Page 110 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
I kicked out, dumping Mirko on his ass. I got to my feet and charged at my uncle, one hand shifting into claws as I neared.
I would finally rid the kingdom of the threat from within. Finally my mate would be safe.
And finally, I would be able to rest.
My hand came up to strike.
“Dirk!”
Ella’s scream stopped me in my tracks.
Fifty-Three
Ella
Everything happenedso fast.
One moment Casimir was standing over Mirko, and the challenge was over. The next, the tyrant was gone, spinning wildly out of control far across the field, propelled by a wall of ice. Dirk was down in a spray of blood from his face, and Florian fell, impaled by Andrik’s attack.
“Stay here!” Kolar roared, leaping the railing.
Fighting erupted in several places.
“Stay behind me,” Anna barked, spreading her arms wide, her eyes glowing purple as she summoned her dragon.
I tried to do the same, reaching for that presence in my head and trying to bring my dragon forth, but she wasn’t there.Damn you.
Down below, Dirk got to his feet, focused on the one thing he craved the most.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it happen. Movement. Something big,verybig was swooping in, aiming right for Anna.
“Get down!” I shrieked, shoving my friend aside.
She fell to the ground, looking up at me with horror as the dragon’s claws wrapped around me, the middle one piercing my lower abdomen in a splash of blood.
“Dirk!” I shrieked as I was hauled from the ground into the sky by the big white and silver beast who had come from nowhere.
“Damn it,” the monster hissed, already beating for higher skies. “Whatever. You’ll have to do.”
I stared up at my captor, the incredible agony in my stomach forgotten for a moment as I realized in a distant corner of my mind … Iknewthem.
“D-durion?” I gaped, weak from shock and the pain of being impaled. “What are you doing?”
“Shut up,” he snarled, his wings driving frantically for the sky. “Just shut up. You weren’t supposed to do that. It was supposed to be Anna.”
“But why?” I whimpered, looking behind me.
The last I’d seen of Dirk, he was finally going to get his way. He’d gotten to his feet and was advancing on Mirko. At last, he would kill his cousin.
But he wasn’t there. The field was empty, the ice a giant lump, nothing more. Mirko was in the air, circling wide on his way to link up with Durion and another dragon. Andrik?
Durion adjusted his claws. Fresh blood poured from my belly. I screamed in agony, my head flopping weakly to the side. It was hard to focus through the pain, each tiny movement sending fresh lances straight into my skull.
So it was, hanging limply, I saw the Field of Ice shudder and crack. The hump at the centerrippledas something moved. Something big.
The screams from the crowd reached me even in the sky as the dome erupted outward in an explosion of razor-sharp ice chunks.
At the center was a dragon. A very large, very pissed-off dragon, with eyes as hard and blue as sapphires. A tiny trickle of blood leaked from one nostril on its snout. The mouth opened wide, and the beast vented its fury.
