Page 64 of Shadow Wings
I snorted, walked back around Tyrrik’s bed, and swept everything off the sole table. I picked it up and heaved it across the room. The thick piece of furniture crashed into the window, shattering the glass on impact and sailing out into the clearingoutside.
I gestured at the gaping hole, and Dyter shook hishead.
“I guess we’re not trying to be stealthy about ourexit?”
A menacing rumble filled my chest as I listened to Kamoi and Kaelan’s fighting in the hall. “I’m not done here yet. They tried to kill Tyrrik, and they’ve been bleeding him so they could kill the rebel Phaetyn with poisonedblades.”
I broke away the shards of glass on the bottom of the frame with a slice of my talons. “Get outnow.”
Dyter didn’t argue, clambering over the sill to the outside porch. I covered Tyrrik with a blanket and picked him up, my heart breaking at his limpness. I passed him to Dyter, whogrunted.
“I can’t carry him, Rynnie. Pass me another blanket from thebed.”
I yanked the top blanket off and tossed it through the window, spinning back as Kaelan burst into theroom.
“You,” he shouted. His eyes were wild, his fair skin mottled with rage. “Look what you’vedone.”
Behind the Phaetyn king stood his mate, Alani, her eyes burning with hatred. Behind them over a dozen soldiers in purple aketons held spears and swords at theready.
“Get him out of here,” I growled at Dyter, my anger boiling back to the surface. I stepped in front of the Phaetyn king to block Dyter and Tyrrik from view. “What I’ve done? Youbetrayed—”
“You were never welcome here,” Alani screamed. “You shouldn’t even exist. You’re anabomination.”
The heavy dragging sound continued out on the porch, and I hoped Dyter would get them offbefore—
“Kill her!” Alaniscreeched.
And, at the same time, her mate bellowed, “Kill themall!”
My vision changed, the colors becoming sharper. I rolled my neck as my body began to expand; a ripple ran through me as my scales grew to accommodate my Drae. I roared, letting instinct take over, and the room exploded as I shifted intoDrae.
Pieces of quartz and wood blasted out, exploding high into the forest as I burst through the ceiling into the night, the darkness, myfriend.
The air reeked of blood and death andbetrayal.
I stretched my neck as I cleared the shards of glittering quartz and broken wood off my massive body. I stomped on the ground as I bellowed in rage. I swung my neck wide, crashing the side of my head through the walls of the queen’s house, roaring infury.
Kaelen threw a piece of rubble off himself and then scrambled to uncover his mate. He choked at her pulverized form. Black webs had snaked through her broken body, and her open wounds were easy victims to Tyrrik’s blood dripping from the rubble with the basins flung andoverturned.
Kaelen struggled to his feet, and above, the golden filaments of ancestral power protecting the Phaetyn from the emperor, dissolved into thedarkness.
“You killed my mate!” His face filled with horror as he tipped his head to the sky. “You’ve brought down thebarrier—”
I whipped my tail, lashing it across his torso. He was thrown across his dead queen, landing with a cry of pain. Using my talons, I swept at the rubble and the dipped weapons mixed in, launching them at the PhaetynKing.
A knife sliced the back of his raised hand. He stared in horror as black darkened his skin, oozing outward from the wound. His gaze lifted to mine, and I lowered myself to his level and licked my fangs. I would not be a victim to the schemes of the Phaetyn, and I would not allow them to steal from me, manipulate me, or hurt me again. I would protect myfriends.
Once Kaelan was dead, I roared again, announcing throughout the entirety of Zivost I was Drae. The remaining Phaetyn had gathered when I burst out of the ceiling of the quartz house, but now, they fled. I watched them go, and then, using my tail, I laid the entire Pink House to waste. If I could breathe fire, I would’ve burned it toash.
I turned and spotted Dyter at the edge of the trees behind me, eyes wide as he stood over Tyrrik’s unconscious body. He’d managed to drag him a fair way on the blanket. I lumbered toward them, pausing to remind any Phaetyn within the sound of my voice I was done playinggames.
Shh,Khosana.
I yelped in surprise, an odd rumbling in my throat.Tyrrik?My heart pounded, and his voice shattered through my Drae form. Only a few seconds later, I stood on top of the rubble in my Phaetynform.
“Tyrrik,” I screamed, running toward thetrees.
Dyter moved out of the way, but when I got to Tyrrik, he was still unconscious. I thought of our mental barrier, but I’d not had any wall up when I changed, and I didn’t have one up now. He’d spoken; I was sure of it. I ran my hand over his chest as I whispered, “Please Tyrrik, don’t leaveme.”