“I’ll see you when the smoke clears,” he promised, eyes hovering on me before he turned, retreating to the trees with his smoke back at his heel.
The words settled like a vow I’d never outrun.
I opened my mouth to respond, to ask whatever the hel that meant, when something brushed my lip. A fleck, small and white, floating from the sky.
Snow?
Wails split the air, mayhem, hushed by my fixation on him, all crashing back at once. Screams so raw they deafened. My heart plunged, my stomach twisting with sickness as I turned toward the sound.
Ruin. It was only ruin.
Flames devoured the village whole as ash rained down, smoke floating across the sky until it blackened.
And above it all, the white dragon wheeled, no longer dazzling, only destroying.
“No!” My voice tore ragged from my throat.
That venomous whisper in my blood uncoiled, lashing in time with my fury. My anger ignited, stoked by the blaze until it was an inferno of its own.I ripped the serpent free from my wrist, unleashed it, and let it swell, until it was three times its length, a shadow born of venom.
Until it was fury incarnate.
It lunged through the air, my scream its fuel, straight for the dragon prince, fangs bared, curse striking for the vein that had pulsed beneath my blade.
Ash rained heavily, some catching on my lashes. I didn’t blink them away. I let them burn, let them power the venom I poured into the beast. Spice coated my tongue, like it was me seconds from sinking fangs into flesh.
The air trembled, then split, as dark vapor spilled from his spine like wings as he turned and caught my snake by the throat.
No.No, that wasn’t possible.
His hand closed around its neck and my heart ceased.
That snake was mine. Untouchable. A nightmare made real only through me. And yet it writhed real in his grip.
He squeezed harder, and I choked. The grip on it was a grip on me. My throat cinched, a phantom grip closing around my neck, my vision swam, my knees buckled.
I reached, gasping, a hand thrown toward him.
There was no change in his face, no shift in his grip. It was stone.
With one final squeeze, the serpent convulsed, black scales flaking, and before sense could catch up, Ronan collapsed it to dust between his fingers.
The scream strangled itself in my throat, dying to a harsher, agonizing burn. It seared up my arm, blistering through muscle and bone. My knees hit the ground as I clutched at the raw flesh around my wrist where the snake had lived.
His steps came methodically. Then he crouched, a shadow bending too fucking close. One finger hooked beneath my chin, lifting it until I met the dragon fire of his stare. Fume curled from his knuckles, caressing me as cruelly as it burned. “You’re not so scary, are you, Viper?” he whispered.
He opened his hand, ash spilling free, the ghost of what was mine, and he blew it into my face. A taunt. A threat. His fucking death wish.
The ancient thing inside me stretched its spine, tasting the air, thrashing, venom dripping hot from my teeth. I forced it loose, nightmares bleeding into my skin, ready to lash, to tear, to end him.
I lunged, claws slashing for his face—
Before my rage could finish, he vanished, swallowed in his own glory, leaving only the echo of that murderous sneer.
And me, kneeling in debris, tongue dragging over my nails, memorizing the last thing he left behind.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Verena
