“Serafina saved thousands the day she healed our tree. Because of her, Carcerem will flourish. Crops grow, animals reproduce, and our people have magic, thanks to your mate.”
My arms flung wide, my words scathing. “All of that and yet our glorious benefactor can’t give her back to me.”
“It is not for us to question the goddess,” Victor said, hisstatement coming off as mechanical. As if even he didn’t believe them.
Flarking sell out.
I waggled a finger at him. “That bullshit may work on your people. But not on me. I, more than anyone, know the darker side of Hathor.”
Fates save me. I sounded like Alaric. Despite his cruelty, could it be he wasn’t the villain in my story after all? What if I’d been wrong about him? The thought threatened to shatter the fragile pieces holding me together.Dear brother. What has become of us?We’d losteverything. Including each other.
And now the goddess had claimed Serafina as well.
I turned to glare at Hathor’s creation. Bronze leaves shimmered on its branches. Its roots pulsed with health and vitality. Hell, it looked better now than even before The Dark One’s attack. And yet Hathor kept all that power to herself. Refusing to grant me a sliver of it to bring Serafina back.
The day the goddess took her from me, I woke at the base of the tree, Runa and her siblings hovering over me. The fatal wound my brother gave me was gone. And so was my mate.
I didn’t even have a body to bury.
I kept waiting for her flame in my chest to gutter out, for silence to claim me. But it hadn’t. It lingered, cruel and flickering, reminding me of all I’d lost.
With every day that passed, that feeling remained, driving me mad. To have her so close and yet out of reach sparked something primal inside of me. My dragon wanted his mate. Each day it was denied, it raged. Especially now, as another male stood between him and his greatest treasure.
And I was too exhausted to hold him back. Nor did I have it in me to care.
Heat welled, my dragonflame stirring. Scales rippled over my shoulders, and my teeth sharpened.
“Easy, now, Thorne,” Victor warned. “Don’t do something you will regret.”
“Regret?” I snarled, my voice a deep rolling growl. “I could teach you a thing or two about regret.” I leveled a predatory glare on the sacred arbor. Maybe Alaric had it right after all.
“All of my suffering started with Hathor and her sacred arbors,” I bellowed, flames crackling in my throat. “Protect the tree. Serve the tree. Worship the tree. Heal the tree.”
“Die. For theflarking tree,” I roared, blasting a stream of fire at the arbor’s stony trunk.
Simultaneously, Victor flung a ball of golden energy. Before my flames could strike the bark, a shimmering shield blazed before me, blocking my attack.
“Guards!” Victor shouted.
I spun on the king, roaring my fury, blasting fire at the infuriating male. Again, my flames met a golden shield. Only this time, the power of my attack blasted my adversary off his feet. Victor flew back, performed a skillful flip, then landed in a crouch.
Another flash of his glowing hands, and one of his shimmering force fields sprang up around my body. I punched my fist into the transparent bubble. Sparks exploded and pain detonated across my knuckles.
Red coated my vision. I would not be caged. Not by Alaric or Hathor, and certainly not by this ungrateful king.
Boots stomped the tiles, and uniformed guards rushed into the room to surround me.
“Easy, Thorne.” Victor held out his hands, his voice soothing as if he coaxed a wild stallion. “You’re mad with grief. Not in your right mind. Once you’re rested, things will look different.”
“You sound like your mate,” I snarled. “Tell me. Is she the reason you haven’t put me down?”
At his stoic hesitation, I snorted a laugh. Thought so.
I leveled him with a glare so dark even the powerful kingtook a step back. “Release me,” I commanded in an inhuman voice, one laced with my dragon’s presence.
“I’ve no desire to end you,” he said, flashing fangs. “But I will, even if my mate throttles me. Do not force my hand, Draconis.”
“Too late. You just forced mine.” I threw back my head, roaring my battle cry. Blue lightning crackled over my skin. Magic warmed my muscles, and the change washed over me. An explosion of golden sparks erupted as I shifted, shattering Victor’s containment field.
