I nodded.
“Did you speak to any of them?”
I thought back. Not a single one of the feasters had made a move toward my cage. “Panos threatened them to stay away from me.”
Aleka gasped. “It was an illusion. Why didn’t we see it before?”
“What?” I twisted toward her. Her gleaming eyes had widened into twin moons.
“It’s one of his rumored powers,” she said. “Only those who feast on blood can wield it. It has never worked on any of us. I suppose because we have our own powers.” Her lips flatlined. “Though I fear to think what he can do now that he has recently had dragon blood.”
My heart thumped painfully against my ribs. “Are you saying that he made all that up? He put me through that horror, and none of it was even real?”
Yuto let out an animalistic growl. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“So you’ve said,” Eryx murmured. “And I will be right by your side.”
“And me,” Aleka said with a nod before placing a soothing hand on my shoulder.
“And me.” Orion nodded, lifting his sword in the air. “Panos will regret the day he ever tried to cross this Thunder of Dragons. Though I’d rather meet him on the field than storm the castle. Better to see his face when he dies.”
A shiver went down my spine as the dragons surrounded me on the field. For the first time in my life, it felt as though I was part of a family. One that would never abandon me. One that would not leave me to die. They had my back, and I had theirs. And it was time we finished this asshole off once and for all.
Together, we took off across the field of ash. Clouds of dust shot into the air behind us. Our arms pumped by our sides until our breaths ran ragged. I zeroed in on the figure standing alone on the battlements. He waved the flag side to side, the dead dragon rippling in the breeze.
A cackle echoed toward us as we came within spitting distance of the looming walls. Yuto slowed to a stop, and then the rest of us followed suit. Lungs aching, I gasped for air but dust filled my lungs. I doubled over, coughing.
“Your mortal is not cut out for your vengeance quest, Yuto.” Panos’s voice was clear and calm. There was nothing unsteady or uncertain in his words.
Have we made a mistake?
That illusion had felt so real to me. The screams still echoed in my ears. But if Panos hadn’t conjured allies out of thin air, where were they now?
Yuto barked out a laugh. “Funny, one might think with the way you’re cowering inside your fortress thatyouare the one who is not cut out for this, Panos.”
Panos leaned over the battlement and dropped the flag. It fluttered in the ashen air, the bright red like a splash of blood against the sky. The image of the slaughtered dragon flared before us, and then crashed into a mangled heap at our feet.
“That is how I feel about you and your hopeless Thunder.” Panos sneered. “You are nothing. And you will die here this day.”
“Come out and fight me then,” Yuto called up to the blood-fiend. “Unless you are too frightened to face me on the field.”
“And let your Thunder get inside my castle? I don’t think so, dragonlord.”
“No,” Yuto countered. “They’ll stand back. It will be just you and me and no one else. One-on-one. The winner takes all. You have my word they won’t intrude.”
A ripple went through the Thunder. Shouts of shock and outrage peppered the air. Frowning, I tugged on Yuto’s sleeve. “You can’t do this.”
“It must be done,” he growled.
Panos twisted his lips into a smile. “You truly mean this folly. Very well then. Call your Thunder back, and I will face you alone. But the moment you renege on this promise, I will have my allies fill your body with poisoned arrows.”
Panos vanished from the battlement. Eryx stalked toward Yuto, his muscular body trembling with rage. “You can’t do this, Yuto. You’re falling straight into his trap.”
“He didn’t expect me to call him out on the field alone,” Yuto said quietly, his gaze still locked on the looming gates. “I won’t be the one stepping into a trap. He will.”
Orion pursed his lips. “This is an excellent idea. What do you want us to do, my lord?”
“I want you to stand back, like I promised. And don’t interfere.”
