He had chosen me. Oh, god.
No!!
The two rulers dueled—fire versus shield. Both seemed equally as powerful; it would come down to who could hold their power the longest. Titus’s collar must have fallen off the same moment my shackles released. They groaned and yelled with strain.
Titus’s beautiful gold skin began to pepper with spots of char and Aurelius’s shield began to shrink. Both males were killing each other equally—or rather, Titus was killing them both equally, because he had no protection from himself.
He would rather shield me.
My heart swelled and broke all at once. I finally had proof of his devotion, but it was going to cost me him.
I would not lose him. Not again. Not in our past life in the car accident, and not now. I screamed, a guttural cry ripped from deep in my core. He was dying, and I didn’t know how I was going to survive losing him again. It had damn near killed me once.
He pushed his flames harder, rage fueling his power to end the Dragon Master once, and for all.
“Give up Titus we both know, I was supposed to be High Lord, I have the higher blood magic level!” Aurelius grunted through his teeth.
Titus’s gaze sharpened. “You could’ve ruled. I would’ve let you.” His voice turned vicious. “But you don’t get to haveher.And you
NEVER will!” The flames surged. “You may be stronger—but I’m the one willing to burn for her.”
Titus winced as his beautiful auburn waves began to singe at the ends. The tips of his pointed ears blackened, but he held nothing back, even though he could feel every ounce of his own fury.
“Titus stop, you’re killing yourself,” I cried. “You’re dying— please, I can’t lose you again!!” I sobbed, banging on the shield.
Titus looked back at me for only a heartbeat, and in that fragile sliver of time he gave me a look I would carry for the rest of my life, because I had seen it once before. It was the same look Danny gave me when his life slipped from his body. The smallest, saddest smile curved Titus’s mouth, and his eyes were unbearably kind. Love lived there, steady and surrendering, like a hand slowly loosening its hold on mine. A silent promise. A final goodbye.
“Titus!! NOOO!!” I wailed, pounding on the shield as hard as I could. No, no goodbyes, not again. If I could just get to him, maybe we could share the shield. I had to try, but moving through all of the magic in the room felt like swimming through mud. Slowly, I inched toward him.
Aurelius’s shield shrank again and he kneeled to stay fully protected in his orb. Titus started to look tired. The energy he was pouring out, his magic—he was fading. Dark circles formed under his eyes; his golden tan complexion that normally shimmered with gold flakes looked pale and dull. Aurelius’s shield began to falter, and it rallied the fading High Lord to push harder to stay standing, sending a stronger direct stream of roaring blaze right at the Master of Dragons.
Aurelius looked weaker too—pale, dizzy—and then his shield fizzled out. He tried, but he was unable to summon it back.
Titus fell to his knees in exhaustion, arms still up and outstretched, sending everything he had at his traitorous friend.
Aurelius got hit by the blast for several prolonged seconds, charring his skin and the tips of his ears and nose.
I still pushed with all of my strength to get to Titus, but there was so much magic, so much fire in the air. It was thick and dense, and I struggled to gain any distance at all.
Both males were on their knees, exhausted, fighting to stay upright, but somehow Aurelius managed to block Titus’s fire with a beam of white light. Their powers collided between them, causing another shockwave through the room, rendering the bodies to piles of ash that plumed thick in the air.
Titus’s skin was more black than tan now, and there were only patches of hair left on his head. The flames were taking too big of a toll on him. I pushed and pushed to get to him, but I’d barely moved a foot.
I needed to think of something.
I looked around and saw falling debris moving freely through the air outside of the shield—so why couldn’t I? It had to be because of the shield.
Then, an idea started to form.
Titus fell to one hand to brace himself upright, the other hand still sending continuous, deadly fire at Aurelius, as if he were a living flame thrower.
The Dragon Master also braced himself on one hand, pushing out all of his white light.
“Trying…to ..kill me again with your… white light…brother?” Titus huffed out.
“You’ve always been …jealous…of my ancient blood…I’ll always be… stronger than you.” Aurelius struggled to reply.
K. ROSÉ
