Page 28 of Heir of Broken Souls

I’m not letting him take another thing from me.

Unsheathing the dragon pommel sword strapped to my back, along with a larger blade on my thigh, I ignore Knox’s fretting at my back and go in swinging. My blades meet the necks and hearts of those who try to stop me. The hounds and Phookas that try to bury their disgusting claws in me.

Nothing and no one can distract me from my goal, especially as one large demonic dragon puffs up its chest and roars, spitting fire at Aurora and singeing her left leg.

Her cry has me seeing red. My vision tunnels into a focus so deadly I barely note how many drop around me. Or how many slash and strike at my own body. All I can feel is the pain barreling through the door of my and Aurora’s bond. The agony in her wail, the fury in Zephlyn’s deadly roar.

A surge of power rises within me, screaming to escape. I don’t deny its request this time—nor hold it back as the demonic dragon that burnt Aurora’s hind leg puffs up its chest once more.

It doesn’t have time to expel its fire, or even open its jaw, before my own explodes.

Golden light flies for everything around me as I run as fast as the wind toward the griffins. My magic no longer listens to my commands but takes control, encasing the dragon and setting it on fire from the inside out. Boiling its organs into nothing but a dark liquid.

It doesn’t let up even as it thrashes, or when it sways and falls to the ground, dead. I want it to burn. I want it to melt the moment it opens its eyes as it’s summoned to these lands once more. I want it to die at the hands of my power every time it dares to come back.

The fury that ignites within its companion’s dark red eyes has something akin to delight humming through my veins. It turns its focus away from the griffins and toward me. I can practically taste its desire for my blood from here.

I’m the golden one. I’m the one they want.

The dragon rears back on its haunches and pounces. With a ferocious snarl, I dive for it too, sliding along the bloody terrain to move in on its exposed underbelly. I plunge my dragon pommel sword deep and without reprieve. The blade glides with me along the floor, slicing it open from chest to bottom.

The roar it lets out is agonizing. Before I can even command it, golden flames rush for its open cavity, burning it from the inside out.

I can’t find the time to be annoyed, because right as I straighten, I’m encasing myself and the griffins in a golden protective bubble. Demonic creatures try but fail to penetrate the shield, bouncing off it like pesky bugs. Zephlyn pays them no mind either as he paces beside Aurora, his snout puffing hot air, panicked for the same reason as me.

We can’t lose anyone else.

I kneel beside her, running a shaking hand above her scorched skin. It’s horribly charred, third degree no doubt.

“Shhh,” I try to soothe. “I’ll make it all better, Aurora, I promise.”

Taking a steadying breath, I double the shield around us and then turn inward to the power thrumming through my body.Please listen to me, I beg.

Lifting both my hands, I hover them over her burnt skin, not taking offense as she flinches at the proximity. I take one measured breath before slowly blowing it out, envisioning healing blue light and relenting as my magic whispers to me and starts to flow.

The moment it touches her body, the bond between us grows taut with her screams. I’ve never heard such a sound from her before. It takes everything within me not to lose my concentration.

But ever so slowly, the pained whines turn into deep heaves of relief. Daring to open my eyes, I watch in awe as a new layer of skin finishes growing, muscle and tissues repairing, hair already blooming. I want to laugh and cry, I’m not sure which.It worked.

Withdrawing my hand, I drop one of the shields and meet her and Zephlyn’s eyes, both seething with rage and ready for a fight. “Let’s make them suffer. For everything,” I vow.

Chapter10

Delilah

With Aurora healed, she stands behind my back, every fiber of her being vibrating with a fury so palpable it seems to electrify the air around us. Now that the shield is down, the sound comes rushing in, dousing my senses with screams, steel hitting steel, and the undeniable stench of death.

My gaze lands on Knox, only a few paces in front of me cutting down those that were trying to break the protective shield. Once I’m back in view, the demonic creatures snap their heads in my direction and sneer.

Knox snarls low and viciously as he sends his shadows for the demonic creatures that rush me. His flying shadows snap their necks and others thrash, their sharp claws pawing at their necks as he steals the air from them. All the while, he cuts a path of blood and gore to get to me.

Those who escape the destruction of his hands and power pounce at the opportunity to capture me. Their short-sightedness costs them.

The griffins unleash themselves.

My body is a whirlwind of golden flame and steel.

Meeting the hounds halfway I go in swinging, the dragon pommel sword in one hand and my golden flames in the other as it demands to join me. With a whirl of steel and hatred, Knox fights perpendicular to me. We’re a dance of death, leading our way to one another.