This time, I don’t give him even a second to get his bearings. The moment he hits the ground, I ram my dagger right through his throat.
He sucks in a shocked breath, but only a wet gurgling makes it out.
Sudden grief and regret hit me like a punch to the chest.
The sight of his wide eyes and the blood spilling out of his throat triggers a flood of memories. My parents dying as Jessina slits their throats. The shock and fear on their faces. The blood gushing out of the wounds. The pools of red on the floor. The knowledge that I will never know if they loved me.
Fury roars up inside me like an inferno.
Ripping the dagger out, I slam it back into the soldier’s throat and twist savagely.
Another wet gurgle escapes him, and his body twitches underneath me.
I keep twisting the knife while rage burns through my whole soul. I hate them. I hate them all so fucking much. I want them all dead. I want my revenge. I want my fucking revenge!
A scream rips from my throat as I slam the knife into his neck over and over again while that terrible rage consumes my wholesoul. Jessina and her Silver Clan have taken my entire life from me. They have stolen a hundred and sixty-eight years from me that I will never get back. They have destroyed any chance I had of making things right with my parents. They have enslaved my mate and hurt my friends and now they’re forcing me to fight a war when all I want to do is to just have one fucking moment of peace on this goddess damned continent.
That rage and hatred that I have been suppressing all my life sears through my veins until I feel like I’m burning up from the inside.
Screaming my throat raw, I ram my dagger into the soldier’s neck again and again even though he’s already dead. I just want it all to stop. I want it to fucking stop!
Blood drips from my knife as I yank it out of the soldier’s ruined throat and shoot to my feet. I can feel the fury pulsing from my body like waves of fire as I whirl towards the other dragon shifters from the Silver Clan.
Four of them have broken away from the others, who are now fighting both Rin and her people as well as Draven, Lyra, and Alistair, and it looks like those four people had been about to attack me. But now, they hesitate, staring at me like I’m some kind of demon.
I flash them a vicious smile tinged with insanity and point my bloody knife at them.
They flinch.
Summoning my magic, I shove it at those bone white flames of fear. I know that I should be resting to recover more magical energy, but I’m finding it hard to care about anything else right now when those horrible memories of my parents are echoing through my mind in vivid detail. I want my fucking revenge, and since Jessina is untouchable with her shield thing at the back of her army, these people will have to do.
With a shove, I flare those flames into wildfires of terror.
Two of them scream and flee in blind fear. The third onedrops to his knees and vomits. The final one passes out. His body hits the ground with a thud. I stalk towards them.
“You should have run when you had the chance,” I growl at the one who is still on his knees, emptying the contents of his stomach. “Because now?—”
Lava rushes across the ground towards me.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Screams erupt around me as a wave of lava rises up from my left. The panic blaring inside my skull finally snaps me out of my blind rage, and I sprint away as the wave sweeps forward. The heat from it is so intense that I feel like my hair is about to catch fire.
My breath tears through my throat as I cut to the right, trying to get out of its direct path. Wounded fae and dragon shifters from our side scream and scramble out of the way while soldiers in silver armor are forced to abandon their attack as well.
A cry of desperation comes from the back of my throat as the wave crests behind me.
Then a shadow of death slams into me from the side. I suck in a sharp breath as Draven scoops me into his arms and flies us out of the way right before the wave of lava crashes down over the ground.
“Why is it that every time I take my eyes off you for more than ten seconds, I always come back to find you fighting wolfbears or hordes of enemies and now waves of lava?” Draven asks, shooting me a pointed look that appears to be half amusement.
I laugh. “Just trying to keep it interesting.”
“Oh, if there is one thing I’ve learned about you, little rebel, it’s that there is never a dull moment when you’re around.”
Another wave of lava builds behind the first one, crashing over the landscape, while Draven sets me down next to Lyra and Alistair. The sudden appearance of lava has stalled the battle slightly since the Silver Clan soldiers were forced to move out of the way as well. But when they realize where it’s coming from, they quickly form up and rush towards Rin and her people again.
Draven curses under his breath as the four of us look up at the source of this lava magic.
