Page 291 of The War God’s Favorite

For a second, she thought she was going to die like this, killed by the humongous projectiled object. However, Opheus jumped on her, and a shadow immediately covered them. Cassandra closed her eyes by reflex, and a horrible uproar burst around them. It felt like a bomb had just exploded behind them. The two of them were thrown onto the ground, and Cassandra felt some of her injuries get worse.

“Phe! Glahad!”

Nothing could have awoken her up more efficiently. Cassandra opened her eyes, and some blood dripped on her cheek. A dragon’s thick, warm, and dark blood. She struggled to sit up, and realized the large shadow over them was one of Phe’s wings. The White Dragon had jumped in at the last minute to protect them, taking most of the hit. Cassandra crawled to get out of there, and finally see what was going on. Opheus had been quicker to get out of there. The Fourth Prince helped her up, but the two of them had to face the horrible scene.

Glahad had been violently ejected from the Great Hall, and the Golden Dragon was covered in blood. Its battered body landed next to the lake. Cassandra felt her heart go horribly cold. Glahad had really been defeated. Had it gotten weaker because of its Master’s disappearance? The old dragon was breathing with difficulty, and Kian was the first to run over, with worried little squeaks. Meanwhile, Cassandra turned to Phe. The poor White Dragon had protected them, but had collided violently with Glahad and gotten injured. One of its wings was horribly ripped open, bleeding and broken in several parts. Opheus looked devastated, running to his dragon to comfort the poor Creature.

Meanwhile, Krai growled and ran to Cassandra’s side. The Black Dragon’s growls were directed at the ruckus that was still going on inside. Cassandra shivered. Glahad defeated, it meant Kairen and Shareen were alone to fight the Red Dragon. Vrehan was really going to win this if she didn’t act quickly. She turned to Krai, grabbing one of the dragon’s horns.

“Krai, we have to go to the Arena,” she said. “Quick.”

She hoped Kairen could hold on a bit longer with Shareen’s help, but for now, she really needed Krai. Neither Phe nor Glahad were in a state to fly anymore, and she wouldn’t make it to the arena by herself.

The Black Dragon growled furiously, and Cassandra climbed on its back. They took off immediately, headed south-west.

“Cassandra!” yelled Opheus as she was already off the ground.

“Stay with them, I’ll be back!”

The Fourth Prince watched the concubine go, with a heavy heart. She was really going to do this on her own? He grimaced and turned to Phe, who was already getting back on its feet. The white dragon may have been in no condition to fly, but it could still attack. Opheus, too, grabbed his weapon, and headed for the pile of rocks.

“When you fucking have to, you have to.”

Chapter26

It felt strange, to fly back to the place where everything had changed for her.

Cassandra could feel her nervousness rise as the Black Dragon flew towards the Imperial Arena. Was she scared to go back? Did she hate this place? Surely it’s a bit of both. It didn’t bring back good memories, except for the moment she met Kairen. However, before that, there was only death. The many, many people whose deaths she had witnessed. She could still remember it all too well. Dozens of slaves, running in all directions, and being violently killed by the six Imperial dragons.

Six dragons, six Princes. Among them, the only one who had sealed her fate, Kairen. She still couldn’t really understand the forces that had saved her life that day. Were his feelings for her really something so strong that Krai had felt it before its Master even had set his eyes on Cassandra? It sounded like something out of an ancient tale, and yet it was her life. For Cassandra, that was all it had taken to end years and years of suffering. She had wanted to die in that arena. Not for those people’s pleasure, just because being killed by a legendary beast was one way to end an insignificant existence.

“Come on, Krai,” she whispered.

She couldn’t ignore all the blood covering the black scales. Though it seemed fine flying, the Black Dragon wasn’t as strong or as powerful as usual. Krai was tired from the fight with Lephys’ dragon and the soldiers outside. How could those dragons, considered as Gods by her people, simply be seen as weapons by the Empire?

Not only was she dreading going to the Arena, Cassandra had also left a part of her heart back inside the Palace. Kairen was still fighting, by the sounds they heard coming from inside the Hall. At least, she hung onto that hope. That the furious dragon growls were proof that neither was dead yet. She had no idea how long a War God could withstand against a dragon, and she was even scared to think about it. At least Princess Shareen was with him.

Krai finally arrived above the Arena. Strangely, maybe because she was seeing it from above, the Arena felt smaller than when she had come here, over a year ago now. Cassandra’s nervousness increased again, as Krai started the descent. She was basically unarmed, except for the adult dragon that accompanied her.

They landed softly in the middle of the arena, and Cassandra had to take a deep breath to chase the memories resurfacing. She kept her hand on Krai’s warm scales, bringing her some comfort. She truly hated this place, but she was sure the young dragons were here. Why had Vrehan subjected his own sister to this? What justified such a despicable, immoral act, like the rape of his own blood?

A sudden movement caught her attention on the left, and Krai started growling as well. One of the heavy doors that led to the cells opened, revealing two dragons.

Cassandra gasped. Those didn’t look like the usual dragons, though. More like creatures that had come out of a mix between a nightmare and a horrible mistake. The first one had half of its head missing, as if it had melted down, and breathed heavily, it’s maw open and drooling. It was walking awkwardly, with its front paws having a noticeable difference in size. The neck was a strange shape as well, and it had scales missing in some spots, exposing horrible, brownish flesh. The second one wasn’t any better. It was the fattest, yet shortest, dragon Cassandra had ever seen, and its wings were obviously too small to support its weight. It had a strange arched back too, like a hunchback. Both dragons didn’t even come close to the beauty of a proper dragon, like Krai or the Water God. Those two looked like they had come out of a children’s bad drawing of a dragon.

“What are those?” she whispered.

“Aren’t they amazing?” chuckled a voice behind the dragons.

Cassandra stepped back. Vrehan appeared from the shadows, coming out slowly.

His face bore the horrible injury she had inflicted on him earlier, the flesh still ripped open in the middle of his face. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but the reddish scales were obviously struggling to appear on such an irregular surface. The Second Prince looked like a reptile was trying to take over his face, and his left eye was behaving strangely too, as if it couldn’t fix itself but was still trying. He was almost as scary and deformed as the monsters he had created.

“You’re... crazy,” she whispered.

It seemed like he had heard her because he broke into a burst of mad laughter that echoed throughout the Arena. Cassandra frowned, completely lost by his crazy behavior. Next to her, Krai curled up around the young concubine, arching its back and growling in a warning for the two monsters not to approach them. The scary thing was, no matter how horrible they were to look at, those two things were still rather big. The little ones Cassandra had fended off before were nothing compared to these two. These two dragons were between a third to half of the size of Krai, and unlike the Black Dragon, they looked...up for a fight.

She glared at Vrehan. The Second Prince was slowly walking her way, his mouth distorted with what should have been a smile.

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