The Dragon Realm (Dark World: The Dragon Twins Book 2)

by Michelle Madow

  “Gemma?” Ethan sounded more fearful than I’d ever heard him before.

  Mira spun around, stared at the empty place where I’d been standing, then turned to Ethan. “What did you do?” Anger laced her tone, and she clenched her fists, frost crawling up from her palms to her wrists.

  Ethan stared at where I’d been standing, speechless.

  Mira zeroed in on Queen Katherine. “You,” she said. “You did this.” The frost reached her elbows, and wind rushed around her.

  “I did nothing,” the queen said, and while I couldn’t see her, she sounded firm and resolved.

  “Then where’s my sister? Where’s the Crown?”

  “Those are questions for your boyfriend. Not for me.”

  The wind stopped, the air eerily still as Mira faced Ethan. “What’s she talking about?”

  But Ethan was no longer looking at Mira. Instead, he was focused on the place where I knew Isemay stood. “You told me to crown the twin I loved,” he said. “I did what you asked. And it killed her.”

  Smoke floated out of his palms and toward the ceiling.

  Fire.

  The cabin was made of wood. If he released the full force of his anger, it would all go up in flames.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  So I reached for the handle of the door, pulled it open, and stepped through. “I’m alive,” I said, and Ethan paled, like he was seeing a ghost. “And I think I just traveled back in time.”

  36

  Gemma

  Ethan hurried toward me and wrapped me in his arms. Then he leaned back and cupped my face, his fingers brushing against my cheeks as if he was making sure I was real. “You were gone,” he said, disbelief haunting his tone. “I thought I’d killed you.”

  I stared up into his familiar hazel eyes. There was so much I wanted to say to him—so much I wanted to ask.

  “You crowned me,” I said instead. “You chose me.”

  He nodded, and his adoring expression said it all.

  Ethan loved me.

  Wind whipped through the room like a hurricane, and Ethan held me close, steadying me. We both looked to Mira, who was standing at the front of the room with murder in her eyes.

  Her lips curled in disgust, and she glared at me like she hated me.

  “Mira,” Ethan said her name steadily, still holding onto me so tightly that I could feel his chest vibrate as he spoke. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why?” Dark anger seeped from my twin’s tone, and the frost crawled all the way up to her neck. “Why did you do it?”

  He let go of me and faced her, his hands up as if he was preparing to defend himself against her. “I had to,” he said. “I didn’t want you—either of you—to find out like this. But if I crowned you, it would have killed you.”

  “You were supposed to love me.”

  “I do love you,” he said. “But I love Gemma, too.”

  “You mean you love Gemma more.”

  He didn’t deny it.

  “I can’t believe that you—either of you—would do this to me.” Tears fell from her eyes, turning to ice as they rolled down her cheeks. One after another, they broke off, fell to the floor, and shattered. “How long have you been together behind my back?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I said.

  “Really?” she sneered. “Then what was it like?”

  I pressed my lips together. Because I barely knew where Ethan and I stood. Where would I even start with explaining it to her?

  “It’s not Gemma’s fault,” Ethan rushed to my defense. “She didn’t know.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” Mira raised her arms to the sides and shot icicles through the walls, leaving circular holes in the wood they’d ripped through.

  Ethan took a slow step forward, still ready in case he needed to defend himself against her. “I’m so sorry,” he repeated. “I never meant for you to find out like this. But if you’ll calm down, I can explain.”

  “You just told me you love my sister more than me, and you want me to calm down?” The wind whipped more furiously around her, and she rose up to float a few centimeters above the floor.

  She’d never been able to use her magic to levitate before. I wasn’t even sure she knew she was doing it now.

  I’d never seen her so angry. And I had no idea what to say to her to get her to calm down so she wouldn’t lose control of her magic.

  Nothing could fix this. And given everything that had happened in the past few minutes, I was in as much shock as she was.

  Her eyes snapped to me, cold with anger. “You love him, too,” she said. “That’s why you’ve been acting so distant for the past few months. I thought you were just consumed with your new magic. But it was because you were lying to me. And you felt guilty.”

  Her words were like an icicle through my heart.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, hating myself with every word. No amount of apologies would ever be enough. “I didn’t know he felt the same. I had no way to know.”

  “So the two of you were never together behind my back? Not even once?”

  Memories of the kiss in Lilith’s lair flashed through my mind.

  Ethan must have looked as guilty as I felt.

  “I hate you,” Mira said, and then she shot blast of wind in my direction so strong that I flew backward, slammed my head against the wall, and everything went dark.

  37

  Mira

  Gemma hit the wall, and she slumped to the floor. Somehow, the Holy Crown stayed in place, like it was superglued to her head.

  Ethan rushed to her side, visibly relaxing when he realized she was still alive.

  I relaxed a bit, too. Because while I truly did hate both of them for what they’d done, I didn’t want my twin dead.

  But my magic was a storm inside me. And seeing the way Ethan looked down at Gemma—with a deep love I’d never seen when he’d looked at me—made me want to shoot icicles through both of their hearts.

  Even that wouldn’t cause them as much pain as they’d caused me. They were the two people I loved most in the world—the two people I’d always thought I could trust no matter what.

  And they’d betrayed me.

  Another wave of ice-cold rage crashed over me, and the wind quickened. All of the others had backed up against the walls, like they were terrified that I’d throw them against one, too. Frost covered my skin like a shield, but even that couldn’t protect me from the agony in my heart.

  The heartbreak was never going to go away.

  I’d never be able to look at Gemma or Ethan the same way again. I’d never be able to trust them.

  They were as good as dead to me.

  Frost penetrated my skin, begging me to shoot it forward so they could feel the sting of betrayal like I did.

  I need to leave. Now. Before I do something I regret.

  Unable to look at Ethan holding Gemma as she came into consciousness, I spun around, hurried to the front door, and reached for the key hanging from my necklace.

  Where should I go?

  Ever since getting my magic, it hadn’t felt like I belonged anywhere anymore. All of the supernaturals looked at me like I was a circus curiosity. None of them had dragon elemental magic, like me and Gemma. I was different in Ember, too, since I was half-witch and couldn’t shift.

  I’d never felt like an outcast before. And I hated it.

  There was only one place I’d ever felt truly happy. Only one place that might be able to calm me down before I hit Gemma hard enough with my magic to do far worse than knocking her out.

  Home.

  I opened the door and stepped into the ivory hall of Hecate’s Eternal Library. I didn’t even bother to check if Hecate was there before spinning around, opening the door again, and walking into my bedroom.

  Relief flooded my body as I inhaled the comforting scent of coffee. It was nighttime in Australia, and the shop was closed, but home always smelled like coffee. The delicious aroma of it was permanently soaked
into the walls and carpets.

  My room was exactly how I’d left it. The shelves on the walls displayed rows and rows of shoes—the types of shoes I hadn’t been able to wear since going on the run, since they’d be impractical in a fight. But Bella had told me she had a spell to make any shoe comfortable, so I definitely was going to pack up my favorites and get her to work her magic on them whenever I saw her next.

  I walked to the window, opened it, and inhaled the welcoming, salty smell of the ocean. While it had been nice to be on the water during the journey in Antarctica, it wasn’t the same as being here, overlooking the ocean view I’d woken up to every morning for the majority of my life.

  I was still looking out when the door to my room creaked open.

  I spun around, immediately on guard.

  But it was just Shivani—the witch from the Haven who was watching over the café while we were away.

  “I thought I heard someone up here.” She studied me, and worry creased her brow. “Is everything okay?”

  “No,” I said bitterly, since there was no point in lying.

  “Care to talk about it?”

  And just like that, the entire story came pouring out, tears and all. At some point, we went down to the café, and Shivani brewed me a spicy chai tea with the perfect amount of warm milk.

  “You’ve gotten good at this,” I said after a few sips, feeling much calmer than I had when I’d arrived. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that Shivani had added to the chai, but it was delicious.

  “It’s helping you feel better?” she asked.

  “No,” I muttered. “What they did to me…” I trailed off as another wave of agony crashed over me. The emptiness in my soul couldn’t be fixed with a cup of chai tea, no matter how delicious it was. “The two people I loved most in the world betrayed me. I’m never going to be okay again. This pain is something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life.”

  “What if I told you I can take away the pain?”

  For the first time since seeing Ethan and Gemma together, a sliver of hope rose in my chest. “You can do that?”

  “I can’t do it,” she said. “But I know someone who can.”

  “Who?”

  “She goes by the name the Voodoo Queen. She has a shop in New Orleans. I can teleport us there now, if you’d like.”

  I’d learned about the Voodoo Queen while studying in Utopia. She was very powerful.

  And she practiced dark magic. Strong dark magic.

  Shivani watched me with an intense hunger in her eyes, waiting for my answer.

  “What’s in it for you?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” She blinked, and her expression softened. “Why?”

  I finished off my drink, then placed the empty mug down on the table. Another wave of calmness washed over me, and I felt silly for questioning Shivani.

  Shivani was from the Haven, and all Haven witches were peaceful. She wouldn’t have given me this offer if she didn’t believe it would help.

  And I needed all the help I could get. Because I couldn’t go on feeling so betrayed, unloved, and abandoned. The emptiness in my soul would eat away at me from the inside out, until I was a shell of the person I once was.

  The thought of the pain to come hurt too much to bear.

  But I didn’t have to bear it. Not if I went with Shivani to the Voodoo Queen.

  “I’m in,” I said, and relief coursed through me at the thought of feeling better soon. “When do we leave?”

  “We can go now.”

  “Do I need to bring anything?”

  “All you need is yourself. The Voodoo Queen can handle the rest.”

  She stood and held out her hands.

  “Shouldn’t we send her a fire message?” I asked. “So she knows we’re coming?”

  “Her shop is open,” Shivani said. “She’ll be there. And she has a very specific way she likes to do these things.”

  I nodded, unsure why I was hesitating. Taking the pain away was what I wanted.

  It was what I needed.

  Maybe I’d even be able to move on. I doubted it, since I couldn’t imagine there being anyone out there more perfect for me than Ethan. But at least it wouldn’t hurt anymore. At least I’d be giving myself a chance to be happy.

  So I stood and took Shivani’s hands, not giving myself another moment to question my decision.

  She teleported us out immediately. My stomach swooped as the ground disappeared under my feet, but the feeling only lasted for a second.

  We landed on solid ground, and I opened my eyes.

  We were in a dimly lit room with no windows. The walls were concrete blocks, and the floor flat cement. It reminded me of the unfinished part of our basement at home. The only furniture inside was a table and chairs, with a pad of paper and a pen on top of it.

  And as I looked around, I realized—there were no doors.

  My chest tightened.

  We were trapped.

  “What is this place?” I asked Shivani.

  “It’s the Voodoo Queen’s private meeting space,” she said. “Where she performs her most dangerous spells and delivers her most secret potions.”

  “She couldn’t make it a bit more… welcoming?”

  “Criminals of all kind come to her for her services. She needs to keep the space as safe as possible, to ensure none of them turn against her.”

  “And where is she?”

  “Upstairs. I have to send her a fire message from this room—with the pen and paper provided—to tell her that we’re here, and why. She’ll come to us when she’s ready.”

  I sighed with relief that Shivani wouldn’t be leaving me in this awful place alone.

  As long as she was with me, I was safe.

  Shivani sat down and penned the letter. Once done, she folded it, picked it up, and it disappeared in a flame in her palm.

  “How long will we wait?” I bounced my leg, anxious to get rid of my heartbreak. I kept seeing the moment when Gemma appeared by Ethan’s side, and the way he’d looked at her with so much love…

  My heart couldn’t bear it.

  “The spell is dangerous, but it doesn’t take much preparation,” she said. “Minutes, if even.”

  Less than a minute later, an ebony-skinned woman teleported into the room. She wore a patterned purple dress with a matching hairpiece wrapped around her head. She was strikingly beautiful… and there was a dangerous glint in her dark eyes.

  She held a large, pewter goblet in one hand, and a matching dagger in the other. “Mira Brown,” she said, sizing me up. “Dragon twin of the Gemini prophecy. Shivani has written to me about your plight. The pain you must be feeling…” she trailed off, as if waiting for me to finish the sentence.

  “It’s agonizing,” I said. “I can’t live with it. Shivani said you could help.”

  “Of course I can help.” She smiled and placed the goblet down on the table. “Your purpose here on Earth is important. You can’t be distracted by such awful feelings. That wouldn’t benefit any of us, now, would it?”

  “No,” I agreed. “It wouldn’t.”

  “This spell is dark, and dangerous,” she said. “It’s a blood spell. But helping you helps us all. Which is why I’m happy to do it for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Just follow my instructions.” She held the tip of the dagger to the top of her forearm and cut a deep gash that stopped at her wrist. She didn’t flinch, or show even a single sign of pain. Then she held her arm over the goblet and let her blood flow into the chalice.

  It was so much blood. I wasn’t sure how she wasn’t passing out from the loss of it.

  Finally, she moved her arm away.

  The gash knitted together and healed.

  “How did you do that?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the place where the wound had been.

  Because witches didn’t have accelerated healing abilities like vampires and shifters. Tha
t shouldn’t have been possible.

  “I took healing potion in preparation for the spell,” she explained, and she held the dagger out to me, handle first, with her hand wrapped around the blade. “Take a drop from your palm and add it into the goblet.”

  I did as she said, although I grimaced when I pricked my palm. The blood dropped into the chalice, and the Voodoo Queen picked it back up.

  She gazed down into it, then started reciting a spell in Latin. It was like no spell I’d learned during my time in Utopia. It had to have been created by her, or by one of her ancestors.

  Wind whipped around her, and a silver glow surrounded the goblet.

  The magic felt sinister. Evil.

  Dark.

  Shivani had told me that this spell was dark magic. But still, it sent a shiver down my spine, like it was warning me away.

  Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, a tiny voice said in the back of my mind.

  I pushed it down.

  Because the pain in my soul was too intense. If getting rid of it meant participating in a bit of dark magic, then so be it. And, like the Voodoo Queen had said, getting rid of this pain would allow me to fully focus on doing my part in saving the world from the demons.

  I was doing this to help us all.

  The silver glow expanded, until it surrounded me. It was icy cold, even to me. It prickled over my skin, and my lungs burned as I breathed it in. Even my bones felt cold.

  Unlike my ice magic, which felt comforting and safe, the cold coming from the silver magic hurt.

  But it didn’t hurt as badly as the pain in my heart. Nothing in the world could ever be as agonizing as that.

  The silver magic disappeared back into the chalice, and I could breathe again.

  The Voodoo Queen stared hungrily down into it.

  Then she lifted it to her lips and drank from it. “Perfect,” she said, and she handed it to me. “Only take a sip. Anything else will be lethal.”

  The chalice was heavier than I’d anticipated, and darkness slithered into my palms and through my veins when I held it. I gazed down into the blood inside, inhaling its foul scent. Disgust rolled through my stomach, and I swallowed, unsure I’d be able to get it down.