Page 108 of Black Crown
“Which might turn him back anyway.”
“And then give chase. Leave him nothing to come back to.”
“Wait.” I gripped his arm. “The prisoners. There are Phaetyn down in the dungeons.”
His gaze darted back inside, toward the maze of hallways and stairs of Draedyn’s lair. “Okay, don’t worry. I’ll get them out now.”
I didn’t have a chance to tell him no before he was gone.
I didn’t want to lose sight of Tyrrik, not even to save others. I felt out of depth, unprepared. I wasn’t ready to come head to head with Draedyn. I was on the cusp of understanding how I could take advantage of my half and half powers, but I hadn’t had time to test anything.
The next few minutes were among the worst of my life. The duration multiplied tenfold as I imagined every possible harm befalling Tyrrik.
But he blurred back into the room.
The Phaetyn? I blurted.
On their way out.If they want to save themselves, they will.
After seeing what Ash did to herself, I had no trouble understanding his comment.
I feel like there’s so much more to do, I said as we walked out onto the balcony.
My love, you cannot prepare for this. None of us can.
Tyrrik pulled me over the edge of the graphite cliff.
I tumbled with him into the open air, unafraid.
Hurtling downward, our gazes locked. All our regret and fear and hope pressed between us, but those emotions would drown us if we let them. We let them go. The air sucked them away greedily, and then we pushed away from one another.
And shifted.
My neck lengthened, and my spine elongated with the size of my Drae, the bony protrusions extending into deadly spikes. My tailbone stretched, and barbed spines burst around the end of my clubbed tail. With a powerful beating of my wings, I surged into the air in tandem with my mate. We unleashed our roars, combined, shaking the very stones of the graphite mountain.
I’m going to light this place up, Tyrrik said, sounding a mite bit too pleased with the idea.
The realm should be worried that my mate not only possessed the ability to breathe fire but enjoyed it. Pyro.
He swooped to the bottom of the cliff, and I noticed a massive entrance carved into the side I hadn’t seen before, being mind controlled on arrival here.
As Tyrrik dove, the inferno in his chest glowed, showing through his scales as his chest expanded with the pressure building within.
I maintained my high position, scanning the ground. Human soldiers were gathered beneath us, close to the palace. I blinked and noticed the golden powers coating their arrows and spears.
Phaetyn blood on their weapons, I cautioned Tyrrik.Don’t get hit.
Then I smiled. Because arrows and spears were nothing against me. And neither was Phaetyn blood.
I’m taking care of the soldiers, I told my mate as a jet of his lapis lazuli flame,ourflame, licked the entrance, dissolving the doors within seconds. The rest of his fire shot inside.
Be careful.
I spread my hind talons wide and circled to the jutting cliff balcony outside the dining room, ripping off a huge chunk of graphite. And then I dove on a steep incline and headed for the thick army of human soldiers.
If they’d hidden in their huts, I would’ve guessed they were unwilling accomplices to the emperor, vulnerable, hence controlled and afraid. But to rally against me and my mate with weapons? These men were a danger, an enemy I wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
Coming in from the side, I launched my oversized boulder at the army below, roaring as it catapulted through their midst. Men screamed as the massive stone broke apart, the pieces crushing many in its path. Returning to the cliff, I dug my talons in again, repeating my tactic with the relatively soft stone.