“You were meant to share my burden. Instead, you abandoned me for your whores and your drinking while I was left to run the kingdom. Alone.”
“Because you were better at it!”I snarled.“The perfect son, while I was the screwup.”My fire burned hotter, guiding me. He was close.“You know, he used to beat me when I lost those games. Even when you didn’t play by the rules.”
“And still it failed to make a man out of you. Serafina was mine,”he barked, his declaration stirring my beast.“My only chance to live as a man and not a monster, and you stole her. If Hathor’s handmaiden had loved me, the goddess would have forgiven me. She would have broken the curse. Instead, I was forced to go to The Dark One.”
“I can’t steal something you never had,”I spat, fire licking my teeth.
“It’s time you paid for your crimes. I won’t spare you as I did in the past. This time you will watch while the kingdom falls, the sacred arbor withers, and the one you love dies.”
There he was. Perched on the roof of a towering building was an inky pool of scales.
“You are wrong, Brother,”I growled, rage a snarling volcano ready to erupt.“This time, I will be there to stop you.”
SERAFINA
My calves burned, my arms shaking as I clung to the roof. And yet shame seared hotter than my straining muscles. Shame that I’d ever felt an ounce of pity for that stupid back-stabbing dragon.
“Serafina?” a smoky voice shouted.
Wait. I knew that voice. “Drazen?”
“Holy hell. Itisyou.” His laugh was half incredulous, half horror. “I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw you tumbling out of the sky. I take it Alaric has switched sides?”
“You could say that.” I risked a glance at him then wished I hadn’t. Flark, it was a long way down. Clinging to a roof was nothing like soaring on the sturdy back of a dragon. My head swam. Toes slipped.
Falling!
“Serafina!” Drazen shouted.
I screamed, my body shooting over the edge. At the last instant, my fingers snagged the ledge where my feet had been. Pain snapped through my shoulders, a white-hot jolt that left me dangling, legs kicking at air.
“Blessed flames. Don’t move,” he barked. “I’ll find a way up to you.”
“No time! I’m slipping,” I cried out, the strain on my hands unbearable. I wouldn’t last long.
I craned my neck, eyeing my options. The tower wall was sheer, with no footholds. Below was a flowerbed, ivy spilling over its borders.
“I have an idea.” I dared to release one hand. Golden light flared in my palm, and I shot a bolt of energy at the bed.
The earth rumbled, and the vibration hummed throughout the building.
“Holy hell, there’s green shit crawling up the walls,” Drazen said. “Please tell me you’re doing that.”
Clawing branches tickled my ankle, and I yelped, the sensation like a serpent slithering up my leg. Before it could entangle me, I guided my foot over the top of the foliage, urging it to grow between my body and the roof. Now, to carefully test if—
My grip failed.
I shrieked, fingers scrabbling. Ivy scraped my hands, caughtmy boot, tangled my leg. My frame jerked hard against the greenery, but Blessed Hathor, it held.
“Serafina!” Drazen shouted.
“I’m okay.” I clung to my makeshift trellis. “I’ll meet you on the ground. Once my legs stop shaking.”
Like a youth sneaking out past bedtime, I made my way down the ivy. As my feet touched down, I fought back tears. I’d never been so thrilled to have both feet on the earth.
“Well done. You okay?” Drazen asked.
“I’ll live,” I wheezed, though my arms and legs said otherwise
