by Liliana Hart
“I know you’re not making this out to be my fault,” I said. “He’s been here with us the whole time, and it’s not like I could have kept him out of my room. He’s the Destroyer, for cripes sake.”
He sat next to me on the bed and my magic flared. I could feel the acceleration of my body’s healing just by being close to him. He took my hand and rubbed his thumb across the pulse in my wrist in soothing circles.
“I failed to protect you,” he said.
I looked away at the intensity of his guilt and closed my eye. Julian was a good man, and it was me who had failed him. It was my family who was responsible for so much pain, and I should have somehow recognized what had been going on in my own house.
I lifted my hand to his cheek and touched him gently, tracing my thumb across his bottom lip. My lips found his of their own accord and I felt peace rise within my battered body. I wanted to burrow against him and feel his arms come around me. I wanted for everyone else to disappear so we could be lost only in each other.
“Soon, love,” he whispered against my lips.
I kissed him one last time and pulled away, remembering his taste and the feel of him against my lips. Once I told him what I knew, he’d probably never want to touch me again.
“I have to tell you something.”
“That your brother is the Destroyer and has managed to hide the fact from all of us?”
My eyes filled with tears and I blinked rapidly to get rid of the evidence. Julian sighed and took my hand again. He stretched out beside me, careful not to jostle me too much, and pulled me against him so he held me in an embrace.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“You were unconscious, naked and bleeding when I first carried you up here. You gained consciousness just long enough to tell me Erik was the Destroyer.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“I knew something wasn’t right from the moment you showed up in my lands. The things my spies sent me about Erik made my instincts go on alert. He was always a suspect. But when I met him face to face I was sure I was wrong because I couldn’t detect his powers.”
“You checked up on us?” I asked incredulously.
Julian gave another sigh. “Rena, you were an open book to me from the moment you stepped off the plane. You have never had any secrets from me. But I had to check out your clan.”
My head began to pound and my anger wanted to take control, but I didn’t have the strength.
“Maybe you should just start at the beginning and tell me what happened,” he said.
“Could I have something to drink?” I asked after I’d reined my temper in. None of this was Julian’s fault. I had to remember that.
I could sense Julian’s impatience at the delay, but he went to the small fridge in the corner of the room and got me a bottle of water. My mouth was as dry as dust and my stomach hurt from hunger.
“I was waiting for you out on the balcony,” I began, finding the label on my water extremely fascinating so I wouldn’t have to look in Julian’s eyes. “I was thinking of you and not paying attention to anything around me. I didn’t even know he was behind me until he started speaking.”
“He’s a Viator,” Julian said. “You wouldn’t have heard him unless he wanted you to.”
“I don’t know, when he opened the portal it made the mountain shake. It sounded like the sky had been torn in two.”
“One doesn’t need a portal to travel through human time. But to travel between the Realms is the gift of a double-edged sword. To travel between the Realms means to give up part of your soul with each crossing. When you say it sounded as if the sky had been torn in two, that’s because it was.”
I looked up at him with worry. “What about you? You traveled between the Realms earlier when Erik left the trail for you to follow. What will happen to your soul?”
“Are you worried about my soul, Rena?” He touched my cheek and smiled slightly. “It’s only a small piece. I haven’t made it a habit of traveling through the Realms over the last several millennia. And the piece of my soul that was taken was for a worthy cause.”
I took a long drink of water and sat up against him a little straighter. I was already feeling stronger. My jaw had full mobility now, and it was getting easier to speak.
“Erik was so strong. I couldn’t defeat him, and I refused to go with him. My only choice was to jump over the edge of the balcony and pray for a miracle.”
Julian ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture of frustration. “As soon as I left you to travel between the Realms I got a bad feeling. I’m not connected to you once I leave this Realm, but the loss of you was overwhelming. I knew I had to get back as quickly as I could.
“You took a thousand years off my life when I saw Eunice dragging you out of the water. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The pool was colored red with your blood. You weren’t moving. Your fire began to burn without your knowledge. It would have swallowed you whole and turned you to ash if I hadn’t been there to absorb it.”
“I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate.
“I was gone between the Realms long enough to get a good sense of his trail. I know where he’s hiding his army. We need to go into battle as soon as you’re healed. Two days have passed and more of our people have disappeared. We cannot waste any more time.”
“He has more than an army. He has a kingdom. He’s been mating Drakán to each other for centuries, building his numbers. He’s created a machine to drain the powers of those who don’t agree to fight for him. It makes them human. He’s determined to steal the powers from all creatures and make himself king over all the Realms.”
Julian’s face showed the first sign of legitimate surprise I’d ever seen before he quickly masked it. “Then we must stop him.”
“But will we win?” I asked.
“If we don’t, we will die trying. The Drakán deserve to have peace and power restored to them. Now that you’re awake, Eunice’s medicine should restore most of your strength by this evening. Rest for a while. Those of us who can change form will meet and go after the Destroyer at midnight.”
“I assume you know how to find him?” I asked.
“He’s taken possession of the Realm of the Gods.”
Which meant the gods had chosen sides, or they’d finally met their match and were too afraid of Erik to do anything but hand over their Realm without a fight. Whatever the case, they weren’t going to be of any help to us. So praying was probably out of the question.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I’d healed as much as I was going to by the time midnight rolled around. We gathered, thousands strong, cramming into the ballroom and spilling out into the halls. A hushed murmur whispered its way through the crowd, building to an overwhelming roar of sound. The scent of anticipation and fear was strong, and the hunger for flesh and blood lay heavy in the air.
Despite the impressiveness of our numbers, less than a thousand of us could actually shift to dragon form and take flight. Human blood had weakened us all more than we’d thought. But we needed numbers, and it was decided those who couldn’t shift would remain in their human forms and ride through the Realm on the backs of their dragon brethren. I had no idea what to expect from Erik’s army. We could only hope that if we couldn’t outnumber them, we could at least overpower them.
Julian raised his hand high up in the air, and the room went silent. I looked at the Drakán standing around me. I didn’t know most of them—a scary thought considering a few days ago they would have tried to kill me, and now they’d be fighting beside me.
Feng stood against the wall, watching Julian with a malice and calculation in his eyes that made his position clear. He wore black sweatpants and a sweatshirt with the sleeves cut out. A tattoo of a dragon snaked all the way up his arm and rested its head on his shoulder. He looked deadly and dangerous, two traits we needed on our side when fighting the Destroyer and his army. I only hoped Feng didn’t decide to change his al
legiance once we went through the portal.
Xana, Olaf and the other guards all stood behind Julian—Eunice and I flanked his sides. I worried about him destroying another piece of his soul by taking us through the portal, but it was he alone who could make the sacrifice to save the very people who despised him.
“I have asked you all to do the unthinkable,” Julian said. “The Destroyer was one of us. And he betrayed us to strengthen his own power and treat us no better than slaves. We will not let the Drakán race falter. And we will not forsake the Promised Child by letting this impostor deceive you. You are strong. And you are ready to fight. Porro ago Drakán.”
Long live the Drakán. The crowd repeated the sentiment with a resounding cheer.
A familiar crack echoed through the room. The ground shifted and the plaster on the walls split and crumbled. The portal swirled and opened to reveal a liquid-silver hole in the middle of the room. Gasps sounded from all the Drakán. Besides myself and Julian, it was the first time any of them had seen a portal to another Realm.
The Drakán around me began to shift into their dragon forms. There were dragons of all colors, all shapes, all sizes. Julian’s black dragon was massive and towered over all those around him. Xana and the other guards were also in varying shades of black—some lighter, some darker, some duller, some brighter—but none had the onyx sheen and breathtaking beauty of their leader.
Eunice was the color of a shiny copper penny. Even though the Drakán clan she was born to was green in color, the Fae blood that ran through her veins made her unique. Her form was dainty and feminine despite her increased size, but Eunice had seen many battles before. She was a seasoned warrior, and she was as deadly as anyone in the room.
Feng stood just to Julian’s right, his scales a dark golden yellow. Tiny spikes ran the length of his spine and tail. Not for the first time I wondered about the ancestors we all shared that helped shape our destiny. Feng’s guards showed the mixed heritage of Prince Lucien’s two races. The Chinese dragons were shades of yellow. The Russians were shades of white.
Cale of the Éire stood to the outermost side of the group, surrounded by a handful of his own guards. He looked to be reconsidering his decision to risk his life and his former clan. His dragon was emerald green. His guards were shades of the same green, from sea foam to the color of Irish fields at night, and their hesitation was obvious.
I couldn’t stop the despair that overwhelmed me as I looked over my clan and saw my father and Calista both absent. Not to mention Erik, though we’d see him very soon. The clan varied in color—from the palest pink to brick red. But not me. The silver of my scales didn’t belong to any clan. Which was why Julian and I both thought it would be best if I transported through the Realm in my human form. As far as my clan was concerned, I’d never been able to shift, and we wanted them to keep thinking that for now. Seeing the silver of my scales would not help me get control over the disobedient group.
Andres of the Rumanus and his blue clan only had a few dozen Drakán who could shift, but they all pushed through the crowd, eager to be among the first through the portal. I climbed on Eunice’s back and all the other Drakán who were still in human form did the same. Some carried swords in scabbards and others were relying on nothing but their physical strength.
Julian gave the signal and the dragons took flight. I held on for dear life as the wind rushed across my cheeks and Eunice launched herself just behind Julian into the liquid-silver portal. As soon as we left our Realm I was completely cut off from all that existed in that world. I couldn’t help but look back as the last of the Drakán came through and the portal closed behind us.
Chapter Thirty
I hadn’t known what to expect once we crossed through the portal and into the Realm of the Gods. Julian had explained to me earlier that it was an ever-changing place—a place that reflected the gods’ and goddesses’ wants and needs. It was a place where they could honor themselves. They could alter it at their foolish whims, much like they liked to do with the lives of their people.
The Realm of the Gods had always seemed like a foolish waste of space to me—a place where only the gods and goddesses could reside while there were so many others of us who were floundering without a Realm to call our own. But I guess they felt they were entitled since they’d been the ones to create the Realms in the first place.
I thought for sure the Realm of the Gods would be a place much more sinister, considering the Destroyer had made the changing Realm his home. A place that epitomized everything he stood for—violence, anger, hate and cruelty. I expected darkness and monsters lurking around every corner. Shadows of fire and fury. Eerie sounds and helpless cries from those who were being held against their will. But my expectations came nowhere near the reality.
The Realm of the Gods was a place of sheer beauty. A beauty so pure that it almost brought tears to my eyes. It was light and brightness all rolled into one—a city of ice with crystal palaces that gleamed like diamonds and streets made of freshly fallen snow. White covered every surface. It would have been glaringly bright had there been an illuminating source to reflect off of them.
Julian had explained that the Realm of the Gods had neither sunlight nor moonlight, so all who passed through its gates would not fear death.
“This was not what I was expecting,” I said to the copper dragon beneath me.
“No, but many times it is the unexpected that can be the biggest threat. Keep your eyes open.”
There was a field with hills and valleys covered in snow below us—pristine in its beauty. There were no trees, no blue skies, just endless clouds and fields of white. As we soared through the sky the hills rose and fell below us.
I hunkered low over Eunice’s back so we could fly faster, and I struggled to keep my eyes open and on everything around me. Riding on the back of a dragon was not a way to cure a fear of flying. Her powerful muscles bunched and flexed beneath me, and Julian moved closer, touching my leg briefly with his black scales to ease my discomfort.
We passed over the last hill and my adrenaline surged.
A castle made of glass and white stone sat nestled between two hills. It was circled by a crystal clear lake and guarded by a drawbridge made of diamonds. White dragons launched themselves from the rooftop and came at us in a fury. Thousands of them. These dragons weren’t the same white as the Russian clan. These were of the purest white, never varying in shade. And they were our mortal enemies.
They charged us in straight lines—hundreds upon hundreds of them for as far as the eye could see. Erik had always been a great general. He knew how to win battles.
All of our dragons dropped the human Drakán they carried to fight their own battles on the ground. Erik hadn’t been a hundred percent successful in his breeding experiments, because it looked like there were still many in his kingdom who couldn’t shift form, just as many of ours couldn’t.
Julian led his dragons back up into the sky. He was dead center of the pack. Feng and his best warriors flanked Julian’s right and Xana and our best warriors flanked his left. The others under Julian’s command quickly got into formation so they mirrored the white dragons.
I growled in anger as Cale and his people held back. It was too late for them to change their minds. They were trapped in this Realm. And they would either fight or die. Eunice and I came up behind them, and she roared her displeasure, forcing them to take their place in the battle lines.
I knew what my job was. I’d had to fight for it, but in the end I had won. Eunice and I were to find the prisoners and release them—though most of them would be no better than humans now. Their fragile human shells were going to make their escape all the more difficult.
“Have a care, lifemate,” Julian whispered through my mind. “I would be most displeased with you if you injured yourself again.”
“Julian—” The words I wanted to say were trapped in my head. I wanted to tell him I loved him. That I loved him despite the troubles I knew our futu
re held.
I felt his mind caress my body and envelop it like a hug. He’d felt my thoughts, but he hadn’t returned the words.
“We’ll meet again soon,” he said instead.
It was the last thing I felt from him. He closed himself off completely, and the loss of him was almost debilitating.
“Snap out of it, Rena,” Eunice said. “He’ll be fine. You must see to your tasks now.”
Eunice and I veered off from the group and flew down to the castle. I held on tight as she made a smooth landing in freshly packed snow. The sounds of battle came from above—the clang of razor-sharp claws as they hit against each other like swords—the gnashing of teeth—the ripping of flesh.
I watched as the first drops of blood fell from the sky and marred the pristine snow with red. The Realm of the Gods was white and beautiful no more.
Chapter Thirty-One
Drakán fought Drakán across a battlefield of snow as Eunice and I made our way closer to the drawbridge that led into the castle. Red-scaled dragons fought furiously against the Drakán who guarded the inner gate, and Eunice and I slipped by while they were preoccupied and entered the castle.
White marble, veined with the palest grey, lay beneath our feet. The walls were white stone. The ceilings were made of glass, so every floor above us was visible. We could see straight into the sky. Straight into the carnage of the battle raging overhead.
The large foyer split in three directions, forming three hallways—one to the left, one to the right and one down the middle.
“We should split up,” I said.
Eunice was still in her dragon form so she spoke to my mind. “Julian told me I wasn’t supposed to let you out of my sight.”
“Every second will count if we’re going to free our people. We might already be too late to save them.”
She finally agreed. “I’ll take the right.” The shiny copper of her dragon got a running start before taking flight again and spiraling down the long hallway.
