by T. F. Walsh
He took careful steps away from Noah and toward the door. His first priority was to aid Fallen. A few steps from the entrance, the blueish cord draining Fallen snapped like an elastic band. She released a loud gasp, and her back arched in his arms, eyes flicking left and right as if she’d forgotten where she was.
A sizzling crackle erupted from Saber’s side. He jerked around mid-step as Noah raised an arm encased in a ball of blue energy and flung it toward them.
Saber dropped, his knees hitting the stone floor hard. Heat radiated inches over his head. He tightened Fallen against his chest as an explosion detonated behind him. Bits of wood from the shattered door struck his back and landed alongside him. With Fallen set down, he spun and leaped to his feet to face Noah.
“And I’ve got something special for you too, dick-head.” Saber cracked his neck. The long-awaited moment was here.
“The only reason I didn’t kill you after you had butchered two of my guards was because you kept me amused.” Another fiery bomb flew from Noah’s hand.
Saber jumped sideways, rolling toward the cages. Red-hot fiery heat scalded across his shoulders. It brought back the recollection of Fallen’s fire spell. Except Saber had never seen Noah use fire magic before.
“What exactly is your girlfriend?” Noah stared at her, flames still swallowing his hand while charred blisters snaked up his arms.
He’d been siphoning Fallen through the cage spell this whole time? It meant she hadn’t used an incantation when she released them from the prison or when she’d set his legs on fire.
Noah slinked across the church floor like a tiger, steps rapid but deliberate, his ravening eyes locked on Fallen. She was only prey.
Saber’s heart pounded into his ribcage. He charged and ducked the next assault, the shots slamming into the walls, the columns. Dust gathered in his throat, and he choked on each breath. Back on his feet, he lunged.
Before the bastard could lift a hand, Saber tackled him. Both of them hit the ground. Noah underneath.
Saber’s fists slammed into his nemesis’ face without a second thought. He scrambled off Noah and snagged his arm, twisting it backward against his bent knee until the snap of bone was loud and defined.
Noah’s screech echoed throughout the church. He curled in on himself, cradling the arm bent the wrong way at the elbow.
Saber reached for the other arm, but a burst of electricity sizzled from Noah’s fingers. Lightning bolts struck Saber in the chest.
Stumbling backward, he trembled with ferocity as he no longer felt where he started and ended. Thoughts faded, legs weakened, head whirled.
He hit the floor like a sack.
Several feet away, Noah elevated into the air as if he were a puppet on a string. His broken arm hung deformed by his side. The other lifted, fingers morphed into sharp blades pointed at Saber. Blackness consumed Noah’s eyes and his bloody lips peeled back over fangs.
Saber pushed himself up, but his legs buckled. He hit the floor on his hands and knees.
A firestorm spun around Noah’s hand, enlarging. Smoke clouds surrounded him.
“Fucking waste of space. When I’m in charge of Tapestry and the queen has been paid for murdering my family, scum like you will be food for my feasters. Or maybe I’ll do that now, making sure they start with your legs first. That way you get to watch them consuming you.” Noah’s words echoed in Saber’s head, along with the sinking reality that he’d die here… his stepfather still captured. And now he’d delivered Fallen to evil.
Death clicked closer like a time bomb. No stopping it. Just watching helplessly as regret after regret pounded through his skull with no great idea about how he could have done things differently.
Despite drowning in the murky waters of his mind, determination implored he get up. He wasn’t ready for the slaughterhouse yet. His gaze darkened at the edges, but he wouldn’t stop until his last breath was spent.
Saber staggered to his feet just as a fireball headed straight for his face.
13
It seemed Fallen’s world was vanishing before her eyes as Noah’s fire magic sped toward Saber. Her chest ached with the crushing thought of him dead like her mother.
Fire shot from her mouth, colliding into Noah’s fireball, inches from Saber.
Saber ducked, hands cradling his head.
Electric sparks detonated. Orange flames erupted outward in every direction like the fireworks humans used to fill the skies.
Smoke curled upward, its acrid stench clogging Fallen’s nostrils. The explosion fizzled and crackled until nothing remained but a faint haze.
Ten feet away, Noah stood uncharacteristically still. His inky eyes fixed on her, while the corners of his mouth twitched.
Her gaze fell to the violet crystal in the shape of an icicle hanging from a chain around his neck. He didn’t seem the type to wear jewelry.
“I see you now.” His smile was false and oozed vileness.
A choked cry forced itself to her throat. While part of her screamed to run, her legs froze.
Noah was a predator. His sharp fingers wriggled in urgency to attack, and the blackening mist surrounding him reached out toward her. The long practice of siphoning power morphed his posture into a hunched form, his shoulders widening in size, a snarl rumbling from his chest like that of a demonic creature from the underworld. Use too much magic, and the side effects were astronomical. It turned draes into demons.
To think that folk referred to Ash as abominations. They couldn’t be more wrong. The real danger was the monster everyone ignored—Noah.
Her stomach tightened, and sweat coated her palms. Wiping them on her jeans was no help. “Remove the bond you’ve put on Saber and me, or I’ll torch you where you stand.” She tapped into the lava bubbling inside her, and a waft of smoke curled out from her nostrils. No time to let fear dictate her actions when she had payback to deliver.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Saber rise from his crouched position several feet away.
The rattling of her heart escalated.
Noah broke into hysterical laughter, a sizzling fire skipping across the tips of his fingertips—fire magic he’d siphoned from her. “You’re chasing the wrong person.”
Noah was the right person. The Collector had been a shadow, always out of sight, but constantly on her thoughts. A reminder he’d stolen her mother’s life. And now in Fallen’s presence, he mocked her with laughter.
Despite the frenzy demanding Fallen kill her enemy, the Creators refused to leave her mind. Death wasn’t harmony. It lurked in the dark and would always be there. And she wasn’t the extinguisher of life. Her mother taught her to never harm another being.
Unlike Noah who had taken so many lives.
His hand jutted forward, an orange sphere catapulting toward Saber.
All she could focus on was the hurling spear of fire. She threw herself forward, intercepting the attack.
A blast of heat punched her in the ribs. She screamed from the impact that sent her teetering backward. In her momentum, she nudged Saber farther behind her. Finding her footing, she squared her shoulders and faced Noah. She inhaled the flames caught on her clothes into her lungs.
“You’ve killed enough.” Her body trembled as she expelled a round of fireballs at Noah. Her mouth smarted. The heat was a volcano across her skin.
Noah’s palm jutted, and her blaze slammed into an invisible barrier, licking upward with nowhere to travel. Nothing softened the loathing boiling within her.
Grunts sounded from deeper in the church.
She jerked around, spotting two trolls rushing toward them, weaving amid the cages. Their heavy footsteps pounded the stone floor.
Her sights locked onto Saber nearby. A cold stare reflected in his wide eyes. He’d seen her actually breathe fire, and suddenly the world stopped. Her pulse streamed so hard that Fallen was sure it would burst free from her veins. She expected Saber to crack a joke, make her feel somewhat normal. But he never spoke a word, ju
st gawked as if she were the freak in the room. Emptiness filled her, threatening to swallow her hopes, because as an Ash, he should understand. Instead, he judged her and was probably terrified she was a dazmeu, a dragon shifter.
Anxiety curled tightly in the pit of her gut.
Bulking shadows closed in behind Saber, and movement caught her attention from her right. Noah.
“Run, now.” She barked the order at Saber and unleashed a fiery explosion.
Saber darted past her and headed for the doors.
Like a flamethrower, she breathed the wildfire toward the trolls, keeping her attack above the cages. Hitting two guards, they took cover on the ground. She pivoted, swinging the cone of flame over the tops of the enclosures and in Noah’s direction. Her fireball traveled through his and slammed into his chest. He flew backward, thrown off his feet.
Sparks sputtered from her mouth. The fire faltered, and her chest released a raspy sound. She greedily sucked air into her starved lungs.
She’d never run out of fuel. Ever. But she’d never before used it as frequently, and Noah had taken some of her ability too.
Noah’s face contorted with pain as he frantically patted the flames with his bare hands. The fabric charred and his flesh was burned, but he didn’t cry in pain. The cloudy mist surrounding his body darkened, curling outward as if attempting to escape.
Saber broke open the heavy doors, their groan bouncing through the ancient church. Sunlight rushed inside, robbing the room of its darkness.
A rumble deepened in her belly. These weren’t hunger pains, but her inner dragon, snarling, awakening as her mother had told her it would one day. She roared for her fire to release, but nothing came out, only a wisp of black smoke.
Noah rushed toward her. He raised a fiery fist, his mouth opened in a snarl.
The horror paralyzed her.
Saber grabbed her wrist and drew her behind him.
She shook him away and took another inhale, calling to her power, her focus on Noah. Her mind crowded with the haunting images of her mother’s dead eyes while her life force slipped out of her body.
She released a streak of fire. It ended as abruptly as it started.
But the blaze she’d managed struck Noah in the leg. He hit the floor, sending a plume of dust skyward.
Like her, his body wasn’t burning, only his clothes. He’d gained her resistance. But that would last a few days at most.
His head jerked up, eyes blacker and pointy teeth lengthening. His silence engulfed her.
Her skin shivered with pin prickles at the depravity in his stare.
Arms snapped from behind, circling her waist, her body lifting off the ground. “We leave now.” Saber’s voice growled in her ear.
“No.” She pushed against his arms, but they were cement. “You don’t understand. He—”
“I understand.”
Her gaze swept the room, spotting at least a dozen feasters rushing from the rear door of the cavernous room. Three feet tall, they were ravenous when it came to feeding time. On all fours, they pounced over cages, swerved around them. Long ears were flat against their pasty heads. These miniature goblins had only one goal: blood. Hers and Saber’s.
Fear gripped Fallen’s chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs.
With eyes solid black, Noah must be controlling them. She wet her acrid mouth. Without fire, she and Saber would die a gruesome death.
Saber set her down and ushered her out the front doors. Her feet picked up momentum. They bolted outside and into the apocalyptic plaza.
Snarls and footfalls drummed behind them.
She glanced over her shoulder. Feasters spilled out of the church.
Every inch of her demanded she return to Noah. She shouldn’t have hesitated when it most counted.
“Faster.” Saber’s words pushed her on.
The feasters’ breaths were on her neck, snorts in her ears. Everything else fell away. Only escape mattered. Adrenaline drove her. But with the city buildings still far in the distance, they’d be caught fast. They needed to fly.
She jutted her shoulders forward, her spine cracking.
But something yanked her backward by the hair. Her body lurched, her feet flinging out from under her.
“Saber!”
She crashed to the ground, the pain zapping up her spine. Several hands grabbed at her body, her clothes, pulling her in opposite directions. Teeth pierced skin, scratching her. Snarling. Slobbering. They hauled her across the plaza toward the church, her hip dragged across pavers, her legs kicking out for leverage.
More feasters closed in from the church, lunging forward like a pack of wolves.
She thrashed against her assailants, punching, scratching.
A shadow loomed overhead.
Her head lifted as Saber flew over her body and crashed into at least three feasters. He grabbed another and tossed him aside. The rest of the fuckers heaped onto Saber. He staggered away from her, so she forced her partial shift. If she had the ability, she’d transform into a full dragon and end this now. But on the bright side, Noah couldn’t siphon her transformation ability because the wings were a part of her, just like her legs and arms. Not magic.
Skin popped in her ears. Her wings spread wide, the white opalescence blinding in the sunlight. Like an aggressive swarm of insects overhead blotting the sun, her wings’ shadows stretched out.
A feaster swung toward her but suddenly backpedaled in the opposite direction. Another screeched.
Saber stumbled to his feet as the feasters latched onto his legs. He rolled sideways, squishing two of the beasts under him.
She beat her wings and welcomed the bitter gust of the wind beneath them, then thrust them violently downward, her feet lifting off the ground. The breeze was a cool change against the perspiration clinging to her skin. Airborne, she turned tightly on a wingtip to come up behind Saber being chased by the enemy. Calling to the inferno inside her chest, she exhaled, but all that came out was smoke. Fuck!
She dove lower, sailing a couple of feet above the feasters’ heads and called out. “Saber, stick your arms out. Now.”
Without a glance back, he followed her instructions.
In one swoop, she careened forward and snapped her arms around his chest. She lifted her wings and flapped them, their force quickening their climb.
Her muscles strained, but she held on.
“Damn, I didn’t expect you to be this heavy.”
“Get us up quickly.” Saber wriggled in her arms as he kicked the hand of a feaster who’d jumped after him.
Beyond the city lay the sea of forests where the mountains were undulating waves. Farther away, the Baciu woods darkened the landscape where the Blood War between the two races of draes took place centuries ago. A place she intended to stay away from.
Flying brought with it a feeling of being alive. An energy raced through her body, and she squinted against the sunlight pouring across from the sky and hitting her wings. She ought to leave Cluj and get away from everyone, but what then?
The bigger problem was Noah. He’d seen her dragon side and sensed her energy. What she needed was the fog in her head to completely clear so she could work out her next move.
Her feet hit the sidewalk a block away from her apartment. She had dipped amid the buildings to make sure Noah and his minions didn’t see her path. But they would come for her regardless.
Saber staggered out of her arms and scanned the street, his gaze settling on her opalescent wings stretched outward. He turned away, not asking a question. Was he rejecting what she was?
She folded her wings tight inside her as they ran toward the apartment. She pushed past Saber and into the gaping black hole of her building.
Together, they rushed up the three flights of steps without a word exchanged. Alongside her, Saber’s gaze locked onto her and it darkened. Still, he hadn’t said a word. His silence hurt.
But the reason for his reaction hit her like a bullet train. He wanted to protect
the queen, which explained why this whole time he kept insisting that she didn’t want to harm anyone. And now he’d uncovered the one thing Her Majesty wanted more than anything; a dazmeu.
Fallen remembered her mother’s stories. She’d been the queen’s personal handmaid for decades and witnessed brutal butchering of draes to uncover if any family bloodlines carried stronger dazmeuns lineage. After all, the dragon heritage inside remaining draes was vanishing. Fallen’s mom explained that if the queen found a stronger link, she could use magic and that drae’s sacrifice to transform completely into an ancient, powerful dragon. So imagine if she got her hands on a real dazmeu? That would make her unstoppable. If she ended the lives of her own kind, what would she do with such power? She’d probably demolish the enemy kingdom or anyone standing in her way.
This was why her mom had run away from the realm after giving birth. To save Fallen from the queen. Especially after Fallen’s father was found dead on the kingdom grounds.
Fallen’s heart shuddered as if a knife thrust into it and twisted.
After her mother’s death, she’d kept her identity concealed for years, and now paranoia cut through her.
She’d only had two rules to follow. Two! Never use fire in front of anyone. Don’t fly. Simple. Yet, today she sold herself out to Noah and a Queen’s Guardian. Well played, Fallen.
Pushing her shoulder into the door of her apartment to get it open, she sighed, ignoring the sting along her tailbone from the earlier fall. She’d heal soon enough. First, how was she getting out of this mess?
Once Saber shut the door behind him, she whispered the magical words. In seconds, her place resembled normalcy. Cars and voices hummed. But not even her bird figurines, made with supposed ancient dazmeu bones, brought her joy. Not when she wore dread as a straitjacket.
Saber stared out the window. Her gaze dipped to the massive holes in his jeans along the back of his legs where she’d scorched him last night.
“So, now you know the truth.” Her words shook more than she’d hoped, but so did her hands, because of their fucked up predicament. “We both have secrets.”
