Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
My body slammed into the stone keep, and my blade slid away.
I pushed to my knees quickly and reached for my sword before I could lose my own head. I rolled out of the way of his possible attack and finally got to my feet. I looked forward then back, but he was nowhere.
Then my eyes lifted to the sky.
There he hovered, enormous wings spanning out on either side of him. They flapped as they kept him in place, just as Regar had moments ago. With irritated eyes, he stared down at me.
“Coward.”
“Once HeartHolme is mine, your mother will be the first to go. Then your brother. Then your sister. My belly will be full of the souls of everyone you love.” He flapped his wings and disappeared into the night, camouflaged by the darkness and the smoke, by the screams of chaos in the streets.
TWENTY-FOUR
Ivory
I saw his massive form, clear as day despite the night, his enormous wings keeping his heavy body off the ground. “Pyre, look.”
Pyre finished burning the archers on the walls before he lifted his body higher from the ground. He circled until he could see the enemy dragon. He was quiet as he stared, gliding over the broken parts of the castle. Regar. Venom was in his voice, fire in his tone.
“You know him?”
King Dunbar’s dragon. The one that forced my mother.
“Oh shit…”
He circled again and came closer, and that was when I recognized the man standing on the roof, the one who was about to be charred to ash. “Pyre, that’s Huntley down there.”
Yes, I see.
“We need to do something.”
He’s twice my size.
“But there’re two of you. He hasn’t spotted you yet. Now’s the perfect time to catch him off guard.”
Pyre remained quiet.
My heart raced, seeing the fire in Regar’s throat, the fire meant for my husband. “Pyre, hit him from the left. Have Storm hit him from the right. Then we’ll claw that motherfucker to death.”
Pyre still didn’t say anything.
“Think of your mother, Pyre. Do it for her.”
Pyre made a sharper turn and headed straight for Regar.
Oh, thank the gods…
Storm is ready.
“Let’s do it. I’ll aim my sword for his eyes.”
Hold on.
I gripped the pommel and saw the dark form grow closer and closer. I kept my body low, as flat against Pyre’s body as possible. Now the black dragon was right up against us, like it was right in front of my nose.
ROOOAAAAARRRR.
My body gave a jerk at the collision, and I nearly flew off the saddle. We started to free-fall, and then I landed back into the saddle. I couldn’t even pull at my blade, not when I could barely hold on.
I looked above me and saw Storm hit him from the other side. The hit was hard enough that Regar toppled toward the ground, Storm slashing at his scales and biting at his neck. “Finish him!”
Pyre spun around and dove like a bird.
My hair streaked past my face and tears burned my eyes, we were going so fast. Pyre lifted at the last minute and landed on the black dragon on the ground. I could hear the screams, hear the scales ripped from his body, the sound of breaking bones in his wings.
Then everything went quiet.
He’s dead.
I collapsed onto the saddle, my body suddenly exhausted after the battle was finished. “Good job, Pyre…”
Pyre landed on the roof of the section of the castle that was still standing, and I slid to the surface. I moved too quickly and my knees buckled, but I got back to my feet and sprinted toward the man who was waiting for me.
I jumped into his arms, and he caught me. With my feet above the ground, he held me, held my body as well as the weight of my armor and weapons. My eyes closed as I held on to him, as I clutched the man I’d almost lost.
“You saved my ass, baby.” He lowered me to the roof so he could look at me, his helmet left on the ground behind him. He pulled my helmet off my head and dropped it before both hands slid into my hair.
“Pyre and Storm did.”
“But I know you had something to do with that.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Did they kill Regar?”
“Yes. He’s the dragon that was forced on their mother.”
“Then he deserved the death he got.”
I looked past him to what was left of the castle, which wasn’t much. “Rutherford?”
“Dead.”
“You executed him?”
“I let him be buried underneath his own castle.”
“And Haldir?”
“Got away.” All the relief left his face when he was mentioned. “Opened his wings and took off.”
“That’s right…he can fly.”
“And he’s hard to see, unlike a dragon.”
I turned around and surveyed the rest of the city. Some buildings were on fire, and the distant sound of fighting was still audible. But the cannons had stopped, and the smoke was traveling out over the ocean. “He must have been afraid of you.”