She closes her eyes. “We’ll discuss this later.”
I bare my teeth at my brothers, silently asking for their backup. It’s Scythe who enters my mind.“I agree, fire-brother. She will not sacrifice herself.”It’s only this that placates me and puts my fire out. For the moment.
“So there is no other way?” Lyle asks, looking between the two royals. “Someone must actively counter the force of the shadow vortex?”
“Unless you can kill him before he does it, yes,” Lord Raen says. “I do not see another solution for this, do you, my king?”
King Zale looks from Lord Raen to Aurelia. “The shadow realm is an unpleasant place. It will not respond to anything but the person who opens it unless they are overpowered.”
Aurelia sits back in her chair, inhaling deeply. Savage, jittery by my side, wanders over to sniff at the trees surrounding the garden. Lord Kai cocks his head and follows him. We all turn to watch the two of them, seemingly the most volatile of us, for a moment.
Kai narrows his eyes at Savage, sniffing the air around him. “You smell odd.”
Savage mirrors him, narrowing his eyes too. “You smell odder. Can I see your sword?” He points to Kai’s black earring.
“Sure.” Kai unhooks the earring, and immediately it grows until it’s a full-sized black blade. The white-haired male holds out the weapon for an awestruck Savage’s eager inspection.
“You.”
I turn to the group at the table, and it takes me a second to realise that it’smewho King Ashzale is regarding, his voice not threatening but soft, almost reverent as those eyes he shareswith my regina look me up and down. “One ofyouhas not been seen in these lands for nigh on a thousand years. Progeny of the Old Kings of Black Fae Court, if I’m not mistaken. They can’t shift anymore, but they still take the name Darkcleaver.”
The world seems to stop. I stare him, my breath suddenly burning in my lungs in recognition. My eyes find my regina’s as she too blinks in surprise. “They know my name, regina.”
“It makes sense,” Scythe says softly. “Your mother’s kind are unique, Xander, like Aurelia’s people.”
Perhaps for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to say. But Zale’s mouth quirks up into a hint of a smile that sends the beast in me rearing up. “Can we see it?” he asks. “Your dragon form?”
I look to Aurelia for permission, and my beautiful regina smiles, biting her lip. “You can’t say no, Xander.”
“I can’t,” I agree, grinning.
They walk me out to the front of the caretaker’s house, where a well-worn dirt road with cart tracks is bordered by wild jungle. Everyone steps back, and I’m pleased to see the excitement and curiosity glimmering in the eyes of the Boneweaver king.
“Any excuse to show off,” Savage says as I take off my clothes and leave them in a neat pile.
“You can’t exactly blame him,” Lyle says begrudgingly, zipping my clothes towards him. I take my time to shift, letting my spirit take me over, letting the scales and fangs and wings overcome me until I’m drunk on my own greatness.
Kai gasps, and the other males mutter something to each other while their queen claps and cheers, looping her arm through Aurelia’s. I look down at them all as they gaze upon me in wonder.
“Give them a ride,”Aurelia calls. I think she wants to thank them for their help, or merely their solidarity with her. So I snort and toss my head.
The males waste no time and climb up my foreleg quickly as if they were born to it. “Hard as a rock,” Zale says, rapping his knuckles against the scales on my neck. “This is very impressive, Lord Xander.” I toss my head in agreement and stretch out my wings, squatting and shooting up in the air.
The males whoop with joy at the speed as we ascend above the humid heat of the dense jungle below. I take advantage of my bird’s-eye view to see more of this island Zale rules over.
“There is my castle in the south,” Zale says, and I can hear his smile as he gestures to a magnificent, sprawling complex, newly built. “And far to the north are the two islands that make up the Ellythian Isles, where my wife’s ancestors on her mother’s side hail from.”
We’re high enough now that I can see a second island in the distance, heavy with green jungle and steam rising from its canopy, surrounded by vibrant blue ocean to rival Boneweaver eyes. It’s a stunning environment, and I let myself circle for a minute.
Something powerful brushes against my mind. It’s vast and has a tinge of something infinitely dark, but is ultimately full of light. I recognise it and accept the request for communication.
“My wife tells me,”Zale says. “The bond between you and my cousin is dark, unlike her other mates.”
“She can see bonds?”I ask after a moment.
“She has many powers, being a descendant of the powerful sorcerer queen, Ellythia,”Zale says.“Including healing. But yes, seeing bonds is one of them.”
“I made a grave mistake, Your Majesty, and I pay for it every day.”
