by L J Andrews
His eyes, I wouldn’t forget.
King Nag squared his shoulders to me, and I found it impossible not to look up. His eyes were terrifying and fascinating in one breath. Black satin spread across his irises, with the slightest hint of white giving some light to the corners. I swallowed the fearful lump in my throat and straightened my shoulders when the king stepped closer.
“You fear the High Priest?” Nag rasped.
I shook my head. “I have nothing but disdain for the dark High Priest.”
Nag chuckled, a low rumbling sound that ached along my spine. “You speak plainly. I shall have to instruct my son how to manage the opinions of his mate.”
“You asked me a direct question, Your Highness,” I growled. “I answered truthfully. Would you rather I speak in deceit?”
Nag seemed amused, his grin nothing like his son’s. No, Nag had a smile lost in years of evildoings and corruption. “Deceit. Such an interesting thing. There is a part deceit can play in our lives. At times, it can keep us from harm.” I closed my eyes when Nag drew his finger along my jaw. “Lies can serve a great purpose in the rise of power, Queen Ariana—you don’t mind if I call you by your given name?” He only continued when I said nothing. Nag’s hand brushed over my shoulder as he began to circle me. “But so can truth. Sometimes the truth is what gives us the most power.”
“I will speak the truth to you and anyone who asks what I truly feel about what happens inside this manor,” I hissed.
Nag laughed. “I am not interested in your truth at the moment. But I would very much like to tell you a few bits of truth.” I gasped when Nag’s painful grip locked around my arms. His lips were against my ear, and I felt the blow of hot breath against my face when he spoke. “You blame the High Priest for the death of your family, but never forget, young queen, it was me who slashed the life from their bodies.” Nag slowly lifted a black knife from his sheath. “With this very blade I slit your grandfather’s throat and watched him bleed until his last breath along the cold stones of his own throne.
“Your father begged for his life like a coward. His suffering, his slow death, only added to my strength as I shredded his body with my own claws.” My chin trembled, and boiling tears bled down my face as I stared straight ahead, refusing to give Nag the satisfaction of watching me crumble. “Then there was your mother. She was so…beautiful. I considered taking her for a mate, but when she fought back—well, such spirit wouldn’t suit. She was braver than most, I’ll speak the truth, Ariana. She didn’t beg, she only battled—for you. Her last word in my presence was your name when I dug my blade so deep in her chest, the very fabric of her heart dissolved beneath the power of night. I heard she lived for some time after—suffering.”
Nag released my arm and stepped in front of me, blocking the sun from my gaze. I met his eye, my body trembling, and I knew he saw my agony in my tormented expression. Nag smiled, gently wiping away some of my tears. “I tell you these truths, Queen, to warn you. You are planning something. I saw you the other night with my son. I have yet to know if my son is involved. He is worthless in many ways, but I keep him alive because he is gifted with night energy—perhaps even more than myself. It would be a shame if I were forced to kill him.
“I warn you—if you cross me, or do not go forward with this union, I will give you the honor of watching me take this same blade and tear through your precious royal here with you. Then I will take the rest of them, one by one, until each bloodline is slaughtered. Only to be followed by your mage.” Nag grabbed my arm, pressing his thumb painfully against my mage seal. “The mage, I will spend time destroying. Days of his screams will haunt your memories. Then, when I’m finished, my son will die for his failure to control his mate, and you will become my mate. Do we understand each other?”
My jaw was clenched so tight I feared I would chip each tooth. Nag never lowered his gaze, his confidence and promise showing firm in his face. “You’re a monster,” I breathed, slightly fazed when my voice cracked.
Nag narrowed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine. “Yes, Highness. I can be the monster of your nightmares if you cross me.” Nag pulled back and smiled his wicked smile. As though his filthy words hadn’t passed between us, he strode down the corridor. “Take heart to my words and accept your fate of joining your bloodline with the lindworm people.”
When Nag was out of sight, a tormented sob broke through my chest. I leaned forward to brace myself out of fear I would fall to the ground. I couldn’t stay here another moment. Whether or not Teagan had received the energy from the signal, I was leaving. Wiping my tears, I rushed down the hallway, desperate to find Amber and Prince Ced.
“I don’t know where he is,” Amber hissed at my back when we slipped from our room just before the sun was due to set. Despite the added light to our escape, leaving at night would be more dangerous when the lindworms’ energy was at its peak.
“We can’t stay, Amber,” I insisted. “I told you what Nag said.”
“Jade, that’s all the more reason we cannot leave without Ced,” she whimpered.
I bit the tip of my tongue, hating that I was rushing away without finding Ced. He’d disappeared hours before, and after meeting his horrid father, I feared perhaps King Nag chose to dispose of his son and skip right to the threat of forcing me to be his mate. I hoped I was wrong, but Ced wasn’t here, and I vowed to leave.
“Amber, he will kill you. I’m certain of it. He will kill Ced. Nag doesn’t want any of the other royals—they will die. There will be no peace, even if I united with the lindworms. We must go—for our people’s lives.”
Amber was tormented, her furious expression racked in guilt and concern. After a tense pause, she finally nodded. “For our people, we must go.”
Linking her arm in mine, we rushed toward the back part of the manor. I thought the side door would be our safest option. I wished Teagan and Amber’s mage, Rochelle, were near. Amber and I had power of elements, but that power only amplified when the mages were near. The corridors were empty—odd, and it sent the hairs on my arms on end.
Shoving into the enormous kitchen, we found the space empty, the door unprotected.
Amber knelt on the ground, her hands splayed wide. The ground rumbled as she spoke to the earth. Amber ruled over the earth element and had a knack for sensing troubles only the trees could see.
“The warriors,” she whispered, her eyes still closed. “Something draws them away. The grounds are empty. I fear we could be walking into a trap.”
Amber rose swiftly, her body trembling, but she didn’t stop me when I turned the handle on the door and shoved outside. Winter was still wrapped around the land, but wherever King Nag had settled his people, there was a muggy warmth in the air. I could smell salty air and believed a shore must be nearby.
“Amber, hurry,” I gasped, clutching tight to her arm. The burn of the shift trembled over my arms, but a sinister chuckle kept me in my human form.
King Nag stepped out from the trees, his body clad in a regal, ebony cloak. Nag was lined with dark lindworm men, and most looked similar. I could only imagine they were Ced’s brothers, though none had the light in their eyes as their younger brother.
“I had a suspicion you might try to run after our discussion earlier, Your Highness.” Nag growled, a devilish grin spreading on his lips. His sons laughed as their father stalked closer. “Actually, that isn’t entirely true. I knew with a certainty you would try to escape. Thanks to my son.”
My heart burst in devastating waves when Ced strode from behind his brothers. He wore a similar smirk on his face, though it seemed to take more effort.
“Ced,” Amber mumbled, her grip tightening on my arm. “How could you?”
“It was simple, really,” Ced declared. “How better to get the queen to trust me, than befriending you? Tell you everything you wanted to hear? I knew your loyalties would be made known soon enough. You’ve shown me just what I will deal with once we’re mated. I’ll be certain
to hold back on freedoms.”
Nag chortled and gripped the back of Ced’s neck. I thought I saw Ced’s jaw tense, but I had to have been mistaken because the way he joined his brothers in their wicked laughter, Ced was anything but my ally.
“Now, this son is finally learning,” Nag growled. “Mates are for one purpose—I’ve told all my sons this. I hope you fall in love with her silence, Ced.”
Ced smirked, his dark eyes falling on me with a determined look.
I wanted to scream, shout my hatred at the prince, but Amber’s voice stopped me. “You are nothing but a disgusting serpent,” she bellowed, reaching for the ground where she could unleash her connection for the earth element. One of Ced’s brothers shot behind her, his blade tucked just beneath her jaw, only stopping his slaughter when Ced shouted for his halt.
“Father,” Ced began slyly. “What’s better than one elemental mate, then to take two? If it pleases you, I think I’d like to take both.”
Nag chuckled as Ced sauntered arrogantly across the grass, Ced’s strong fingers cupping Amber’s jaw while another brother gripped my arms when I lunged for the prince. “You’re despicable,” I screamed, desperate to shift, but Ced held up one hand, his energy remarkably strong, holding me in my human form.
“Now, Your Highness, no need to change into true form.” Ced leaned his face close to mine, his eyes wild with a strange exhilaration. “Yet,” he finished slowly.
“Take the royals back into the manor,” Nag commanded his sons. “But place them in Ced’s chamber. No use drawing out formalities.”
Ced scoffed and pulled away. I glared at him through angry tears, catching the gleam of his dark blade tucked in the folds of his dark clothes. I wished I could grab for the weapon, but Ced’s hand was already resting on the hilt. One of Nag’s sons struck Amber across the face, bringing her to painful submission. Ced’s jaw twitched—I was certain.
“You’re a coward,” I hissed at the prince. “I see how you are still tormented, but you stay silent.”
“Think what you will of me, Highness,” Ced cautioned. “But I am the one with your life in my hands.”
At his final word, I heard a furious cry into the night. Nag and his sons stopped and stared toward the distant north. Nag’s fury was shuddering from his body when, in the distance, I saw a hoard of enormous dark lindworms screeching with maddening speed directly toward us.
“What is this? Who released the mates?” Nag seethed.
The lindworm mates drew closer, but a fierce blast near the manor shook the sprawling lawns, and from the depths of the soil, countless lindworms burst into the night sky. Some had chains shackled to their ankles—their wings crooked and bent from being stagnant countless hours. But when they took to flight, they were ferocious black serpents breathing torrential blue fire across Nag’s manor.
I stood stunned when I watched Ced reel on his father. “You won’t harm them any longer,” he snarled. Nag reached for his son, but Ced lifted his hands above his head. A crushing blow of darkness surrounded the sons of Nag, and the king himself.
I fell to the ground in the commotion, Amber glancing around until Ced gripped her arms, shouting close to her face. “Take flight!” He bellowed, his eyes finding mine in the darkness.
I didn’t hesitate, nor did Amber. My skin peeled away so quickly, it was almost painful. Ced was soon changed and launching into the dark sky. The lindworm prince shot gilded flames across his brothers still locked in his powerful darkness. The night energy kept them stationary while the freed warriors from the prison and the mates rushed against the royal lindworms.
Amber roared, her taupe wings wide and regal.
We must hurry. I can’t hold them much longer, Ced’s voice echoed in my mind. The warriors, they shall meet us at a designated place.
You tricked us, I snarled.
I had to get my father and brothers out in the open. It was the one request of Magnus and the mates. And it would take them away from the dark High Priest. I would not have allowed them to harm you. Now hurry, he snapped, flying next to Amber. I’m sorry my brother struck you.
Just get us away from here, Ced, Amber’s voice filtered through both Ced and me.
I felt her anger, yet also her relief as we soared higher. Only the shrieks and bloodthirsty cries from the lindworm warriors was left as evidence of what we’d just escaped.
I glanced down at the carnage on Nag’s lawn. Bron burst from the fiery manor, his dangerous energy dissolving what Ced had placed around the lindworms. I could feel Nag’s fury even as I raced toward the clouds. Nag burst a wave of darkness that seemed to chase me toward the stars. My scales rippled as I pulsed my wings to take me higher before his rage struck me. I was positive if Nag’s night energy touched my flesh I would crumble and die in agony. With a powerful dig of my wings, I breathed easier when the soothing power of the wind filled my lungs and the night energy faded.
I couldn’t know what happened to the scorned mates of Nag, or the lindworm warriors. Bron would destroy as many as he possibly could—that I knew for certain. Nag was powerful, but thankfully, as he’d said earlier, not as powerful as his son. I was positive the King of Lindworms, should he survive the ambush, would reign terror on any mage, lindworm, or elemental he could get his hands on. Ced, in this moment, should he ever be caught by those loyal to his father, had signed his own execution. I followed closer to Amber, who was just behind Ced. I followed without question, still reeling from the confusion of the night. All I could do now was pray some of the warriors would survive and find us, and that somehow I would find Teagan and my people.
Chapter 6
The Mage
I wasn’t alone in the corridors of the cave when I rushed toward the main cavern where Thane and Gaia slept. Mages rushed about, some seemed confused, disoriented even. I heard Onyx arguing with Donovan to return to sleep when I rushed passed his cavern. On my back, the blades seared with electrifying heat as though something had brought them to life. Finally, I slid through the opening of Thane’s cavern. It was narrow at first before the large space opened into a large room. Thane had an actual bed, not simply quilts and padding like most of the other warriors. The area was comfortable enough it might almost pass for a normal room instead of damp, dark place in an enormous cave.
A lantern was alive and flickered fiery ribbons of light across the floor, and by the time I was all the way in, my face beaded in sweat in all my desperation. I’d planned on waking my parents, but when I burst into their room, Gaia was already awake, strapping a long dagger to her waist, while Thane sat on their bed, sharpening his own blade.
“I saw it,” I gasped. Gaia nodded but didn’t say anything. “I know where Jade is.”
“Yes,” Gaia agreed finally. “I did too. It was an energy signal—a dangerous one at that.”
“What do you mean dangerous?” I huffed.
Gaia sheathed her blade completely and wrapped her shoulders in a thick black pelt, preparing to leave the cave. “There was desperation behind the signal, I know you’re feeling it. I can see it in your eyes. This signal was released under dangerous—perhaps deadly—circumstances. I don’t wish to worry you, but either the queen was in grave danger at the time, or something terrible happened during or soon after the signal released. I have no idea how the queen would know about such things, but despite the urgent sense of the signal, it does give me hope the queen has a mage ally nearby.”
“So everyone sensed it? Do you think something happened to Jade after it was sent? When did she send it?” I rambled through a few heaving breaths.
“The mages would all sense such a signal, yes,” Gaia said as she wrapped a thin piece of leather around her thick, auburn waves to keep them off her neck. She seemed so calm, but focused. “Teagan, now is not the time to guess at what happened. You must keep your mind clear and be ready for where we are going. As to when she sent it, such signals travel. She is a great distance away, so I would guess it’s been at least a day or two. It
could be longer.”
“Two days!” I shrieked.
“Teagan, a mage had to help with such a signal. If Jade is near mages, it’s likely any mage people still hidden would start moving to answer the distress call. Allies could already be on the way—if not there.”
There was a dark shudder when Thane stood and drifted toward the back of the room. I sensed an odd feeling coming from him as he stood, avoiding my eyes. Gaia’s jaw twitched too. My eyes narrowed, and I stepped closer to my mother. “There’s something you’re not saying. You both know something.”
Thane sighed and glanced to Gaia before meeting my eyes. “There are dark mages,” he said softly. “If you felt this call, so did any mages who abandoned the elementals.”
My throat tightened the same as my fists balling at my sides. “Then we need to go now,” I hissed. “Right? We’re going now?”
Thane placed his strong warrior’s grip on my shoulder. “We’re going,” he growled low. “We’re getting her back.” I offered a curt nod, feeling as though my blood might burn through my flesh. Thane clapped my shoulder and faced Gaia. “You said there were lindworms, and a large house?”
Gaia nodded, but I spoke instead. “It has to be King Nag’s place. I feel it. He’ll be there and that means—”
“Bron will surely be close by,” Gaia interjected. Her voice sounded cold, like the ice along the outer cave, but whether she wanted to share her feelings or not, I was overwhelmed with her fierce determination.
Thane cupped her face, his eyes ferocious and much like a warrior wyvern. “You do not take any unnecessary risks with that creature. Promise me, Gaia. I refuse to lose you again.”
I didn’t turn away when Gaia kissed Thane, quickly at first, but slowed her pace once their lips met. She smiled when she broke away and clasped tight to his hand. “He will never separate us again.”
