by L J Andrews
I gasped. Bron’s sword ripped from my insides, but the wound was deep enough I could feel blood rushing down my waist faster than I could stop it. Until I met her eye. My heart throbbed, and I had the sudden drive to stand between her and Bron.
Jade’s beautiful scales peeled back until her smooth skin blazed in the hazy night. She ripped one of my swords from the ground the same moment Bron found his footing and clenched the stone blade.
Bron laughed maniacally and thrust his sword against Jade. She whirled on him, her green gown glittering in the fiery shadows of the battle. She raged against him, her ability to handle the sword impressive, but Bron still had stronger energy.
“Teagan, you get up now!” she shrieked when my head fell back against the grass.
Clashing blades echoed like thunder in my ears. I heard Jade cry out in pain, and on instinct, my body curled upward to protect her. I coughed, coppery blood spilling over my tongue when I glanced up and watched Bron strike once more. Jade tossed the blade toward me, shifting into her wyvern form and shooting her own connection with the elements against Bron. He was so close to stepping over the barrier of the sanctuary. I wondered how much Gaia could see. Jade slashed at Bron, her claws digging across his arms. Jade’s jaw clamped on Bron’s shoulder, and with a furious snarl, she tossed the dark High Priest down the hillside. My eyes widened, more blood dripping from my mouth as I clutched my middle where the wound was slowly draining my energy.
When I looked up again, Jade’s golden hair was draped in my face, her hands clutching my cheeks. “Get up, Teagan.
“Jade, you…should have stayed,” I gasped.
“You don’t get to decide that for me,” she roared, her eyes ferocious as she placed her hands on my middle, surging her healing energy into my body. At her touch, our bond ignited. The pain eased, but part of me truly believed it was too late. I was fading; the jade energy was leaving me faster than she could heal me. “I vowed as your mate to defend your heart, your power, and your life. You don’t get to break my promises for me, and you certainly don’t get to give up on me, or Malik! Now, get up. I’ve only angered Bron. He will be back.”
She was right. Faster than I’d wanted, Bron’s wicked laugh surrounded us again. Jade wheeled around, grasping for one of my swords again. My heart was panicked, and I propped onto one elbow, feeling a swirl in my head. There was a burning sensation along my arms, my chest, around my face, my legs—across every inch of my body, it seemed.
“I wondered what was so different about you, Your Highness,” Bron hissed, slashing his sword. Inches from the edge of the stones—he was so close. His grin sent a crushing fear through my dying mind. Jade would be left to Bron, and she was right—she’d only angered him. I felt his raging darkness bleeding across the ground. He would kill her—slowly and painfully. But his next words sent an icy fear down my spine even more. “You’ve mated with each other.” Bron’s eyes drifted toward the sky, then locked on Jade again. “Now, I understand. The dark mages told me they sensed something—some new power. Your joy I felt—I know what has happened.” He bellowed through his impish smile. “There is more than one dragon mage now, isn’t there? You fight like a mother about to lose her child.”
“Get up, Teagan,” Jade hissed, a boiling fear rampaging over her body.
My plan was crumbling. Bron was never supposed to sense Malik. The scorching burn along my skin returned again. My heart was imploding—it was the only explanation. I was out of blood, or Bron’s energy was eating through my soul. I could hardly think. Jade took up my sword once more and stood over me as Bron tried to finish what he’d started.
“You will die first, if that is your wish, Queen Jade.”
A bolt of electricity surged through me, and I curled forward onto my hands and knees, gasping. Energy wasn’t leaving my body—I was wrong—I was bombarded with energy. Crying out as the strange, painful, and comforting anguish racked my body, the clashing swords ceased. I didn’t hear Jade, but then I didn’t hear Bron either. All I heard was rushing wind so violent the trees’ roots cracked. The ground where my palms pressed blazed in fiery embers and sank slightly. Rain splattered violently like glass. The storm had raged against us so quickly, I didn’t have time to brace against the frigid drops. My body wrenched as, inside my chest, energy seemed to collide as I thought of protecting Jade, protecting Malik. Something burst like a broken dam when Bron told Jade she would die. When he mentioned my son’s energy.
Inside, I sensed the rush of the earth element collide with fire. Fire and earth devoured the power of wind and water. Then the cool calm of night energy burst to life, encapsulating all my powers into one fierce ability.
Strength I’d lost through my gaping wound returned to my burning legs. The sanctuary stones erupted, each color blaring brightly in the dragon emblems. Something was happening. I knew for certain when Jade gaped and Bron backed away from me. My shoulders set in all my rage as I stood straight. I hardly noticed how my skin burst in electric sparks shooting from the sky, from the ground, from all around, as though lightning had become a part of my skin and armor.
“Gold,” Jade whispered. I didn’t know what she was talking about. I only kept my eyes locked with Bron, who backed another step toward the sanctuary, his furrowed gaze deadly and determined.
“What is this? Your energy is…changed,” he growled, clasping tight to the stone sword.
My fury heightened at Bron’s declaration. If I drew my attention to it, he was right. The jade power I’d grown accustomed to was gone—faded like my mother’s had faded. In its place was something different. Something violent, and unbreakable.
Gold. Now I saw what Jade meant. Along my arms, my neck, spreading across the tops of my hands and searing across my jaw and skull, as the sparking white energy danced along my limbs—my armor had colored to pure, rich gold. The green had faded, and like the lightning that shocked my body without harming me, I realized somehow I was no longer the jade mage—I was something I didn’t recognize at all.
Chapter 32
Gaia
Watching Teagan enter into the loving arms of a human who would go on to raise my son had been the most excruciating pain I’d ever experienced. Until I watched Bron thrust a blade into his body. The tremble from my power overwhelmed every facet of my heart. I tried to break free from my hidden space in the sanctuary. The rage that only comes from love for another empowered me enough to know I could kill Bron with my bare hands. I refused to watch my son die.
Jade had shocked me when she’d come and fought with the same rage against Bron. A smile spread across my face eventually, when she tossed his body down the hillside. Yes, this was Reya’s daughter. As determined, passionate, and fierce as her mother before her. Jade shouted at Teagan, but he was not moving. My smile faded. Again, the desperate need to break free overwhelmed my heart. It was as if my son’s power fueling the place kept me locked until the exact moment we’d planned. As I watched Bron return—when the fear crossed over Jade’s face—I knew Bron sensed the truth of our family.
I couldn’t break free, but I could convince Teagan he could live—I could help him unlock the vibrant energy inside his heart that was powerful enough, I could not even break through it. Pressing my palms into the soil, I urged the shadowy energy that I’d embraced into the ground. I aimed my love, my power, my every hope toward my son.
“Live, Teagan!” I shouted, though I knew no one would hear me through my concealed walls.
Bron crushed his blade against Jade’s. I feared for both her and Teagan now. I feared for Malik and prayed he would not grow without his parents. Then I feared for Thane. He would not have left Teagan unless something terrible had kept them apart. I sensed nothing of my mate, and it only fueled my energy deeper.
My throat caught when Bron and Jade slowly peeled their weapons away from each other. The fury of the elements burst all at once, as it surely had at the creation of such powers. Wind battered the forest, rain, sleet, the ground and trees be
nt to a blinding rush of energy. It wasn’t mine, and now my heart seemed to stop beating when I spied brilliant sparks of light crashing along Teagan’s body. His shoulders heaved behind the coat of electric power, but ever so slowly, he rose to his feet. The fury in his eyes was blinding, and they seemed to glow with brilliant light as he squared his body toward Bron. Jade stood stunned, but I was thrilled beyond hope when Bron actually backed away—his concern, fear, and wonderment washing over me in furious waves. I wiped away gleeful tears when I sensed nothing of Teagan’s energy—his former energy, at least. His premonition came to pass after all—his energy was wiped out. And now something beautiful and all-powerful had replaced it.
When I saw the gold armor span his limbs, his neck, and curl around his jaw and forehead like mine, I knew.
“A Mage of Kings,” I whispered through the tightening in my chest. When my arms first held Teagan, I’d known my son was something the world had not yet seen. His energy seared through mine, and even as a child, I sensed the fire of a dragon heart, the power of a mage bleed through his veins, and he was more powerful than even me. Now, that fusion was complete. His night energy, his wyvern soul, his elemental control fused into one impenetrable power.
The lightning faded, and Teagan stalked next to Bron. He raised one of his swords from the ground, his fierce blue eyes unblinking. I wasn’t sure he even realized the blades were now a beautiful pure gold instead of the emerald green. Bron raised the sword with the fire stone, but Teagan met his strike with the skill of a warrior.
The slash of their blades trilled down my spine with each crush of metal. Teagan ducked when Bron tried to rip the cutting edge of the stone sword over Teagan’s throat. Jade wasn’t a bystander. Overcoming the shock of Teagan’s transformation, she rose to the occasion and took to Bron with the second golden sword. Bron inched so close to the barrier of the sanctuary. I felt the walls tremble. Teagan’s eyes glanced up briefly, and I thought I saw him smirk before he wrapped one palm around Bron’s jaw and lifted him over the barrier.
Bron shrieked in agony, and I felt him pulse his manipulated energy into Teagan’s hand. Teagan smiled viciously and burst a billow of his unmatched power against Bron’s face. With a fierce shove, Teagan released Bron so he gasped on the grass. Bloody burns coated Bron’s cheeks where Teagan had held him, but the manipulated power hadn’t harmed Teagan in the least.
Now was the moment. I’d listened to every roar, every shout of pain of this battle, feeling helpless to do anything. Until now.
Bron scrambled to his feet, the sword with the fire stone clutched firmly in his palm. At my touch along the ground, the final chain in the web of power sealed any escape he might have had. The lead stones burned in their power, and now the dull stone near Bron glowed in crimson as the fire stone energy entered the sanctuary.
He snarled at Teagan, and I sensed Bron was now aware this wasn’t a typical sanctuary. “A prison. Well thought out, Dragon Mage,” he hissed, though he spoke through his teeth, as if the wounds on his face burned too greatly to move his jaw too much. “But if you try to kill me, I assure you I will send all my forces to wherever you’ve hidden your child.” Bron sneered and chuckled. “Actually, I sense they may already be there.”
Jade’s panic seared my soul. Even if what Bron said was true, Teagan’s protection would hold. It had to hold. Bron was trying to distract them. I could already see how he tightened his grip on the sword. The only way he could escape would be to kill Teagan, and I knew Bron understood the rules entirely.
There wasn’t much time. Carefully, I gathered each elemental stone. As they touched my skin, the pull to the blade that once was mine returned. Yet, I still knew if I took his life, the cursed darkness would bleed into our open bond until his last breath. There was no escaping it, but now, seeing Teagan alive—seeing his regal power—I knew I would die in peace. I already had the enchantment devised for after the moment I killed Bron. It would wipe all my life away before I could crumble into the warped darkness as Bron had.
“You think this is enough to keep me. No matter what energy you have, this sword does not respond to you, and you will need its power to stop me,” Bron hissed, pressing his fingers against the fire stone. Raging fire energy surged through his hand.
Teagan rolled one of the gold blades in his hand, his eyes narrowed until they gleamed like ice. “I have a feeling you can’t touch me, Bron. In fact, I’m sensing you’re afraid. You should be.”
Teagan slashed the sword, but Bron blocked his strike. Black, evil power ripped through the different veins of elemental energy in the sanctuary. Bron released a fiery surge from the stone, only to have Teagan extinguish the power with the wave of his hand. My son stood straighter, his hand opened wide. Bron roared in anguish, his shoulders curling forward and blood trickling out of his mouth while Teagan slowly curled his palm into a tight fist.
Teagan glanced once more where he knew I would be standing. I shook my head, even if he couldn’t see me—he wouldn’t do it, he didn’t understand what would happen if he killed Bron. I screamed behind my hands when Teagan jabbed the golden blade against Bron. Relief passed over my heart when the blade only lodged deep into Bron’s shoulder.
The dark High Priest released his agony with a nauseating wave of evil energy. Jade clutched her stomach, as though the fury was too overwhelming for her. Teagan caught the way she curled forward and ripped his sword from Bron’s shoulder before rushing to her side. After a few moments of Teagan’s hand on her shoulder, Jade stood straighter, her chest rising in rapid breaths.
“You have a twisted soul,” Bron hissed at Teagan. “You plan to torture me—what makes you better than me?”
“I tried to kill you—I guess I just had bad aim. But I’d rather someone else take control right now. She’s waited long enough,” Teagan hissed. The surrounding walls glimmered as Teagan willed the barriers around me to drop. He smirked arrogantly, the blade in his grip flashing with energy.
“You must have control of the stones,” Bron inquired. “It won’t be enough to stop me, Dragon Mage.”
Teagan laughed darkly, enough to send a wave of chills down my spine. “I don’t have the control, but she does.”
Teagan pointed over Bron’s shoulder. The call to retrieve my old sword was overwhelming, but nothing brought me more satisfaction than seeing Bron’s pure shock when his eyes locked with mine.
“Gaia,” he breathed out. There was nothing in his features that resembled the man I’d aligned my life, my body, my hopes with, so many years ago. His narrowed gaze studied the markings on my face and arms. “Look how you’ve changed. We once again share the same energy.”
My jaw clenched. “No, Bron. You are a twisted creature, spewing hatred and death,” I snarled. “We are not the same. The night you betrayed me, Bron, you told me I was the only one who matched your power. You didn’t break me as you thought you did that night. In fact, you freed me to live a life I never imagined could bring me such joy. But though we are not the same in spirit, I do have night energy now.” I held my palm up with all the elemental stones. Bron winced, and I knew my restored bond with the sword in his palms was scorching him as the High Priest blades once had.
With a snarl toward the sky, Bron released the sword, clutching his palm. His shoulders heaved in desperate breaths as I stalked closer, slowly, so he would not miss one piercing glance. Picking up the blade, I closed my eyes, breathing in the powerful connection I had missed all these years. The fire stone raged in fury at my touch. Carefully, I eased each stone along the blade in the proper order. Like a fresh breeze breathing into my lungs, the sword ignited in fierce power.
Bron chuckled darkly, lowering to his knees at my feet. He opened his arms wide and sneered maliciously. “Take me, Gaia,” he laughed. “Take on all my energy—we both know what will happen. You cannot deny the bond that remains between us.”
My jaw flinched, and Teagan stepped forward. “Mom, what’s he talking about?”
Bron lau
ghed more. “Oh, did you not tell your precious son?” Bron looked over his shoulder at Teagan. I struck him, his lip instantly drawing blood. He didn’t deserve to look at my family. Bron only chuckled harder. “It seems she hasn’t spoken true. If Gaia takes my life, through the bond that once connected us as High Priest and High Priestess, she will absorb my energy—as I absorbed some of yours when I ran you through. It was so wonderful feeling you against me again.” My stomach tightened at the thought—it was disgusting to me now to think I could have ever been with anything besides the gentle, loving touch of Thane. “Your mother will be warped, not with her new energy, but with dark energy. She will be me, and I promise I will thrust all my energy into your blade, Gaia—until you take on all of it before I take my last breath.”
“Mom, no, give me the sword,” Teagan shouted. Jade rushed toward me too.
“No!” I snapped, holding up my hand. “The same will happen to you. Bron will curse you if you take the blade and kill him. I must do this.”
Bron laughed wickedly, glancing at Teagan. “It’s true, I will curse you, Dragon Mage. I can’t yet decide who I want to have kill me more. Gaia, join with me. Even you can’t deny the deep connection we still have with each other. My offer from the divide, my bond with what we once were, still stands. Think of what we could become. I’ll even spare your son’s life.”
“He can’t touch me,” Teagan snarled.
Before I could act, Teagan rushed at Bron. Jade screamed, terrified as I was to watch Teagan’s energy fill with blackness. Bron shrieked like a suffering animal when Teagan’s hands trapped his head in his grip. I felt the rage, the passion, the desperation bleed from Teagan’s gilded energy into Bron. Though my former husband was shuddering in terrible power, Teagan’s energy didn’t falter. I didn’t sense the cursed energy seep into his heart in the least. Only Bron was dying.
