by LJ Andrews
He watched me with a furrowed brow, peering into my troubled energy. I focused more on calming my soul. “I feel like you’re not telling me something.”
I closed my eyes and tightened my hold around his waist. “Nothing,” I said. “I just want . . . I need to be with you tonight.”
Teagan placed a gentle hand on the side of my face, studying my eyes, and nodded as though a piece of him understood my hidden desperation.
I didn’t wait for an invitation, I simply pressed my lips against his. There was a feral passion filtering between the two of us. Teagan tugged on my hair and kissed me harder. I traced my fingers along the seal beneath his shirt. In one graceful motion he pulled it over his head.
His mouth took the curve of my neck. My fingers curled around his hair. I bared my throat, breathless as his hands lifted me under my thighs.
My touch unlocked a surge of energy between us. As Teagan scooped walked us across the room to his bed, I felt that it might be possible to forget what the morning would bring. For one final night, I planned to stay close to Teagan Ward. I planned to give him my whole heart.
When morning was still cold and gray, I placed the note alongside the pillow. Teagan smiled in his sleep a lot, and the way his lips dimpled at the corners left an open wound in my heart
Careful not to wake him, I kissed his cheek, brushing my fingers against his profile as if stamping it to memory. He sighed, but didn’t wake.
I unlatched the window, sliding the glides with enough care they wouldn’t make a sound. With a final glance at him sleeping peacefully I bid my farewell through steaming tears dripping down my cheeks. “You will always be the master of my heart. Nothing will ever change that. Please, forgive me.”
Part Three
The Mage
Chapter 15
My stomach turned, like falling and knowing destruction lay ahead. I jolted awake, a heavy weight on my chest.
I blinked through the harsh morning light, breathing heavily. It took a moment to realize I was in my room, tangled in my sheets, and cold. I hadn’t been cold in months, but the hairs raised on my arms and goosebumps pebbled my skin.
I shook my head, smiling as I recalled the night spent with Jade in my arms, with me in hers. But as I rolled over to kiss her, the space was empty. The sensation of plummeting took hold of my gut again, but this time I hit the ground. Jade was gone.
In her place was a piece of paper. Her delicate writing scrawled on the front. My palms grew clammy even before I read the note. As though the senses between us whispered something was horridly off about the morning, about this scene. For half a breath I convinced myself I was overly cautious, borderline paranoid, and there wasn’t a reason to be this way.
Then, I read the three, short, wicked sentences.
This is the right thing. Don’t come after me. Keep them safe.
You're my heart,
Jade
I kicked the sheets off my legs, fumbled into clothes on auto, and snatched the High Priest blades without a pause. No need for a coat, hell, I didn’t even put shoes on before I was outside. Pulse racing, I took the stairs of the reform house three at time, and slammed through the door.
I didn’t get far before I smashed into another, solid, too-hot body.
“Teagan,” Sapphire snapped. His desperate eyes only fueled my need to rush to find Jade.
“I have to go. Jade’s in trouble.” I shoved past him.
“I know,” he growled. “I can feel something happening, but I don’t know where she is.”
I’d gotten fast at wrapping the sheath around my shoulders, and soon both blades were tucked along my back, crossed, and ready to use. Closing my eyes for half a breath, I clenched my fist tight.
I stretched every ounce of my magic, scanning the hills, the sky, the forest. She was so distant, and it was like a hot blade to my chest. This had never happened before. Even when she’d been injured fighting Bron, I still had her, like her emotions and power coiled around my hands, so I could cling to it. This time, what little was left of Jade, was leaving me. And fast.
“Take me to the mountains—tell the others,” I said when I caught a thread of her.
“What are you feeling?” Sapphire asked.
“That we don’t have a lot of time, and there’s a fight waiting.”
Sapphire nodded once, his strong body shifting before I had time to turn around. His blue scales drifted between rich cerulean and dark indigo in the sunlight. I didn’t even take the steps off the porch, I just leapt onto his ridged back and took to the bright sky. The markings along my arms burned across the surface of my skin. Sapphire released a long stream of hot fire, and from where I sat on his back, I could feel his anger the closer to the ledge we came.
Raffi and Dash swooped from the clouds, followed by Eisha’s magnificent form. In the same moment, we were joined by three more. Ruby gleamed like crimson fire, and Athika rode along her back. The two dark dragons, I knew were Onyx and Peran. Each wyvern breathed a long, colorful tirade of fire in response to Sapphire’s frustration. Everyone knew something had happened to their queen.
I didn’t wait for Sapphire to land before leaping off his back and landing in a puff of snow and dirt along the ledge where Jade and I had spent many hours alone. I ripped one blade from my sheath and glanced about. The ledge was empty.
The others landed behind me, and Athika rushed to my side, jeweled knives in each hand. I was grateful Mitch wasn’t there, though I was positive he probably had some protests at being left behind.
“What do you feel?” Athika whispered, her eyes taking in the ledge with me.
My eyes drifted toward a cluster of trees. Angry hisses echoed in my ears. The entire forest was in an uproar to something just beyond the trees. I pointed my blade, my jaw tight. “In there.”
The smooth delicate comfort of Jade’s magic surrounded me, though she wasn’t calling to me. Quite the opposite; she was trying to hide from me.
I slipped into the thick of the maple and spruce trees. Snow brushed along my forearms only to melt on impact at my boiling blood. Athika remained at my side, and from behind, the dragons stomped in search of their queen. I held a large branch out of the way, but soon crumbled to the ground when a blast of power assaulted my body.
The trees bent from the surge. I was struck as though a pile of bricks had crashed over my body. As I fell to the ground, Athika moved in with a counterattack. Her hands dug into the soil, and the side of the cliff rolled. Sapphire and Eisha shrieked angrily, their fiery breath scorching along the needles of the boughs, and still I hadn’t seen who’d attacked me.
Forcing myself to my feet, I rushed toward Athika. She held her palms up, blocking a new surge of dark shadows.
Bron.
I raised my gaze, but when I looked across a ravine, I nearly crumbled again. My insides were being carved through a hole in my chest when Jade’s eyes locked with mine. She wasn’t alone; she wasn’t resisting.
“Stop!” I recognized Aldwin, his wild tufts of snowy hair wild about his ancient face. I removed the second blade and gripped them firmly in my hands, taking the lead of the attack. “We will leave peacefully, as it is the desire of the queen.”
“Let her go,” I bellowed, pointing one of the swords at Aldwin. “Now!”
The old man only chuckled. “Do you see me forcing her to come? She comes freely. Now step down, mage, or I will not be gracious with sparing your life.”
I glanced at Jade, my shoulders rising and falling rapidly. She met my eye, agony in her gaze. Such a contrast from our time only hours ago. “Jade, what are you doing?”
Before she could answer, from the folds of shadows in the trees, massive, thick, black lindworms stood like dark angels in the forest. The elemental dragons at my back roared angrily, and Raffi shot a stream of fire toward the serpents, but the flames dissolved as though the dark creatures were protected by an invisible shield.
One lindworm stepped forward.
I had th
e blinding urge to slice one of my blades through the center of his head. With easy movements the beast shifted, his black scales morphing into pale skin. His yellow eyes brightened until they were dark with bits of gold. His black hair was neat about his shoulders. He was young, maybe my age, though I was certain he was at least two centuries.
With a swift glance at Jade, he moved to the forefront. I imagined lindworms in human form would always be as intimidating—and ugly—as the ones I’d seen before, but this one—he almost had a kind face. It was sickening and unnerving.
“I am Prince Ced.” He spoke in a voice that shook me to my core and stabbed a flaming blade through my heart at the same time.
I pointed one of the blades at him. “Get the hell away from her.”
He tightened his mouth. “She came to me.”
Each word was a sucker punch to the gut. I was spinning, and I couldn’t stop. I whipped my head to Jade, pleading. “Don’t do this.”
My voice came out pathetic and desperate when it struck me: she was doing this voluntarily. She averted my gaze and drifted further away.
“We were promised a peaceful departure,” the prince said, his gaze on me. I wanted to slaughter him, there was no other way to say it. “The queen will remain unharmed. You have my assurance.”
He must have said the wrong thing because Raffi and Dash shot forward. I followed right behind, the burn from the two blades roaring along my arms when the markings hardened and shifted to the armor. I heard Jade scream for us to stop, but every elemental lunged forward.
Athika was at my side. Raffi lunged for Aldwin. The old traitor shifted and sliced his jagged wing against the warrior, drawing Raffi’s attack away for a moment. The lindworms from the shadows stomped forward, blocking Jade and Prince Ced from our view. I crossed the two blades and stabbed them into the ground, sending a powerful shield around Sapphire and Eisha as they moved into a pit of slashing serpents.
Then my body trembled. As though a scorching bolt of lightning burst along the surface of my skin. I crumbled away from my swords, the shield ceasing as all my attention focused on staying alive against the burning fury that rolled through my veins. Athika screamed at my side.
Clutching my middle, I curled forward over my knees. His dark boots before his face.
He grabbed the top of my hair, wrenching my eyes up so I was forced to meet his eye. I felt my face wince, as though the sight of Bron brought me physical pain.
“You’re stronger than before, Teagan, but I will always be more powerful. I have centuries on you and the power of the night on my side.” Bron glanced at Athika, who convulsed in the snow. The elemental dragons froze in place. If Bron wasn’t trying to kill me, I might marvel at his ability to hold all of us at bay. Athika stopped shrieking when Bron closed his fists. I shoved at him, trying to reach the blades, when silence enveloped around the two of us.
“She isn’t dead,” he chuckled. “I could kill her though. With a single thought, I could tear the air from her lungs.”
“You better kill me,” I said, low and dark. “I’ll never stop.”
Bron sneered, his silver eyes inching closer so I could practically see the power radiating in his skin. “I would, but what a waste that would be. You know what I am to you, so you know I would much rather you join with us.”
“You are not my father,” I hissed, though I believed otherwise.
“Are you so sure?” He chuckled. “We have the same drive, the same power, Teagan. Think on that for a moment. Stand down, or I’ll kill your mage friend, and I’ll make the queen’s life torture.”
“You touch her and I’ll kill you.” I tried to shove him off, but he only tightened his grip.
“A piece of advice,” Bron whispered and crouched at my side. “Keep your emotions in check. I know with a sickening amount of surety how much the Queen of Jade means to you. You’ve given me complete power. I can hurt her—she may be a powerful royal, but I am stronger.
“I can kill her. I’ve killed the jade bloodline before. How you choose to act from this moment will determine her fate. Not even the lindworm prince could stop me.” Bron lowered to one knee, dipping his head right next to my face. His hand gripped my hair tighter; the dizzying wrench of his power wrapped tighter around my gut. “And to think if you would have just joined me at our first meeting, you wouldn’t be separated from the queen today.”
Bron shoved me back, and all the chaos around me bombarded my ears.
“You promised you wouldn’t harm him!” Jade screamed at Aldwin when Bron stepped back.
I rushed toward Athika. She was breathing, but her body was limp and cold.
“And he is unharmed,” Bron retorted with bitter resentment as he stomped back toward the dark wyverns.
“Jade,” I roared, my anger clashing with love for her. “What have you done? What did you do?”
I accused her, was furious with her, maybe hated her a little, but was fiercely broken by her.
She looked pained. Tears stained her cheeks.
Prince Ced touched her arm, but she shirked him away and stepped to the edge of the trees speaking more to the dragons who watched helplessly as their queen joined with their enemies.
“Have it be known, I make this decision willingly. Our people should be united, the entire wyvern race.” I kept my narrowed gaze as I lifted Athika into my arms, trying to warm her frigid body against my raging heat. Jade’s eyes drifted to me. “I told you I would protect my people. I promised you I would do anything to keep those I love most, those who have sealed upon my heart, safe. Anything. Now let us go in peace.”
I coughed when the physical reaction of her words rammed through my body like Bron’s electrifying power. I shook my head, gently placing Athika on the ground once more. Prince Ced shifted back into his dark shape. Bron glanced at me, a twisted smile on his face, and soon the lindworms took flight (Bron simply disappeared in shadows). Jade met my eye as I darted through the trees.
“Don’t do it,” I shouted. “Please. Jade, listen to me, you know this isn’t the right choice. Together. We said we’d face this together. Dammit, Jade. Look at me! This isn’t the right choice.”
She offered me one final glance, voice soft. “We can do nothing together if you are dead.”
Without another word, she peeled back her skin, spread her wings, and took to the morning sky, Aldwin at her back.
She left me alone on the cold ledge. Heart out, bleeding. Dying. I’d never actually wondered what it might feel like to have my entire soul carved out of my chest, but in that moment, I didn’t have to wonder.
I sat in front of the hearth back at Eisha’s mansion. No one said anything. Most of us sipped mugs of Sapphire’s spicy drink, startling when Dash burst into the room and growled as he kicked a small chair out of his way.
“Frenrir is dead. I found his scent in a room above—I saw blood. It seems Aldwin has been planning this for some time.”
I shook my head and leaned forward on my knees, my body plagued by whatever power Bron had used against me. That and it seemed my heart had shriveled into a scabrous thing. Jade left willingly. She’d gone with the lindworms. Every promise, every vow meant nothing.
“Why would she betray us? It seems that was why she wanted to rise to the throne, to unite in this . . . disgusting treaty,” Athika muttered from beneath the heavy wool blanket around her shoulders.
She needed to tread carefully. The peace I’d often felt in my magic had shifted into something wretched and dark and dangerous.
“Are you thick in your head?” Raffi snarled. “She was forced.”
“I didn’t see any force,” Peran said.
“You don’t honestly think our queen would join with the lindworms?” Sapphire insisted. “She saw no choice.”
Peran and Onyx shrugged together, but it was Onyx who spoke. “Konrad, Jade went willingly. It seems strange that the day after she ascends, she makes it known the elementals are to join with the lindworms. It was an order. She mu
st know there will be a civil war. No one will join with King Nag.”
“Exactly. There has to be another explanation,” Sapphire said. “Like she had no choice.”
“I mean, it is possible, Onyx. We don’t know what was used against Jade,” Ruby offered.
Onyx scoffed and shook his head, but didn’t disagree.
“Well, I for one would fight to my last breath before joining with an enemy. No matter the cost,” Athika muttered. The words stabbed along my spine.
A burst of energy shattered a mug, the one Peran used. I hadn’t aimed at him specifically, more my temper shot off and he was hit first. It worked. For a few moments the room silenced and hesitant gazes fell to me.
A gentle hand touched my shoulder. Eisha’s dark eyes were glassy, soft, broken as me. “Teagan,” she began in hardly a whisper. “What do you feel?”
The small muscles in my neck corded. Heat flooded my face. I knew the truth, but I wasn’t perfect, either. I was heartbroken and bitter. I was in love with the queen of jade and I would do anything to save her. She made a choice without me, one we should’ve faced together. If only as mage and dragon, but we were more than that. I hated that I’d missed it, hated that I hadn’t been there, that she didn’t feel she could come to me.
I stood and snatched the High Priest blades, all eyes on my every move. Only when the blades were strapped to my shoulders did I speak. “Jade sacrificed herself because of us. They must have threatened us. I know they used me against her.”
“How are you so sure?” Mitch asked. He’d stayed silent most of the discussion. He’d been just as upset as any of the dragons to learn Jade was gone.
“Because of what she said at the end.”
“She just made it clear she would join her people together,” Athika said snidely.
I clenched my fists. “No. It wasn’t that. A few weeks ago, Jade told me she would do anything to keep me safe. She said the same thing today. She reminded me that she would do anything to keep those sealed on her heart safe. Look, be angry, think she betrayed you. I assure you I am there with you, but I also know her heart and her desires. She would die for anyone in this room, and she has done just that.”
