“You wouldn’t make it one meter outside the boundary of our realm before they ripped you to pieces.”
“I’m stronger than I was, Beaufort.” I shake the rain from my eyes as panic engulfs my body. “I defeated a handful of demons in that trial today. I’m not afraid.”
“You should be,” he says sternly. “The demon realm is far more dangerous than you could possibly imagine. It would be suicide. I won’t let you do this.”
He reaches for me, but I shake off his grip.
“That’s not your decision to make,” I cry as Blaze circles above, casting dark shadows over the four of us, the lightning that streaks across the sky reflecting off his golden scales. It makes him seem even more magnificent, otherworldly.
“Briony,” Thorne says more softly than his bond brother. “He’s right. This is too dangerous. The professor wouldn’t want you to do this. He wouldn’t want to put you in any danger atall. You need to calm down, take a breath, and think about this rationally.”
I shake my head wildly. This isn’t their decision to make. It’s mine. And I don’t have a choice.
My world has turned completely upside down over the last few weeks. I’ve gone from a girl suspicious of everyone and everything, sure that the tables were turned against me, to a woman with magical abilities of her own. To a woman raising a dragon. To a woman who believes in fate. And fate has tied me to four men. And I won’t be losing any of them.
Because I know what it’s like to lose someone you love, to watch them lowered into the indifferent embrace of the stone-cold earth, to never see them again, to never touch them again, to never hear their voice.
“I can’t lose him!” I shake my head violently. “There’s no way I can go through that again.” I can’t willingly walk into the deadening pit of grief. I survived that once – just about – clawing my way out, finding I was half the person I once was. I doubt I’d survive it a second time.
“You’re hyperventilating for stars’ sake,” Beaufort snaps. “You’re not thinking rationally.”
“If it were me out there beyond the realm boundaries, if it was me who had been taken, nothing would stop you,” I cry to the three shadow weavers standing before me, the rain pounding down onto their heads. “You’d go. You’d try everything to save me, wouldn’t you?”
They all stare at me silently, knowing they can’t argue with my logic. Finally, they nod reluctantly, although Beaufort insists, “You can’t do this alone.”
“Then come with me, help me.”
“Briony, it’s not that simple,” Beaufort says, meeting my gaze with that steely expression of his. “We don’t even know where he is.”
“I do.” I lean my head back, squinting into the rain and whistling up to the sky, hoping the sound will carry above the roaring storm.
Blaze responds, spiraling down to the ground and landing with a thud on the soggy sand that brushes the lake’s shore.
He’s so big now, I barely remember the tiny, fragile creature that slithered from the stone all those weeks ago. He tosses back his head, snorting puffs of smoke from his nostrils. It’s hard to believe anything in the realm or beyond it could harm me riding Blaze’s back. Surely together we’d be safe.
“Kitten,” Dray tries, “Fox is a big boy. He’s fucking powerful. He doesn’t need you to go rescue him!”
“I have to go!” I scream, raking the wet strands of hair away from my face.
“Briony,” Beaufort pleads, trying once again to wrap me in his embrace.
I dodge his arms and dart towards the dragon. All three men move to block my path this time, caging me in a tight circle.
“Let me through!” I shout above the noise of the storm.
“Little Kitten,” Dray growls, all his usual casual nature turned dangerous, “we’re not letting you run after a bloodsucker, one we can’t even trust. Who’s probably been working with Bardin all this fucking time!”
“Move out of my way,” I say through gritted teeth, lifting my hands.
“Briony,” Thorne pleads, trying a more gentle tactic to his bond brother, “there’s no hurry. It’s too dangerous to fly, and if you go out there with all your magic blazing, Bardin will be waiting for you. For all you know, this could be an ambush. You could be stepping right into a trap. She’s going to be out for your blood, out for revenge.”
“You’re not going to persuade me otherwise,” I yell at them, desperate to get moving, desperate to be on my way, “so move out of my way and let me go!”
Fox is in danger. I don’t care what they say; I don’t care about the danger. I have to find him. I have to save him.
The rain smacks against my head like the beat of a warning drum, urging me on to action.
“Little Kitten,” Dray says, trying to charm me with one of his smiles this time instead, “come on now!”
