Shadow Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 4)
Page 23
There were the usual monsters and supernatural politics, of course, but Alex was in such a good mood that it was easy to ignore bickering mages, fairies, and vampires. And the Otherworldly rarely came around anyway, at least not the political kind. Naomi, being a Spirit Warrior, had lots of visits from ghosts and spirits. There was one, in particular, that Alex noticed was a regular visitor: a teenage ghost dressed in a wedding gown.
“How’s your meat?” Alex asked Kai.
His mouth was full, but he gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up in response. In fact, everyone was eating the brunch with enthusiasm, Alex was pleased to see.
“My first foray into cooking is a success,” she declared with satisfaction.
“Indeed,” Logan agreed. “You didn’t even set the kitchen on fire.”
Alex gave him a sly look. “This success makes me wonder what other skills I could master with the help of the internet.”
“How about gardening?” Naomi suggested. “Your front lawn is looking rather shabby.”
At that very moment, the twins and their dragons set the front lawn on fire. Makani gave his hand a lazy wave, casting a frost to put out the flames.
“Maybe I’ll just leave it as it is,” Alex said. “At least until the twins stop setting everything on fire.”
“If that ever happens,” Naomi sighed.
Makani wrapped his arm around her, drawing her onto his lap. “Setting things on fire is healthy.”
“Hmm.” Naomi dropped her head to his shoulder. “Maybe I’ll bring the boys to hell, where everything is always on fire anyway.”
Her words weren’t a threat of punishment. The boys had her magic too, so they were strong in hell like she was.
“I’m glad to see I’m finally having a positive influence on your diet,” Kai commented as he watched Sera grab another piece of fried chicken. He glanced at the pile of bones on her plate. They’d all been picked clean.
“I would say the same,” Logan said to Alex.
Alex had just as many bones on her plate as Sera did. And they were just as clean.
Sera licked her fingers. “We used a lot of magic lately.”
“So we need to replenish.” Alex winked at Logan. “And someone once told me that meat is an excellent source of protein.”
“Must have been one of your internet cooking gurus,” Logan replied with a twinkle in his eyes.
Alex snorted. Luckily, there wasn’t any chicken in her mouth anymore, or she probably would have choked on it.
“After this brunch, I’m going to need a nap to digest,” Sera told Alex.
“You didn’t have to eat that much,” Alex replied.
“Ha! Look who’s talking!”
Alex grabbed a blueberry muffin from the basket. “Mmmm.”
“You know, I once thought the same thing, that I was using too much magic because I was always hungry and always tired,” Naomi said. “It turned out I was pregnant.”
Alex and Sera exchanged terrified looks.
“When was your last period?” Alex asked her sister.
“I can’t remember,” Sera replied. “You?”
“No idea.”
“Six weeks ago,” Logan told Alex.
She swallowed hard.
“Sounds about right,” Sera said shakily.
Hers would have been at the same time. The two of them always cycled together.
“You can pee on blood rose petals. They turn blue if you’re pregnant,” Naomi said helpfully.
Then their fairy friend wrapped one arm around each of them and led them into the house. When they got to the bathroom, Naomi pulled a bundle of the petals out of her sweater.
“You carry around magic pregnancy tests?” Alex said in surprise.
Naomi chuckled. “The petals have other uses. You can toast them with a bit of fire, and then the twins like to snack on them.”
Sera gaped at the pile of petals Naomi had scooped into her hands. “You want us to pee on your twins’ snack chips? Yes, that makes this much less weird.”
Naomi smiled. “I’ll give you some privacy. It can take up to five minutes for the petals to change color.” Then she closed the door behind her.
Alex and Sera looked at each other—and then at the rose petals.
“You want to pee on the petals first?” Sera asked.
“No, we’ll do it at the same time,” Alex decided.
Luckily, there were two bathrooms side-by-side, party style. Alex opened up the door between them and stepped into the other bathroom.
“Ready?” she called out to Sera.
“This is so weird.”
Five minutes later, they were each staring down into a little cup of blue petals. There were a few more cups around that cup, each one filled with more blue petals. They’d asked for a second opinion. And a third.
Alex cleared her throat. “Ok, so that happened.”
“Shit,” Sera whispered.
Yep. That about summed it up.
Epilogue
Alex, Sera, and Naomi sat upon a picnic blanket on the lawn between their houses. Three years had passed since their defeat of Damarion. Beside them, Alex’s daughter played with Sera’s.
The two cousins were Dragon Born twins, the first non-sibling Dragon Born twins ever born. They’d been conceived at the same time, on their wedding night. Days later, their connection had been forged in the linking ceremony between Alex and Sera. And they’d been born at the same time, here in their houses. They were also the only Dragon Born twins who had ever been born in their own bodies. There had been no need to perform the ritual to separate them into two bodies.
Already at the age of two, the young girls were powerful, thanks to the mixed magic they’d inherited. Naomi’s twin boys ran across the lawn and took the girls’ hands, leading them out into the open space.
“I wonder what the boys will teach them today,” Sera said.
Alex watched their children. “How to ride their dragons.”
“And how to set things on fire,” Naomi sighed as all four children bathed the field in flames.
Sera put the fire out with a quick flick of her wrist. “So much for your hope that your boys would outgrow their love of setting things on fire, Naomi.”
“They get it from their father,” Naomi said.
The three fathers were barbecuing meat on the enormous grill that sat at the crossroads of their lawns. Alex had never gotten into gardening. The lawn was set on fire at least weekly, so there was little point in sprucing it up.
“Kai, I heard that the trio of mages Logan recently trained for you took out a whole flock of harpies,” Makani said, using his magic to flip the burgers on the grill.
Over the last few years, Kai had expanded Drachenburg Industries’ monster-hunting—and sometimes monster-collecting—division.
“They sure did,” Logan confirmed. “In under half an hour.”
Logan had put his assassin days behind him. He now worked as an independent contractor. One of the things he did was train Kai’s battle mages. The mages called Logan ‘the Demon’. Apparently, he was too hard on them. But they all came out of his training much stronger than before. That’s why Kai kept sending Logan more mages to train.
“Heard you raised your rates again,” Makani said to Logan.
“He did,” Kai confirmed, scowling.
He was grudgingly paying Logan’s new rates because the battle mages he trained were just too good, the very best in the world. And Kai didn’t settle for anything but the best.
“You should raise your rates too,” Logan told Makani, much to Kai’s annoyance.
Makani owned a very successful business that made magic weapons and accessories. His weapons were used extensively by Kai’s teams. Makani had named the shop the Magic Armory. Dragons were subtle like that.
“Oh, look who’s here,” Sera said with excitement.
The rest of their family had arrived. The commandos led the way, followed by Riley and Lara, holding hands.
“So Riley finally proposed.” Naomi grinned. “About damn time.”
Leilani arrived next. Her date was, amusingly, none other than Cutler, Alex and Sera’s old colleague from their mercenary days. Marek followed right behind them, his arm linked with his heavily-pregnant wife Eva.
Daemon and Ellie came next, too late to be on time, but just on time to be fashionably late. The two fairies were the stars of a very popular psychic show on television. Kai had stayed true to his promise and granted Daemon a full pardon.
Alex leaned back on her arms and smiled at her big extended—and somewhat untraditional—family. Not long ago, she and Sera had lived with their big Dragon Born secret, afraid that anyone would find out what they truly were. Alex had never dreamed that she would live this long. She’d never dreamed that she would have this perfect family.
And now…now, every day she lived was an adventure, every moment a precious gift. She’d always been the wild one, but she was happy that her life had calmed down. She was having to save the world less and less frequently with every passing year. But if it came around to it, if some dark force threatened her world, she would be ready, her family and friends by her side, united as one.
Author’s Note
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What's coming next in the series? Well, nothing. Shadow Magic marks the end of the Dragon Born saga. Learn more about the books in all the Dragon Born series here.
Books by Ella Summers
Dragon Born
Mercenary Magic
Magic Edge
Magic Games
Magic Nights
Blood Magic
Magic Kingdom
Fairy Magic
Rival Magic
Shadow World
Spirit Magic
Magic Immortal
Shadow Magic
Legion of Angels
Vampire’s Kiss
Witch’s Cauldron
Siren’s Song
Dragon’s Storm
Shifter’s Shadow
Psychic’s Spell
Fairy’s Touch
Angel’s Flight
Ghost’s Whisper
Phoenix’s Refrain
Book 11 [coming soon]
Immortal Legacy
Angel Fire
Angel Fury
Angel Fever
Sorcery & Science
Sorcery & Science (Prequel)
Vampires & Vigilantes
Book 2 [2021]
And more books coming soon…
Reading Order: Dragon Born Series
The Dragon Born saga is now complete.
Each of the three series features a different protagonist (Sera, Alex, Naomi) and has its own story arc. They be read together or independently. There is also a larger story arc that connects all of the Dragon Born series together.
If you enjoy seeing how the story lines work together, this is the recommended reading order:
Mercenary Magic (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 1)
Magic Edge (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 1)
Magic Games (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 2)
Magic Nights (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 3)
Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 2)
Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 3)
Fairy Magic (Dragon Born Awakening, Book 1)
Rival Magic (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 4)
Dragon Born Shadow World (Magic Eclipse, Midnight Magic, Magic Storm)
Spirit Magic (Dragon Born Awakening, Book 2)
Magic Immortal (Dragon Born Awakening, Book 3)
Shadow Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 4)
More information about the Dragon Born books here.
About the Author
Ella Summers has been writing stories for as long as she could read; she's been coming up with tall tales even longer than that. One of her early year masterpieces was a story about a pigtailed princess and her dragon sidekick. Nowadays, she still writes fantasy. She likes books with lots of action, adventure, and romance. When she is not busy writing or spending time with her two young children, she makes the world safe by fighting robots.
Ella is the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and International Bestselling Author of the paranormal and fantasy series Legion of Angels, Immortal Legacy, Dragon Born, and Sorcery & Science.
Connect with Ella at
www.ellasummers.com