My sisters recovered and rushed toward us, but the now powerful and feral Taron saw only danger, not allies. He launched into attack mode, a flash of smoke and scale. One after the other, my sisters fell around me. Not dead. Injured. And increasingly ticked off.
I didn’t know if he lashed out to protect me, or to destroy anything that dared come near him. Maybe both. “Stop,” I cried, voice ragged. “Please!” Somehow, I found the strength to hurl myself into the chaos, throwing mybody in front of Adelaide just as she rose, fists clenched, ready to launch an attack of her own.
Too late.
Taron’s new claws sliced across my midsection. The pain was blinding and all-consuming, but this time, it wasn’t soul-deep or symbolic. This wasreal. Raw. Human.
This body I lived in now could break. No fire waited at the ready. No supernatural healing or wings to catch me when I fell.
Another scream tore from my throat as I hit the ground again, warmth blooming through my shirt. Blood gurgled up my windpipe, choking me. My vision blurred. And then?—
He stopped.
Taron loomed over me, his chest heaving. When my gaze met his, confusion flickered. Then horror. Bit by bit, shame overtook him, snuffing out his fire. His smokewings disintegrated into ash. His scales began to rain over the ground.
He dropped to his knees beside me, reaching out with trembling hands. A broken sound rumbled from his chest. A sound, not quite a roar, not quite a sob, but something in between, shattered and soul-sick.
My sisters didn’t hesitate. They seized him from behind and wrestled him to the floor. Adelaide retrieved the Chains of O from my safe because, of course, she knew the code.
“They’re gone,” she bellowed.
Nein! Dark spots were weaving through my mind, stealing my thoughts. The girls fought to secure Taron’s wrists.
Frieda, ever the healer, dropped to her knees beside me and got to work.
Time fractured as I slipped in and out of consciousness,Taron’s guttural roars dragged me back each time I floated too far. As a warrior queen, I’d known pain, but this was different. Always before, I’d had hope.
This might be my end.
Still, I fought. Eventually, blackness won.
A dream plagued me.My father, laughing, proclaiming, “The Yrnblade Dagger doesn’tcreatebonds, daughter. It never did. It amplifies what already exists. What is fated. Aligned. Inevitable.”
I shook my head. That couldn’t be right. Except, my feelings for Taron remained. They hadn’t gone away with my dragon. Which meant they were real. They’d always been real. Heartbreakingly so. Not forged by the Yrnblade but revealed by it.
A new laugh echoed, sharp and satisfied. “As the primordial, I took measures to protect my crown. Manipulated the blade’s mythology to ensure you and your man had an excuse to adventure together. To hasten what was already there and make it impossible to ignore. Lorik helped.”
He paused, waiting as my mind tried to comprehend the sheer cruelty of his plan.
“I sense your confusion. Let me help you understand,” he said, smooth satisfaction lacing every word. “The Chains of O only answer to your dragon. Your blood and your tears. Roland swiped them for me. So I can summon you when the time is right.”
Oh, ja, I’d begun to see. Revenge. Thirst for power. My father got both in a single swipe.
Still, I struggled to accept it all. Doomed from the start.
“The tonic didn’t sever a false bond,” he continued. “It broke the tie with yourdragon. And because the dragon needed a host… it chose the only vessel available. You’re vulnerable now. Human.”
“Nein,” I shouted.
The sound of my own words woke me up. I was panting, sweating and sprawled across my bed. Taron was gone. Adelaide sat slumped in a chair beside me, the weight of fear and exhaustion carved deep into her features.
“How did this happen?” I croaked, voice as raw as the gash in my abdomen. But I already knew. The dream…it hadn’t been a dream but a mind-merge, courtesy of Nyla. Manticores didn’t just speak mind-to-mind. They could stitch thoughts together until you couldn’t tell whose were whose.
Adelaide’s lids snapped open. She leaned in quickly and clasped my hand, guilt flashing over her irises.
“Scratch that,” I muttered. “Nyla mind-merged me with father.” I explained what I’d learned and tried not to cry.
Human.Me. The word echoed in my thoughts, unfamiliar and wrong. All my life I’d known fire. Power. Flight. Fury. And now… nothing. Just flesh and breath and blood and pain. Never again would I feel the wind tear past my wings. Or feel the fire humming in my blood. Even now…
