“I guess you’ll never know if you have yet to believe anything I have said to the two of you!” I stand on my tiptoes, my boots digging into the mud as I glare into his emerald eyes. “Your brother is in pain and all you still want to know is who I am… why?”
“I fear you might be something we cannot control. And the palace thrives on control. They will have your head.”
I take a deep breath, my voice drops to a deep growl as my chin tilts high. “And I fear, Koen, you might be right.”
Let the damn Queen take my head. But I’ll survive long enough to find Tilly.
My body rips away from him, but my eyes never leave his intense glare that melts into me. They burn, almost like the fire in the eyes of Florian the first night we met, but Koen’s spark with a hue of scarlet-red, almost scaring him with a darkness that is deep inside him.
But as I get lost into his gaze, a tail whips in the air inches away from us, pearly-white spikes along the scales beam brightly and the sun bounces off his iridescent scales that were once a dark gray but now have lightened likethe snowback in theIce Nation.Fire ripples throughout the air, heating up the sky around us as ash falls down over us. I glance over, tentatively, fear etching into every single muscle inside of me as I watch him turn.
Prince Florian… a dragon.
My eyes widen as my lips part. His wings send out waves of air, pushing us backwards as our heels dig into the mud to prevent us from falling. His pearly-white scales reflect the sun, making it almost impossible to fully see him and as he towers over us all, a deep growl bellowing from the pit of his massive stomach. Koen and I crouch, hands cupping our ears as we both squeeze our eyes shut.
Clouds of smoke fill the sky, ash falling around us like a blizzard evening in Alaska, a torturing reminder of the possibility of never returning to help Alice escape the mountain. Fire ripples through the air, singeing at my skin as I duck to the ground. Koen throws his body over me, shielding me from the flames. My cheek soaks in the mud and I gurgle against it as the sounds of his cries become blocked by dirt seeping into my eardrums. Koen’s broad arm hovers over my face as his other arm wraps around my head, pulling me into his body without a second thought. Besides the smell of a dirty aroma, my nose lifts towards his neck, nestling into his protection andhis scentrelaxes me. My body relaxes as I melt into his familiar scent of charred fire mixed with a floral aroma. Reminding me of the field of ash. I remember this scent.
But his scent, the way his body smells, soothes me.Eases me.
But it shouldn’t.
And through his arms, I manage to see Florian breathe the deepest shade of red I have ever seen, fire bellowing out over the water to the castle and molding a bridge as if melted lava was forming over water. The ruby-red bridge glistens like glass as it arches a pathway and raven-black markings form scales along the side with swirls of dragon bodies along the sides of the bridge. Reminding me of the sand dragons back in the Desert of Death. And up above, the symbols I saw back in the village andthe same one on Florian’s chest, begin to take formation, the five rings with dragon wings.
My eyes narrow as my brows arch in. “What… what is happening?” My voice trembles. But Koen hears me.
He pulls me closer, the heat of his breath tickles against my mud-freckled cheek. “Only a dragon can breathe the bridge to life.”
Chapter 12
“The Kingdom of Eekatia, the Realm for the Royals of Azure, is protected by a shield forged from the Gods themselves. The bridge shall never be seen, unless the dragon's breath forges it to life. No dragon unless controlled by the Royals may enter the Kingdom.” - Book of Azure
“THIS IS MADNESS!” I PUSH his body off of me. Mud splats against his chest from the soaked mud that covers my hands. My knees dig into the ground as if quicksand is pulling me into the depths of the earth while I struggle to get up. I begin to wipe the mud off of me, but it's everywhere. I smear it down the left side of my face, my lashes flickering with the dirt as I spit soil out of my mouth.
And through my blurred vision,I see him, lying on the ground with no clothes. Dirt smeared along his body, his golden haircoated with mud like us and scars along his back, but two fresh wounds are sliced through his skin.
My boots soak into the ground as I try to lift my feet. I rush over towards him and fall to my knees near his body. I shakily hover my hands over his body, unsure if I should wake him orjust hold him.
A trembling gasp escapes from my lips before I cry out. “Give me a damn blanket!” I growl. “Now!”
Koen rushes over, dirt painted along his chestnut hair and face. He covers him before picking him up. “You are going to ride Raylune into the palace.”
He is so calm.As if he has done this a hundred times for his brother but I can’t imagine Florian breaking like this again. I’m unsure if I couldwatch him do this another time.
My lips quiver as they part to speak, but I choke on the words. “Why… why would they force someone to shift? How is this even possible?” I trip after him, my knees now covered in ash as the ground where Florian laid, is burnt. The lush grass is now replaced with a charcoal presence, the ground hissing as steam smokes into the air.
“He is next in line to be the King and vowed to marry princess Skie.” He holds Florian, his hair swinging side to side as Koen walks. “Dragons are considered the deadliest curse, and when they found the marking on Florian’s back that he was cursed by the dragon, they created the bridge of protection.”
Florian’s back is marked with symbols that stretch across his shoulder blades that resemble wings of fire and are dark like coal, but look as if they are freshly scorched wounds. I stumble, catching up to him as he lays Florian over Zeei’s body. “If dragons are a curse, why would they let him be King? Why would they create a bridge where only dragon fire can breathe it to life?None of this makes sense.”
Koen’s palms rest against Zeei’s body, letting his head hang low as he deeply sighs. “It has been written in the book of Azure since the Deskyiara bloodline vanished, that Prince Florian would marry the princess. He has always been the next in line to rule Azure. That princess was once Deskyiara's second daughter. But, now it is to Skie.”
“What about the dungeon? Where the shifters change and youmurderthem?”
“This rule came into place by Queen Antavianna, where all shifters must be executed. The only reason my brother stays alive is because he protects the castle, and no one else knows he is a shifter except the people inside those walls.And it must stay that way, Serene.”
“I thought only the Royals were cursed!” My eyes burn, unsure if I’m exhausted or if the lingering smoke is irritating them.
“So we thought, Serene! But the Realms are cursed and people are dying from it. One day we will take down the Wailing Mother to end it for good.” He heavily sighs. “We believe the Darklands are creating an army and they…” he pulls away, his lips rolling between his teeth, “found a way to use their magic to mold their people into exactly what they want them to be. The deadliest warriors, or beasts, to kill us off. I have told the Queen countless times we shouldn’t be killing the shifters, but working with them to fight against the darklings.”
