Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Silence wills the space linking my thoughts to hers, and then darkness.
The sky revolts, sparking and rumbling and the ring around Saturn goes dark.
In my peripheral, I catch my brothers' heads snapping toward me.
“Ah, fuck,” Creed mutters.
Mother struggles in Sinner’s arms. “Vicente! Stay with her, go back to the Royal Estate!”
Mother protests, but they’re gone in a split second, Sinner stepping back through the open portal and closing Mother and the commander on the other side.
My eyes are locked on the white hair blowing from high above.
Baby-
“Quiet, lover. The girls are talking.”
Her words are teasing, but the way they leave her are anything but.
They’re dark whispers of a demon.
I watch as she smiles brightly at the girl she used to know, and I know the moment her eyes go black.
My sister backs up a step, and then another and then London laughs, a manic sound that lifts into the air, shaking the foundation we stand on. We stumble, watching.
Then London lifts her palm, placing it over her eyes.
“What is she doing?” Legend worries.
“Being a fucking badass.” Haide steps forward, yawning like she's bored.
“Knight...” Creed edges, ready to leap up and protect our Queen.
London lifts her chin, spinning. She gives her back to Temperance.
No, she offers her back to Temperance, giving her the chance to slide a knife into it.
A growl tears through my throat, and my brothers and I run as one, leaping, but before we can reach the terrace, before the knife that Temperance reveals leaves her fingertips, he appears.
His wings spread wide; nose pointed as he soars right for them.
I stop in my tracks because I know he will protect her, though I’m not so sure she needs it anymore.
This? This is a show and everyone in Rathe is watching.
He swoops down, taking our sister between his teeth and tosses her into the air just as several more dragons appear.
My brows jump and Haide claps.
London grins, throwing her hand out to freeze Temperance there in the air, and the dragons circle her.
My Queen looks to me, waiting.
I look to my brothers, who give curt nods.
She’s all yours, baby.
London faces forward, cocks her head and smiles.
All at once, fire bellows from the mouths of each dragon.
The screams of an unworthy royal echo in the air as ash rains down from above.
I reach up, watching as it falls, disappearing into nothing the closer it gets to the ground, the ash of her bone unworthy food to our realm’s surface.
Wait.
I look to my brothers and it’s as if they realized it at the same time.
“The ashes.”
Creed nods, a small smile hooking his lips. “The fucking ashes.”
London
The dragons lower, their talons hitting the ground with a harsh thud, but not mine. Mine is elegant as he comes back to me, the space in the sky where Temperance was suspended, nothing but a grey cloud of smoke that’s disappearing by the second.
I can't believe she’s alive.
I can’t believe she’s gone.
It’s a strange headspace to be in, especially being I wanted to tear her head from her body when Knight told me what she did.
How could she?
Why did she?
Where has she been?
Obviously, the flames of a dragon can’t kill a royal, but I wasn’t trying to kill her. I wanted to torture her a little before the boys got ahold of her. Wherever she portalled to, it wasn’t before her clothes were turned to ash and the flesh melted from her bones, and it’s not like she can heal herself. She can’t get too far.
The dragon comes to me, gently dropping before me.
He lowers his jaw to the surface’s floor, his head still so much taller than my entire body.
A small smile covers my lips as I approach, and I don’t know why but sadness sweeps over me with each step I take.
I place my hand on the sharp scales, gently brushing the tips of my fingers over his gorgeous form. “Saved me again, huh, little dragon?”
The dragon huffs and I laugh lightly.
“Yeah, Yeah, I was only teasing.” I lean close, whispering, “You’re the real beast, aren't you?”
The dragon blinks, his giant eyes shining and whirling a deep emerald.
Longing washes over me, and in the back of my mind, the King’s words come once again.
When emerald eyes fall upon you, feast until you feel its soul...
I stare at the dragon, eyes narrowing, fingers twitching. The green bursts brighter, spinning, and I fall into their trance. Whirling and looping until I’m ten years old, swinging in the old park by my home, hands not that much bigger than mine pushing my back.
I laugh, jumping off and then suddenly I'm breaking the surface of water, spinning and splashing at the person who pushes me in. I dive under and suddenly I’m in my bed, buried by blankets as a weight falls on top of me laughing and tickling and I give in. I throw the covers from my face smiling up in a pair of perfect hazel eyes.