Page 98 of The Heart of the Dragon

"By order of the King, you, Magnus Ferguson Aegrond, have been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Any last words?"

"What?" I screamed. Our intentions may have not been good, but thus far we'd yet to break any laws.

"Uncle!" he bellowed, ignoring the guards threatening him. We were there to confront the king in person, not the others. It was his uncle who needed to pay for the dark magic he'd wielded against my mate for far too long.

How dare he think it would be this easy to get rid of him—again.

But the castle's walls were seemingly coming alive as more dark shadows emerged, filling the room. It took but a moment for them to surround us at least five deep, leaving us nowhere to go. We were trapped.

The king had tapped into a magic that instinct told me to be wary of, and it killed me that there'd been no time to learn more.

In the midst of the forming darkness, my heart raced. We were outnumbered and overwhelmed by magic so dark I could feel it slithering against my skin.

Magnus's entire body went rigid, and I immediately felt the shimmer of his power surround us both.

"Run!" he roared.

He was going to turn into a dragon right here and rip a dragon sized hole into the side of the castle. The familiar blue light flashed over him, and there wasn't time for me to get away, let alone anywhere for me to go. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to the Goddess to keep as many people safe in the castle as possible.

The scent of sulfur with undertones of darkness burned my nose. I opened my eyes to Magnus still standing in front of me. No dragon in sight.

"What is going on?" he roared again. Several men charged forward with knives and a battleaxe in their hands, swarmingaround us. Panic rose swift and hard as I tried to move, but I wasn't fast enough. Magnus shoved me to the ground and attacked. But there were too many. And without his dragon, he was as vulnerable as I was. Knives and arrows were flying above me and I didn't know what to do. My ears buzzed with the rushing of my blood as all the sights and sounds melded together.

Everything moved both incredibly fast and in slow motion.

One hooded soldier after another piled onto Magnus, pinning him down, until the one with the battleaxe swung...

A blood curdling scream tore from my lips as the axe arced through the air, almost ringing in anticipated victory, until it connected expertly with Magnus's neck. Blood rained down from above, splattering on my skin in a hot shower of death as the sharp blade of the weapon sliced true, removed his head from his body, and fell to my feet with a wet thud, eyes open wide, mouth agape.

For many seconds I couldn't move. I couldn’t breathe. Nor could I possibly look away.

I tried to scream, but everything inside me had seized.

By the time the sound broke free, the room erupted in cheers, drowning out my screams, and every other sound my revolting body made. I tried to scoot away in horror, pure desperation driving me to move, but found I was stuck between the mass of legs surrounding me as terror ripped through every vein of my body. Hands grabbed at me as I fought against them, the warm, sticky blood slipping and sliding on and around me.

My brain had gone numb, and my vision was blurring. I couldn't fight, but I had to. Magnus was...

Instinct kicked in. I grabbed two of the knives tucked at my waist and used them to swipe in a frantic, maniacal pattern. I no longer cared who or what I hit. Only that I didn't stop.

I would avenge my mate.

Everyone had to die.

But there was so much blood. Tears burned in my eyes. I made my way to my hands and knees. Unfortunately, more guards swarmed in the room, and I heard someone order me locked up.

"No!" I screamed, my lungs burning with effort. I kicked and bit, using every last burst of energy I possessed as I was yanked to my feet by my arms.

And then it happened.

The world froze momentarily, and then the sensation of it all unraveling ripped through me. The room went dark. This had to be it. I would join Magnus in the darkness. I was dying.

Only the sound of my heart still beating pushed me onward, until I fell on the floor and collapsed into a heap.

"Rose!" someone screamed as feet pounded on the floor in my direction. "Are you all right?"

I looked up, momentarily blinded by a bright light before it cleared and the man standing over me came into focus.

"Magnus?"

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