The Twin Dragons Series: Dragon's Blood Book 3
Autorzy
C. Swallow
Lektury
21,0K
Rozdziały
15
Chapter 1
Luvenia
Thaddeus, Sylvan, and I head to the Requiem Mountains without exchanging a word. We're on a mission to find my parents.
Hael tells us they're in a council meeting in Deep Cavern. That's where we decide to intercept them.
I've already filled in Sylvan and Thaddeus about Shai’s warning. They know the danger that's coming.
Before we step into Deep Cavern, I grab my leather clothes from Adara’s ledge. My mates get theirs from Guest Room 12.
Just as I'm about to walk into the council meeting, Sylvan and Thaddeus stop me. Each of them places a hand on my arm.
“Did you think of something?” I ask, turning to each of them. They exchange a serious look.
“Tell them about Shai’s warning and the image of the six Silver Breeds you saw in the sky,” Sylvan suggests. “We'll gather a scouting party to check the territory. We'll take down any infiltrators as soon as we find them.”
“We need to act now,” Thaddeus adds, looking me over. “Princess…please tell the council. But don't leave the mountain range.”
“And why not?” I ask. “Women should stay in the mountain for safety, right?”
“You're a high-priority target,” Sylvan answers for Thaddeus. “The daughter of the two Dragon Lords who rule Requiem territory. If they capture you, they could win the war.”
“I get it.” I nod. “But I won't put myself in danger for no reason. I'll help as much as I can. You can't stop me from helping.”
“You can help, but you need to stay safe.” Thaddeus brushes a stray hair off my cheek gently. “You proved your strength last night, but you haven't trained with your new power yet.
“When we're done scouting, we'll come back to you. We'll figure out how to keep you safe.”
“There's no point in keeping me safe if the whole mountain isn't safe,” I snap, even though Thad is trying to be gentle. “If this Horde falls, so do I. So I'll fight.”
“Luvenia…” Sylvan says my name quietly. He's not being arrogant or mocking. He's serious.
“We were at war for five years. We grew and saw things and survived things I hope you never have to. Fighting seems heroic. Everyone believes that.
“But when a war is real, when people die brutally, painfully, without mercy right in front of you, fighting isn't always the answer.”
“Sylvan is right,” Thaddeus agrees. “Look into our minds if you want to understand more. But we go to war because we never want to go to war again.
“War is bloody. War is merciless. If we want to win, sometimes we have to be merciless too. It takes a toll…something you wouldn't understand.
“There's no negotiating with the Tempest breeds and a Blood Raven’s revenge. They want to turn us into slaves or corpses. Either way, we're not going down without a fight.”
“We'll win.” I shake my head. “We're not going down, we're—”
My words are cut off when my vision blurs for a moment. An icy breeze wraps around me, and I see my mates’ eyes widen in shock.
“Completely unprepared?”
I freeze as I hear a strange accent right behind me.
I turn around and see a mirage of a silver-haired monster with black scars all over his face and red war paint on his lips. His green-and-gold eyes are snake-like.
“Luvenia.” Sylvan and Thaddeus both say my name. I turn to see five more mirages appear behind them. My mates haven't even noticed.
“Behin—” I start to say, but Thaddeus and Sylvan mist just as two swords lunge forward, narrowly missing them.
I think I'm next, but then I feel a hand in my hair and another on the back of my pants.
I'm thrown through the air of Deep Cavern. I'm so shocked that I don't mist.
My human body flies through the air, then crashes and slides against the rocky ground. I roll to a stop at the foot of a huge makeshift council table.
I blink rapidly, looking from the council members to the entrance I was thrown from.
“Luv?” Hael stands up. Lochness also slowly rises, but his eyes are on the entrance.
“Silver Breeds,” Lochness snarls, pushing his seat back. But he doesn't get far.
The air around him distorts, and his hair flies back as a presence slips behind him.
From my position, I watch as a figure remains invisible, but a bloody sword plunges right through my father’s middle.
I hear Madeline scream as he falls to his knees next to her. Hael doesn't hesitate to stand over Madeline protectively as he casts green fire behind him.
A Silver Breed is lit up in a burst of green flames. He doesn't scream; he simply falls on his own sword, killing himself quicker before he can be interrogated.
I try to find Lochness, but he's still on the ground.
“Dad,” I whisper just as I feel a hand in my hair. I'm jerked to my feet with a sword at my throat.
“Princess Luvenia?” I hear a growl in my ear. I look over the table at the frozen councilmembers as I'm held back against the leader of the Shadow Assassins.
“No.” Hael’s head shakes as Madeline gasps, her breaths coming in quick bursts. She looks from Lochness to me, her eyes wide.
She’s on the verge of fainting, her teeth gritting as she clings to the edge of the wooden table. She watches me, her eyes silent pleas for a solution.
Don’t move, Hael’s voice growls in my head. The Silver Breed’s blade nicks my throat, a warm trickle of blood sliding down my neck.
“Ready to listen now, or do I need to slit her throat too?” the Silver asks, his voice impatient. “I’d hate to kill something as beautiful as this Rogue. I have a taste for Rogues.
“Enslaved,” that is.”
“What do you want?” Hael asks. I see Madeline’s hand flutter to her heart as she glances down at my fallen father, who’s out of my sight.
All I know is he’s bleeding out on the floor, and we need to act fast to stop it.
“Your answer,” the Silver Breed states. “We’re not known for our patience, Dragon Lord Hael.”
“What answer?” Hael asks.
“I haven’t told them,” I whisper. The Silver Breed raises his sword to the corner of my eye.
“Better tell them quickly, or you lose an eye.” Without giving me time to prepare, I feel a pinprick as he pushes it in farther, tormenting me.
I keep my eyes open and blurt out the words.
“Shai approached me in the forest this morning. She said, agree to enslavement. All of you. Or we will all be turned to stone.”
“Not all,” the Silver Breed laughs. “We didn’t come all this way not to have at least some fun in these lands.”
I lick my lips, and Hael looks torn about what to say.
“You cut open my brother, you hold my daughter at death’s door...and you expect me to believe enslavement is an option you will honor?” Hael asks, his voice tightly restrained.
“Simple revenge, Dragon Lord. Lochness stabbed my father right through the middle...boasted he’d give the last scale to his only daughter...the beauty in my arms.”
The Silver Breed releases me abruptly and kicks me forward.
I stumble to the table and then quickly turn to face not just one Silver, but four others, their swords lowered as they eye the council.
I look around frantically for Sylvan and Thaddeus, but I assume they’re finding some backup...or something.
Where are you? I ask them. Help, please. Lochness is bleeding out. He’ll be dead soon. How do we beat Shadow Assassins?
You don’t—you can only fight hand-to-hand combat. They’re immune to poisons and most spells. You must fight or talk your way out of it. We’ll find a healer, Thaddeus answers.
“What do you really want from us?” Hael asks more impatiently this time, and the Silver Breed smiles as he looks at me.
“I told you. Just an answer,” he explains, his gaze fixed on me. “Enslavement or stone? Then we’ll leave...with your daughter...no matter the answer, actually.
“And I promise, I won’t kill her. I’ll just fuck her. And she’ll live. Deal?”
I open my mouth in surprise, and there’s a tense silence behind me.
“No, Lochness, don’t—”
I turn to see Madeline looking down at nothing as she looks up and screams, “That idiot!
I see a faint black mist filter through the columns, and I wonder what the hell Lochness is thinking, misting after he’s been stabbed right through his freaking guts.
“We didn’t expect an invasion,” I speak up, trying to steady my breathing. “We thought the war was over.”
“It just started, sweetie. Now, shut up and let your father answer for your fate… Oh, wait—I already sealed it.”
The Shadow Assassin winks a green-and-golden eye while he swings his sword around in his hand as he waits patiently for an answer.
“I’m mated to two Twin Leading Breeds,” I add, hoping to delay the inevitable.
And not what you think. I’m not trying to delay the inevitable enslavement or continued mocking by the Shadow Assassin.
I’m trying to delay whatever the hell Lochness is about to attempt.
I’m not sure what, but I want to keep the Shadow Assassins distracted.
“Shush, pet.” The Silver Assassin raises a hand. “Don’t piss me off, princess. I’m waiting for an answer so I can retire to a lovely warm bed with you in it.”
“I have your answer,” Hael snarls out. “Ash.”
“Ash isn’t an answer.” The Silver motions his men forward, rolling his eyes. “Cut the princess up nice and bloody until he answers us correctly.”
Now, my eyes widen.
Not from the approaching Shadow Assassins. But the mist behind them.
Silent. Deadly. Completely unnoticeable. It’s the slowest moving magical mist I’ve ever seen in my life as it comes together, piece by piece, silently, like a mouse…
Until there stands a solid, menacing Dragon with the longest fangs you’ve ever seen.
No one had teeth like my father. Two rows of solid, sword-length fangs made for ripping and slaughter.
The Shadow Assassins only turn at the sound of rushing blood from my father’s ripped stomach. The blood drips all over the cave floor.
But he doesn’t flinch, and his eyes do not stray from the leader of the Shadow Assassins.
Lochness simply raises his neck, opens his jaw, and strikes like the faster viper fueled by blood rage.
The Shadow Assassin that threatened me gets caught halfway through his attempt to mirage to safety.
The long fangs of Lochness rip right through his middle, and Lochness swings his head left and right, completely knocking the last remaining four assassins off their feet.
Green fire burns bright, flowing from his throat as he spreads it over the thrashing bodies.
I don’t understand how quickly they’ve been destroyed but I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I look up to see a younger council member stand to explain to me.
“He doesn’t realize our fire isn’t weakened here like it is in the Tempest Darkened Lands,” he says, relief washing over him as the intruders meet their fiery end.
But even as he speaks, Lochness crumbles, falling to his side.
His dragon head droops, blood seeping from his jaw as he pulls his wings in and shuts his eyes.
Help me, I plead to Thaddeus and Sylvan, hoping they have a plan.
“Already here.”
I look up to see Thaddeus rushing in, my cousin slung over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” Summer pounds on his back, and Thaddeus drops her near Lochness’s bleeding wound.
I watch as Summer spins around, gasping, then quickly raises her hands to heal the wound.
Sylvan strolls in next, spotting me by the table. He strides over, unscathed but clearly aware of the blood smeared on my neck and arms from my fall.
“You just left,” I whisper, accusation lacing my words. “The leader had a knife to my throat...and then to my eye...but you both left.”
“If he’d known we were your mates sooner, you’d be dead sooner,” Sylvan retorts, struggling to keep his anger in check. “We are known to them as War-Lords of the Requiem Army.
“They might have seen us in that cave corridor as princes merely protecting an allied princess.
“If they knew for sure we were your mates, and if we’d rushed in to fight for you, the easiest way to kill us would be to kill you first.
“By leaving, we protected you. It was the only choice at the time. It suggested you weren’t important to us, and that protected you.
“And don’t argue, because you saw them nearly cut us in half right in front of you. You know they wanted us dead, without warning, without honor.
“They’d gladly stab us in the back just to brag about killing us after we’ve killed so many of their own in war. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I finally nod, understanding his words, and I let him lift his hand to my throat to check the damage.
I then numbly watch Lochness, feeling sick to my stomach as he lies motionless while Summer continues to heal him.
Madeline and Hale rush over, followed by the other council members, all crowding around him to offer support.
I can’t move from where I am, too afraid that one step closer might reveal lifeless eyes.
So I stay put and pray that Summer can heal him in time.
“A council member just told me they didn’t realize our fire isn’t weakened in these lands... Is that because it’s completely weakened in the Tempest Lands?
“Was that your experience, Sylvan?” I turn to him, noticing one of his eyes swirling with rainbows, colors, and images.
I watch his distant gaze, and his hand slowly slips from my throat as he falls into a vision.
As the vision continues, I wait for him to return. I jump slightly when I hear a cry of relief and applause as Lochness growls.
Get away from me. You all smell like rotten whores. Take a bath, ugly brutes... Why can I see stars...? Get the flying things away from my offended eyes...
Where’s my little whore? Madeline! Did you sing a song again? Well, I guess another punishment is in order then, Lochness growls through all of our minds.
He seems delirious from blood loss.
I hear Hael and the council chuckle while Madeline audibly slaps his snout.
“You’re the brute, you brute!” she snaps at him, and Lochness growls louder as she hits him again.
“Don’t move,” Summer insists. “I’m still healing you. And don’t hit him, Maddie, what the hell? He nearly died!”
“But he’s an emotionless brute even halfway to death’s door!” Madeline snaps, and I’m taken aback by her fierceness.
Slap me again, Madeline, and you won’t be able to sit for a week, Lochness growls to Maddie while she sighs in exasperation, throwing her hands into the air.
Hael quickly wraps his arms around her waist before she storms off.
I turn back to Sylvan, disgusted by the conversation but relieved nonetheless—and I focus completely back on my midnight-haired mate.
I see a tear escape his eye. His visions have abruptly ended.
Sylvan looks down at me, and I reach up in confusion to the tear on his face.
Before I can touch it, he snaps up my wrist in his hand.
“What did you see?” I ask, puzzled by the cold and stern look in his eye.
“We win,” he murmurs. “I saw our victory.”
“Then why do you look so serious?” I ask, and his hand doesn’t let go of my wrist.
“Because Madeline will die saving us all,” he answers honestly. “She saves the Requiem Horde.”
I purse my lips and shake my head repeatedly, but he interrupts me.
“You will not tell her, princess… She must not know.”
“How can I keep something like that from her?” I ask, stepping closer to glare up into Sylvan’s intense gaze. “You said what you see always happens.”
“Not always,” Sylvan growls. “There are exceptions. Alternate paths. I had a hint of this before but never said anything. You won’t like what I have to say, Luv.”
“Try me.” I smile sarcastically, and he licks his lips and manages to smile.
“Sometimes, I see things that happen, regardless of whether certain things come to pass.” Sylvan looks down at me, and his smile slowly morphs into a smirk.
“No doubt you’ll think this is a trick.”
“Just tell me, asshole,” I hiss, hating that he’s withholding the truth from me and now decides to tease me instead.
“Remember how I said you crawl for Thad and me?” Sylvan leans in until we’re nose to nose, and his amber eyes sparkle. “I wasn’t lying about that.
“But sometimes, I get these double visions. It's like I have to choose one path to avoid the other.”
“No…” I shake my head, already dreading what he's about to say. “Those things aren't connected.
“You're just trying to get back at me for last night!” I spit the words at him, but he just shakes his head, his gaze steady.
He's itching to say it, and he won't let go of my wrist until he does.
“You're going to crawl for us,” Sylvan whispers. “You will. If you do, Madeline will survive.”
“You need to explain these visions to me,” I say, keeping my voice low so no one else can hear.
“I'm not sure you really want to hear the details,” Sylvan retorts. “But I can show you.”
“Try me. I want to know.”
“Then I'll be happy to tell you.” Sylvan's smirk widens. “But I'm warning you, you're not going to like what you hear.”
