How so?”
He glanced at Manek, then the mug, then Manek again.
“Coalt, we’re wasting precious time here . . .”
On the third or forth go-around, his face changed. His arched brow softened and his jaw ticked.
“I know what killed him,” he said solemnly.
“How?”
“Wrong question.”
I chewed my lip. “Okay. What?”
“It’s a poison. A drug, really, that can be mixed with booze and other drugs to heighten the effects of the high. But it’s precarious, because if you imbibe too much, you’re a goner.”
Taken aback, my muscles tensed. How the fuck does he know all this? Oh, Merlog’s hairy ass, is Coalt a drug addict?
“Don’t look at me like that, Levia.”
“How do you know all that?”
“Because I’ve seen the same poison kill people I know in the Emberlands.”
I sighed. “Another long story, I’m assuming?”
With a nod, he said, “And one we don’t have time for.”
I had to let it go for now. “You think someone spiked his drink?”
“Yes. Manek would be able to regulate his own intake of this shit, being an experienced connoisseur.”
Damn. This was getting dark.
“Okay, then who killed him?”
Coalt scratched his scalp. It made me want to walk over and run my hands through his mane.
“I don’t know the culprit, but I do know one thing about this drug.”
I raised a brow as he turned to me.
“It’s called Sleepershade, and it only comes from one place I know of.”
“Oh. Shit.” I bit my nails, eyes widening. “Where?”
“The grove of the forest fae.”
OUTSIDE, I LAGGED BEHIND Coalt for a moment, watching as his sturdy thighs clenched while he walked, evidently still in pain.
We were back together, entwined and entangled with no end in sight. But I had learned something over the past few hours: If we didn’t come to some sort of understanding, and soon, we would end up exactly how we had before.
Broken. Split apart.
I was ready to compromise to prevent that from happening. I couldn’t stand another heartache like the one before.
He turned to me, his amber eyes etched with concern. “Levia, what is it? You said it yourself—the guards will be on the way. We’ve got to move.”
“Wait,” I said, raising a finger. “I think I can make this work.”
“Make what work?”
My mind was spinning with possibilities.
“Us.” No, Levy, what the fuck! my inner voice screamed. I shook my head violently. “I mean, uh, our mission.”
His lips folded into a tiny smirk and he crossed his arms over his chest. He was all ears.
“We both want the sword,” I explained, “but for entirely different reasons.”
“Yes. So?”
“You want it for your dragon and your people, because it belongs to you. I want it because it’ll give me a shitload of Oblyx Scraps, for my people.”
He frowned.
“I think there’s a way we can both get what we want so we don’t have to fight or compete any longer.”
At mention of “compete,” his eyes flared. He was catching on.
“I mean, look what it’s already done to us,” I said, throwing my arms out wide. “I have no issue with you keeping the sword—it’s yours, after all—as long as that happens after I get my damn Scraps.”
“What are you saying, Levia?” He took a step toward me. His heat was so close I nearly lost my train of thought.
I had to ignore his steamy fire and pine scent. For now. “Let’s make a plan,” I said, raising a finger. “We bring the sword to Chief Garnu so I can get my Sheets. Then I help you steal it from him so you can bring it to the Summer House.”
“You would betray your own chieftain?” he asked.
“Oh, absolutely,” I said quickly. “I have no allegiance to him.”
His confused expression shifted into a mischievous smile. “I like this idea. We can flesh it out—”
Both our necks suddenly twisted in the same direction. Heavy footfalls smacked on the pavement, ricocheting off the buildings all around us.
They sounded just a few streets away.
Fuck, our time was up.
“Yes,” I said frantically, “let’s figure it out later!”
The guards were upon us, right on cue.
“Do you think we can outrun them?” I asked.
“All the way to the forest fae?” Coalt said with an incredulous scoff. “No.”
I racked my brain, and the answer seemed so obvious. “Well, I know one way we can put some distance between us. If you’re up for it.”
I waggled my eyebrows at him, challenging him with my gaze.
He seemed to think it over for a minute, then let out an exasperated huff. “Fine, Leviathan. I’ll let you ride me.”
I snorted loudly and nearly broke into laughter.
A second later, his cheeks lit up as he must’ve realized what he’d said.
I flapped a hand at him. “Oh, honey, we’re well beyond that.”
21
Levia
My jaw dropped to the ground as Coalt shifted.
I held his clothes in a bundle in my arms, which he had quickly shrugged out of and tossed to me so he wouldn’t rip them to shreds. Within those clothes were his swords.
His unabashed nakedness, with every peak and valley of his chiseled frame on full display, had turned my knees into wax. I’d debated “accidentally” losing his clothes so he would always be naked in front of me, forevermore.
I tossed the silly thought aside as he began morphing—bones crunching and realigning, skin grafting and changing right before my eyes.
It was magic I never thought I’d get to witness in my life.
Red scales, dimmed purple by the moonlight, sprouted on his skin before he’d even grown to full size. His neck elongated in a painful-looking way, his snout turning into that predatory draconic visage with jagged teeth as long as my arm. A wicked spiked tail whipped out behind him and scaled wings erupted from his shoulder blades.
Within seconds, he was a four-legged, two-winged monster as big as Manek’s ugly house. I craned my neck to stare up at him, inadvertently stumbling backward in fear. His nostrils flared in apparent recognition of me.
“Blinding shit!” a voice cried, and I spun as a guard rounded the corner behind us. “Dragon!”
Ten or so other guards joined the man and drew their weapons.
“Sound the alarm, there’s a dragon invading the city!”
“Cerophus is doomed!”
“Nonsense—stay together and slay the beast!”
A few of the guards charged us with frantic cries. It was an uncoordinated attack, but I could only watch dumbly as they rushed toward me, temporarily stunn
ed by what I’d just witnessed.
Before they got too close, a huge red wing slammed down in front of me and enclosed me in safety and darkness. With a beastly grunt, the wing flapped outward and flung the guards away like toys.
Coalt tried to shimmy his gigantic body in the street, but it was almost too narrow for him to maneuver without bringing down a house.
All over, the silence of the night was broken by the sounds of screaming peasants and people waking up to a nightmare: A real fucking dragon prowled their streets.
If only they knew how badly we just wanted to get the fuck out!
Coalt’s long neck draped above me, his slanted head letting out a ferocious roar at the petrified guards in front of us.
The guards were getting antsy and looked ready to charge again.
Just then, a cone of red-hot flames burst from Coalt’s maw and brightened the sky.
The guards screamed and fell back—not burned to ash, but sufficiently scared away by the wall of fire. Kept at bay, at least half of them decided it was in their best interest to retreat.
The swelter from Coalt’s sudden flame-throwing was enough to make me sweat. I craned my neck, gawking at the beige underflesh of his neck.
When the fire sputtered out, Coalt coiled his neck and placed his head directly in front of me on the street, in a subservient pose.
His eyes were a cosmos of amber and gold flecks, slitted like a reptile’s. He snorted a swirl of smoke from his nostrils, and I got the picture.
I scrambled onto his neck, hugging his clothes tight to my bosom. The texture was scaly and dry, though it looked slick—almost like walking on marble.
Stumbling, I nearly fell off, but he righted me with his wings, which essentially cocooned me as I made it down his long neck to his back, then turned around.
Not sure what to do, my heart beating so fast I thought it would run away, I found a couple shoulder spikes to clutch. I went prone on him, keeping his clothes and swords smashed against my belly, and gave myself what I thought would be an aerodynamic posture—
Then I held on for dear life.
Coalt’s great wings flapped, rippling tents and shaking the foundations of houses around us.
Then, with a weightless feeling that left me unbalanced and jittery, we were no longer on the ground.