by L J Andrews
King Nag’s Manor—Three days later
Bron stomped down to the lower prisons. Nag was displeased with his worthless warriors who failed to return his sniveling son. The prince was the last of Bron’s worries, but he refused to remain near the king with his ridiculous moaning and slaughter of his own people. His temper would destroy the entire lindworm race before victory could even be acknowledged.
He thought of her—the way her golden eyes hated the very sight of him. The longing she once had was gone. Now, only to be replaced by a disgusting mating with—the warrior. Bron declared in his mind he should have killed Thane before the war against King Lux had ever started. But still Gaia had faced him—for the first time in years, he’d stood face to face with his former wife. She was still as fierce as ever. There was a lost part of him that was a breath of remorseful for poisoning her with the blade. It was a price required to win this fight.
Nag raged for hours over losing the chance at all the elemental stones. The lindworm king’s vision was too narrow. He wanted to wipe out the mages; Bron wasn’t a fool. When the stones were returned, he would rid the world of Nag, and he would rise to the head of all energies. The wyvern, the mage, even the humans would bow to him.
Throwing back the heavy door, Bron shoved a mage out of his path. The man slammed against a cell door, his nose gushing in thick blood in moments. With a wave of his hand, the back cell opened. The man groaned on the floor, his body broken, poisoned, corrupted. It brought a satisfied smirk to his face.
His fierce eyes rose to face the High Priest. Bron knew he was labeled dark, but to him he was just the High Priest—the true leader of the mage race. Bron lowered to his haunches, clutching the man’s chin. He hated him.
The disdain was shared by the way his prisoner’s eyes narrowed and he backed away. Drawing out the black dagger Bron kept in his waist sheath, he enjoyed a little too much the way the visitor squirmed and tried to break away.
“Shhh, now the more you struggle the more I’ll force into your blood.” He gripped the man’s dark hair and carved the blade across his forearm. His painful screams satisfied such a primal part of his soul. The poison would take hold. It would confuse the prisoner, it would change him to where he could be especially useful. When the man slumped against Bron’s chest as the poison took hold, Bron chuckled. “There now. Why don’t we try again? Tell me where you hid the stone, Onyx. If you wish to protect your fellow royals, you’ll tell me.”
When Onyx responded with a hateful hiss, Bron wrenched his head back and dragged the poisonous, burning blade across his pitted collar bone. The smile was refreshing when the lower prisons echoed with agonizing screams. Bron could do it all night—and he planned to until he got exactly what he wanted.
Dragon Mage
The Mage of Kings
LJ Andrews
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Prologue
The High Priest
Onyx spat steamy blood along the stones. His eyes trained ahead. He refused to meet my gaze. It only added to the drive to break him more. Forcing the royal dragon to remain in his human form was no small task, but it added to the burn of pleasure rushing through my blood.
The onyx bloodline was the third in importance for the elemental wyverns, but I couldn’t stifle my laughter at how pathetically weak the royal appeared. His strong arms tethered above his head in iron clamps, enchanted, of course, against the dragon’s own energy. His hair was dark, nearly matching the color of his stone, but there were chunks missing along his scalp. The waves were matted in blood against his forehead. For weeks, I’d spent nearly every midnight with the royal dragon.
There were moments when I was positive he would cave, that he would break, but I still was no closer to knowing what he’d done with his elemental stone since the day he and the rest of the elementals stood against us. That day was a time in my history I would never forget.
I’d killed the High Priestess that day.
When her energy faded slowly over the course of a week, I knew it was only a matter of time before she breathed her last breath. Then it was like a glimmering sunset, fading until there was nothing but darkness. Gaia—my former wife—was dead. There had been an ache the day I knew for certain. I felt something at her passing, but it faded quickly. The Gaia I had worshiped died the instant she’d mated with a warrior dragon and created a creature that had no place in our world.
True, there was a time when I’d wanted the boy on my side. How Gaia would have bent to my every whim if her abomination served me. It was one of the bigger frustrations of my existence. I could rarely detect the dragon mage and his twisted energy. I hadn’t known he was searching out the warriors, or I would have killed him straight away.
Him finding the truth of his parentage was the last thing I’d wanted. Now, I would simply kill him, for he would never join against his family. Pity, his power would be fascinating to dissect. When he was dealt with, I had every intention of creating my own dragon mage. There were plenty of lindworms who wouldn’t be averse to mating with a dark mage simply for the pleasure of it. A dragon mage with night energy…that would be worth the experiment.
I knew the warrior would be out for my blood now that Gaia was gone. I welcomed facing him for a final time. It would not bode well for him. Thane—the very thought of the warrior made my lip curl over my teeth. The night I’d let King Nag into the elemental castle, I’d actually told the warrior to steer clear of one of the openings in the wall—I hadn’t reveled in the idea of him dying in the war that spanned the ages.
How I wished I could reverse time. I would have ended him myself.
I’d tried to return to the cave where they hid away, knowing Gaia would not be there to stand against me. When I’d returned unsuccessful, Onyx had paid the price. Rolling my knife in the poison, I stared at the scar along his ribs from that time. The mountainous walls were impenetrable—for now. I could sense that eventually whatever power the dragon mage had used to protect the warriors’ cave would fade. I would strike and take back what was rightfully mine.
“This could end,” I hissed, letting the clear, acidic liquid drip down the black blade and onto my skin. Onyx now met my eye, gasping and staring with agony at the blade. “What good will you be, anyway? If you resist, I will continue to warp, manipulate your energy until you are but a shell of what you once were. If ever you found a way back to your precious royals, it is quite likely you would kill them in an instant. Tell me where you hid the stone, and I swear to you they will not be harmed. King Nag wants all wyvern to join as one—with the stones.”
Onyx stared for a long moment, until slowly his lips curled into a wild grin. Blood stained his once white teeth, and I had to hand it to the dragon—his expression was terrifying.
“You actually think…you believe,” he rasped, “that I would ever trust a word from your mouth. Do your worst, coward. You may think me weak compared to you—I have not shown you even a thread of what I can endure.”
Blood boiled in the sides of my head. I felt the surge
of warped night energy thread through my chest. I still maintained my connection to the elements. Yes, the connection was changed. At times the elements resisted me, at times I had to force the earth to bend to my will, but the power was still there. Combined with night energy I’d taken after the divide, the heat in my body seemed ready to combust at any shred of anger.
My voice deepened, and I imagined all the ways I would make him suffer for speaking with such irreverence. Running the edge of my blade along my cheek, I reveled in the scorching poison bleeding through my skin. Smiling, I was pleased when Onyx shuddered. “So be it,” I growled.
Onyx screamed when I carved my symbol into the center of his chest. The poison bled into the wound—directly over his heart. It would spread, and it would change him even more. Though Onyx resisted, there would come a time when the onyx stone royal would become an enemy to his own people.
Part One
The Dragon Mage
Chapter 1
Rocky cliffs protected the cave. Power and energy rippled along the thick slabs, and I knew it would protect us for now. Each morning I’d taken time to add what I could to ensure nothing could break through. There was a day not long ago where I’d sensed the threat beyond the wall. It had faded not long after, but the tension in my shoulders hadn’t eased since.
High in the mountains, far over the Canadian border, the air was frosty, although down below flowers bloomed and new life was bursting at the seams in the forest. I didn’t mind a little cold. After living among the warriors for so long, sometimes it would seem my dragon side came out more than my mage. It seemed as though my blood was at a constant boil—always. I didn’t mind. Anger rolled through my heart often since the carnage of the battle lost to the dark High Priest. Sometimes I coped better with such bitter emotion when my warrior dragon blood took over.
Breathing deeply, the air cleansed my lungs with spicy frost. Inside the cave was muggy with dozens of hot springs and hundreds of bodies. Just walking into the thick air coated my skin in sweat, and I found I scrubbed grime from my skin at least twice a day just to keep the smell from becoming too much. The others were ready to act, but there was still more to do.
My hair had grown a little longer, not as long as I’d once kept it, but I didn’t mind the shaggy, sandy strands hanging over my brows. With my rough-whiskered chin and new scars along my shoulders and behind my ear, I was told at least once a day how much more I resembled Thane, my father. It wasn’t a bad thing. Glancing at Thane standing next to me, he was the epitome of strength, from his powerful jaw, down to the way he gripped the pommel of the sword on his hip.
Thane was dressed in solid black, like me. His sleeves were pulled up though, revealing the seals for his family. A pang of heartache ripped through my chest. His family wasn’t the same anymore, but we would find a new normal. I never lost that hope.
Both of us shared pale blue eyes, and I wondered if my dark clothes made mine pop like his when he glanced at me. The breeze encircled us as we took in the outer rim of our sanctuary. It whispered against my mind—or heart, I wasn’t ever sure—of peace. Today was a day we could relax. Tomorrow could change, but at least for now, the earth wanted me to take today as one of joy.
“It really feels like her energy is gone now,” I finally said after we’d stood together for several long minutes.
Thane nodded, the muscles in his jaw pulsing when he squinted toward the rising sun. “Yes. I thought the same thing when I woke this morning.”
His voice carried a new sadness in his tone, one he hadn’t had since the day my mother was stabbed. He mourned for her loss—I did too, though she didn’t want us to feel any grief. It was hard to think of her sacrifice and her suffering without feeling something. If there were anything positive that came from that day, it would be the new closeness shared between Thane and me. I found there was no one I respected more—apart from Jade. And in turn, he valued my voice in decisions like I was his equal in leadership.
Thane gripped the back of my neck like he always did and offered a smile that changed the longer he kept it. It started sad, but when he looked back to the mouth of the cave, it was one of excitement.
“Well, we aren’t doing any good up here dwelling on what might have been,” he insisted, leading me back toward the cave.
“You’re alright?” I asked. “I know none of this has been easy for you. I feel a little selfish doing this, given all that’s happened.”
“And things have been easy for you?” he questioned.
I shook my head. “No, nothing has been easy, but sometimes it feels like focusing on anything else is foolish.”
Thane chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders briefly. “I can’t think of a better idea to wipe away the suffocating sadness that’s stained every inch of this cave. This is exactly what we need.”
I swallowed the thickness spreading at the back of my throat and grinned. He was right. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do either. Now that my memories of my entire childhood were restored, I didn’t feel like a seventeen-year-old senior in high school—I felt like a man—and this was exactly what I’d been waiting for my entire life.
The mugginess I spoke of was clearer than it had been in weeks once we trudged back into the cave. I suspected the mages had something to do with it. More sconces lined the stony walls, and the dark cavern actually seemed as though the sun were shining inside. Blue, red, green, white, all manner of flames ignited the iridescent glow of the cave. The closer we came to the bottom pit where most large gatherings occurred, the pungent scent of vanilla, citrus, and the clean air of the forest added a level of excitement I hadn’t allowed myself to feel.
Today would be one day out of thousands. I wouldn’t think of Bron, the dark High Priest, today. I wouldn’t think of the lindworms or King Nag. I would think of what life would be like once it was all over, and that alone brought more joy than I’d felt in a long time.
When we rounded a corner, I slammed into Mitch’s shoulder. “Sorry, man,” I grumbled.
Mitch glanced up from adjusting a thick leather belt around his waist. The belt was lined with his throwing knives, and his dark curls were actually groomed today. Most days, the lone human in the cave looked wild and feral with his hair on end, but today he’d made quite the effort. “Hey, you look good. Almost human again.”
Mitch scoffed, slinging his arm over my shoulder once the buckle on the belt was secure. “Where once I might think that a compliment, not anymore,” he grumbled. Mitch had a healing scar beneath his eye from the fight, and the gash along his ribs still had to be wrapped and cleaned twice a day. I smiled, catching sight of the dark band around his wrist with a steel warrior dragon dangling from the leather. Mitch had made it soon after the devastation of Bron to remind him of Dash, who had died protecting him. The bands had become popular, and most people wore one to remind themselves of a loved one who was lost. I wore one for Dash with Mitch, Raffi, and Jade. But I also had a white one to remember the woman who raised me. Aunt Liz hadn’t deserved to die.
“Sorry,” I chuckled. “I’ll never call you a human again.”
“Yeah, well, see that you don’t,” Mitch teased. “You ready for this? I mean, it’s not like much will change, but I guess it’s cool to make it all official.”
“Great pep talk,” I sneered. “Yes, I’m ready for this. And Dad said it is a big deal. It seals it with everyone, I guess. It creates a new power that might not have been there before. And I’m not sure I can go another day anyway.”
Mitch rolled his eyes. Though I’d lived for decades, he was truly only eighteen and didn’t understand how deep bonds went. “Well, that’s good, I guess,” he muttered. “I’m glad I get to be a part of it.”
“Being brothers, it’s sort of required,” I smiled. “So you’d have to, even if you didn’t want to.”
There were ceremonies for everything with the mage and wyvern races. Sometimes I felt even eating required some sort of energy manifestatio
n by the way some sent praises over their heads. Mitch was my brother now. My parents had taken him as their own. It was interesting to see another addition to Thane’s seal on his arm. The ribbons of gilded green had spread and created a place for Mitch shortly after. I wasn’t sure who was more pleased, me or Mitch. He finally had a family too. Two reform boys who had no direction finally had a place that would forever be theirs.
“Hey, there they are.” Mitch bustled toward the back room that had always been Thane’s before we’d found the warriors.
The feeling was like lightning struck my chest. I knew what such things felt like—I was pretty positive I’d summoned lightning at least twice—though no other mages could tolerate such energy. When I saw her, that shock from the electric surge didn’t compare.
Jade’s hair was like golden sunlight braided down her slender neck, until it fell delicately over her shoulder. Green ribbon was added to her hair, and on her head was an elegant, golden tiara. The pale green satin dress hugged her body perfectly, but the elemental jade stone around her neck added a radiant glow to her skin. Mages, Eisha, and even Athika had helped make the dress. I almost forgot to breathe when it caught the light.
Jade beamed at me, her emerald eyes alight with her own excitement. The bond between us surged with energy, and I could feel nearly every pounding beat of her heart, even at the distance we stood.
I smiled when from behind Jade, stood Gaia.
My mother stalked toward me quickly, squeezing Mitch’s arm as she passed. Gaia wrapped her arms around me, her body still weak from her recovery. When she touched me, it was even clearer how different her energy was. “You look beautiful,” I whispered against her ear.
