Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series

by Elizabeth Briggs

  I gasped. “The Spirit Goddess is inside Nysa?”

  “She is. It was the only way to stop her, although we didn’t realize the consequences of doing such a thing.” His jaw clenched. “Nysa fought against the Death Goddess's darkness for years, but eventually she succumbed to it and became the Black Dragon. She still maintains some control, which is how she keeps the Spirit Goddess contained, but she’s become twisted…and incredibly powerful. She controls both life and death magic, along with all the elements, making her nearly unstoppable. With a single touch, she can drain a person's life, and her body heals itself immediately. That’s on the rare occasions she is injured at all, since she’s immune to all five elements.”

  I dug my toes into the sand, taking in everything he’d said. It was a lot to absorb, and it made our task seem even more daunting. “Is it even possible to defeat Nysa? And if we do, what will happen?”

  “It’s possible but won’t be easy. And if Nysa dies, the Spirit Goddess will be unleashed upon the world again. This is why she started sacrificing her own children…and why we reluctantly went along with it.”

  “I don’t see how any of you could agree to that,” Slade said with disgust, echoing my own thoughts.

  “No, because you didn’t see how bad it was when the Spirit Goddess was free. She would have wiped out all life on this world within months. If we let her continue, this would be a second Realm of the Dead under her rule.” Doran pinched the bridge of his nose. “Nysa was desperate to keep the Spirit Goddess contained, and she tried draining humans, elementals, and shades, but none of it extended her life. But then she had a daughter, continuing the Dragon cycle. The magic within the child was strong enough to keep Nysa—and by extension the rest of us—alive for another thirty years, when she could have another child.” He shuddered a little. “It was horrible, but we told ourselves it was one life taken in exchange for millions saved. We didn't realize what the toll would be on our own souls.”

  “And yet you kept doing it,” Jasin growled. “For hundreds of years.”

  My father dropped his head. “We had no other choice. Until Kira and her twin sister were born.”

  “Why were we different?” I asked.

  Doran’s eyes rested on me again. “All of our daughters were born with both life and death magic inside them, except for the two of you. Your magic was split, with Kira having life magic, and Sora having death magic. I thought it was a sign that the Spirit Goddess could be divided again, and our mistakes could finally be undone.” He clenched his fists in the sand. “After I got Kira to safety, I released the Fire God from his prison. I was the only one who could do it, since I’d been the one who put him there. Once the Fire God was freed, he helped me release the other Gods one by one in secret, so that they could choose Dragons for Kira’s mates when her twentieth birthday arrived.”

  Silence settled over the group as we took in everything he’d said. His story explained so much about my past and about why Nysa did so many horrible things, but I didn’t feel any relief now that I knew the truth.

  Finally, I asked, “How are we supposed to stop the Spirit Goddess?”

  “That I don't know,” Doran said. “All I know is that this horrible cycle can't continue. We thought we were saving the world, and maybe we did for a short time, but now I fear we've made it even worse.”

  “Would the Gods be able to divide the Spirit Goddess into two halves again?” Auric asked.

  Doran shrugged. “They have the ability, and that was the deal when I freed them. Will they hold up their end of the bargain? Who knows.”

  “Then we can't trust them either,” Reven said.

  “I agree,” Doran said. “But right now, we need to focus on defeating Nysa. Otherwise, we won't have to worry about any of that.”

  Everyone’s faces were grim as we prepared for bed. My mates asked me if I was all right, but I didn’t know what to say. Doran’s words had shaken all of us, making us realize the task ahead of us was much more daunting than we’d realized, and the price of our failure was even higher than we’d imagined.

  As I pulled my blanket around me, my eyes stared at the moonlit waves and tried to make sense of it all. We’d reach the Water Realm the next afternoon, thanks to Doran's relentless pace. I was torn between wanting to hurry as much as he did, and wondering if we should stay away, after what we'd learned. The longer we waited, the more chances the Dragons would find us or the new Water Temple first. The sooner we got to the Temple, the sooner I would have to face my mother. The Gods had told me it was my destiny to defeat her, but they hadn't told me everything. By defeating my mother, I would be unleashing something much worse on the world. How could I do that, without some plan to stop the Spirit Goddess?

  I'd have to ask the Water God for advice when we spoke to him, except now I wondered if the Gods had been honest with us all along. They could be as twisted as the Goddess, manipulating us to do what they wanted—freeing her.

  Things had once been so clear. The Gods were good. The Dragons were evil. Now I realized nothing was as simple as black and white. My mother had a reason for what she’d done, something she and the other Dragons had believed was right. The Gods had their own plans and their own reasons. Even Doran and Enva had motives that might be contrary to what I wanted. The only people I could trust were my mates. I knew in my core they would never betray me, and they would always steer me true. Everyone else wanted something from me. My life. My service. My power.

  But I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore, or what the best action was for the entire world. For the first time since this all began, I wasn't certain of my path anymore.

  16

  Auric

  The Water Realm was connected to the Earth Realm by a bit of land that jutted out in a peninsula, before splitting into hundreds of islands that made up of most of its territory. Doran was taking us on a long route to avoid running into the other Dragons, flying us over turquoise waters and islands with white sands and tall palm trees stretching into the sky.

  We took a break at midday after hours of travel. Still in my dragon form, I stretched my wings and devoured some food to combat the aches and exhaustion of flying for days with people and supplies on my back, though I could tell I was getting stronger. Every day my endurance as a Dragon was building, as was my skill at flying. Now if only we could get Slade to fly too. He practiced every morning before we set off and could hover in the air for a few minutes, but anything more than that was still a problem. I wished I could help him in some way, but this was something he had to do on his own.

  I spotted Kira standing by herself across the small island, gazing out at the clear blue water with troubled eyes. I trudged over to her and curled up around her with my large scaled body, giving us a hint of privacy from the others. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m okay,” she said with a smile that looked forced. “Just thinking about what we learned last night.”

  “It was a lot to take in. So much of what we thought we knew about the Gods was a lie.” I’d recorded everything Doran had told us in my journal, which was running out of pages at this point. Every time we spoke with him we learned something new, something which had been lost over time or removed from history purposefully. The other Dragons had kept people living in ignorance and fear, with knowledge restricted to the few. That would not be our legacy.

  Kira sighed. “I’m not sure we can trust anything the Gods tell us, and I have no idea what to do about Nysa now. We have to defeat her, but I worry that doing so will only make things worse. And although I still hate her, I understand why she became the person she is now. She thought she was doing what was best for the world but made some bad choices that led her down a dark path. Who’s to say we won’t do the same?”

  I wrapped a golden wing around her. “We’ll figure it out. I have faith in you, and we’ll be with you through all of it.”

  She ran her hand along my scales slowly. “Thanks. I couldn’t do this without the four of you at my si
de.”

  “Once we reach the Water Temple, I’ll talk to the priests and see if they have any old texts about the Gods. Perhaps we’ll find something useful.”

  “Perhaps,” she replied, although she sounded doubtful. I didn’t have much hope either, but I had to try.

  She leaned against my large side, gazing out at the water again. I wished I could shift back into my human form and hold her, but I still had all the supplies strapped to my back, and we would be leaving soon. Doran would grumble at us if we held the group up by even a minute.

  “We’ll be at the Water Temple soon at this pace,” I said, trying to distract her from her dark thoughts. “Is Reven going to be ready?”

  We’d all heard them arguing the night before we went to the Earth Temple, and Reven had never been very amenable to the idea of becoming a Dragon. But he’d also sacrificed himself to save Kira, so we knew he cared for her—even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

  “I think so. Things with him have been…difficult.” Her eyes darted to Reven, who stood apart from everyone else, leaning against the palm trees with his arms crossed. As usual, his brooding face made him look like he would rather be anywhere else, unless you noticed that he was turned toward Kira. He always kept an eye on her, even though he tried to make it seem like he didn’t care.

  I rubbed my head against her side. “I know he’ll come around when it’s time.”

  “I wish I had your optimism.”

  “It’s not optimism. I believe in you, and in your other mates.” I grinned, giving her a glimpse of my fangs. “And I don’t see how Reven could possibly resist you.”

  She took my large, scaled head in her hands, then pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Thank you. I always feel better after we talk.”

  Through our bond I did sense that her troubles had lifted slightly. They’d always be there, at least until all of this was over, but they no longer weighed her down quite so much. Good. If I could ease Kira’s burden or make her smile, I’d done my duty as her mate.

  “Enough standing around,” Doran roared, as he flexed his wings. “Do you want to make it to the Water Temple before the Dragons find us? Then let’s get moving.”

  The others grumbled at the shortness of our break while Kira rolled her eyes. I nudged her with my tail. “Come on, let’s join the others before your father yells at us again.”

  “He can be quite annoying, can’t he?”

  “Sometimes, but he’s just looking out for you.”

  “Is he?” She cast a skeptical eye at him. “You’re the only one who seems to trust him.”

  “I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I truly think he wants to help us.” I flexed my talons and bared my fangs. “But if he turns against us, I’ll be ready.”

  17

  Kira

  We stopped that night at a small fishing village where everyone knew Doran and greeted him warmly—a reaction I'd never seen before. Most people cowered in fear from the Dragons, but he'd flown right into the village and had shifted in front of them. Instead of hiding, people had run out to say hello with smiles on their faces.

  “I saved them from a group of elementals a few years ago,” Doran explained, as he led us to the small building that served as a tavern and inn for sailors.

  “I thought we were supposed to be traveling in secret,” I said.

  “Trust me, no one from this town will go running to the other Dragons, and it's such a small, inconsequential village none of them will bother coming here.”

  I glanced across the town, with its wind-battered and sun-bleached buildings, some of which had straw roofs. Palm trees blew lazily overhead, and the air smelled of saltwater and fresh fish from the nearby harbor. Memories of my childhood, living in a place just like this, came rushing back. “This town reminds me of Tidefirth.”

  “Does it?” Doran asked. “I suppose it is similar.”

  “Is it possible to go back there?”

  “No. Sark burned it down after you left, probably to punish me for making him spare your life. The entire village is little more than ash, along with all the people who once lived there.” He rested a hand on my shoulder briefly. “I’m sorry.”

  Pain gripped my heart. Sark took all those innocent lives...and for what? Some petty rivalry between the two of them? Maybe he and Nysa had started out with good intentions, but they'd done many terrible things over the years too, which couldn’t be forgiven. They had to be stopped.

  As night fell across the quiet town, I wandered through the small harbor, eyeing the various boats docked there. I spotted Reven sitting on the end of the pier, his legs hanging over the water, the breeze teasing at his black hair. He was so handsome it took my breath away, even after all this time, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to him.

  He didn't look up as I sat beside him. We sat in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the sound of the waves, the feel of the wind, and the way the stars appeared as night crept over the ocean.

  His voice finally broke the silence. “The Water Realm brings back old memories.”

  “Good or bad?” I asked.

  “Both.”

  I nodded, understanding what he meant. “This village reminds me of the place where I grew up. A tiny fishing village like this one. Until Sark came and destroyed it all.” I turned toward him, watching the profile of his face. “Where did you grow up in the Water Realm? A town like this?”

  He shrugged. “All over.”

  “You moved around a lot?”

  He fell silent, and I worried he wouldn't answer. Reven hated talking about his past. I knew almost nothing about it, and every time I’d tried to ask him, he’d ended the conversation and made it clear he wouldn’t say anything more. When he did give me some tidbit about his past, I hoarded it like treasure and pored over it for days. He’d gotten his twin swords from his father. He knew how to sail a boat. His parents were members of the Resistance and had been killed by Sark. But the rest? It was still a mystery.

  “I grew up on a ship,” Reven said, surprising me.

  “Were you a pirate like Doran?” I asked. It would explain the swords and how his father had trained him to use them so expertly.

  An amused smirk made Reven even more gorgeous. “No. I was in a traveling carnival, actually.”

  I blinked at him. Of all the things I'd expected to learn about Reven's past, that was not one of them. “You what?”

  “My family’s ship was part of a performing troupe that sailed from one island to another, putting on a show in each one.”

  I had a hard time imagining Reven growing up in such a life. “What kind of performers?”

  He shrugged. “Jugglers, acrobats, magicians, animal tamers... We had it all.”

  “Your family did all that?”

  “My parents were known as the Twirling Blades, and they had an act where they danced with their swords, threw knives, and performed other stunts that few could believe.” He ran a hand over one of his swords at the memory. “They raised me to be one of them. I never knew any other life. Until Sark took it all away.”

  “I thought your family was killed because they were in the Resistance.”

  “They were. Our role as traveling performers made it easy for us to carry messages and to transport or hide people. The carnival was the perfect front for what they were truly doing. I had no idea at the time.” His face turned grim. “One day I got into a fight with my parents over something stupid and ran off. I left the boat and went into the city to try to get into trouble. When I got back, all our ships were destroyed. Every single one of them. My parents. My sister. My aunts, uncles, cousins... In one blow, Sark had taken everything I had ever known.”

  I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I'm so sorry.”

  He kept going, as if he hadn’t heard me. “I didn't know what to do. I blamed myself. I told myself if I’d stayed behind, I could have stopped him, or helped some of them escape, or something.”

  “How old were
you?”

  “Ten.”

  “Oh, Reven. There was nothing you could have done. If you were there, Sark would have killed you too.”

  His hand tightened around mine. “Yes, I know. But the guilt of surviving is hard to get rid of, even if logic tells me there was nothing I could do to save them.”

  “I understand. I have the same guilt.” I leaned my head against his shoulder. “What did you do after that?”

  “I fled back into the city, but I knew no one there and had nothing but the clothes on my back and my father’s swords, which I’d managed to save from the wreckage. I ended up living on the streets, trying to use my skills to make money, but no one wanted to pay a kid to play with swords. I became a thief in order to survive.” He tilted his head back and stared up at the stars. “Turns out those same skills that made my family a good group of performers also made me a good criminal.”

  “Is that when you become an assassin?”

  “No.” He scowled and pushed himself to his feet. I could tell by the shuttered look on his face that he was done talking, and probably regretted revealing so much to me. “I think that’s enough reminiscing for one night. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  He began to turn away, but I was tired of him always pushing me away. We would be at the Water Temple soon. Something had to change.

  I jumped up and caught his arm. “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about your past. I know it can be painful. But don’t shut me out, please. In a few days we’ll be pledging our lives to each other and I have to know that you’re serious about this.”