Page 36 of Merciless Is My Crown

And if he emerged at the other end, only a short walk—an even shorter flight—to Nightcairn Castle…Tavion and I traded a look.

Lucius and everyone else at the castle would be fighting for their lives.

If I dropped this shield and he chased us back through the narrow tunnels…he’d incinerate us before we ever reached the end.

His powerful back legs thrust his long body forward, head weaving viciously like a snake on that long neck, his taloned wings digging chunks out of the rocky floor as he pivoted and spun, searching for some way through. I glanced at the knife gripped in Tavion’s hand.

Tavion was sick.

He couldn’t shift into his wolf form and our weapons would do nothing against…this.

If Tristan got through my shield, he’d slaughter us for sure, probably eat us from the feral hunger shining in his eyes. There was nothing left of Tristan in those glittering eyes, only an endless hatred.

Another roar and the walls around us shuddered, spilling dust and rock down over us. It went on so long I wondered if the entire crypt might collapse around us, burying us all down here for an eternity. Finally the thunderous sound stopped, the wyvern pulling back, head weaving back and forth not ten feet away.

“Did you know about this?”

“This?” Tavion looked as shocked as me. “Fuck no. The DeVaynes have always been a secretive bloodline, but wyvern shifters…not a clue.”

“Can we convince him to shift back?”

Instinct had us flinging ourselves backward as his tail connected with the shield, followed by one of those enormous talons ripping down through my magic like a knife carved though butter. The barrier parted enough for me to smell him, all bloodlust and ashy fire tinged with something metallic that coated my mouth like fresh struck lightning.

“I don’t think Tristan’s in control right now. So no, I’d say until he wrestles back dominance, we’re trapped.”

“In the vision, he…Saphrax…Tristan was upset I was hurt.” I traced my fingers over the shallow cut on my arm, the same place the gash appeared in the vision. “He was thrown by the fact I’d been injured. That’s what set him off.”

Strange, when Tristan barely noticed me most days. But the sight of my blood had set him off and if we didn’t fix this, and fast, we were dead.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Anaria, stop right now.”

“Take Adele and the horses and head into the tunnel, because in a minute, I’m lowering this shield.” I nodded to my mother, who was already limping toward the opening, leading her steed as the wyvern roared, sending a shower of dust down over us.

“Not happening.” Tavion snorted, like I’d suggested something ridiculous.

“I wasn’t asking permission; I’m telling you what’s about to happen. Take the other two horses and follow my mother. I can protect myself.” I saw his dark, knowing smile and shrugged. “Okay, I can protect myself enough that I hopefully won’t get incinerated.”

“You can’t take on a wyvern, Anaria. See that tail? Those spikes are venomous. So are those fangs. His fire is hot enough to melt bones and he’s stronger than my wolf. You cannot win against him.”

“You have to let me do this, Tavion.” It was getting impossible to hold both an argument and the shield steady. “You just…you have to.” I softened my voice. “Please. Please do this for me. Think of this as a favor.”

He barked out a harsh, humorless laugh. “You owe me so many, I’ve lost count.” His voice had that steely edge I was starting to dread. “I am not leaving your side.”

Fuck. Every part of me fought doing this, but he’d left me no choice but to tell him the truth. A truth that would not only wound his pride but wound him.

“You’re sick, Tavion.” I held his gaze steadily. “Your hands are shaking, you got caught mid-shift, and now you’re afraid to try again because you know if you do, you won’t come back. You can’t transform. You can’t help me right now,” I said miserably, Tavion’s expression slowly changing from confusion to frigid anger.

“I have one chance to get us all to Nightcairn alive and this is the only way I know how to do that. Please, I’m asking you to help me by staying out of the way.”

Something feral glimmered in Tavion’s eyes and I braced myself for the argument I saw poised on his bone-white lips, but he just growled through clenched teeth?—

“I’m not fucking sick. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I could have endured shouting easier than Tavion’s quiet, seething rejection, and how he never turned around when he left with Adele, not even once.

But I could only fight one battle at a time, and right now, I had a pissed-off wyvern to deal with.

When Tavion had been gone for two minutes, I stepped closer to the barrier, enough to see the myriad of colors in the wyvern’s scales matched Tristan’s red-gold hair perfectly. Enough to see that venom did, indeed, drip from the ends of those deadly fangs.

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