Trajan was already shifting into half-skin as he ran toward Quintus and two other centurions in the emperor’s uniform marching down the dock toward us.
“On Jupiter’s cock!” Quintus shouted with glee, his fangs lengthening, body bulging, and skin rippling with black scales as he shifted into half-skin. “I knew you were a filthy fucking traitor!”
He shed his torn toga and charged toward Trajan. The two centurions unbelted and tossed their scabbards and swords to the dock, shifting into half-skin.
Alaric growled and charged toward them, flinging off his hood, but he remained in human form. I shoved back my own hood, needing to see them, needing to focus.
I rocked side to side, whispering to myself, to my magic, “Come to me, come to me, come to me.”
My power had ignited quickly at the prison, but I was calm and prepared. Right now, all I could think about were the dozens of nights Quintus lay on a settee, ogling me as I stood in the corner wearing the muzzle Valerius had put on me. Quintus had helped put it there, too, for he was the one who came into my village, killed my groom, then carried me back to his nightmare.
Trajan and Quintus clashed with snarls and growls, their bodies hitting hard, wings beating, claws flying. The two centurions flew into the air over them, one heading for Alaric, the other coming straight for me.
“Goddess help me,” I whispered, my magic beginning to stir, but not fast enough.
Trajan roared, catching sight of the centurion diving for me, too distracted to see Quintus clawing toward his face. He snarled, whipping in a circle, his tail swiping Quintus’s legs out from under him.
“Run, Lela!”
I wasn’t about to run. It would do no good anyway. He was already upon me, his arms extended. I slipped my hand to my waistband, unsheathing the slim dagger Trajan had given me before we left Britannia, and gripped the hilt hard. I watched the creature dive closer, his fangs bared, his red-scaled body shining beneath the moon as my power slowly warmed my blood.
The centurion landed, claws digging into the dock and splintering it while he scooped me up and tossed me over his shoulder, his beating wings brushing my back as he flew up into the night.
“Lelaaaa!” bellowed Trajan, his voice dropping deeper.
I didn’t have to look to know Trajan was shifting into his dragon. My captor flew erratically, crossing over the water where the moonlight glittered on the surface, making it difficult for me to know where to cut easily. I tried to slice at his tail, thinking the scales looked thinner there. He jostled me again, right as I thrust the dagger forward, the blade sinking deeper into the small of his back than I intended.
He jerked to the right and snarled, dropping me into the air. I screamed, the dagger flying from my hands as I pinwheeled, falling backward into the frigid waters.
I slid down into the cold, dark depths, the surface seeming so far away as I kicked and struggled upward. My sandals were torn away by the current. My heavy cloak and dress dragged me down, preventing me from getting any closer to the surface. I slipped the hooded cloak off my neck and kicked harder, my lungs beginning to squeeze, desperate for air. The underflow tumbled me around, then I wasn’t sure which way was up.
Gods, would I die by drowning after all of this?
The swift-moving current carried me beneath the water, the blackness below an eerie tomb if this should be my watery grave. Bubbles escaped my mouth as the desperation for air became dire, my vision hazing at the edges. In a frenzy, I kicked and cut my arms through the water, feeling as if I wasn’t moving at all.
Panic and fear gripped me hard. I wasn’t ready to die. For the first time in years, I wanted a future. I wanted to live. I wanted Trajan and the idealistic dream he had for a new world. This couldn’t be my end. Not yet. Not now.
Suddenly, a familiar rumble vibrated through the waters. I had no more strength to fight the current, my body being swept away far beneath the surface. I watched behind me, slipping into unconsciousness as two ice-blue eyes drew closer and closer then Trajan’s dragon was there.
He swam above me, scooping me into his claws and shooting up with unnatural speed. He broke the surface with powerful force, his roar piercing the sky as I sucked in a deep breath. Instantly, I was awake again, my body freezing but my mind sharp.
A stream of flame shot across the sky to my right. I was dangling in Trajan’s claws, but now I could see there was a full-scale dragon battletaking place in the sky. Trajan’s dragon dove back toward the river, and for a moment I panicked, thinking he was taking us back under. But then I saw theMercuryslicing down the river, the crew on the deck watching the fight and dragon flames above them.
Trajan slowed as he approached the ship, gently dropping me on the upper deck, his beating wings gusting fiercely as he instantly shot back up into the night. A crewman and Koska helped me to my feet.
“You should go below deck, my lady,” said Koska.
“Like hell I will,” I snapped, forcing my shaking legs to carry me to the bow so I could see what was happening.
I stared up, watching Trajan fly directly back toward the melee where not just three but five dragons fought with one who was larger than all of them. His scales were pale and silver under the moon.
“I thought those dragons were extinct,” said one crewman to another standing next to me.
I peered up, wondering who they referred to.
“They were,” said Koska. “I can’t believe it.”
That’s when the largest of the dragons banked against the wind, his wing catching the moonlight so that I could see he wasn’t silver, but—“Gold,” I whispered.
