Ransom skidded on his stomach along the obsidian, his path lubricated with his own blood.
“Seems like Mummy forgot to give you advanced healing abilities along with the speed and strength. You’re good, Ransom, but dumb. Just like you always were. All those years you cursed having to lose to us, you never stopped to think that we were victims of the same system that held you in your place. And now you’re fighting to keep things exactly how you hated them.” Colin stepped closer, just out of reach, expecting the next blow.
Ransom’s eyes were wild. He stumbled onto his feet and turned a seething growl on Colin. The wound on his side was almost healed. If he waited a moment longer—
“I’m going to enjoy ripping your head from your shoulders.” Ransom surged forward, teeth gnashing and talons out. Colin had to hand it to the boy—he was faster and stronger than any dragon Colin had ever faced. But it was true what they said: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. With a thrust of his wings, Colin jumped.
Ransom had poured all his strength into his forward momentum and sacrificed his agility in the process. He couldn’t adjust in time to stop Colin from leaping over him. By the time he used his wings to change direction, Colin was already there, grabbing him by the throat and slamming his head into the stone with everything he had in him.
Ransom’s skull cracked on the jagged remains of the mural. Blood flowed over the jeweled depiction of the dragon and dribbled into the hole Sylas had left when he’d pried the golden orb from its place in the picture.
Blood sprayed across Colin’s cheek.
“If you kill me, she will punish you. And she’ll bring me back. I’ll watch you die screaming,” Ransom said through his teeth.
“I’m not surprised you believe that.” Colin’s voice was grit and embers, his dragon close to the surface. “But it’s exactly why you’re too dangerous to let live.”
He sprouted talons in the hand around Ransom’s throat, dug them into the back of his neck, and pulled, cleaving his skull from his spine with a sickening pop. Ransom’s head rolled from his shoulders, and then his body exploded into dust under Colin’s knee. His gray spinel heart clinked across the floor, skidding to a rest near the stone wall.
Colin rose and wiped his hands off on his shirt. Ransom’s heart was cracked, black imperfections marring the jewel. How long had Eleanor been poisoning him to cause that kind of damage?
“You fucking idiot.” He kicked the heart aside.
He raised his nose to the air. He had to find Leena. There. Her blackcurrant-and-wild-primrose scent came from the direction of the library. He changed course just in time to hear her scream.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Raven gritted her teeth and held Charlie out to Crimson, knowing she had no choice. If she didn’t hand her over, not only would Crimson kill Leena, but she’d take Charlie anyway. Raven owed Crimson. A contract was a contract. And a magical contract could not be broken except by death.
A dark wind like an icy hurricane flowed through the room, knocking Charlie back into Raven’s arms. Crimson was gone. Raven whirled to find Gabriel on top of the blond witch, his hands wrapped around her throat.
“Thank the goddess!”
The knife Crimson had held to Leena’s throat now protruded from Gabriel’s chest, but Raven wasn’t worried. Nothing less than decapitation could truly kill a dragon. He’d heal from that wound within minutes.
“Gabriel,” Raven pleaded.
He met her gaze. He knew what he had to do.
“Raven, I need your help. Leena’s hurt,” Nathaniel said.
When had he arrived? But then, he was the one who’d have had to unlock the ward around this room. Gabriel could not.
It took Raven a second for what Nathaniel was saying to sink in. Leena staggered backward and collapsed. Blood poured from the wound at her neck. Crimson must have sliced her throat when Gabriel pulled her away. Raven clutched Charlie to her body and rushed to Leena’s side, muttering the spell she’d used earlier on her daughter. She pressed her glowing hand to Leena’s wound.
The blood slowed, but Leena was frightfully pale. Unlike Charlie, Leena wasn’t half dragon. She was mortal. Fragile. She’d take longer to heal. Raven kept her glowing hand on the elf’s wounds but glanced back toward Gabriel.
Crimson smiled wickedly up at him while his hands tightened around her neck. “I knew this was your fantasy,” she said. “You always did want me under you.”
Raven’s stomach turned at the thought. The mambo had always wanted Gabriel. She’d never been able to take no for an answer. It’s what had started all this.
Gabriel smiled at Crimson in a way that chilled Raven to the bone. It was like the man had melted away and there was nothing left but dragon. Fire burned in his eyes—dark, murderous, and merciless.
“Eat your heart out,” Gabriel growled. He released her neck and stabbed his talons through her rib cage. Crimson’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Gabriel’s hand twisted, and Raven could picture his talons shredding whatever dark material throbbed where a human’s heart should be. She wasn’t sure Crimson actually had one.
The light faded from Crimson’s eyes, and Raven knew that she was, at last, dead. She hugged Charlie tighter and hissed out a breath. She turned back to Leena. The bleeding had stopped, but the scribe was unconscious, barely breathing.
“I can try to revive her, but my tobacco isn’t designed for elf anatomy,” Nathaniel said.
