by Meg Xuemei X
Outside the tent, Henry howled in fury.
“Blaze,” Rai said. “Escort our mate and leave for the mountains. Iokul, Chiron, and I will hold the enemies back.”
Blaze nodded grimly, knowing his brothers wouldn’t survive this.
“Daisy. Let’s go,” Blaze said softly.
“No,” I said. “We live and die together.”
“Daisy, your safety is the most important!” Rai bit out. “Now isn’t the time to be stubborn.”
“I’m being practical,” I said. “They’ll catch me and slay me sooner if I run. We’ll have a better chance surviving if we stick together.”
“But Daisy—” Rai said, a torn emotion in his sapphire eyes. Then he sighed, his jaw remaining tight. He knew I was right.
“Thick and thin. Remember that. That’s how we are,” I said. “Let’s not argue anymore and get ready.”
Rai’s eyes burned furiously, but fear for me still lurked beneath. “Blaze, stay close to our mate. I’ll fight at the front.”
Blaze wanted to protest since he wanted to fight at the frontline, but when he glanced at me, he swallowed it.
It didn’t matter where we fought. It was five of us plus Henry against an army of over forty demons. We were greatly outnumbered.
“We might have to shift to dragons in the heat of the battle if we want to survive the fight,” Blaze said.
“I don’t think the land will allow us to,” I said. “I’ve tested my offensive magic, but it became dormant the moment we started the journey. By Goddess Arianrhod’s will, all sorts of magic, except my feeble connection to the land, has been nullified.”
Blaze flexed his hands to transform them to claws, but nothing happened.
“It’ll be our brutal force against our enemies’,” Rai said, and nocked an arrow. “Let them come.”
There wasn’t any place to take cover except for a few scattered trees on the endless snow-covered plain.
A horde of demons appeared ahead, charging toward us like a black wave. The snow didn’t slow them much.
Three mutant demons that had massive spiked wings flew ahead of them. Snow twirled around their black horns, and it didn’t seem to bother them the slightest.
How could we defeat such a force without shifting to our dragon forms and without the aid of our magic? My heart pounded in fear and rage, and my blood iced over even as adrenaline coursed through my veins and pumped up my courage.
We’d probably die here, and the snow would cover our corpses, but we would slay as many enemies as we could. It would be regretful if we perished before we could bring down our true and final enemy.
It would also be regretful if I didn’t have more days and years with my mates.
But even if we didn’t win this battle, I’d still be united in the afterlife with my beloved mates. I had to believe that.
We shared a look, the mating bond between us snapping in tension.
We formed a nearly enclosed ring, Iokul and Chiron raised their shields. Iokul had his longsword ready, and Chiron raised his iron spear. I had a wicked-looking dagger in my left hand, and in my right hand a curved one ready to devour any two-legged or four-legged foes.
Iokul was the best dragon swordsman, Rai excelled at bows, and Blaze was a champion in fistfighting. I’d been training with my warrior mates when we weren’t in bed.
Henry snarled beside me, his jaws wide open.
Stay with me, Henry, I ordered. Don’t leave the group. Don’t try to be a hero.
If he charged alone ahead, he’d be slaughtered. It wasn’t his time to die yet, no matter how eagerly he wanted to defend me.
“Now!” Rai roared.
Both he and Blaze released their arrows toward the three flying demons that were in range. The mutant demons were well trained. They either ducked or swiped away the arrows, but Rai’s third arrow pierced through the one in the center. The demon plunged to the ground, his black blood tainting the snow.
The other two mutant demons breached our defense with their great speed, swatting at us with their claws and spiked tails, their mouths open with long, jagged teeth.
We thrust our swords, daggers, and spears up, hacking and slashing at the monsters in the air. Too bad we couldn’t shift. We really had picked a bad time to seek the goddess’s blessing. But then, the enemies from all directions would be upon us any day, and Lysandra was going to take over my dynasty if we didn’t act sooner.
Chiron spat out a curse as a flying demon’s horns rammed into his shoulder. Henry shot toward the demon and slammed into him before the enemy could bite down on Chiron’s head. My hound’s two jaws locked onto the mutant demon’s massive muzzle.
I lunged. While my hound held the demon firmly despite its claws slashing onto his side, I buried a dagger into the demon’s heart and the other into his gut with my Fae strength.
The mutant demon dropped in a heap, and I pulled my daggers free from the corpse.
Blaze and Iokul fought together against a giant mutant overhead. Rai focused on releasing arrows toward the foot soldiers at the vanguard. A few dropped while the rest charged us. Those things didn’t understand fear.
Chiron, Henry, and I rejoined my mates’ rank just as the first wave of the demon horde bore down on us.
We formed a circle, facing the enemies that surrounded us. Rai had abandoned his bows and flashed his broadsword.
In the distance, a horse’s bray sounded, joined by an uproar of another warhorse.
Two stallions crashed into the demons’ rank, their riders bellowing a battle cry.
Elvey and Rosalinda had come!
My thundering heart warmed as I watched Elvey’s lavender hair and Rosalinda’s long blonde hair flying wildly in the wind and snow. They were both a sight to behold. The horses were no ordinary horses. They were fearless, and they maneuvered swiftly, even though they were completely surrounded by the brutal enemy force.
The demons hadn’t expected two Fae to cut into their rank. In their outrage and disorientation, Elvey effectively beheaded two demons. I’d never seen anyone move that fast. The day he fought Blaze, I’d seen his formidable side. Now, he redefined the word. As he fought against a dozen demons at once, he taught the brutes what brutal and lethal really meant. I was only glad he was on my side.
If I didn’t have to fight my share, I could watch him in action all day long. Rosalinda, unsurprisingly, fought well beside Elvey. Envy pierced into me. Their coordination was seamless, as if they fought shoulder to shoulder all the time.
With renewed strength, I closed my daggers in on the neck of a demon, who tried to jam his horns into me.
Rai thrust his blade into a giant demon’s chest from the side while Iokul and Blaze wounded the flying demon and forced him to flee.
My three mates were equally magnificent. Their fast swords never missed. While they fought, they pivoted around me, determined not to allow more demons to break through their defenses to reach me, but we were still gravely outnumbered, even with Elvey and Rosalinda’s aid.
The two fought toward us. They were covered in red and black blood. The black blood was the demons’, and the red must be their own.
My mates and I had cuts here and there as well.
I lost track of time. I wasn’t sure how long we had been fighting. It could be seconds, yet it felt like a century as my arms grew heavier and my legs were full of lead.
I refused to give in to my exhausted body. I held my daggers tightly, cutting and thrusting into any foes in my way.
Blaze cursed and roared in pain and rage. Four demons surrounded him. One of them must have gotten him. It broke my heart that I couldn’t go aid him, as I was fighting a giant demon myself. I wielded my daggers aggressively toward the demon’s middle section, anxious to finish him to reach Blaze. The demon brought up his two hammers and crashed onto my daggers.
He was double my size. The impact made my palms bleed.
I didn’t let go of my blades but broke their contact with the demon
’s hammers with a furious roar.
Snarling, Henry leapt onto my opponent and bit deep into his leg. Sybil shot out from nowhere, screaming in fury, and poked her beak into our foe’s eyeball.
While the bulky demon swatted Sybil away and hammered down toward Henry, I leapt, my blade sweeping across his thick neck.
His head tumbled down and sank into the snow.
Sybil steadied herself in the air—the new wing Elvey had restored for her gave her enhanced strength—and shrieked in victory.
We might still lose. The demons’ numbers were just too great.
Then my peripheral vision caught a group of new riders emerging from the white mountains and charging toward us. Fuck! This was bad. How could we fight another horde?
Cursing, I snapped my head toward the new enemies and widened my eyes as I recognized the leading rider. With ferocious battle cries, he led a dozen dragon shifters on horses and rammed into the demons as if entering a no-man’s-land.
He fought like the fierce wind, just as I remembered.
“Adrian!” I screamed, joyful tears bursting from my eyes.
My fearsome general had finally returned after nine centuries and just in time!
With the new reinforcements, we stood a fighting chance.
We would live.
A shadow dove from the high sky, faster than lightning—the last mutant demon had returned with revenge. This time, he carried a machine bow.
A cluster of arrows rained down toward me.
I heard my name shouted from all directions.
My allies and friends raced toward me. My mates acted as one to block the arrows.
But for all their effort, one or two pierced through my flesh and I dropped to the icy ground.
Henry howled.
Sybil screeched in fear. Daisy Queen, don’t die!
My mates, Elvey, and Adrian all roared my name, but I could not answer them.
I stared at the gray sky where snow kept falling, feeling a rush of hot liquid flowing from the corner of my mouth. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t move. The snow under me had never felt so cold, even my hot blood beneath my back turned to ice.
I couldn’t even finish a prayer. Preserve my mates and friends, Arianrhod, goddess of Inann . .
CHAPTER 13
Coldness, desolation, and pain swarmed my consciousness. One moment I thought I was free and that I found my fated mates; the next all appeared to be a hopeless dream and my curse lingered.
Three Furies with scaled human faces, beastly bodies, and massive red wings circled the jungle on the savage planet, shrieking in rage and despair. Our screeches hurt even our ears, but we couldn’t stop them.
No, it was the past. My true loves had come and freed me.
They’d claimed me and fucked me every night, showering me with their passion, fire, ice and storm.
Heart deceives.
I was all alone in the dark. If I had mates, where were they?
My mind traveled between past and present, until it settled on the recent battle against the demons in the endless plane of snow.
Elvey had come. Adrian had come.
What happened to my mates?
I had died, but I didn’t want them to join me. They still had many good things going for them. I only regretted that I hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye and tell them how much I loved and cherished them.
I also needed them to take care of Henry and Sybil.
Your fight is not over, an immortal, queenly woman stood in front of me.
She had a willowy figure, cream skin, and golden hair with streaks like the sunset. Her blue eyes shifted colors just like mine, and she gazed at me with such tremendous love and tenderness.
Like lightning striking me, instantly I knew who she was.
“Mom?” I bolted up from the snow, and it hurt so much as I moved. Damn it, why did it hurt even in death?
“I can only meet you this once while you linger between life and death, my daughter,” she said, her voice sounding like music under the clearest sky. “I hoped I could watch over you, but I couldn’t, as such was my fate. But before my youngest sister killed me, I modified the curse she threw at you, so you could survive and finally find your true loves and be free. You’re going to see your grandfather, and he’ll tell you the truth he knows. It’s time. Daisy Danaenyth, my beloved child, you aren’t just the heir to the throne of the Dragon Realm. You’re also the rightful queen to Sihde, the Fae realm. You aunt usurped your place. Fight this, daughter. Fight for life. Call the realm’s magic to heal you, and it will. It must. All you need to do is ask.”
Her image flickered, fading.
“Mom, don’t go!” I choked out. “Please, don’t leave me. Stay. Stay with me.”
“I’m sorry, child. I’d give everything to be with you longer, but it’s not allowed.”
My mother dissipated in the mist of fog and snow.
“Mom!” I screamed.
I would not fade. I had to live, live to avenge my mother, live to take back my two realms and the six cities, and live to be with my mates.
I couldn’t leave them. I couldn’t abandon them.
And Elvey and Adrian had come back.
I reached out to the realm with my last flickering consciousness. The old Dragon King won’t return for you. I’m the last of the Danaenyth bloodline. Heal me. Heal your future Keeper, and I’ll guard you as my ancestors once watched and guarded you faithfully.
We’ve been waiting for you to ask, Daisy Danaenyth, echoed the multiple voices that seemed to come from the sky, from under the water, from everywhere.
Light sprang out from the soil beneath me, grasping me like ivy vines, crawling all over me. As the mesh of light sank into me, warmth coursed through me. The magic purged the poison in my blood, patched up my chest and back wounds, and knitted my tissues back together.
I heard my mates calling my name, their voices less panicked now. I still couldn’t open my eyes. My eyelids were too heavy, and my energy sapped, even with the aid of the realm’s magic.
“The land has healed her,” Elvey said, relief in his strained voice.
I heard Rai cry. It’d been hell for him thinking I was passing to the other side.
“We need to get out of here,” someone said.
Was the war over? The battle sounds seemed to have ceased. Only my mates’ begging for me to keep fighting for life filled my ears along with the howling wind.
We’d won.
“We need to go to the mountains.” It was Adrian’s worried voice.
A growl followed by louder growls.
“I don’t care that you’re my mate’s general!” Blaze snapped. “I’m carrying her.”
“She’ll ride in our arms, where she belongs,” Rai said.
They had to fight over me when I couldn’t even move? I’d never seen anyone else more possessive than my three dragon mates. In my weak state, I couldn’t even roll my eyes.
Thankfully, no one argued with them, but I believed that Adrian snarled before he backed off.
Vaguely, I felt that they carried me with strong arms and let me lean against a solid, warm chest that smelled like Rai and autumn and home.
As I bumped up and down against him, hearing the howling wind rushing by me, I knew I was on a horse with my mate.
We were racing to the mountains, to find the mad king.
CHAPTER 14
The mating bond sent me a wave of warmth, love, and anxiety, but at least it was no longer dominated by fear, rage, and panic. I flexed my fingers. The bone-chilling coldness had left me. I wasn’t alone as caring voices caressed me.
I forced my eyes to open.
I was in a soft bed, surrounded by my mates. Iokul lay by my side, hugging me to him, lending me his heat and strength. Rai and Blaze perched on the other side of the bed, one holding my hand, the other combing my hair gently with his fingers.
They would all get into bed with me if it were big enough.
“Daisy? Love? Hon
eybee? Sweetheart?” they all called me.
“Huh?” I answered them all, my gaze sweeping over them.
They were bandaged here and there. They’d been wounded, and Rai seemed to have taken the heaviest hit, his arm in a sling. My heart ached for them. Their pain was mine. But I was also relieved that they were in one piece, which was quite a victory, considering our small numbers against the demon army. Even after Elvey’s and Adrian’s forces joined us, the demons had still outnumbered us nearly three to one.
Dragons could regenerate quickly, but while the realm didn’t allow us to use magic or shift, we had to heal naturally. The realm’s magic only made an exception to heal me because of my position as future Keeper.
Rai placed a kiss on my lips. As soon as his lips parted from mine, Blaze moved in to scorch my lips with his.
“Love,” Iokul whispered beside me, inhaling my scent deeply as his trembling, hot lips traced the column of my neck. “We thought we lost you. We wouldn’t survive if you died.”
My eyelids fluttered. Before I could say anything, a male voice beat me to it.
“No wonder Princess Daisy is overwhelmed,” Adrian grunted from the door. “Who wouldn’t be?”
I turned my aching head and my eyes landed on Adrian leaning against the wall.
Mostly, he was how I remembered him—dark-skinned, handsome, a giant of a man made of muscles and built like a warrior. He had honey-brown eyes that had once been full of laughter, light, and loyalty, and now only loyalty remained intact. The laugh had diminished long ago, but the light was coming back, gradually. He’d found me at last.
Thick bandages covered his left arm, the side of his ribs, and his leg. I said a silent thanks to the goddess. If I’d lost Adrian when I’d just gotten him back, it would have scarred me forever.
Adrian stalked toward me, his auburn hair waving at his measured movements, and all three princes growled at him.
“What?” Adrian frowned. “I’m not going to take the princess away from you.”
The princes traded an uncertain look. Right, Sphinx had forced me to spill the answer to his riddle and now my mates knew there would be four true loves for me instead of three. They’d thought it would be Elvey. But now with Adrian having suddenly returned, they weren’t sure which one would be the final mate.
