by L J Andrews
“You have to shift,” I screamed into the night. Donovan and Celeste were balancing precariously along Thane’s spine, glancing down beneath the clouds. Realization struck me forcefully. “It’s my power—well, it’s Gaia! She’s placed protections around the caves.”
Thane didn’t hesitate and darted to the ground. I had one breath to grip Jade’s neck before she shot toward the earth. The wind drew tears from the corners of my eyes, but all I sensed was the jade armor taking shape against arms and legs. It was as though a primal instinct were taking hold, and my body was reacting.
Thane’s scales folded back to his skin before he even touched solid ground. Thankfully, Donovan and Celeste had already leapt off. His bare chest practically steamed in the cool air. I pounced from Jade’s spine about ten feet above the soil and darted to Thane’s side. The caves were before us, just a little way beyond the trees. I clutched my throat, feeling the constricting power suffocate my insides. Something was terribly wrong, enough that I felt the terrible burn carve its way along my chest. If my armor was spreading into new areas before I even knew what was wrong, there was a massive threat beyond the trees.
“Why would she ward against dragons?” Onyx gasped at my other side. The ebony robe clung to his damp shoulders. Jade clasped her fingers in mine and handed me the extra blades. Donovan handed a jagged sword he’d brought to Onyx, while Celeste did the same for Sapphire. Thane took the sword I’d brought for him without looking at me. His attention was locked on the upper caves, assessing everything as he tried to figure out why his mate would block out wyvern blood.
Like someone reeled their fist through my gut, I curled over when a blast of fierce energy scorched my blood. I heard the whispers on the trees, my arms burning when Jade clasped my shoulders as I gasped against the force of the blow. I didn’t understand how it was happening, whether it was because we shared the same energy, or that she was my mother, but somehow I knew Gaia had been forced to ward the caves. Her power was the only answer for who was attacking. And I knew the one coming at my mother was the one who wanted her agony more than anyone.
“Thane…” I gasped. The sound of my husky voice must have broken through my father’s fierce concentration, because one look at my hunched form had him crouched at my side in seconds.
“What is it?”
I clasped his shoulder, his heat fueling my own furious anger. “It’s Bron—he’s here.”
Thane’s stormy eyes filled my heart with the same urgency his movements made. Without a question, he darted toward the caves. Donovan and Onyx were the fastest to follow. Celeste took a deep, cleansing breath and raised her arms to the sky before clasping them in front of her chest. It was only a matter of seconds, but when she was done connecting in her own way to the energy of the earth, Celeste, too, disappeared in the trees.
Jade and Sapphire kept pace with me. Running wasn’t an issue, the adrenaline pumping me forward fueled every step.
“Why would she block us out?” Jade breathed.
“Probably to keep out lindworms,” Sapphire roared.
I didn’t answer—I knew Sapphire was on the right track. If holding back Bron was going to be her sole focus, any of Nag’s snakes had to be dealt with quick and blocked out so Gaia didn’t need to concern herself with anyone but her sadistic ex.
The distance to the caves seemed never ending. Shoving my way through a thick grove of trees, I skidded to a stop, practically slamming into Thane’s bare back. His fingers rolled along the hilt, his shoulders heaving angrily as he looked to his home.
The breath sucked out of my lungs again. A line of dark mages assaulted the mouth of the cave. The wind, the rage, the fiery power erupting from the ledge was enough to tell any of us who was there. But I didn’t just sense him—I saw him. Bron. His sword firm in his hand, one hand outstretched from his chest blasting power at the cave. Bron was sinister. His black clothing revealing his strong body, but he was struggling. Gaia stood before her own line of mages and warriors. My mother was remarkable. The snow, jagged stones, and even a few thick branches swirled about her head, stuck in the energy surge she and Bron blasted against each other.
“Teagan, you will not follow me,” Thane’s fierce voice broke through my wonderment.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” I snapped.
Thane’s forehead pressed against mine before I knew he was even moving. His large hand clasped the back of my neck, his blue eyes like lightning. “I will not…I cannot have you taken by him again. I cannot.”
Jade slung her arms around my shoulders when Thane left me stunned in the mud and took a higher place on a stone just beyond the mouth of the cave.
“Bron!” Thane’s bellow shook the mountainside, and the battle between the powerful mages ceased. Gaia’s eyes were filled with deep-rooted fear when she found her mate, but Bron…he’d never looked so pleased.
Thane sent another furious shout into the fading daylight and rushed toward the dark High Priest. Celeste was not far behind, doing what she could to keep him protected. Dozens of dark mages turned and pummeled their energy at my father, but Donovan deflected most with a wave of his hand. Bron snarled and turned his attention back toward Gaia while Thane and the two mages were preoccupied with his minions.
“Teagan…” Jade’s strong whisper came against my ear.
I glanced at her, my jaw set. “I would say the same thing to you that Thane said to me, but we both know that would be pointless.” Jade smiled devilishly. Sapphire and Onyx clasped their blades and stood at our sides.
“Are we going, Dragon Mage?” Onyx snarled.
I didn’t answer, I just ran toward the wall of twisted, evil mages. Perhaps it was because now I knew my family. I could easily say I loved my parents. I had lost Jade, but she was restored to me, and I refused to feel the anguish of her loss again. Perhaps it was because I was stronger, I didn’t know, but when my fingers splayed out wide, the electrifying power sparked off the tips of my fingers. The wave of energy was palpable, and certainly visible. With crushing force, I saw the ripple of my blast crumble through the dirt and stone toward the mages. Their dark, beady eyes widened, and painful screams ripped through the twilight. Countless numbers fell from my shock. But more came—and they seemed to understand who they would face.
Pulling both swords from my back, Jade touched my arm. I gasped when the power from our bond ignited like a fuse through my blood. Meeting her eye, she nodded and bent to the ground with me. Stabbing the two swords into the soil, all my anger burst through the veins of minerals, the smallest grain of sand beneath the surface of the mountainside, until the ground snapped, breaking into bits, and the earth swelled like monstrous jaws surging from beneath.
Mages screamed. Donovan glanced behind me, his eyes wide, but he grinned widely and added his own energy to the open pit swallowing Bron’s defenses. At Donovan’s touch, boiling geysers shot from the ground, keeping the mages away from Thane as he climbed the bulky ledge after Bron.
The dark High Priest slashed his palm over his body. It must have been a powerful strike, because Gaia stumbled, losing her connection for a moment. Bron took the chance to turn to Thane. My heart lodged in the back of my throat. Taking my swords in my hands, I left the dark mages to the power of jade, the onyx stone, and the pulse of my energy I left behind and rushed toward my father.
Bron raised his hands to strike at Thane as he climbed. Gaia threw a blast of power, but Bron held up one palm and blocked her strike. I could feel the sick surge mounting within the dark High Priest like a tsunami.
“No!” I shouted, tossing the blades at my side and urging energy from every element surrounding me. The cloud erupted from my hand like a flash of white fire before glowing iridescent and shimmering between Thane and Bron’s blast. Thane braced for Bron’s strike, but it wouldn’t come. Bron still held against Gaia’s energy, but I could see he was flustered his killing blast against her mate hadn’t worked. I wasn’t certain the High Priest knew I was even there.
; Climbing next to Thane, I saw him clutching his bicep where a long, angry gash had carved through his skin where my shield hadn’t protected him.
“I told you to stay back,” he gasped, but his eyes were wild, and I saw a tug of a smile on his lips.
“Aren’t you glad I break the rules sometimes?”
Thane gripped my shoulder like a father would. Behind me, Jade, Sapphire, and Onyx disposed of half the dark mages. Jade could be quite ruthless with her own connection to the energy of the earth. With the jade stone around her neck, her fury was a hurricane of light mixed with a heavy dose of her own attitude. This moment could have been a small victory if not for what I saw next.
Bron unsheathed a second long blade. Gold rivulets dripped like golden wax along the steel, but there was a gleaming red stone near the hilt that caught my eye. Athika now stood by Gaia, pulsing her energy to help the High Priestess, then Rochelle, and even Johan, but when Bron pulled out his sword, I could sense every mage’s fear.
Thane said nothing but returned to his climb, cursing his inability to shift. I held my breath when Bron slammed the tip of the blade into the stone by the cave and an impossible wall of fire shot toward the sky. Screams burst through the air as the dark High Priest fired manipulated blasts of fire toward the defenses of Gaia. I swallowed bile when a flame caught the hem of a mage as she ran away. Within moments her body was engulfed, and I knew her terrified cries would haunt my memories.
Athika stepped forward with Ruby, both desperate to connect to the energy of the fire, but it seemed only to respond to the master of the fire stone. Athika shrieked in fear when Bron directed a blaze against Ruby. She dove in front of the fire, blocking her dragon with a shield of power.
The heat seemed to melt my skin, but the blaze only strengthened. Athika was in a losing battle against the fire. So was Ruby, Gaia, and…no—Mitch was outside the cave. I had him in my sights now. There were lindworms, though they seemed weaker and couldn’t seem to get into the open mouth of the rocks.
Mitch stood by Raffi’s side, slashing his blades against a few of Nag’s serpents. The fire’s heat drenched his body in sweat and weakened every movement the longer his body was exposed.
“Teagan!” Onyx screamed from behind me. He held up his stone when I glanced over my shoulder. “At the same time.”
I didn’t really know how I knew what he was talking about, only that he was asking for my supportive power. I nodded, and while Thane continued climbing to reach Bron, Onyx and I slammed our palms onto the ground. Water—the onyx stone against the ruby—water versus fire. A rumble burst from off the top of the cave, and a torrential flood of murky, angry water splashed in powerful waves over the battle. It was some sort of pleasure to see Bron’s twisted disappointment as he slashed the sword against the waves, desperate to keep his deadly blaze alive. I pummeled all my energy, all my focus on the river of water Onyx had created with the stone.
Bron held out his hands, and it seemed as if a cocoon wrapped around his body. Water mingled with fire engulfed him until the energy surge ceased and both stones’ creations faded. Everyone seemed to pause for just a moment, absorbing what had happened when two stones clashed. Thane was only feet from clamoring over the ledge. He was going to stand with Gaia—I was, too—we would stand together. There was power in families, after all.
Rising to my feet, my blood chilled when Jade screamed, and Thane’s guttural cry filled the air. My gaze shot toward the cave. Bron had recovered swifter than anyone. Gaia raised her hands as he darted toward her, but it wasn’t fast enough.
My heart shattered when the elemental sword lodged into Gaia’s body.
Thane’s agonizing shout muffled against the haze in my brain. I rushed after Thane. With each touch of my hand on the ledge as I climbed to the top, the stone crumbled as though my weight was too much for it to bear. I felt the wind, I tasted the rain, my blood was the fire, and my feet grounded harsh along the stone. My heart shredded when Bron ripped the sword from my mother’s middle. Gaia looked at his frightening silver eyes with one final glance of betrayal. She stumbled back, her hands clutching the bloody wound, and she crumbled to the ground.
Thane slashed his sword with such fury, I feared the steel would break. Bron blocked his strike. His own face had a subtle trace of disbelief, and I wondered if perhaps the dark High Priest hadn’t actually intended to slash his former wife. The moment was fleeting, for when I blinked again, Bron’s face was twisted as he shot a blast of energy against Thane. My father dodged, his sword slicing against Bron’s forearm.
Bron stumbled backward, inspecting his wound, and Thane dropped to Gaia’s side.
“No, no, no,” he breathed, his hands covering her blood-soaked fingers. Athika was behind Gaia’s head, her eyes locking on mine briefly. My rage must have been clear because Athika nodded when she held my gaze.
“Protect…protect him, Thane,” Gaia gasped.
No. This moment was mine. “Take her inside,” I bellowed. Bron had his back toward me, his arms outstretched as he walked off Thane’s assault.
“No,” Gaia gasped.
“Thane,” I shouted, “take her away. She will die out here, and you know it. She needs to be healed, now go! Without shifting, you cannot stand against Bron. Will you watch him steal her away from us again?”
Thane snarled, and I could see the emotion beneath the fury of his pale eyes as I presented an impossible choice—his son, or his mate. He didn’t have to say anything—I sensed every worry on his boiling heart. Gaia coughed, a stream of blood dripping from her mouth. The connection was fading, and my heart was breaking. Thane clenched his jaw, scooped Gaia in his arms, and rushed into the cave.
“They came so quickly,” Athika breathed. “Lindworms…came into the cave…the High Priestess, she had to…ward against wyvern blood, to banish them away. Then…then…he came. Prince…Ced and the other…warriors, they fought against them. They protected…the cave as well as they…could.”
I couldn’t think of what might have happened within the warriors’ haven now. Time seemed to slow. From the corner of my eyes, I watched Jade, Onyx, and Sapphire join with Ruby and Amber behind me. Athika, Rochelle, Donovan, and countless other mages aligned themselves behind me. I knew there were warriors, forbidden to shift, but still the slide of steel fueled my energy bursting from every pore when Bron stood before me once again.
He laughed—so dark and twisted, it frightened away any birds still nesting in the trees. “So, we meet again.” Bron flicked the fire stone blade still coated in Gaia’s blood. “I admit, Gaia must have defended against your energy—I did not feel your presence at all.”
“How does it feel, Bron?” I hissed, drawing the two swords off my back. “To know we broke through your power? That we freed Gaia?”
Bron laughed, his white teeth mimicking the gleam in his silver eyes. The white irises looked like icy holes that were filled with pleasure. “It seems she would have been better off left behind in my prison.” My stomach lurched when Bron dragged his tongue along his sword, licking away Gaia’s blood. “Ah, she is so…intoxicatingly powerful—how I missed her.”
My jaw flinched, and I wanted to crush him until he was nothing more than dust beneath my feet. Bron’s hand wrapped tighter around the hilt of the elemental sword, and he snarled in my direction.
“I’m sure it was a disappointment to learn you’re nothing more than a halfling. A half-mage. You don’t stand a chance, Teagan. But it will give me great pleasure robbing your mother of her child like the power she robbed from me.”
“Oh, when she banished you from slaughtering anymore elementals?”
Bron sneered. “Her power was what was stolen from me—together we would have been stronger than you can imagine. But her pride—her sickening righteousness caused all of this. Now, let’s end this, half-mage.”
“I’m not a half-mage,” I snarled, feeling Jade’s searing touch along my arm. She was filled with fury the same as me, and I was positive I could
crush the mountain we stood on if I asked. Lowering my gaze, I clenched the blades tight at my sides. “And I’m not your son. I am Thane’s son—a warrior. I’m a dragon mage, and you will never harm my family again.”
Chapter 21
The Queen
Everything crashed around us. The very ground we stood upon tumbled in furious waves as Teagan’s rage seared through my blood. I would not let him go. Not now. Bron laughed wickedly, his silver eyes scanning Teagan before glancing at me for a sweltering heartbeat.
“You are an abomination to mages,” Bron hissed. “Your father—he once worshipped the ground I walked, he had to, being such a lesser creature—he is nothing to me. He cannot even demand the loyalty of his warriors.”
Bron side-stepped, and my heart threatened to burst from—I wasn’t even certain: anger, disgust, agony, hatred.
“Traitor!” Leoch’s furious bellow slashed through my heart. The warrior glared across the space dividing the dark mages from us—his eyes never faltering in their fiery pulse from Tao.
Bron seemed relatively pleased with the reaction, even if Tao appeared as though he would die of fright—that would be too easy a death. “Yes, how else would you imagine I would find this hole? The mage warding was impressive, but your own people can sense your weakness, Teagan. Your queen’s weakness. You have no hope left. I promise your father a swift death, and you, if you will turn over the stones you have acquired. I am not against mercy.”
“I will tear out your throat, Tao!” Leoch screamed. Raffi and Dash were the only ones who could hold him back.
Bron shoved Tao from his side; the shame on my former warrior’s face was well-deserved. If Leoch didn’t get a chance at Tao, I certainly wanted my time alone with the sniveling weakling. Such thoughts were not part of my nature—but perhaps they were. Like Teagan, I too was the child of a warrior. Betrayal of your people was the worst sort of weakness. I knew Tao knew it by the way his tanned cheeks paled at my glare.
Bron was taunting Teagan, and part of me knew every word cut through his soul. Teagan’s shocking pulse ripped along the land, and it seemed as though his skin had a layer of electricity powering the armor wrapped around his limbs. Teagan took a step toward the ledge, still warded by Gaia’s power, and snarled at Bron. It seemed with the power in his step, the will to fight rippled through the warriors and mages standing guard at the mouth. Raffi’s shoulders heaved from already fighting desperately before Gaia was struck. Leoch, Dash, Eisha—they all stood stalwart and proud. Even Mitch carefully took steps toward Teagan’s side. His piercing eyes locked on the dark High Priest.
