A prickling feeling hit me like a cannonball, spreading over my spine and onto my skin swiftly. Fuck. It was way stronger than last time. Someone was watching me, and I knew exactly who it was.
My head whipped around to find Azazel’s giant form hovering in the distance. Seven glowing green eyes trained on me.
No Raithian.
The beast seemed idle, passive, satisfied to just watch me from afar, and though I couldn’t explain why, I knew he wasn’t here to attack. Familiar questions swirled through my mind instantly. Was this Raithian’s way of keeping tabs on me after our last encounter? If so, what was he trying to uncover? What was he planning that he needed to know where I was?
The Hidden Kingdom!
My heart lurched into my throat, but before I could yell to the others to hurry back, something else occurred to me. If the Warlock King was going to attack our secret heaven while we weren’t there, then why was Azazel here? He wasn’t all-powerful, and the four-headed beast was the best weapon he had against us. Azazel could easily wipe out our people with one or two combined breaths, so why would Raithian send Azazel after us?
The grim reality of my own thoughts and the threat Azazel truly posed fell over me like a bucket of icy water. I was the only one who could fight him head-to-head. With magic. Magic that I needed to understand and learn to wield as a weapon, like the Warlock did, if we had any chance at ending this once and for all.
In response to my emotions, Knight’s row of small horns rose like hackles along his spine, and I was glad the others were ahead of us. He turned his head, catching sight of the threat behind us, and his mouth opened to roar. Before he could, my palm illuminated, sending a calming wave through him.
Tharion’s eyes sharply cut to the beast and then to me, but I shook my head.
“He means us no harm… not right now. Trust me.”
Knight and Tharion exchanged an apprehensive glance, but they did. They trusted me.
“Invisible…”The word echoed from my mind, and our Dragons’ forms shimmered and wavered until they were fully camouflaged. No longer visible to Azazel.
My attention shifted back to find the four-headed beast slowly turning in the sky and flying away until he disappeared in the horizon.
By the time we landed inside the mountain, I had worked myself into a maddening tangle of stress, anger, and worry. The fact that Raithian was having me followed could only mean two things—one, he wanted to remind me that the danger was there, ever present, to pressure me into agreeing to his proposal of “teaching me” how to use my magic. Or two, he wanted to know what I was up to in case I was planning my retaliation, so he could strike before I even got the chance.
This was personal now, between him and me, even when he really didn’t know the extent of our true connection. Either way, it didn’t bode well for me, for us, and I hated feeling cornered.
Then there was the fact that I promised Evie I would find a way to make the Hidden Kingdom safe for our people again so we wouldn’t have to move them. If she and Kingston found out that Azazel had been following us…
The back of my eyes throbbed with a growing headache while hundreds of possibilities swirled in my mind.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Evanna’s voice called me back to the present, and I realized I just stood there, next to Knight and Tharion, after dismounting.
She and the others were already moving towards the entrance, where Willow stood after coming out to greet us, and would surely take Evie with her to work on the coronation’s preparations.
A loaded sigh left me when my eyes travelled to her, and I shook my head. “I need to figure out how to use this magic for something other than healing. Learn to wield it in a way that I can use it to defend us.”
“Can’t you just heal Raithian into submission?” she teased, trying to ease some of the tension coiling through me as she walked to my side.
“I wish.” Chuckling, I held her waist when she stopped before me, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
“Where do you plan to practice?” she asked, her hand caressing my chest.
“Not sure. I think I’m going to ask Tharion to take me somewhere isolated where I can’t hurt anyone.”
Kindness shone in her eyes as she nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
Kingston and the guard moved towards us instantly to accompany me.
“I believe what the prince meant was that he needs to do this alone,” Imogen explained, understanding my intention. “When he said he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, that includes you, my princess.”
Confusion briefly clouded Evie’s features. “You don’t want me to go with you?”
“Not if it can place you in the path of danger…” My hold tightened protectively around her waist. “This is the same type of power Raithian wields, Evie. Dangerous and potent. Except, he once had a teacher who showed him the extent of his magic, and he’s had over two centuries to master it. I’ve never used it before and have no idea how to control it.”
Pained understanding settled in her eyes, and she conceded, though she was not happy about it. “Fine, I’ll allow it.”
