The Dragon's War

by Lila Jean

  As Anthony settled into his seat on one of the many planes departing for the Stronghold, he stared out the window, lost in thought. The rest of the princes were quiet as well, and Anthony was rather impressed that Draven was able to dig into another battle so soon after the fearsome fight with his father.

  The deposed king was already mostly healed and determined to lead the dragons to save his daughter-in-law, and deep down, Anthony wished he could have the same reunion with his own father that Draven had had with his. In reality, Anthony would actually kill his father today. Anthony knew it in his heart, knew there would be no forgiveness and no change in loyalty because his father was not a man of honor or justice. He had cheated in their duel in Epara, and he would cheat again here today. No, after everything he had done to Tina, to Damara, and to the brotherhood, Anthony would never forgive his father.

  During the achingly long flight, Anthony forced himself to sleep and rest for the battle ahead, but it wasn’t until the next day that they finally landed and prepared the final assault.

  When he finally found himself hugging the mountainside with his brotherhood in tow, he almost couldn’t believe the final confrontation with his father was really happening. This had been coming for so long, been the inevitable outcome for what felt like ages, and he hated to think that his final encounter with his father would end with blood and jaws chomping on a jugular vein.

  Blood and death, the way of the wolf. He shook his head, needing to focus, and knocked on a rock marked with the Wolfcrest coat of arms. For a moment, nothing happened, and he wondered if perhaps his contact had been delayed, or worse, killed. He held his breath, tense, hating the fact that out here he was a sitting duck. With one hand, he tapped on the earpiece in his ear, making sure it was still there so that Amy could warn them to run if she saw anyone coming.

  A moment later, the fake rocks comprising the door slid open, and Emmett smiled widely at Anthony from inside, gesturing them to enter quickly. Anthony let out a sigh of relief and thanked the diplomat, jogging in with Flynn, Draven, Killian, and Zane in tow.

  “I’m glad you made it, Anthony,” Emmett said as he led them through the narrow hallway in single file. “Your father has truly lost his mind.”

  “What’s happening?” Anthony asked, leaning forward to better hear the diplomat. “What has he done?”

  “I found out they’re holding your mate in the detention cells up top.” Emmett gestured toward the ceiling, but Anthony’s heart sank as he realized the diplomat was talking about the political prisoner cells. “Those are damned hard to get to.”

  “And she hasn’t broken out, so she’s either drugged or wearing that necklace.” Flynn shook his head in disgust.

  “It gets worse,” Emmett added, slowing as he neared the end of the hall. “That Cora woman from the news is here.”

  “Cora Stratford?” Zane asked, eyebrows shooting nearly to his hairline.

  “That one.” Emmett nodded, looking deadly serious. “King William won’t tell her where Tina is, and they’ve been at each other’s throats the last twenty-four hours. I’ve been sneaking around, trying to get what information I could for you.” The wolf shifter licked his lips, looking nervously at the door. “I saw some crazy contraption that seems to have been brought here by that woman, and things don’t look good.” He sighed, a deeply exasperated expression on his face. “I think she’s close to finding your mate, Prince Anthony, and I think your father has been expecting you.”

  “Good work, Emmett.” Anthony shook the diplomat’s hand. “Keep an eye on my father and text me of his whereabouts as much as you can without being seen.”

  “Of course.” Emmett nodded and held the door open for them, gesturing them through a suspiciously empty hallway. “I cleared it for you, but they’ll notice in the next two hours, so you’d better move quick.”

  “Thanks, buddy.” Draven smacked Emmett on his back as he passed, and Anthony led them through the halls toward the detention cells. If Tina was up there, this was worse than they thought, and his father had every intention of killing the woman he loved.

  37

  Tina

  Tina was fading.

  Her body felt weaker than usual after all this time without food, water, or, most importantly, her connection to Damara. Through it all, she remained resilient, determined to push through the exhaustion and weakness because she was strong. In her heart, Tina was no longer the helpless little human who worked for Amy’s father. Tina was a goddess, through and through, and no wolf king was going to keep her locked away. His only weapon against her was the cursed pendant around her neck, but he wouldn’t have that advantage for much longer. The necklace was slowly cracking under her power, and with each meditation, she was able to chip away at it more and more.

  Over the years, the worn room’s walls had apparently begun to chip. A few shards of rock lay on the ground at the base of the walls, and during one of her breaks in meditation, Tina rooted through the piles to find the longest of them. With the rock in hand, Tina leaned against the wall by the exit, her hand on a shard of the rock wall as she rammed it into the sliding peephole in her door. She had to be careful to preserve as much of her energy as possible, but she needed to find a way out of this cell. With a mighty heave and the corner of the peephole as leverage, she broke the small strip of iron that blocked her view from the hallway outside.

  Two guards stood on the other side of the door, armed with semi-automatic rifles, and they looked at her in surprise as the iron clattered to the floor. One frowned as she scanned the rest of the hallway and saw a set of stairs in the middle of several other doors just like hers, but a gloved hand was shoved over the hole seconds later.

  Idiot. She chuckled to herself. He couldn’t hold up his hand forever, and the moment she wanted to stab him, she would have an easy shot. No matter, though, since she had gotten a view of a clear way out and the obstacles in her way, which was what she had wanted from the start.

  More than that, though, her plan had the possible outcome of her being relocated to a more secure cell. If she could break off part of the door, after all, it was safe to assume that the place wasn’t secure and perhaps they needed to better contain her as a prisoner. That would work to her benefit, assuming she was able to take them out using the hand-to-hand combat skills she had acquired from her princes, who were bred for battles and arguably were some of the best fighters alive. However, the rifles would pose a problem, and she wondered if she could adequately take them out in her weakened state.

  Determined, she knew she had to at least try, despite the risk. It was better to attempt a break out than waste away in the shadows, but it would be so much better if she could just get this blasted necklace off her body first.

  Renewed, she sat again on her mattress, legs crossed as she closed her eyes and centered herself to dive deep into her core. As she settled into her meditation, though, she heard the distinct whoosh of air that came with a door opening, and her eyes snapped open, ready for a fight.

  Instead of the exit, however, she saw a door in the wall slide open, and at the edge of the darkness, she saw the distinct outline of stairs descending into the shadows.

  Someone might here to break me out, she thought. But let’s be real, this is probably yet another trap. She huffed in annoyance, sick to death of all the assholes out to kill her.

  Careful and wary, Tina grabbed the sharp fragment of rock that she had used to pry open the peephole and carried it like a dagger as she peeked into the darkness.

  Outside, men yelled at one another, and the bit of iron she had broken off clattered once more to the ground. It seemed as though her idea that they might relocate her was quickly becoming a reality, and she suspected she would be joined by unwanted visitors at any moment.

  Tina had to choose. Either she could make an easy getaway now and take the very likely chance that someone would attack her down there, or she could make a much riskier attempt to take out the guards in the hallway and escape
on her own. Considering how little she knew of the fortress and how she still hadn’t broken the necklace yet, option one seemed far smarter.

  Holding her breath, she stole into the shadows of the stairwell, and the door shut silently behind her. She paused at the top and pressed her ear against the stone, waiting for the clamor on the other side, and it took a few moments before the worried chatter of the guards filtered through the thick rock.

  “… where is she …”

  “… it was locked the whole time …”

  “…alert the king at once!”

  “Time to go,” she whispered to herself as she hurried down the spiral stairs, her makeshift dagger still in one hand as she set her other palm against the wall to guide her through the darkness.

  It seemed as though the stairs went on for ages, spiraling eternally into the darkness, and Tina didn’t pass a single soul, didn’t hear a breath of conversation, nothing. It was just her and the shadows for what seemed like forever, so long that her eyes finally adjusted, and she could eventually see the outline of each step as she descended. Several times, she paused to catch her breath, the draining effect of the necklace weakening her with each movement, but she powered through, ready for anything … or so she thought.

  The stairs finally ended in a simple wooden door, and judging by the gap underneath, there were no lights on the other side of it, either. Tina tensed, dagger raised, ready to slit throats. Her hand hesitated on the handle, half-expecting someone to come barreling through at any moment wielding an axe.

  Back tensed for battle, she slowly opened the door, using it as a shield to protect her from whatever else may lay on the other side, especially since she was increasingly coming to believe this was, in fact, a trap.

  She just didn’t know who was trying to trap her.

  As she peeked into the dark room, a blinding light snapped on. After so long in the darkness, both in the stairwell and back in her cell, Tina instinctively covered her sensitive eyes with her arm, and though she clutched the shard of rock with all her strength, it was virtually useless when she couldn’t see.

  Someone grabbed her shoulder and tugged her forward, sending her tumbling down another flight of stairs, the shard of rock flying into the air as she fell hard against a concrete floor. She yelled in anguish as she hit the ground, clenching her teeth in agony as splinters of pain broke through her body. Lifting herself on her elbows, she struggled to stand, but her aching limbs trembled from the sheer force of the sudden attack.

  “I have to admit,” a familiar woman’s voice said. “I sure like it when you’re on the ground at my feet.”

  Cora.

  “You bitch,” Tina seethed, a fresh wave of adrenaline pushing her body to do things it normally would not have been able to do. This woman, this horrible human being, had threatened her and her men one too many times, and Tina would end this here and now.

  She forced herself to her feet, wobbling only a little despite her excruciating exhaustion and the pain still wracking her body, and Tina’s eyes finally adjusted to the sudden light. Cora slowly walked down the stairs in a regal red gown with a tall collar, looking for all the world like an evil queen despite the long slit in the skirts of her gown that exposed her thighs as she took the stairs toward Tina. In her hands, she carried the familiar trident without the handle, the one she had shown Tina back in Stratford manor, the one that was supposed to drain Tina’s magic from her.

  Unnerved by the terrible power of the weapon, Tina tensed as Cora draped her fingers between the base where the three blades met. The smooth metal didn’t cut her skin but rather started to glow at her touch, the sharp tips sparking with light as a ruby in its base started to shimmer and glow.

  Desperate for a weapon, Tina looked around the large room, the windows along the ceiling casting long trails of brilliant light into the space, the blinds rolled up on all of them and attached to what looked like mechanical control devices. That must have been how Cora surprised Tina with the sudden light, and she gritted her teeth at the ploy. The room itself was empty, large enough for a basketball court, and as far as she could tell, the stairs led to the only exit.

  That can’t be true, Tina thought, resolute. There has to be another way out.

  Something at the base of the stairs caught Tina’s eye, a small folding table covered in objects that glistened in the light, and she bolted for it. Cora just laughed, and for whatever reason, the woman didn’t move any faster and didn’t try to stop Tina in any way.

  Bad sign, Tina admitted to herself. As she reached the table, though, she saw a sword, a dagger, and a staff, all laid out neatly and ripe for the taking. Sensing the setup, Tina felt she didn’t have a choice and grabbed the dagger. A searing pain tore through her hand, and she fell to her knees, gasping at the sheer blistering agony the dagger had caused to her body.

  “Neat little trick, huh?” Cora said as she reached the base of the stairs. “Only the gods or their descendants can touch the weapons, and since the necklace is blocking your connection to Damara, it looks like you’re shit out of luck, sweetheart.”

  Cora swiped at Tina with the trident, and Tina rolled out of the way at the last second, feeling the swish of air as the weapon cut through the air above her head. She pushed herself to her feet, determined now more than ever to break this damned necklace.

  With the adrenaline pumping through her veins, pushing her to her limits and giving her strength she didn’t have, she focused everything on the necklace. Everything. All of her power, all of her sheer will, all of her energy was focused on the pendant blocking her magic.

  Yet again, the necklace sparked as she pushed it to its limit, but this time it began to glow white. It hummed and trembled around her neck, reaching its boiling point, and Tina gritted her teeth to push through the exhaustion, a twinge of relief fluttering in her gut. Any moment now, she would break it. She had to. This was her last opportunity to do so, and failure wasn’t an option.

  Cora glanced at the necklace with a concerned expression, but the worry didn’t last long. She grabbed the staff off the table, twirling it expertly with her left hand as she held the trident with her right, and Tina realized that Cora wasn’t as helpless as she had originally seemed. In effortless tandem, the woman began her attack, swirling the staff through the air as she swiped at Tina with the trident. For the most part, Tina dipped into her training and deftly avoided each blow, trying to buy herself time as she slowly chipped away at the necklace.

  Too slowly.

  She grimaced as she fought with the weight around her neck, willing the damn thing to break as Cora whacked her hard against the back with the staff. Electricity broke across the wooden weapon, the thing infused as it was with power, and it jolted her so powerfully that, for a moment, she couldn’t breathe. She gasped for air, and Cora quickly followed up with the trident, jabbing it roughly into Tina’s arm.

  To Tina’s horror, it didn’t actually pierce her skin. Instead, it seemed to go through her, into her as if she didn’t exist at all. As it did so, she felt the most gut-wrenching, most horrible pain in her life. She couldn’t help herself. She screamed at the sheer agony of whatever the weapon was doing to her, and in a furious bid for freedom, she kicked Cora hard in the gut.

  The woman staggered away, dropping her weapons as she fell to her knees, and Tina followed her initial blow with another vicious kick to Cora’s head. If Tina had been at her best, not starved for days and locked away with a soul-sucking pendant, she would have knocked Cora unconscious. As it was, she didn’t have much left, probably only enough to break the necklace and reestablish her connection with Damara, and therefore Cora simply fell to the floor and moaned in pain.

  Tina huffed, holding her arm even though there was no physical wound, and noticed that the necklace had stopped glowing. No, she had to get it back, she had to break this thing once and for all.

  Cora slowly pushed herself to her feet, staggering a little as she regained her balance, and Tina focused eve
ry ounce of her energy and magic into the necklace. She was running out of time, and she had to do this now.

  38

  Killian

  Killian raced through the hallways of the Wolfcrest Stronghold with his brotherhood, all following Anthony as he led them through the labyrinth with Amy to guide them through the earpieces they all wore.

  “Left,” she said, a twinge of uncertainty in her voice. “Three, no, four soldiers ahead on the right. Two more coming up after them.”

  Anthony picked up speed, and Killian aimed his handgun, preparing for the assault that was about to take place. As they rounded the corner, four patrolling men in black Noxxom uniforms froze in surprise for a split second before raising their guns. Killian fired off a round into the neck of the man in front, and as he flew backward from the force, Draven and Anthony fired off shots into two of the others. The fourth managed to get a shot off before Flynn’s bullet hit him, and Killian dove in front of his friends to protect them from the bullet. It ricocheted off his impenetrable hide, and he let out a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” Flynn said with an appreciative nod as they continued down the hallway, Killian desperately hoping they weren’t too late to help their woman.

  “Those were Noxxom soldiers,” Zane pointed out, still keeping an eye out behind the group in case they got any surprise attacks from the rear. “It seems like Cora still has some access to their resources.”

  “Yeah, lucky for us,” Draven grumbled, frowning as they took the next corner a little too sharply, hitting the wall with their shoulders as they raced onward.

  “Focus,” Flynn said, breathing rhythmically as they ran. “We have to get to Tina before the internal alarm sounds.”