And then there’s no more movement.
“Restrain her,” Nerrenth commands, looking up the stairs right at me. Nearby, I can hear the fae around me muttering something unintelligible as, suddenly, clear chains made of glistening glass shoot up from the ground, grasping my wrists and pulling me downward. Lee glances over his shoulder at me, then looks away quickly.
“I don’t know what the human is doing, but she’s up to something,” Nerrenth says, folding his arms. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you, Lee?”
He just shakes his head, though I know he’s bluffing.
How could he not know?
“Eyes here, fuckwad.” I hear a voice from the courtyard, and I see Seth standing feebly. From up here, the black aura surrounding him is even more visible, more ominous, and the fae around me shrink back at the sight.
“There’s always one more, isn’t there?” Nerrenth exclaims, turning toward Seth standing probably twenty or so feet away.
“I don’t want to do this. But I’ll do it for the world, even if it means we’re all going to die.” Seth’s voice is desperate, harried as he speaks.
And the energy around him seems to be growing.
Nerrenth scoffs, unamused.
“I mean it…” Seth says.
Then like a blur, Nerrenth moves forward so fast my eyes can’t even track him, and his knuckles connect with the side of Seth’s head, throwing him into the ground, unconscious.
“You hesitate, dragon. And that is your downfall,” he says as he wipes his hands. For a moment, he looks around as if to make sure no one’s left and sighs.
I struggle at the chains holding me. But though they are magical, they feel as if they could never possibly break.
“Lee,” I hiss, keeping my voice low so only he can hear it. “I know you’re better than this. Your dragon may be gone, but the dragon you could still be is in there.”
“There’s nothing there, Anna.” He doesn’t turn to look at me as he speaks, his voice low.
“You have a good heart. I know it’s killing you to watch this. You may not have your dragon, but you can still save people. If it hurt not to be able to help people before, how bad will it hurt if you do nothing now, when the world is in danger?”
Lee doesn’t respond, but his eyes wince, his profile stoic as he continues to watch Nerrenth.
I continue to plead with him. “Help me out of these chains. I have an idea. I just need to—”
I stop talking when I see Nerrenth dragging Seth around by the collar of his long black coat. Seth, his eyes closed, hangs limply in his grasp.
“It must be fun for you, Lee,” Nerrenth exclaims loud enough that his voice fills the ruined courtyard. “Knowing you’ll have your dragon soon and everyone who wronged you will be dead.” He moves over to Griffin, who’s lying at the base of the steps, and prods him with his foot while continuing to drag Seth.
Then Nerrenth’s eyes lock on me, and I can see his grin, devoid of all goodness.
“I’ll have to find more women like this when I go to your world.” His voice is triumphant, and he looks over at Lee as he speaks. “It would be fun selling them to desperate shifters. Using them to cause fights.”
I can feel Lee tensing up as Nerrenth continues to talk.
“From what I’ve heard, there’s no shortage of weak humans and shifters to terrorize. I won’t stop until everyone is beneath me. It’s going to be fun.”
He drops Seth near Griffin and strides up the steps. Nerrenth’s armor is broken in several places, his face dusty and battered. The absolute surety in his voice makes me sick inside.
Without scruple, he grabs my face, fingers pressing roughly into my cheeks as he forces me to look up at him. “How many like you are there in your world, human? Tell me more.” His voice is hungry, eager at the prospect of conquest.
I can feel Lee watching us, but I have no clue what he’s thinking.
“Answer me, human,” Nerrenth commands. “Or should I end you right here just because I can?”
I glare at him. “No matter what you do to me, my heart will always be with these dragons.”
Nerrenth laughs, a bitter, cold sound. “Ha. Strong words when your dragons are all about to be dead.”
I hear grunting and look down to see Seth crawling up the steps with his hands alone, taking them one at a time, gradually making his way until he’s near.
Nerrenth’s grip on my jaw tightens when he turns to see Seth’s hand clutching his ankle desperately.
“Let. Her. Go.” Seth’s voice sounds like he’s choking in the back of his throat, knuckles white as he tries to pull Nerrenth away from me, fighting even to the last breath.
“Stubborn one, aren’t you?” Nerrenth turns his attention on Seth, and I struggle against the chains, trying to bite Nerrenth’s fingers or somehow stop him from hurting my mates any more.
“How dare you defy a fae prince?” Nerrenth says grimly, and he raises the back of his hand toward my face.
He stops as something very odd happens. A blue substance that’s somewhere between smoke and liquid rushes over us, cool like water but not wet. It flows past us at waist level and spills down over the steps, spreading and flooding over the whole courtyard until all I can see is blue.
Nerrenth looks around him, confused, and he finally releases me to step back with his hand on his sword.
Gradually, the blue substance recedes, and I realize the scrapes and bruises on my body are all healed.
And I feel reinvigorated too. Like my strength is back. Below, the blue is seeping back into the ground.
Both Nerrenth and I look over to see Lee standing from his chair and walking toward us, head slightly bent.
“I’m sorry,” he says as he looks up at me, his blue eyes filled with regret. Then he looks to the courtyard where the dragons are slowly pushing themselves up, looking much better. They turn to face Lee, almost in unison.
“I have limited healing.” Lee’s eyes are shuttered as he continues, his face looking wan, exhausted. “But I’m using it now to give you all a second chance.”
Seth glances over at me, then back to Lee, incredulous.
Lee sighs. “You all probably don’t deserve it, but you can protect Anna and the world this way.” His gaze drifts back to me, the blue of his eyes so deep I almost lose myself. “You were right, Anna. I’m not someone who can watch people hurt, not even for revenge or to fix to what was done to me. I guess I’m still the stupid, optimistic dragon I was before. I’m just sorry I didn’t see it sooner. For now, I’ll give you all I have.”
He closes his eyes, and another wave of blue emanates from his body, crashing around his feet and drifting down the steps and over the others once more before it dissipates. Lee drops to one knee, utterly drained.
Above me, I see Nerrenth reach for his sword, withdrawing it calmly from its sheath. As I realize what he’s about to do, my heart drops like I just fell from a skyscraper.
“No!” I scream just as Nerrenth flicks his wrist, sending the sword flying forward like a dart.
I watch in horror as Lee turns to face him just as the sword impales him through the chest.
68
Lee, mouth agape, just looks at the sword helplessly, grabbing at it and barely withdrawing it before toppling, his limp body tumbling down the stairs.
“I should have known he was useless,” Nerrenth exclaims.
But then he notices the dragons getting to their feet, fury in their expressions, fists clenched, and he starts to lose his nerve. “How could he heal you? This shouldn’t be possible. He isn’t even a blue dragon.”
“He’s our blue dragon,” Seth says fiercely, looking stronger and healthier than I’ve ever seen him as he strides over to me. He rips the magical chains binding me out of the ground, and they magically dissipate into sparkling dust. “And you’re really going to regret what you just did.”
I share a quick glance with Seth. Then he leaps off the ground, throw
ing his fist into Nerrenth’s face and sending them both toppling off the other side of the steps. The fairy manages to kick Seth away from him halfway down, and Seth recovers at the base of the stairs where the others are gathered.
Nerrenth comes to a stop a few steps short of the bottom, and as one, all five dragons attack.
Finally, I have a chance to get to Lee.
His limp body is splayed out halfway down the staircase, surrounded in red that is seeping down the steps.
I run for it, jumping down the steps to reach his side as fast as my human legs can carry me. I drop to my knees, and when he doesn’t move, I fear the worst, putting my finger to his neck to feel for a pulse.
Then his long, elegant hand reaches up, cupping my fingers in his, and his eyes slowly open.
He looks so tired, so weak.
“I’m sorry, dragon heart.” He closes his eyes. “Anna.”
“It’s okay.” I reassure him. “You did great. You were amazing.”
I hear a crack and glance over to see Byron and Griffin taking turns pummeling Nerrenth’s face over and over. Good, I think as I turn back to Lee.
“My healing makes them a bit stronger too. I hope it will be enough to stop the fairy, and I hope…” His throat catches, and I can tell it’s hard to talk. “That you can forgive me someday.”
“No, I already do. I—”
“When you get your power, Anna, go and heal your sister. Live a good life with your dragons. Try and forget me.” The resigned sadness in his eyes singes me deep in my soul. “Everyone else has already.”
“No,” I plead, clutching his hand to my chest. “No one forgot you. You hear the dragons fighting? That’s for you too. I mated with the other dragons. You said it was impossible, but I did. We all want to be together.”
Lee’s eyes go wider, confusion swirling in his expression.
There’s no way I can stop now.
“That includes you, Lee. We need you as well. I know it’s not going to give you back your dragon, but at least you’ll have a power. I mean, at least it’s worth a try.” I extend my hand. “Mate me?”
His eyes are still wide and confused, unfocused. “It’s not possible.”
“It is,” I say urgently. “Please try. I need you in my life. We all do.”
Then, as if they can hear us, I feel the other dragons looking over. They are nodding, each in their own distinct way, to give their support.
“It’s why Griffin flew me up to you,” I say. “Please come with us.”
I hear a cough, and I look to see blood dripping from the corner of Lee’s mouth. “I would love that life. Being with you. Being with everyone.” He looks up at me, eyes dazed, consciousness fading. “I just don’t see how I could deserve it.” His eyes close, and I know I don’t have any more time.
“This is how,” I say, pressing my palm to his chest right above his heart, at the edge of the darkened, profusely bleeding sword wound.
Lee’s blue eyes fly open as I can feel something happening between us. There’s a white flash—though I can’t tell if it happens in front of my eyes or behind them—blinding me for a moment, and I lose all sense of where I am or what’s happening around me.
When I open my eyes, I see my body far below me, kneeling over Lee, my hand pressed into his chest.
It’s like my soul is separate, hovering high above the ground. I can see the dragons too, surrounding Nerrenth and barely moving. It’s as if time is stopped.
Well, not stopped, but slowed so much that movement around me is at a near standstill.
Everything is quiet, and I can feel energy flowing around me in wisps, making little circles and flying off to places I can’t see. It’s only then that I spot a short, very old woman with white hair and misty purple eyes. She’s floating in front of me, watching me with a keen gaze.
Am I dead?
She laughs, the cheery sound like bells in my ears, echoing around me in the stark stillness.
“No, you’re not dead,” she says with a grin.
“Then where am I?” My voice sounds like it’s underwater.
She turns to watch the fight below us. At this distance, I can see Nerrenth, fist slowly hitting Griffin in the face, just as Byron’s fist connects with Nerrenth’s jaw in the same movement. It’s like everything is moving at a tenth of the normal speed.
“What do you see?” she asks. Her question is like a command, quiet but unnerving. Like I’m aware she can read my thoughts but wants me to say them of my own accord.
“I see my dragons. Griffin. Rainier. Byron. Van. Seth.” I turn to look at Lee, who’s staring down at my hand still on his chest. “Lee. I see them fighting, not just to protect me, but to protect everyone back in my world too.”
As I’m speaking, the word “oracle” pops into my mind, and I get the distinct impression that this is the woman the dragons have mentioned in the past.
It’s the only thing that makes sense.
She looks back at me, hazy purple eyes appraising me carefully. “No human has ever done so much for so many dragons. No human has ever been able to give and receive so much love at once, and they’re my unruliest dragons on top of that.”
All I know is how warm I feel as I think of them. Any of them and all of them at once. How each one is so special to me that life would feel incomplete without them.
“What do you want, dragon heart?” the oracle asks.
I look back down at the dragons fighting Nerrenth. They’re winning, finally. Working together as one. Then I look to Lee, seeing the blood pooling and dripping down the steps.
“You’ve mated all six. What power would you prefer? Since your case is a bit special, I’m giving you a choice.” Her voice is quiet, yet it’s so loud, echoing, at the same time that it almost shakes me.
“It’s not power I want. It’s something else,” I reply with a sigh. When I turn to face the oracle, I realize she’s standing right beside me, though I never saw her move an inch.
She looks up, and I realize she’s several inches shorter than me. So small yet so powerful.
I don’t know why, but I’m too nervous to say it out loud. So I lean down and whisper into the woman’s ear.
The oracle just hums as I say it, and when I pull away from her, she looks at me with utter surprise.
“I suppose so.” One gray eyebrow is raised at me as if even she didn’t quite anticipate my request. “Are you certain? I guess I should probably grant them another chance in our world if you really care about them so much.”
“I love them,” I reply simply.
“I guess I have to take that into account.” She smiles, and there’s a softness in her gaze that gives me more hope than I know what to do with right now.
“I appreciate that, because I don’t really know what I’m going to do if you don’t let us go back to my world.”
“I’ll let you all go back,” she says. “But I do think you’ll have your hands full regardless, probably for the rest of your life.” There’s a hint of a giggle on her lips as she pauses. “But now that I’ve met you, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
“It’s not,” I exclaim, already eager to get back to my dragons. “It’s all going to be fine.”
“I know.” With that, the oracle waves her hand, and everything goes bright white once again.
Suddenly, I’m jolted back to reality by the feeling of pain in my hand. My eyes open, and I’m kneeling in front of Lee. The dream, or whatever it was, is gone.
But when I look down, the wound in Lee’s chest is healed. A second later, he sees it too, and he stands, startled.
“Wait.” There’s wonder in Lee’s voice, and his eyes are wide as he looks at both of his hands. I can see blue there, glowing in his veins. “What just happened?”
I stand, feeling weak in my legs and a little wobbly, and Lee quickly steps closer, wrapping a hand around my midsection to support me.
“I thought this might be better than having powers,” I say
, looking at his hand.
Lee just looks confused, panicked almost, as he flexes his fingers anxiously.
I shrug. “I mean, I’m good as just a human. I don’t really need a power. So I thought maybe… I could ask the oracle for a trade. Then you could have your dragon back.”
Suddenly, a shimmering veil surrounds me, and I gasp as I’m lifted into the air, carried on glittering see-through crystals, up and up until I’m sitting on something that feels familiar.
And when I look down, I see a cascade of blue scales trailing down to four powerful legs. Behind me, humongous wings are unfurling.
I look up, and Lee’s dragon lifts his head into the sky and roars, shaking the entire earth beneath us.
All eyes are on us, on me, as the other five dragons look up at us.
“Holy shit. The blue dragon,” Griffin exclaims.
“Our blue dragon,” Van says, cocking his leg back to kick Nerrenth—who’s lying on the ground face-first—in the side.
My blue dragon, I think as my heart leaps with happiness in my chest.
Lee’s great wings flap, taking us off the ground, and I feel the earth grow smaller beneath me. Once we’re afloat, Lee flies over the ruins of the courtyard, breathing blue fire over his companions in a wide circle.
Beneath us, Seth raises his arms to the sky, closing his eyes as he bathes in the blue inferno. The other dragons share excited looks, all strengthened by Lee’s power as we continue to fly.
And for the first time since coming to the Blur—perhaps for the first time in my entire life—things feel completely right.
Whole.
“Hold on.” Lee’s booming dragon voice shakes me, and I hold on to his neck tightly as we drift lower. Then, just as we’re about to land, I see Griffin beneath us, coming closer.
Lee lands, and before he can lower his neck to let me off, I leap into Griffin’s strong arms and he catches me, wrapping his thick arms around me and nuzzling his face into my neck.
“You did it, Anna. I don’t know how, but you did it.”
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