Page 48 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
We were too far to hear the screams. For now.
I fought against the coldness spreading throughout, trying to remain in the here and now. I couldn’t afford to lose myself, not anymore. The darkness must be kept at bay. I had someone waiting for me, someone I hoped would be happy and eager to explore things further between us with every message of mine that was delivered.
Which meant no succumbing to the lust of battle. No embracing that part of me that longed to come out.
Ella was waiting for me, giving me something to look forward to, and I latched on to that thought. It was a nice one. The idea that I had someone to go home to. We weren’t healed yet, but we were trying.
“So many,” I grunted at Florian as the full force of the Red invasion came into view. “Wonder what provoked them. This is a surprising amount of force.”
“Not really. You should know.”
My snout came around in surprise at his words. Did he think this was somehow my fault? “Explain.”
“A month ago, you hit a raiding party with nearly twenty dragons. Wiped them out. The Reds would have viewed that as you responding with overwhelming force to a standard raid.”
“But that wasn’t on purpose. We had just left Bryna’s estate after rescuing Anna and Milly. We received word of the raid mid-flight.” I frowned, thinking it through to the conclusion. “But they can’t know that. They would have assumed we were already in-region as a response force. So they think we’re gearing up for outright war, and the Red King decided to hit us first.”
“Well, they’re going to pay for that,” Casimir snarled, surging out in front with a burst of speed that only I could match.
We started twisting around one another before we hit the Reds, a helix formation that caused them to hesitate.
It was the undoing for several. As we went, Casimir and I in perfect synchronicity, the temperature of the air between us plunged, and the air began to move as well, propelled by our push-and-pull effect on the moisture within the tunnel.
At the last moment, we broke apart, and the ice-cyclone flew horizontally through the formation of Reds. Four of them were caught in its grip and tumbled from the sky, the water in their bodies freezing solid.
Banking sharply as a line of flame stabbed out at me, I raked my claws across the face of a desperately diving red, ripping a line from his snout to the back of his head. Scales and blood fell to the ground far below.
Rage billowed up out of me and I let it free, breathing a stream of ice across the wing of yet another Red. Suddenly immobile and weighted down, the dragon fell with a trumpet of fear.
Flames singed my belly as I twisted and dove, accelerating sideways and wreaking havoc on their formation even as I made for the village on the ground.
I landed on a Red tormenting the weaker dragons of the village. My talons punched through red scales and tore apart the tendons that attached wing to body just before he could incinerate a helpless woman and her daughter whom she was trying to shield with her weak frost powers.
“Go! Run!” I shouted at the woman before tearing out the throat of the Red.
“T-thank you, my lord,” she said, taking off at a breakneck pace for the edge of the village and what I hoped would be safety beyond.
I was wrong.
A monstrous dragon burst free from a blazing building along her path. Burning embers and debris fell from its frame as it bellowed a deafening battle cry. The woman screamed and tried to dodge the fire dragon, clutching the young child to her breast as the beast’s foot came down on her.
Only to be stopped cold. Ice swarmed up from the snow-covered ground, forming a dome around the woman. The dragon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Get away from her,” I snarled, stomping forward on all fours.
The murderous dragon turned its gaze on me, its eyelids narrowing.
“You’re going to pay for this.” I gestured at the burning village around me, even as I gathered my power.
I was going to need it. My opponent was none other than Akio himself. Florian’s opposite among the Reds.
I was stronger. He was far older, wilier and battle-trained. This would not be an easy fight, but I wasn’t going to let him getaway with such casual murder either. I was the Ice Prince. These were my people. And Iwouldprotect them.
The world shook as we collided, each battling for supremacy. Fire against ice. Akio tossed me sideways. Extricating myself from the charred remnants of a house, I spat ice at him, a solid stream that pinned his wings to his sides. Momentarily restricted, Akio had to choose between spewing fire at me or freeing himself.
Fire burst from every surface of his body, and the wings came free. A second later, I was on his back in a blur of paws, claws and wings. Scales were torn free, blood flowed like water, and I thought I was in the clear.
Until the fire returned. It burned bright and hot everywhere, forcing me to jump free before it melted my paws.
