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Alarm screaming in my head, I straightened to find her, still staggering, but upright and staring at me through bloodshot, hungry eyes.

The Dominus

SOUNDTRACK: The King Is Dead by Bryce Fox and King Green

~ VOSKI ~

I stared pure disgust at my mother. The booming thuds and earth-shaking of the dragons’ battle had ceased. There were still shouts, but fewer bodies in view.

‘Kham?’

‘We come.’ His tone was heavy. I assumed they’d had to kill the mindless dragons. We would grieve. But there was no time.

‘We need you,’ I sent desperately.

‘We know. We come.’

I heard their wings beating the sky. They would land again, and join us. But one glance at Grace, curled up on the ground, Cali leaning over her, and I shook my head.

I could stand here and kill my mother for attempting to kill my mate, or I could go to Grace. Help her.

‘Kham, can Koa heal this kind of wound for Grace?’

‘Not quickly enough.’

I wanted to scream. Why, God? Why allow this when we were so close? Why allow my mother one more victory?

I locked eyes with my mother and I wanted to kill her. Kham rumbled in my head.

‘You have already taken her authority. She is already defeated. Don’t blight your own soul on her behalf.’

She smiled. “I can do it, Vane,” she whispered, stumbling toward me.

“Do what?”

“I can heal her. I can save the baby. It still lives—but barely.”

I physically flinched and my mother’s smile widened.

“You are sick,” I spat.

Mother shrugged and took another step closer. “So are you. There is a little sickness needed to truly lead, after all. And you can do it, Vane. Stay. Lead. Embrace the power. You don’t need them, but if you want them, I can make sure the baby lives.”

She smiled. She spoke of the death of my child, and she smiled. She’d tried to keep my power, and when I defeated her, she plunged a knife into the stomach of my wife, my mate, in an attempt to remove everything from me that mattered.

‘No, she seeks to remove love which shields you from her control. She wants to drag you back into the dark with her, so she can use you once more,’ Kham murmured.

I shook with the fire to close hands on her throat and strangle the life out of her. But that shrieking alarm in my head stopped me.

‘A peaceful heart is more powerful than a vengeful one, Voski. Do not let her rage be a stone tied to your back for the rest of your days.’

‘She tried to kill Grace. And maybe… maybe the baby as well.’

‘This is her nature. It has always been.’ Kham’s tone was grieved, but resigned.

‘The world would be better without her.’

‘We are in agreement on that point.’