by Meg Xuemei X
As I looked around, the crowd—most of them—only snarled and hissed. My words couldn’t get through their thick skulls.
“Pretty speech,” Lysandra laughed coldly and victoriously. “They’re mine, through and through. It took a lot of work, but it didn’t go to waste. No matter what you say or do, soon-to-be-no-more-queen Daisy Danaenyth. All I need to do is eliminate you, and you’ll be gone just like before, without leaving a trace or a wrinkle in time.”
Thick smoke twirled around her to shield her, while a part of it darted to me like black arrows pushed by high waves.
My land magic could rumble the earth and buildings, but it couldn’t counter the foul magic which had made it sick. My White Light could expel the living smoke, as it had done before, but it was fickle and unstable. I’d been summoning it since I’d landed on the rooftop, and it hadn’t bothered to show, despite that I’d clenched my teeth and hissed at it where it circulated like a ribbon of light and fire at the bottom of my magical well.
My mates spewed their fire and lightning at Lysandra, but the dragon magic couldn’t penetrate the walls of the smoke and darkness. It was just like what had happened in the golden palace in the castle.
All the dragons instantly landed before me, forming walls around me, knowing the smoke would pierce their scales and erode their flesh.
Lysandra laughed with chilling menace. “Now die with all of the dragons, Princess Daisy Danaenyth, as it is the will of the queen.”
CHAPTER 22
The black witch was referring to the Fae Queen—my evil aunt—who wanted me dead more than anything.
A spectrum of dark blue light flared before me, shoving back the hissing smoke.
“I wouldn’t bet on that, black witch,” a beautiful, masculine voice purred before Elvey materialized.
Another flash, and Rosalinda landed beside him. She held a bloody, battered man. The middle-aged man buckled on his knees, seemingly unable to support his weight, but Rosalinda hurled him up and let him lean against her.
“Just a little longer,” she told him, and the man nodded, gray eyes burning with rage and exhaustion.
I blinked. Elvey always appeared when one least expected him, but I was more than happy to see him and appreciated his aide.
The dark blue light besieged the smoke entity, forming a force field to trap Lysandra. The smoke snarled in madness and kept attacking the blue light. The two kinds of magic wrestled fiercely and brutally against each other.
“I can’t hold her forever, Daisy darling, but I can buy you a little time,” Elvey said, eyeing me with delight, even though his face strained from the effort of containing the enemy’s magic. “You look good in a dragon crown.”
My princes growled at him, not at the crown part, but at his endearment of me.
I arched an eyebrow. Really? Now?
“You!” Lysandra threw a string of curses at Elvey. I hadn’t known the queen-wannabe had such a foul mouth.
Elvey smirked. “Me. I know. I have that kind of effect on people. Can’t help being likable. I’m a friendly guy.” His eyes didn’t leave the witch as he kept battling her, but he addressed me. “Now is the time to send out your White Light, Daisy dearest. They’re under the influence of her spell. Your Light, the best weapon against any mind manipulation, will break her hold on the crowd of the human sheep and wolves alike.”
“I’ve been practicing it nonstop, but it’s not as easy as you think—” I said just as my White Light trailed out. I sighed. Maybe the Fae magic just needed my Fae mate to be around.
The Light speared out like waves, touching every mind on the rooftop. I watched dark veils drop before the crowd’s eyes like filthy, shredded sheets and the black claws gripping their minds dissipated.
The crowd gasped, as if just awaking, and for the first time, could think for themselves. They staggered when they were suddenly free. Evidently, they’d been in the witch’s grasp for a long time. But not everyone was used to, or appreciated, having freedom.
Some of them slumbered back into their seats, looking sad, angry, and lost.
A great deal of them still hated the dragons just the same.
Lysandra screamed at Elvey. “You’ve just dug your own fucking grave, Lord Elvey! The queen will see to it and drag you to hell.”
“Been there and back,” Elvey said mildly. “But I’m on vacation now, witch.”
“It won’t last! Today is your last fucking vacation, you dick!” Lysandra shouted.
My heart pounded painfully at the threat. It wasn’t an empty one.
Elvey smiled merrily and coldly at the same time. “Then I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.”
“What’s going on?” the crowd asked each other in confusion, some pointing at the beat-up man Rosalinda had brought in. “Isn’t that Mr. Kerry Clifford, the former mayor? He disappeared one evening. What happened to him? Who tortured him?”
The man struggled from Rosalinda’s hold and straightened himself in dignity. “I’m Kerry Clifford, the mayor of the City of Amethyst.” He stabbed a finger at Lysandra. “The black witch tortured me for two months! She tormented and killed many others who were strong enough to resist her spells and disagreed with her rule. Those who were killed included Alex Harte, the mayor of the City of Chrysocolla. We do not accept the bullshit that any race is superior than any other races. So, the witch Lysandra and her Humans Superior and First cult marked us as the dragon lovers and regarded us as a threat to her reign. She and her minions kidnapped us. While she tortured us inhumanly, from our pain, she gleaned more power for her dark magic.”
A few gasps sounded from the middle of the crowd.
Yet the others shouted, “You have no proof!”
Rosalinda looked at Elvey, and he nodded at her, still locked in the battle of will and magic against Lysandra. The Fae female’s wounded arm had grown back—after I made the pact with the goddess and the land, we’d all healed and regenerated.
“May I access your memory and pull it out for all to see, Mr. Mayor Clifford?” Rosalinda asked.
“By all means!” Kerry hissed, his intense eyes fixing on Lysandra with loathing and hatred. “They need to see. Those entitled fools need to open their eyes!”
Rosalinda pressed her fingers against Kerry’s temples, and a trail of violet light emitted from the mayor’s skin. As it expanded, a hologram, unlike the one that was recording, played in front of everyone.
The media crew looked uncertain, but Kerry ordered them, “Keep recording it. Let all six cities see the truth.”
Through the memory thread, we watched Lysandra’s minions—a few of them were present—shove the kidnapped mayor to an underground room.
Following Kerry’s terrified and furious eyes, we saw the morbid sight inside the witch’s torture chamber—blood sprayed over the walls; dead bodies, partial limbs, and bones scattered and piled on the damp ground.
Red candles lit around the walls in circles, which only added to the horror.
One of Lysandra’s guards pushed Kerry to a chair and chained him as he struggled and threatened. A woman helping the guard patted Kerry’s face. “My queen isn’t so pleased with you, Mayor Clifford. You should never have supported the Dragon King.”
Lysandra glided into the room in an ivory gown tainted with patches of blood on her chest and sleeves.
“Lysandra, you’ll regret this!” Kerry shouted.
“Will I?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Before I regret it, I’m going to reward you for all the trouble you’ve caused me. No one should cross me. I’m the absolute power in this realm. Your inferior human species worship the ground I walk on.”
“Who are you then, if you’re not a human?” Kerry demanded.
To the mayor’s credit, though he was terrified in his every bone, he tried to conjure up his courage and didn’t cave in.
“I’m a goddess to your kind,” she said. “All of you are my slaves. And soon I’ll be an immortal, my compensation for wrecking the Dra
gon Realm. Do you know your lost Dragon Princess is returning?”
Kerry widened his eyes, hope rising in them.
Lysandra laughed in cruel amusement. “I’m waiting for Daisy Danaenyth right here. The spoiled, royal bitch somehow managed to break her curse. But she won’t be prepared for what she’ll receive. After I have her flesh peeling off her bones, I’ll finally have the elixir promised to me.”
“You’re sick,” Kerry said in repulsion and dread. “You need help.”
“Now shut up, Mayor Clifford. We have a job to do,” Lysandra snapped. “I need you to feel excruciating pain and scream for me. In order to achieve that, I’ll have to maim you and break you before I sacrifice you on the altar. Your pain will fuel my magic and energize me. You’re a powerful man, Clifford. Very few could resist my spell and keep such a clear mind, and for that, you’ll get what you’re destined for. I like to play with powerful men and women, like a great lioness playing with its prey before the kill.”
She took time picking a proper tool and used it to pull out Kerry’s nails one by one. As she promised, he screamed and struggled to his best ability, but the heavy chains bound him tightly, making rattling sounds.
Lysandra inhaled his agony with a sweet, satisfied smile before slashing a surgical knife across his lips. Her eyes glowed crimson red, feeding on his pain.
As the mayor’s memory continued, some people in the audience had to turn their eyes away, not having the stomach to watch further. Yet some people watched in delight and fascination.
The ones with violence in their hearts wouldn’t be allowed to stay in my realm. I’d make sure of it, and the land agreed.
The media crew kept recording, their eyes narrowing and widening in horror.
Kerry screamed and screamed as Lysandra sliced every inch of skin on his chest.
“I’ll stop now, Mayor Clifford,” Rosalinda said softly. “That’s enough for them to see.”
Kerry nodded. He was barely hanging on; only rage and adrenaline kept him going. My respect for him grew. He looked half-dead from the torture, yet he wasn’t broken. At least, not completely broken.
“Lies!” Lysandra sizzled, while Elvey kept her busy. She shoved his blue light back with a sudden burst of strength, her coven forming a pentacle shape and chanting behind her.
Elvey staggered, surprise and strain marring his face.
Lysandra was gaining. The witch was strong, her black magic potent, and her coven large. Soon she would break out. What if my White Light winked out when I needed it to subdue the witch?
Cold sweat dotted my nose.
“They’re not lies but facts, black witch!” Kerry shouted, raising his left hand where three fingers were missing. He turned to face the crowd, his eyes emitting cold disdain. “Is this evil incarnation the queen you want, the fraud you choose to rule you? You don’t know what kind of fate you’ve assigned yourselves to. Fucking fools! We who support the dragons are cautious and wise enough to know the realm and all six cities belong to the royal dragon house.” He gave me a weary look and bowed. “And the one who stands in front of you is the one and true queen. The realm is Queen Daisy Danaenyth’s. You only rent it at her permission. You think you can get rid of the dragons? Think again. Anger the goddess, and the land will spit your bones out. Be grateful. Beg Queen Danaenyth to allow you to live on her land after what you’ve tried to do to her.”
“Heresy! Kill them all! Remove our enemies!” Lysandra ordered the crowd. “Humans Superior—” she stopped.
This time, no one moved, not even those who bore the dragon race ill intent.
“We bear witness to Mayor Kerry Clifford’s memories,” someone in the audience called out. “The consort Lysandra is not our queen! She distorted the truth and brainwashed us. She’s a black witch.”
For the first time, part of the crowd went against Lysandra.
“We demand to know who you work for!” someone else shouted. “Who’s your boss? You mentioned the queen! Which queen?!”
That was a very good question.
“The dark Fae Queen, obviously,” Elvey said lazily, playing pull-and-push with Lysandra’s black magic.
The audience gasped. No one in the Dragon Realm was allowed to throw my aunt’s name around, but the humans in the six cities had heard how formidably powerful she was.
“Lysandra is the Fae Queen’s spy,” Elvey continued. “Fae aren’t allowed in the Dragon Realm, so the Fae Queen used her pawn. They struck a bargain. Lysandra will be rewarded the Fae elixir and gain immortality after she overthrows the dragons and kills the last dragon of the royal bloodline—your true queen Daisy Danaenyth. The witch almost succeeded with your help, and that would be genocide on your part. However, I think your gracious new queen will probably pardon you, considering you were brainwashed by the terrible witch Lysandra.”
“You bastard!” Lysandra cursed.
Elvey arched an eyebrow. “I might be a bastard, but I’m also a demigod. I know things. It feels good to expose you, bad witch. Didn’t expect I’d pop out to spoil your bloody fun, did you?” He tried to appear at ease, but beads of sweat coated his forehead, and his lavender hair was wild and tousled. “Don’t be so put out, bad witch. It’ll be all over for you soon.”
Lysandra roared, enraged. “Fuck you!”
“No, thanks. I have a particular taste, and you’re not it,” Elvey said, slanting a glance at me. He looked so hot saying that, heat swimming in his star-blue eyes.
I heard many women’s soft sighs from the audience.
A few dragons chuckled, but not my mates.
The living smoke suddenly blasted with brutal strength and pierced through Elvey’s shield of blue light. Elvey stumbled back and cursed.
“Not your type?” Lysandra sneered. “Let’s see how your type takes this.”
The smoke pushed toward me in sharp waves. At the same time, the entire façade of glass shattered. Shards of glass, thousands of them, didn’t drop but rose to the air and sailed toward me, toward my mates, our guards, and the mass behind us.
Black wind surrounded us.
The humans screamed and fell backwards, but there was nowhere to run from this attitude of attack.
The dragons formed walls of flesh around Kerry, Rosalinda, and me. Dragon fire poured out to melt the glass, lightning shot toward the witch, and ice battled the smoke and darkness.
Elvey roared and lunged toward us to shield me, and at the same time shot out his brilliant blue light again.
“The Fae Queen is boosting the witch through their link,” he shouted in warning.
Lysandra’s eyes turned black. My ancient lethal enemy—the pure evil—glared at me with hatred through them.
But I was ready this time, ready to vanquish the foul smoke, ready to defend my mates, my warriors, and my people.
I threw my hands up. A shield formed around all those I intended to protect.
White Light burst out of me like the sun storm.
“This is my land,” I declared. “This is my realm. You have no place here. You have no power here. I quench your foul magic and darkness! Be gone!”
Thousands of shards of glass froze in the air. I pushed it back and returned them to the façade of the glass door and windows, except for one long, jagged piece.
“Have a taste of my fire and light, Tianna!” I roared.
Wrapped in my White Light, the long, jagged glass shot toward Lysandra, piercing flesh and bones, and impaling the witch’s black heart.
The White Light kept pushing and spreading, diminishing the witch’s coven to piles of dust. They didn’t even have time to scream.
Lysandra’s corpse jerked, as if it wanted to resurrect, but my mates’ fire and lighting struck it until it had nothing left.
The last trace of the smoke evaporated, and the brilliant sunlight glinted off the glass wall.
It was a bright day once again.
I smiled at my mates, tears clouding my vision.
When I turned my head to
seek Elvey, he was no longer there. He should have stayed and celebrated with us. He should have seen this through. I didn’t want him to appear only in dangerous times.
Thick and thin, we should go through it together, to the end.
Amid the joy of victory, a dull ache pulsed in me.
CHAPTER 23
We moved back to the castle. All the dragons had returned, except my grandfather, a few of his royal attendants, and a couple of royal guards who chose to stay with him in the mountains. They were the new Dragon Guardians.
I used the land’s magic to make the castle new again, and gradually, thousands of humans who had dragon blood in their veins came to live in the castle or the towns in the Dragon Realm. Now that the realm was healing and healthy again, they couldn’t resist the magical pull of the land.
Green returned to the realm. A variety of trees blossomed. My favorite jasmines covered the entire garden behind my chamber.
The six cities had all sworn fealty to me. We eradicated those who formerly supported Lysandra and reestablished those who were loyal to my throne and friendly to the dragons.
We seemed to have achieved peace, but I knew better. Evil still lurked in the shadows. My ancient enemy was seeking another opening to take me down. I could sense darkness still surrounding my dynasty in a siege, and some evil lived among us.
While I stayed alert, I’d been trying to catch up with the modern human society and their technology after nine centuries of living in the jungle as three beasts. I didn’t believe my magic was threatened by science and technology. They could coexist. I made sure no matter how advanced the technology was, humans would learn to respect the land and nature, because my magic, infused by the land, was strong enough to wipe them out.
If they crossed the line to hurt the land, I’d strike.
