He’d been turned to stone.
“You’re free to go, selkie-girl,” Maeve said and lounged upon her throne again, her gaze knowing. “I don’t break my promises, after all. I’ll catch up with you in a year and a day.”
The way the Dark Queen smirked wasn’t reassuring. How would Lila hide or defend her son? How would she protect herself? The Fae who were gathered to watch the events in the arena laughed and jostled each other in the stands. Some threw things at Rhys, wilted flowers, gloves and shoes. He didn’t respond.
He couldn’t respond.
Lila surveyed the perimeter of the arena and couldn’t see a door. “How do I leave?” she thought and Maeve laughed.
“Oh, you want to leave Fae completely. I thought you just wanted to leave the arena and would spend your year and a day here, amongst us. Of course, that might mean the passing of decades or more in the realm you know better.” The Dark Queen leaned forward, eyes shining. “You willingly entered Fae twice. That has nothing to do with your dragon lover’s wager. You can’t leave Fae until you pay the price. I welcome your suggestions.”
The spectators laughed at this, their laughter shrill and annoying.
What could she give? Rhys had surrendered his life for their son. Lila couldn’t make the same offer without betraying his trust and condemning their child, but there were two things she could give away.
“I surrender my ability to shift shape,” she thought and Maeve nodded approval.
“That would mean you’re no longer a selkie, so I’d be able to update my list again. I like that. I’ll take it.” Maeve opened the book in question and flipped through the pages. Sylvia watched the Dark Queen’s movements, her lips drawn to a tight line. “I really should think about allying with the Pyr,” Maeve mused. “They’re doing such an excellent job of promoting my agenda. One less Pyr, one less selkie, and no more Valkyries. Imagine if they were following my command.” She didn’t seem to expect an answer to that but drew a line and made a notation. Lila was certain that she was striking Rhys from her list. “Surrender your skin.”
Lila offered it and it was vaporized before her eyes. The sight weakened her knees, then it infuriated her. Maeve would change the entire world to suit herself and cared nothing for the consequences.
“What else?” Maeve demanded. “Make it good.”
Oh, Lila would make it good. She recalled Chandra’s words and knew the Pyr would help her with Rhys’ son. She hoped their son looked just a little bit like his father, and she knew he would have the same sense of honor.
She loved Rhys, and that made everything simple.
“I surrender my immortality,” she said and there was a stir of agitation in the stands. Maeve looked surprised and one of the guards beside her appeared to be astonished. Wings and feathers rustled and flapped in the stands as the Fae whispered and twittered about this choice. They seemed to be horrified.
Maeve smiled and set the book aside. She picked up the gem of the hoard, cradling it in her hands again. “Granted,” she said and her voice boomed over the entire arena.
She took a deep breath and blew on the gem of the hoard, sending a thousand silver sparks toward Lila. They looked almost like the seeds of a dandelion flower caught in the wind. They swirled around Lila though, obscuring the arena from view. They collided with her skin like little pricks of ice and she felt the chill of mortality slip through her body. She shivered from head to toe.
It was done.
To her surprise, the red string on her wrist sizzled and disappeared, leaving a burn mark on her skin. How could that be? She saw a shimmer of blue light from behind her and looked back as Arach shifted to his human form. The other dragon, the carnelian one who Rhys had called Theo, also shifted shape. He staggered a little, as if he’d been released from a terrible burden, and Arach went to his side to support him. Neither of them had red strings bound on their wrists anymore.
What was going on?
What was happening to Maeve’s magick?
Lila looked back to the throne to see the dark-haired woman who had been seated beside Maeve on her feet. She looked thrilled and frightened, her hands raised to her mouth. She still had a red string on her wrist, though. Sylvia looked wary, and all of the Fae were alarmed.
A sound carried to Lila’s ears then, like a chant, one that made the ground vibrate beneath her feet and sent shivers over her flesh.
Maeve was on her feet, her brow as dark as thunder. The stone statue of Rhys began to shudder and Lila saw cracks appear in its surface. Lila was afraid he would crumble to dust and wasn’t sure she could bear the sight.
“No!” Maeve screamed as there was an ominous crack overhead.
“Oh yes,” a man said softly from the opposite end of the arena.
Lila turned to look with everyone else. Embron in his human form stood opposite Maeve, a space all around him. He held a crystal orb in one hand, one filled with red light. His smile was as terrifying as it had been in that basement and he held out the globe before himself. It was his spell they’d heard and he began to sing again. His gaze was fixed on Maeve and Lila saw the red magick abandoning the gem of the hoard for Embron’s crystal.
It was like the crimson tide receding, or a scarlet curtain being drawn back to reveal the truth. As the edge of the tide moved, the Fae changed appearance, like they were abandoned by a flattering light. Instead of being dressed in red and silver, instead of sparkling and glittering with Fae beauty, they became twisted and bent, brown and black and deepest green. They looked like the dead, found at the bottom of the sea or deep in the woods, gruesome and horrible.
When the line of red light reached the statue of Rhys in his dragon form, the stone crumbled. Lila cried out but in the rubble, she spotted Rhys in his human form, dazed but alive. She fell to her knees beside him, and tried to breathe her healing mist.
That gift she’d retained and she was relieved to see Rhys’ color improve and his aura burn more brightly. She fixed her attention on him, wanting him to be as strong as possible.
They weren’t out of Fae yet.
Maeve shrieked in the royal box as she visibly aged, her hair turning white and her outstretched hands becoming claw-like. Her nails grew and yellowed; her cheeks sagged, she became gaunt and trembled. Her skin was lined again and she shrank in stature, but she stood on her throne and summoned the magick to return to her.
The retreat of the red tide wavered, and it began to move in the opposite direction again.
Embron’s song boomed in volume. The lip of the tide hesitated, then began to move toward the dragon prince again.
It was a war of wills.
A sorcerers’ contest.
Embron and Maeve glared at each other, the fury between them making the air crackle with tension.
There could be only one winner and Lila didn’t know which would be better.
Sylvia felt powerless and she didn’t like it one bit. She halfway regretted leaving Reliquary, although she didn’t regret leaving Sebastian. He hadn’t even cared enough to come after her. She wanted to mourn Eithne, but first she had to survive.
And she wanted that book back.
It had become a matter of principle.
She watched Embron and Maeve square off in a battle of magick and wished there was something she could do. She wasn’t sure she wanted either of them to win, but she wanted out of Fae.
When the stone statue of Rhys was shattered, Maeve’s frustration was clear. The Dark Queen had become a hag, using what was left of her magick to summon the rest. She stood up to work her spell and the book fell to the ground.
Sylvia bent slowly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Her fingers had just brushed the cover of the book when a familiar voice spoke behind her.
“The time has come, I think, to go,” Sebastian said softly.
Sylvia glanced over her shoulder in surprise. The guard behind her lifted his visor and her heart skipped at the sight of Sebastian’s wicked smile. One of those Fae
daggers gleamed in his hand, the ones that could slice openings between realms, and his intention was clear.
Sylvia seized the book in the same moment that Sebastian caught her around the waist. The other Fae warrior snatched at the book and Sylvia gave it a hard tug, even as Sebastian sliced open a portal between the realms.
“Let it go!” he said, which astonished her.
“Not a chance,” she said through gritted teeth, giving it a hard tug. The Fae warrior tugged back.
To her surprise, the woman seated beside Maeve jumped up and body-slammed the Fae warrior. “Go!” she shouted to Sylvia.
The Fae warrior slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. There was a shimmer of blue and a dragon roared from the arena. Sylvia ignored that. The Fae warrior still had hold of one cover of the book. He tugged it hard enough that Sylvia was almost pulled to his side.
Sylvia wasn’t going to let go. She heard Sebastian snarl in frustration, then he drew the Fae dagger and it slashed through the air.
The spine of the book was sliced.
The magick surrounding the book winked out, like an extinguished light. The Fae warrior fell back with one cover in his grasp, then Sebastian retreated through the portal he’d opened. The last thing Sylvia saw was a carnelian and gold dragon charging the royal box, breathing fire as he attacked.
Then she fell to the floor in a darkened studio apartment she didn’t recognize. There was a skylight overhead and she could see the moon high overhead. Sebastian shut the portal like a zipper, just as she’d seen Fae warriors do, then shed his borrowed armor as if it burned. He turned the knife in the light, then shoved it into his belt.
“Of course, we had to turn up here,” he muttered and seized her hand. “We must be gone when they follow.”
Sylvia wasn’t going to argue with that. She clutched the remnants of the book and raced after Sebastian. He practically flew down the stairs, then paused to snatch her up and toss her over his shoulder. “But where will we go?”
“Back to Reliquary,” he snarled with obvious annoyance. “It’s the safest place, unfortunately.”
“Why unfortunately?”
“Because Micah and I have argued,” he said as they burst into an empty street. “You’ll get to watch me grovel for his forgiveness.” He raced to an alley then stopped and put her down once they were in the shadows. His eyes were glittering brightly and he looked so pale that Sylvia knew he needed to feed. She backed away, finding a brick wall behind herself, and Sebastian followed as if he couldn’t resist. His gaze lingered on her throat for a long moment and her breath caught, then he averted his gaze and swallowed.
“Time, sadly, is of the essence,” he muttered, then took her hand and began to run again. “Tell me if you can’t keep up.”
Sylvia wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of that.
“No!” Arach cried as Theo raged toward the royal box in his dragon form. Rhys realized that one Fae warrior there had struck Mel and that Theo intended to defend her. At least he was back to normal. Lila’s healing mist was helping him to recover his senses, but not quickly enough. He saw the shimmer of blue and spun to see Embron shift shape.
The dragon prince became an enormous black dragon that could have been made of anthracite. He looked even more ancient than Drake did, and had thorns on his scales, his eyes burning with inner fire as he took flight over the arena. The Fae spectators stared in awe as his massive black wings beat, raising dust from the ground. He held the crystal orb before himself in one outstretched claw and his chant became so loud that Rhys’ bones rattled. The magick was drawn to Embron with greater and greater speed, despite Maeve’s attempts to call it back.
She was losing.
When the tide of red reached Embron and swirled around the orb, he laughed and the sound was enough to make the earth shake. There was another crack from overhead, like thunder about to strike, and the Fae fled from the stands of the arena in terror. Maeve continued to call to her magick, but it was clear that Embron would triumph. There were almost no Fae left in the arena and their surroundings were almost colorless.
“Now,” Arach said softly and Rhys understood him perfectly. The two Pyr shimmered blue as they shifted shape in unison. They took flight with Theo, targeting Embron. Theo was the first to reach the dragon prince, but he was smacked so hard that he fell from the sky. Embron swung his tail with a roar of fury and sent Arach tumbling head over tail toward the ground.
Rhys recalled how Embron had abused Lila and his anger became a cold arrow of motivation. He lifted his claws in the traditional invitation to fight, but Embron only laughed. He breathed fire into Rhys’ face, then slashed with one claw then the other. Rhys ducked from one blow, but a talon on the other claw caught him right in the spot where he’d lost a scale. The pain shot through him like liquid fire, but he raged dragonfire at Embron, breathing flames into the dragon prince’s eyes.
Embron bellowed and spun to attack, his tail thrashing through the air. Rhys ducked, then sprang upward in the last moment, snatching at the crystal orb. Embron twisted to hold it out of the way and Rhys snatched at his back, grasping the top of Embron’s wings. He rode the dragon prince, knowing it wouldn’t last long, and bent to gnaw through the tendons at the tops of Embron’s wings. Embron roared and spun, struggling to dislodge Rhys, but Rhys held on tight. He managed to make one wing useless before Embron twisted and dove, one claw outstretched to snatch at Lila.
Rhys threw his weight to one side, sending Embron crashing to the arena floor. The dragon prince landed on top of him and Rhys closed his eyes pretending to be more injured than he was. Arach and Theo were attacking together, and he figured he could jump Embron from behind.
Maeve had been spellcasting all the while and Rhys saw that she’d reclaimed some of the magick from Embron’s orb. She was looking younger and more confident, and the gem of the hoard was glowing red again. Embron swore and chanted to his orb, drawing the magick back toward him. Again, they were locked in a battle of wills and once again there was a crack overhead.
This time, though, a bolt of blue-green light struck the ground beside Embron with a sizzle. When the smoke cleared, there was a man standing there, a man dressed in jeans with a backpack. He had a beard and looked a bit dusty, like he’d been travelling.
Embron, Rhys, Arach, Theo and Maeve all stared at him in shock. Rhys doubted his were the only eyes to widen when the man shimmered blue. He shifted shape to a dragon of opal and silver, his long tail stretched across the arena and his scales glimmering like moonlight. In the blink of an eye, he shifted shape to become a deer. He was a hare, he was mouse, he was an eagle, he was a salamander, he was a man again. It was dizzying to watch him change and Rhys realized the red light of magick was drawn to him. By the time he completed his cycle of forms again, he was bathed in a red glow of magick.
Embron roared and dove toward him. He was an eagle when Embron snatched at him, and he seized the crystal orb in his talons, wrenching it from Embron’s grip. He flew high, shifting to a dragon on the way, tossing the orb to Rhys.
Rhys caught it as the new arrival seized Embron, compelling the dragon prince to watch. It was heavy and hot, pulsing with magick and fury. The new arrival nodded at Rhys and he understood. He raised his claws, trapping the orb between them, and crushed it to dust. A jolt of blue-green light fired from the shattered orb and struck Embron in the brow.
The dragon prince stumbled and fell, his eyes closed by the time he hit the ground. He cycled between forms half a dozen times, but didn’t move again.
“The four elements,” the new arrival said to the Pyr, reminding them that their kind had to be exposed to all four elements when they died. Earth and air were accounted for, and Rhys nodded to his fellows to breathe fire in unison on the corpse of the dragon prince. The new arrival clapped his hands, and there was a rumble above before rain began to fall. Embron’s corpse smoked and then it steamed, then chunks of rock began to fall upon the arena.
The F
ae had disappeared. Maeve had vanished with the gem of the hoard. The new arrival spun in place, summoning a tornado of blue-green light, and disappeared himself. Rhys saw light far above them, and caught Lila in his embrace. “Hurry!” he called to Arach and Theo, not certain what would happen but guessing it wouldn’t be good.
Arach took flight behind him.
“I have to get Mel,” Theo said, then disappeared in the shadows below. Rhys only paused long enough to see that Arach was with him, then raced for what he hoped was a portal to the realm he knew best.
He and Lila wouldn’t be trapped in Fae without a fight.
Balthasar returned to the yacht shortly after Nyssa, his expression grim. He changed and joined the others at the rail to watch.
“Did you see him die?” Nyssa asked but he shook his head.
“Just lots of blood and happy sharks.”
“Rhys and Lila?” Thorolf asked.
“Vanished.”
“What about Embron?”
“I never saw him.” Balthasar felt like a failure but wasn’t sure what else to do.
Suddenly, there was a loud boom, like distant thunder, and the sea heaved beneath them. The yacht rocked precariously as the water bubbled up from the depths. The sea was really dark, unnaturally so, and filled with sand and shells.
Nyssa gasped and pointed at the shards of an obsidian mirror. “It was shattered!” she whispered. “How will they escape Fae now?”
“Is there another portal near here?” Thorolf asked.
“I don’t know,” Nyssa admitted, feeling helpless.
Something moved in the water, something silver, and they watched as a fish broke the surface. It strained high and something shone in its mouth. It was directly in front of Nyssa.
Balthasar got a net and scooped out the fish.
“What kind is it?” Thorolf asked.
Balthasar shook his head because he’d never seen one like it before.
Dragon's Heart (The DragonFate Novels Book 3) Page 33
