Page 48 of Dragon King's Cursed Mate

Suddenly, the tree began to crackle and it fell over, crashing into the river.

“We need to go, now!”

19

Seraphina

The ancient tree was well-guarded. It seemed as though an evil spirit was tied to the tree, watching over it. Seraphina could hear the thump, thump, thump emanating from the tree, like a heartbeat.

The bloodstone was the only thing holding the tree upright. It should have fallen over decades ago. She gave the warning to be ready to move in case the tree fell toward the dragons in a last act of evil.

Closing her eyes, she steeled herself to retrieve the relic. The leather bag was burning hot and stung her hand as she pulled it out of the tree. She could hear the pulse of the stone within it, and a stench of sulfur and rotting flesh overwhelmed her.

The darkness was suffocating and oppressive, stealing away her breath. It slithered around them, like a living thing. The evil shadow filled every shadow and every crevice in the ancient grove.

It pulsated with the same rhythm as the stone, as though it were a hungry, living entity. Seraphina could feel it reaching for them. It would envelop them in a shroud of pure malevolence, sucking their life force from them.

“We need to go, now.”

The men didn’t hesitate. Seraphina leaped onto Dain’s back, and the four dragons lifted off into the air as the darkness reached out for them.

During the entire flight, the stone burned Seraphina’s hand. She grimaced and fought back tears from the pain. If she dropped it, they would never be able to find it again.

Finally, they reached the ruins. Seraphina rushed into the temple, opened the leather pouch and dumped the stone onto the table. Keal, Cassion, Darius, and Dain stared intently at it.

“It looks like obsidian, but something’s not right about it,” Darius said.

“That’s because it’s a bloodstone. It makes sense that it’s obsidian since Malakar is an obsidian dragon shifter. However, it looks more fluid because it had a piece of him connected to it.”

“How do you destroy it?” Dain asked.

“I think Xander is best suited to do that,” Seraphina said. “I could use my dagger, but I believe another obsidian dragon could better take the essence from it.”

Dain summoned Xander, who showed up within a minute, as though he sensed he would be called.

He stared at the stone and then at Seraphina. “I can feel it pulsating--like a heart beating.”

She nodded. “I figured you’d be able to feel it. Being an obsidian dragon, your power to destroy this is stronger than mine. When you do, part of Malakar’s power will be destroyed.”

Xander nodded. His hand shifted into a dragon’s paw and he slammed it onto the stone. Dark liquid trickled out that looked like old blood. It had the same metallic smell of blood and something else—burned flesh.

Immediately, the liquid pooled up together and exploded in a small flash.

“Please destroy this completely,” Seraphina said.

Xander smashed the stone until it was little more than fine sand.

Seraphina scraped all of it into a white linen bag and carried it outside the ruins. She dug a hole in the ground with a stick and put the leather bag and the remains of the stone into the hole.

“Stone of blood, heart of darkness — I bury you beneath root and bone. No hand shall free you. No soul shall feed you. Be bound. Be silent. Be forgotten.”

She poured holy oil onto the two bags and replaced the dirt. Seraphina stood, wiping her hands together. “That should do it.”

Dain looked at the freshly disturbed earth and back at Seraphina. “Do you think this is the only one?”

Everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer.

Seraphina sighed. “I don’t know, but I doubt it. Men like Malakar never trust their power to be in a single source.”

---