Page 30 of Lies That Bind
‘Incoming.’
I craned my neck to see a shadow bolt across the sky.
It was a dragon with a rider; I could tell by the wings.
Liana inhaled through her nose and tensed even further. Smoke leaked from her nostrils in long white tendrils, and she glanced up at me with flaming yellow eyes.
‘Permission to seek revenge for my mate,’she asked, and a shock went through me.
Whatdid she just say?
Our escape plan was to fly east and then head south, low over the Wilds until we hit the Wall. Liana increased her speed, super-fast, aiming east as she began to descend over the Wilds of Luska, which they called the Forbidden.
‘What do you mean revenge for your mate?’ I asked her, casting worried glances over my shoulder as Colt pulled a bow. The shadow of the dragon was in the distance now.
That’s when I was hit with a montage of images that flashed from Liana’s mind into mine.
Her mate, Aldan, a male firebird with black and blue feathers that faded to white, had died protecting her from the very dragon that was in the sky chasing us right now. Liana had been in a vulnerable position at the time, wounded and healing from a territorial battle, when Drak, the alpha dragon behind us, took out her mate. Normally, Liana protected her mate in such battles since she had an infinite lifespan. Aldanwas a powerful fighter, but he was not immortal. But that time, she could not.
My chest heaved, and I fought to keep from sobbing as Liana replayed Aldan’s final moments to me in vivid detail.
Drak, a green dragon, ripped Aldan’s throat out right in front of an injured Liana. She was so heartbroken that she burst into flames and died right then and there, but Drak, being impervious to flame, was uninjured.
The images stopped, and Liana landed on the ground inside of the Forbidden.
“Why are we landing here?” Lieutenant Colt hissed from behind me.
“Get off,” I growled at him, unable to contain my rage at Drak. He did as ordered.
Liana had waited years to see the green dragon again. Tonight we would get revenge, not just for my father, but for her mate as well.
‘You understand why I have to do this?’Liana asked me.
‘Of course. Permission granted. Let’s cut him into a thousand pieces,’I declared and pulled my blade.
Liana sighed.
Forgive me, Aisling,’she said, and then she bucked me. I went flying, a scream of surprise ripping from my throat as I dropped the blade so that I didn’t accidentally stab myself with it. I hit the forest floor hard, landing on my shoulder just as Liana kicked off and took to the sky.
‘No!’I shouted after her.
‘I would never be able to live with myself if you got hurt,’she shared.
‘He’s dangerous. You need my help!’I shrieked as I scrambled to stand.
I’d just learned that Drak was an alpha dragon, which meant he was very powerful—stronger and faster than any other maleTalanagi. His power was something she was hiding from me. It scared her.
‘I’m immortal. You might not be. We do not know,’Liana said as she pumped her wings higher and higher.‘And I have help. Onyx is with me.’
A second shadow joined her side, and I recognized the black dragon as Onyx. But there was no rider on him.
Kohen? Finn, Jade?
A twig snapped behind us and both Lieutenant Colt and I spun.
I relaxed when I recognized Kohen and the two other special-ops soldiers.
Kohen looked pissed. “Onyx kicked us off for some suicide mission against a rival dragon.”
