Andhow much she enjoyed it. Taking her pleasure from me with anticipatory glee. Writhing on my fingers and then my cock, a chorus of her moans and screams, making the entire throne room hard or wet. Knowing they could look but not touch.
And then I’d bring her back to my bed, where I’d graciously allow her to sleep with me. Perhaps she’d even hold me while I slept. Offering me comfort and grace I’d never known before.
True peace.
A loud crash brought my attention back to the present. Ripping me away from the future that I was a mere battle away from securing. The future I was destined for. I glared as I realized what had stolen my attention. A third phoenix had joined the fray.
King Tieran apparently didn’t enjoy having to watch his sons battle to the death. He was flying between them, preventing both from attacking. I watched Vesper curiously, waiting to see what he would choose.
He hesitated, squawking at his father in indignation, before finally moving to attack him directly. Zakat jumped in to protect his father, but Vesper got a good slash in, sending Tieran to the ground. Injured, but alive. Zakat’s loud squawk was almost a roar, and he vehemently threw himself into the fight against his elder brother.
Still, it was clear Vesper was the stronger of the two. I leaned forward slightly in anticipation, waiting for the death blow to be struck. Vesper pinned Zakat against a wall, raising a claw above his chest. Zakat screamed as Vesper struck, the curved, blade-like claw puncturing his skin and beginning to carve a deadly hole.
But right when victory was at Vesper’s claw—a flaming yellow and teal phoenix crashed into him, ripping the claw from Zakat’s chest viciously while sending Vesper end over end through the air. He flew through the roof of a house on his way down, the sound of wood cracking and breaking before collapsing, echoing after him. Zakat flew crookedly for a moment, his wound healing but seemingly forgotten. His eyes glued to…
Prince Altan.
He’d saved Zakat, when he should have still been fighting his father. Why in the Otherworld had the man let his son escape him?
I looked to where Gravadain had been trying to flood Night’s army, only to find them now being forced to battle with swords. Gravadain himself was fighting against who I recognized to be Calix’s General, Titan. The giant blonde man was more than a match for any on this field at his age and experience.
What I had hoped to be the clinching move in the battle, bringing in the eldest of the kings and sandwiching Night between us, proved ineffectual against Calix’s allies. I growled in frustration, running my hand through my hair.
It was time to get back to the main battle at hand anyway. I’d been distracted from Calix and Asteria for too long. I needed to act while the blood magic still coursed through my veins. I summoned my lightning, bolt after bolt hitting the sky, and began to aim at any soldier wearing black at random.
I watched in satisfaction as they hit the ground dead, one after another. Their hearts all stopped in their chests from the lightning that struck them. I summoned more and more, and sure enough, Calix and Asteria’s magic barreled toward me.
The shadows formed a funnel flecked by starlight. Like the night itself was ripped from the sky and thrown at me. A part of me ached to see how well-matched their magic was. Indeed, the magic of mates. I pushed my weakness down deep where it belonged, letting my anger take the fore as I hovered above them in the air, avoiding the impact of their magic.
I sent lightning bolts flying at Calix, avoiding Asteria as best I could. My soldiers approached Calix from behind, but he must have sensed them, as shadows snaked out and wrapped around their necks, pulling them to the side until they cracked and my men fell to the ground, frightened eyes open and still. An expression forever fixed in death.
A growl rumbled low in my throat, and I summoned more lightning, sending as many bolts as I could at him, enough that he wouldn’t be able to dodge. I watched in glee as they shot for him, but was surprised as his form quickly shifted into his dragon’s.
Several bolts hit him, but that damn dragon scale was too tough to pierce without iron. They harmlessly absorbed my lightning with nothing more than an agitated roar for my trouble. I scowled back at him, my lip twitching into a snarl.
A blast of darkness surrounded me faster than I could react, finding myself thrown against a wall and held by shadows at every point. I looked up, enraged, to find Calix approaching, now back in his Fae form and walking the roof leading to the tower I was held against. Asteria was nowhere to be seen.
I slumped a little in my bonds. I did so much for her, and she couldn’t even be bothered to stick around once her attack dragon had hold of me?
I couldn’t think of a man I hated more than the one in front of me. He’d spent years making our kingdom and myself look weak. Making us scramble for control we couldn’t begin to grasp. Showing us all how inferior we are to his greater power.
And then he had to steal Asteria on top of it?
The years I’d spent thinking Calix a friend were long gone, and by the way he fiercely glared at me, his eyes glowing with the hatred he felt, I knew he wished for nothing other than my death.
Two men I once thought friends, both betraying me for the woman we all wanted.
Dragons might be well known for their rage, but one should never ignore a Pegasus pushed to their limit. It was something anyone who rode a horse understood: the power the animal has should never be discounted.
And Calix made a grand mistake in doing exactly that.
He sauntered over menacingly, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword with bloody fingers. His eyebrows were scrunched together as if I were a misbehaving child he was about to voice his disapproval to. But the moment he got close enough, I summoned the magic in my veins, thankful I took those extra doses, and let it explode.
The shadow binds disappeared in puffs of black smoke while Calix was thrown backward, falling the whole way to the ground. I smirked at the sight and unfurled my wings to fly down and end this once and for all. I flew about thirty feet, planning to make an entrance for this grand finale, when pain flared in my lower leg, and I screamed in pain.
I bit down on my lip to stop screaming, turning mid-flight to see a silver and purple dragon flying below me, her teeth sliding out of my leg. Her blue eyes flashed with starlight, and the rage I’d always seen within them flared just as brightly.
She licked her tongue across her fangs, licking my blood from them with satisfaction, before she growled lowly at me. The second bite she’d taken out of me in this battle. Not content with her betrayal, she would see me harmed by her own hand, or dead by her king’s.
