by L J Andrews
“I’m needed out here,” I insisted. “I can’t explain it, but I’m needed out here tonight.”
I thought he’d insist—even demand—I return behind the wall, but Teagan simply clenched his jaw and nodded. “By my side?”
“Always,” I smirked playfully, wiping the mage blood from the sword along my pants. Teagan raised a brow, but soon slashed his blade against a thick-necked mage with yellow eyes. The mage fought back, nearly striking Teagan with a rush of night energy, but from behind the mage I forced my palms to the ground. There was something unusual about the way my energy filled my blood. It was once calming, as though the earth approved of my asking. Tonight, the earth offered no consent—simply forced its energy through my body. I felt the calm, but also an electrifying desperation as I split the stones beneath the dark mage. Teagan rushed out of the fissure that opened wide enough to swallow his attacker.
“You might pass for a mage tonight,” Teagan breathed against my ear when the cries of the dark mage faded as he disappeared into the ground.
“I think I might be more mage than dragon in this moment,” I sneered, placing a hand over my middle.
Teagan scoffed, but soon his face fell pale as he stared over my shoulder. It wouldn’t be a battle if Teagan didn’t drop a few colorful words. When I turned and found where he looked, I found my mind filled with all the colors of the word rainbow.
His smile was wicked—nothing like I knew it once was. His chest was bare, the dark robe that gleamed cheerfully when he’d shifted after once flying with us was lost on the rocks. I swallowed bile when I noticed the countless scars, wounds, and painful reminders of the horrendous torture he must have endured.
“Onyx,” I gasped. The battle seemed to fade into the shadows of the night. Only me, Teagan, and Onyx remained.
It was Onyx in body at least, but in his eyes, I was looking at someone different. He was twisted; the darkness, the rage bursting from his heart frightened me and weighed on my shoulders.
Onyx chuckled—it sounded so much like Bron, I had to look around for the dark High Priest. “The queen—and the dragon mage.” Onyx rolled a dark blade in his palm, keeping his eyes locked on Teagan as though the hunter had found his prey. Teagan took a step in front of me, his body stiff and his muscles pulsing in fury.
“Onyx, we’re your friends,” Teagan muttered. So I wasn’t the only one who realized this was not the same Onyx. “Bron, Nag—they took you from us.”
Onyx chuckled again, though it was without a glimmer of emotion. “Really? Interesting story, Dragon Mage. Then why is it you are one of the faces I so clearly see in my mind? You did this to me.” He pointed at one of the scars along his bicep. “And this.” A twisted wound across his stomach.
Teagan shook his head, his body now fully in front of me. Through the frenzy of the night, I hadn’t even noticed Teagan’s armor was fully engaged. It brought a sense of relief, and even now I could see the swirls of jade cover further up his neck than before. How I wished it was fully formed around his head like Gaia’s. I needed him to be as protected as possible.
“Onyx, I did nothing. We’ve been searching for you. Those wounds are from Bron, I can feel him all over you. He wants you to stand against us.”
“Oh, stand against you is what I plan to do,” Onyx growled, stalking closer toward us. “And when I have you, I shall make you feel the same agony—the same pain I have felt all this time. Only slower and deeper.”
“Jade, go. Please,” Teagan whispered desperately. “I’m asking as your mage.”
“I wish I could,” I gasped, clutching his sword even tighter. “But I’m asking as your mate that you stay by my side.”
Onyx waited one more breath before he lunged. The dark sword had a dangerous power in its metals. I felt the clash of energies when it struck Teagan’s weapon. Teagan cried out in pain as he held against Onyx’s strike, the two powerful blades scorching both Onyx and Teagan’s palms. The royal dragon was weak, but something fueled him. I knew we had to break through the haze that kept his mind in torment. Teagan needed to touch him—I’d seen his energy break through Donovan many times.
“Onyx,” I screamed. “I did those things to you!”
Onyx’s narrowed, furious eyes turned toward me as he pressed his blade harder against Teagan’s sword.
“No,” Teagan cried. “No, she didn’t. Onyx, no!”
Onyx shoved hard enough to cause Teagan to stumble.
“Touch him!” I shrieked, holding out the second jade sword as Onyx pursued me. “Break through the block—like Donovan.”
Teagan dropped his sword and rushed behind Onyx’s body. Wrapping his arms around Onyx’s broad shoulders, Teagan trapped the royal’s head between his palms. Onyx shrieked wildly. The dark lindworms near us responded and raced toward the struggle, but they were quickly stopped by elemental warriors and Garwin. The small common wyvern battled with fervor matching any warrior I’d known.
“Release me!” Onyx bellowed, slashing his blade for Teagan’s body. I reached for his arms, wrapping my palms tight around Onyx’s wrists. I shuddered, feeling a wave of dark night power fill my body. The fiery acid couldn’t remain in my throat. I released a choking cough—it tasted like fiery coals. Blood. I was spitting up blood.
“Queen Jade, release him,” Donovan’s voice shrieked. “The child—your energies are colliding too dangerously.”
The onyx mage was at my side, ripping my palms off Onyx. I thought Teagan was shouting my name, but I watched as Onyx slashed now at Donovan with even more anguish than he had at Teagan. Arms wrapped around my shoulders and tugged me to my feet. Glancing up, Nuka’s human face met mine, as she dragged me away from the brawl. Thane had returned and shifted quickly. He ripped one of Teagan’s blades from the ground just as Onyx was about to strike at Donovan, who had replaced my hold on Onyx’s wrists. Thane used the jade swords almost as seamlessly as Teagan with each block against Onyx’s dark blade.
“I will kill you!” Onyx raged toward his mage, trying desperately to shake Teagan from his back. “You killed them…my family—their blood stains your hands.”
“Listen to me, Onyx,” Donovan bellowed. “Fight through the haze—I know you can feel my power. It is the same as yours. I know you remember who I am. You are stronger than the dark High Priest. Do not let him break you. Think of Peran, Shiv—they live, Onyx.”
Onyx had such strength, though his face was filled with fatigue. My body still trembled from the raging energy collision, but no more blood bubbled to my mouth. Nuka held me protectively until I slowly tapped her arms to release me.
“You were bleeding,” she whimpered.
“I’m alright. It was just too much dark energy.”
“Your little one?”
“I’m fine,” I insisted. The warmth from my middle was still burning strong—Donovan had come in time. My eyes fell to the sword in Onyx’s hand. Black wisps of color spiraled up his forearm where he clasped the hilt. “We must get his sword, it’s no ordinary blade.”
Nuka nodded and inched against my side. We made our way back toward Onyx as he tried to throttle Donovan’s neck. Teagan was gasping, holding firmly to Onyx’s head. Rochelle had come and pressed her hands along the royal’s back. We needed Ced—he always helped Gaia and Teagan with Donovan. There were still lindworms, and I sensed the prince was still fighting for his life above us.
“The sword,” I shouted, my voice was gravelly and hoarse, but Teagan nodded. He must have heard me, though he never lifted his gaze to my eyes.
In a rush of motion, Teagan released Onyx’s skull and reached for the blade. Onyx lowered to his knees when Teagan clasped the hilt. My heart stopped when the sword passed from Onyx to Teagan. Onyx collapsed, though he still screamed and resisted Donovan and Rochelle. But so did Teagan.
Thane was closer and dropped to his knee when Teagan crumbled in a heap on the hard rocks. His arms, just as Onyx’s, were bleeding in dark veins of black. His shoulders convulsed as Thane tried
to hold him steady.
“Teagan!” Thane bellowed, but Teagan’s eyes rolled back in his head.
I lunged over his chest, my hands clasping his face as I watched the darkness spread along his arm. Wherever the dark veins touched, his armor faded, leaving him exposed to whatever power had taken hold. “Teagan, wake up,” I pleaded when his body shook in my hands. I pressed all my strength against his skin, holding him tightly in my hands until, all at once, his body went limp.
Chapter 18
“The blade, it’s cursed,” Donovan shouted across the night. The mage had his strong arm wrapped around Onyx’s neck now. Raffi and Mitch had come and held the royal’s shoulders while Rochelle helped soothe Onyx’s rabid mind until he struggled less. “There’s dark energy attacking, Teagan, just like Gaia. You must clear it.”
“I need Ced,” I screamed without taking my eyes off Teagan’s face.
“Wake up, son,” Thane whispered, clutching tight to Teagan’s arm. The warrior had done this not long before and had nearly lost his mate. I refused to watch him lose his son. I refused to lose my mate.
“Try, Jade,” Donovan retorted in a shockingly calm voice. “There isn’t time.”
“Jade,” Thane muttered, his glassy eyes meeting mine. “Do not harm yourself.”
Clearing my throat, I clutched Teagan’s face like I’d seen him do so many times. “I will not stop until he’s back. I would gladly offer my life for his.”
Thane settled next to me, helping to keep Teagan still since his body would still tighten or convulse sporadically. “Yes, I know. But it is not just your life or Teagan’s anymore.”
Unashamed of the tears that dripped on my face, I glanced at Thane and nodded. “I will be safe, but I will not lose him to Bron. I won’t.”
“You’re all traitors! Traitors to our people!” Onyx screamed the final declaration as Rochelle’s hands finally drew enough peace his body settled into a calm, and his voice drifted to mumbles and soft remarks under his breath. I scanned the sky. There were elemental warriors flying above, but I didn’t see any enemy lindworms. Laina was there, by Haitian’s side in the sky. It was a sight that could be beautiful if I weren’t desperate to keep Teagan alive. With the dark mages on the run, or dead, I found a calm. We could be undisturbed as the battle slowly filtered into a painful memory.
My hands burned against Teagan’s face, but I never faltered. I didn’t know how to cleanse his energy—all I could do was overwhelm his body with every ounce of light and earth power I possessed. When time and focus brought silence, thoughts could run free. I remembered the first moment I’d seen Teagan’s shocking blue eyes—inside a human English classroom, of all places. Those eyes, they’d struck something in my heart. I could feel a boiling power just beneath the surface, but what had drawn me to him the most was his vulnerability he desperately tried to keep hidden. Teagan had worried about me with Sapphire. He’d stood up unknowingly to a dragon royal to protect me—long before the marks of jade covered his arms.
One of my steaming tears dripped from the tip of my nose to his cheek as I smiled, believing that was the real moment I’d fallen in love with Teagan Ward. Before I knew of mages, before he knew I was the queen. My core burned with power, and I drew in a haggard breath as my energy began to fail me, though another power buoyed me when all I wanted to do was collapse.
“Jade, you must let go,” Thane pleaded.
My eyes drifted toward Teagan’s arm. The dark veins were fading back, now they only surrounded his both wrists and hands. “No, we’re almost there.”
I swallowed the suffocating pressure in the back of my throat, urging the strange power to help finish what needed to be done. A new wave of energy trickled along Teagan’s skin beneath my palms. I met Donovan’s eye. He didn’t grin, though his eyes seemed relieved as he nodded his encouragement for me to continue. His palms were pressed against Teagan’s chest, and I saw how Teagan’s breathing came stronger.
Shocking, fiery power bubbled beneath my palms. Athika had come. She wrapped her hands around his legs. Her cheek was bleeding, and her face was coated in red sand, but she held firm, pulsing any remaining energy into Teagan’s body. I looked to Thane and Mitch, who stood nervously to the side.
“Will you touch him?” I gasped. “You’re his family too, it seems right.”
Thane didn’t hesitate and clutched Teagan’s palm, while Mitch settled at my side, holding his upper arm. I grinned, feeling stronger the longer we surrounded Teagan with power. I imagined the future—I wasn’t sure if it helped, but something told me there was power in hope. I could see a world of peace. I could see us living through the ages, happy, calm—with our families.
Teagan’s eyes shot open with a gasp. The poisonous darkness in his veins was gone. Thane released a chuckle of relief and sat back on the stones. The other mages freed Teagan as he sat up. I steadied myself with one palm on the stones and my shoulder leaning against Mitch. Teagan coughed and rolled to one side. Donovan slapped his back and grinned before the mage rushed back to Onyx, who was muttering under his breath while Raffi held him against the ground.
Teagan locked his gaze with mine and slowly rose to sitting. His hand trembled when he reached for me, but the touch of his fingers along my face rejuvenated my quickly fading energy. I felt as though I might crumble in fatigue, but stayed firm as I flung my arms around Teagan’s neck and buried my face against his shoulder. I didn’t realize I was shaking until Teagan’s strong arm held my body against him.
“Never do that again,” I muttered against his chest.
He chuckled, the rumble soothing the fears I’d buried during the moment, fading them into oblivion. “I’ll be sure to avoid cursed swords from now on. You pushed it away, Jade. You saved me. I could see what you were seeing—at least I think. I’ll never forget the first time I saw you either.”
I kissed his neck, my lips finding his jaw, his face, before finally pressing against his mouth. The corners of my lips tugged slightly when Mitch groaned and moved away from us. Teagan didn’t take any mind; his hands cupped my face as though I fit perfectly between his palms.
My shoulders heaved in deep breaths when I broke away after several beautiful, peaceful moments. Teagan leaned his forehead against mine, his hand resting against the bulge in my stomach.
“Are you alright? Even though you saved me, I felt you fading,” he whispered.
“We’re fine,” I muttered, covering his hand with mine.
Teagan smiled and blinked away emotion before meeting my eye. “I mean this in the best way, but you’ve…grown, even since we came here. It’s like it’s real for me now.”
“It’s real,” I said against his lips. “You should know, I think I love you.”
Teagan scoffed, his smile widening as he pulled my mouth against his for a final kiss. “That’s a good thing because,” he muttered through kisses, “I, uh, think you’re mated to me, and in case you didn’t notice, I think you’re having my kid.”
We both laughed and helped each other stand. Teagan released my hand and wrapped his arms around Thane, who clapped his back and cleared his throat before releasing his son. “No more dark energy. I’m going to age like an elder if you and your mother keep doing this.”
“It’s a deal,” Teagan chuckled, clutching Mitch’s outstretched hand. “What’s with you, man? You were supposed to stay with Jade behind those nice walls I made.”
Mitch scoffed and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Hey, I’m not sure if you’ve met Jade, but you try telling a dragon queen to stay put.”
“Now, Mitch, be honest. It didn’t take much convincing to have you join me,” I laughed, holding tight to Teagan’s arm as we walked toward Donovan.
Our smiles faded now that Onyx was calm and we could truly get a glimpse of what had happened to our friend. Athika and Rochelle hovered their hands over Onyx’s body, while Donovan held his palms over some of the ugly gashes along Onyx’s neck and face. Onyx seemed to be sleeping, but I knew wh
en he woke the darkness would still be there. I could feel it raging from his soul. Whatever Bron had done would not be easy to undo.
There was a breath of wings behind us. I watched as Sapphire shifted, but also Ruby and Ced. My heart ached for Ruby, and was overjoyed for her in the same moment. She’d never expressed her feelings openly, nor had Onyx before he was taken, but such emotion wasn’t easy to conceal. Her soft brown eyes locked on Onyx’s sleeping face. “He’s…he’s alive.”
“Ruby, he’s not the same,” Athika said sharply. “He’s lost in his mind. Do not expect him to know you.”
Ruby knelt down next to Onyx’s face. Donovan said nothing, but politely made room for her as he tried to heal the wounds. Ruby’s trembling fingers brushed against Onyx’s beaten cheek. “I don’t expect anything,” she whispered. “I only feel relief that he lives. Onyx is stronger than anyone I know; I believe he will find his way back to us.”
Amber soon joined us, with Nuka, who stayed back with Sapphire. Ced examined Onyx and sighed. “The dark High Priest is evil,” he muttered, his eyes hallow when he looked to Ruby and Donovan. “Onyx has been manipulated relentlessly. It will take a powerful force to bring his mind from the haze. I’m not sure even night energy could do such a thing.”
Donovan nodded, but Ruby stared at Onyx with determination. I marveled at her passion, and I hoped I would be much the same if the situation were mine to accept. She wouldn’t accept anything less than Onyx being healed.
“We must leave,” Nuka’s voice broke through our huddle. She seemed timid next to the strength of her brother, but her voice was firm. “There is more coming. I feel it, don’t you? This night was not a victory for the lindworms—they will not accept defeat.”
“She’s right,” Ced hissed, drawing Nuka’s uncertain, though curious, eyes toward the prince. “We all heard them in true form before the warriors left. My father will come—or Bron himself—to retrieve Onyx. He was supposed to take us away—he was supposed to kill Donovan and Teagan. We must return to the caves.”
