by AE Watson
“We think so.”
“Why?” He was outraged. I knew the feeling. I’d been switching between outrage and fury and grief for days.
“I haven’t got all the answers. But we went to the coven and they said she was likely part of the dark coven they had heard whisperings of.”
“So Anamay will not only have her army of slaves and whoever is left in her loyalists, but also a dark coven?” He winced, finally getting to the point I was making though the journey to it was lengthy.
“The light coven is coming. Mani and Katy and their friends or sisters or whatever they call themselves. I will summon them the moment we are about the begin battle. So hope is not lost.” I stepped in closer to him, deciding to keep the claiming of the magic to myself a little longer. “But I don’t want to talk about that anymore.”
“Good. Because I want you to be my last feast.” He smiled wickedly and pressed his lips to mine.
I took everything I could from him. Every ounce of love and lust and pleasure. I knew there was no going back after this.
There was only tomorrow and war and death.
And even if I lived, I would never feel this again.
Chapter 27
“You’re sure about her? She makes me feel strange. Like I can’t control my thoughts or feelings. I would do her bidding,” Master Lindley muttered as Clarabelle led us to a dark cave.
“I am and she can read thoughts as well as control them,” I whispered back. Winking at him as I followed Clarabelle into the dark.
“I’ve never seen one like her,” he admitted.
“Most haven’t.” I agreed.
“Send for the witches,” Clarabelle spoke softly but I heard her, as if she pushed her words to me.
I placed the pearl on the ground and stepped, crushing it and sending the dust spreading about.
The rock wall next to me began to rumble as a door formed. Mani opened it with Katy behind her. She scowled. “This doesn’t look like Herra to me.”
“We’re not on Altaros yet,” I said and pointed at Clarabelle. “She said this cave has magical properties that enhance your spells. And instead of sailing to Altaros you can open a gateway big enough to lead the army through to a door out of the mountain outside Herra.”
Mani parted her lips to argue but Katy’s bright eyes widened. “She’s correct. I’ve read about this place.” She rushed out, ignoring Grayson and Master Lindley and me. “We will have the element of surprise this way. Brilliant, Clarabelle.”
Clarabelle curtseyed.
Mani followed Katy and the two of them began chanting and conjuring. The portal started as a small swirl of air.
“I can’t believe this is going to work,” Grayson muttered and turned away to tell the men waiting on word to fetch the army. Everyone was coming with us through the doorway tonight.
The swirl grew into a blue light, flickering as if it were fire.
The brightness intensified until it was unbearable.
I shielded my eyes but even that didn’t stop the brightness from coming through. People behind me gasped as we were blinded by it.
A great whoosh of air swept over us as the light burst and the portal opened.
I’d never seen anything like it.
The air rippled with the current of the vortex they had created. Mani watched it in disbelief.
“You haven’t done this before?” I shouted at her as I ran up.
“No one has for an age. This is ancient mage magic. Enderoth hasn’t seen a mage since before the breaking.” Mani glanced at me. “The portal was in existence from before. We only ignited the fire creating it.”
“These magical portals cannot be destroyed by ordinary magic,” Clarabelle said and walked through the gateway, making the airwaves ripple.
“After you,” Mani held a hand out for me.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“Me too.” She nodded but still waited expectantly for me to go through.
Taking a deep breath, I turned back to Master Lindley and Grayson, in case it was my last look, and walked into the ripples. I closed my eyes and stumbled out onto the side of the mountain. The air was colder and smelled of dust.
Clarabelle grinned from where she was perched on the side of the craggy mountain. She pointed to the lights below. “Herra,” she whispered.
My heart began to race as I realized this was it. War.
I’d told Artan to leave Mornha when we did but flying was going to take much longer than walking through a mountain. I whistled, knowing he would hear me, even an ocean away. He would know I was calling him and we had landed.
I fixed my cloak and swords and began walking down the hill as the army of men and bears and wolves and witches started their decent. Grayson had told me there weren’t a lot of Vulkodlak in his ranks, but enough to do some damage if we were to come up against them in collars on Altaros. I expected Anamay’s entire army to be bears and wolves and fanged devils.
“Princess,” Master Lindley called after me as he hurried in my direction. “I want to stay close to you.” He winked. “So you can watch my back.” We both knew that was a lie.
“I’ll do my best to keep you safe,” I joked but there was no humor in the tension that had overtaken the air we breathed. It was thick enough to choke you.
I reached up and slipped the necklace from my neck. “Here,” I said, helping him put it on.
Instantly he sighed. “What is it?”
“It’ll stop magic from working on you.”
“No!” He tried to take it off but I held his callused hands and stared up into his eyes. “I won’t need it.”
He scowled, confused. “Why?”
“My dragon blood,” I lied and prayed it was convincing enough.
The answer brought a miniscule smile to his lips.
“Thank you, for everything. Every lesson, every bit of wisdom, and for loving me and my family.”
The smile faded. “It was my honor.” His voice cracked but he cleared his throat. “My greatest honor.”
“And training with you was mine,” I bowed before him deeply.
“I’m sorry I didn’t keep them alive. And I didn’t see what was happening until it was too late. There were pieces of the puzzle in front of me and I didn’t put them together in time.”
“It’s not your fault. They were betrayed. My father always said that it was impossible to look back with what we know now and try to rearrange our actions. We’re biased with knowledge.”
“When did he say that?”
“He was talking to Roland and Michael over a battle on the border of Midland that had gone badly.”
“Of course, I recall it. We lost a lot of men that day.” He smiled. “You always were lurking and listening, weren’t you?”
“Unless it had to do with the politics or etiquette. Then I was gone.” I winced, wishing I’d paid a little more attention to that part now.
“Your parents loved you,” he said after a quiet moment.
“Thank you.” I hugged him once more and pointed at the city below, lit with thousands of twinkling lights. “Do you think they will be readying at the sea?”
“I do. But there are Degha soldiers with her still. They will anticipate us and our ships on the far side of the island, expecting us to attack on the opposite side of the marinas and shipping docks.”
“It’s what you would have done?”
“Had we not walked through that portal?” he pointed his thumb behind him. “Indeed. They will have a portion of the military at the docks but the majority will be waiting for us north of the city, in the lowlands of this mountain. We’re going to sneak right by them taking this route.”
“Amillia,” Clarabelle whispered my name from above us. Immediately her words penetrated me.
I turned, seeing her standing on one of the rocky outcroppings. She pointed to the moonlit sky, drawing my gaze up to where a shape passed by the bright moon.
Without thinking I acted.
“I’ll follow you down and get Artan to land where you are,” I said to Master Lindley and hurried up the rocky bluff before he could argue. Clarabelle had spoken. Her words controlled me.
Artan landed, sending small rocks tumbling down the mountain side. Clarabelle and I rushed up to him. I didn’t know why we were sneaking off with my dragon, but suspected it had something to do with magic. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t reason with her or myself if I wanted to.
Grayson noticed, his eyes narrowed in the dim light of the moon shining down on us. I offered him nothing as I jumped on Artan’s back and clung to Clarabelle. Her scent flooded my senses, drowning me in her. I clung tighter, practically begging her to devour me.
My eyes closed and my will fell away.
Artan landed with a thud but I leaned in, clinging to her tighter.
“This way,” she whispered in that chilling tone. Normally it was frightening but now it sounded enchanting. I glanced around us as I slid off Artan. We were close to the top of a mountain but there was no snow even if the air was chillier.
She led me to a path that climbed to the very top of the mountain, the tip, where we found an altar. It was old, a relic and crumbling down the mountainside. She waved a hand over my face and suddenly I saw it differently.
The ancient altar came to life.
It was lush here, not the barren wasteland surrounding us. There were trees and the mountain was taller then. A river flowed nearby and the wind had a song on it.
Birds sang as I turned in a circle, taking it all in.
Clarabelle began to whisper near the center of the altar where what seemed to be a bird bath sat. A second later Mani and Grayson appeared.
“Are you real?” I asked when he hurried over to me.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s drunk on me,” Clarabelle muttered. “She won’t question anything I say.”
“We have no time!” Mani shouted.
Grayson cupped my face and tilted my head. “I know what you have to do.”
“What?” I asked breathily, still finding my gaze drawn to Clarabelle. She was so beautiful.
Grayson hugged me to him, stifling me with the warmth of his body, blocking my view of her perfect face. “I love you, Millia. I’ll always love you.” He kissed the top of my head and I realized I needed to be upset. I couldn’t reach my emotions.
Mani began to swirl the air.
“Your blood!” She called out to Grayson. He kissed me once more before walking to the birdbath and pulling out a knife. He cut his hand and dripped his blood into the bath. The wound sealed over instantly. Clarabelle did the same. Her wound too was gone almost instantly.
Mani followed, though her blood made Clarabelle stiffen. She fought everything in herself until finally Mani’s hand stitched itself back together with light.
“Bring her,” Mani said.
Clarabelle summoned me. “Stand here.” She trembled with need and glanced at Grayson. “You have to do it. You have more control than I do.” She turned away from me as Grayson took my hand and his blade and sliced. I winced as he squeezed the cut and forced my blood into the murky birdbath water.
Mani stitched my wound with light too, sealing it over so Clarabelle could get control of her hunger.
Mani took my cloak and swords, then she and Grayson stepped back from me, standing off to the side, leaving me at the birdbath. I didn’t know what to do. I glanced at them, seeing devastation on his face and worry on hers. Clarabelle still wanted to eat me and I would open a vein for her if she only asked.
“Look into the water,” Mani whispered and then began to chant. Her words were muddled and strange. I didn’t know the language she spoke.
A little worried now, even with Clarabelle taking up most of my thoughts, I turned back to the water and noticed it didn’t seem so murky. There were lights in it, tiny sparkles.
They called to me, making me lean forward until my nose was nearly touching the surface.
The lights danced and eddied, entrancing me. My eyes followed, making my head bob a little as I watched the show. They joined into one big light, almost shaped as the vortex portal had been. I gasped at the beauty but as if it heard me, it darted right for me. Before I could lean back from it, the light jumped into me. Blinding me.
I staggered back, feeling hands holding me up as I panicked but it had a hold.
My head ached like it might burst and my heart swelled to the point I thought it might split the skin of my breast.
I cried out as the entire sky of stars filled my head.
The realization of what this was hit.
My eyes opened and I searched for his face.
His eyes were wide, pools of regret and agony.
“No!” I whispered and reached for him but the pain seized me. I trembled and fell.
“Don’t fight it! Embrace the magic, Amillia!” Mani screamed somewhere in the wind and trembling earth and quaking of my body.
Something lifted me. It wasn’t hands or magic, it was the air. She was me. I was her. One.
“Let go,” Grayson said and I did.
This wasn’t about me or love or that quiet life in the country.
It was bigger than anything we could ever imagine.
The wind spoke to me, she whispered that I could save them all.
I could end the struggle.
The lost, selfish, spoiled girl inside of me screamed that she did not want this but the woman, the legacy, the heir I had been shoving down rose up. She claimed her rightful place inside of me. I didn’t fight the air, I let her lift me up.
When she planted my feet back on the hillside I greeted the earth below as a mother and a teacher. Together with the earth and the air I called upon the magic that had always been there. It was my own dragon egg inside of me. A dormant gift from a legacy of lives I’d ignored.
The ground shook as Artan made his way to me. His eyes were glowing with green liquid fire. We connected and I spoke to him as Clarabelle always did. “Do it,” I whispered with my mind.
Unlike me, he had no doubt of the journey we were taking. He sat back, drew in a mighty breath and blew his fire down on me. All along the secret inside of me, one that could only be revealed by dragon fire, had been yearning to come out. Bubbling to the surface.
The flames seared, burning me to the core. My head tilted back to the sky and a scream ripped from my mouth. It was unbearable but this time I didn’t fight the pain or shy away from the burn. I let it purify me. As his sister his fire cleansed instead of killed.
I was a phoenix. A hybrid. A creature as Artan was. Part dragon. Part witch. Part mortal. All royal. The blood of my ancestors crawled up from the ground and out of the air and from the fire. As his breath died off and the flames ended the sky above us cracked and a strike of lightning shot from the clouds that had rolled in for this moment.
There was no pain this time.
I welcomed the fire from the sky as it matched the fire in my veins.
It filled me up with light, the spark that created us all once upon a time. I was reborn in that moment.
The clouds grumbled and the sky opened, releasing rain down on us that made steam all around me.
The land began to shake and the fire inside of me cooled.
I stood in the bank of steam and fog and let the rain wash me clean of my old skin. I sloughed off my mortal coil as a snake from Midland might.
The rain stopped and my eyes cleared. I brought my hand up and stared at it, confused at the glow of my skin. There was a shimmer like a fish, scales of a dragon that could only be seen in certain light.
The ground stopped shaking and I lifted my gaze to them.
Artan, Grayson, Clarabelle, and Mani stood, staring at me.
All dropped to their knees. Even Artan knelt awkwardly.
Chapter 28
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to catch my breath as the feeling of my heart seizing had finally ended. “Why are you kneeling?”
“You don’t see what we see.” Mani stood and cast a mirror made of water in front of me. I gasped, recoiling from the reflection.
I was not me.
Truly, I was not me.
It took several seconds for the realization of what had happened to hit. My skin shimmered in the moonlight with the pale, nearly translucent red scales that covered my naked body. I touched a hand to my stomach and felt only myself but the difference in the mirror was undeniable. My green eyes glowed with the same fire as Artan’s. They had become slits the way Grayson’s did when he was ready to fight or eat. My hair was longer, silkier and darker red. But the strangest part was the wings made of fire. I turned, shaking my head in shock. “What are they?”
“They’re your magic, child.” Mani beamed. “Now you are truly his sister.”
Artan grunted and moved to me, nudging me with his snout. I clung to him, scared of what I had become. He rubbed against me, calming me as he had when I was a child. I closed my eyes and saw us on the rooftop of the Black Keep, just us and the moon and the sound of the fields dancing in the wind.
As I relaxed, the fire in me mellowed. I opened my eyes to find the flame wings had extinguished and I was just me again. A shinier version of me.
“Here,” Mani said, handing me my cloak and swords.
“I’m going into battle with a cloak and no clothes?” I asked.
“No,” Mani said with a sigh. “Of course not.”
She moved her hands and the cloak attacked me, covering and shifting until it was altered altogether. Red leather breeches and boots. And a red leather band covering my breasts.
“What if I get stabbed?” With my hand I covered my stomach that was still bare.
“If there’s a sword down there that can pierce dragon hide, I’ll eat my boots,” Grayson muttered and walked to me. “And I like this.” He eyed up my clothes, or lack thereof. He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “You scared me,” he whispered.
“I think I scared myself too,” I muttered back, wondering when I would start feeling differently. Would my desire for him die off slowly or end all at once?
