Page 60 of Guardian of the Cursed Egg
“So they sedated her just like we did with you, right?” Balor says, glancing at Abraxis and then back at me.
“They can’t sedate her if it’s not what she wants. She’s mated,” Abraxis replies heavily. I can almost feel the tension pouring off him, thickening the surrounding air.
My appetite completely disappears. I shift the meat around my plate, prodding aimlessly at the sauce while my heart hammers. “Is this what everyone’s been trying to hide?” My gaze flickers to Leander and Callan. Out of my four mates, they’d be the next to know the truth—and the least likely to lie if I ask outright.
“Yes and no,” Leander says, exchanging a troubled glance with Callan. Callan’s eye flicks to Abraxis, their unspoken hierarchy clear in the tense stillness.
Abraxis inhales, and his deep voice seems to reverberate through my bones. “Your father is definitely in league with Arista. Most of what was his nest is with her in the Firedrake Valley. They also have a nest of wyverns with them. We don’t know how many, but they have them.”
His words sink in, and everything else—the smell of dinner, the warmth of the room, the faint hum of voices outside—fades to a dull roar in my ears. My father. Arista. Wyverns. The weight of it all closes in on me, cold and heavy. I can barely breathe as I cling to the edge of the table, struggling to steady myself against the blow.
I sit there in stunned silence, my heart pounding so forcefully I can feel it in my throat. The bitter tang of adrenaline coats my tongue, and the faint smell of charred wood from the nearby fireplace mingles with our combine scents. I’m trying to figure out what is more important to worry about first. My best friend and sister-in-law potentially carrying her first clutch of eggs far too young, or that the firedrakes, backed by my father, are now aligned with the wyverns. The entire situation feels like a catastrophic storm is about to break.
I stare at my hands, noticing how they tremble against the smooth, cool surface of the wooden dining table. Large, comforting hands—rough with old calluses—enclose mine, and I look up into Vaughn’s intense gaze.
“What do you need me to do?” he asks, his voice rumbling low like distant thunder.
“Rend the flesh from that bronze drake’s hide,” I growl, each word laced with venom. My blood roars in my ears, and the coppery taste of rage bubbles at the back of my throat. “How can he be so irresponsible?”
Suddenly, I surge to my feet. My chair crashes into the stone wall behind me with a resounding thud that makes dust drift from the ceiling rafters. I roar in frustration, the sound echoing off the high ceilings, and my hands fly up into my hair, tugging at the roots. The tension coils at the base of my neck, my entire body thrumming with unspent fury.
“I swear to Bahamut if anything happens to Cora, his bloodline is going extinct right after my father, Arista, and the wyvern…” My dragoness stirs just below the surface, longing to tear and destroy. Heat floods my veins, and I feel the distinctive itch beneath my nails as my talons extend. Emerald and silver scales ripple over my arms, reflecting the golden lamplight with a faint, mesmerizing shimmer.
“Mate…” Abraxis steps in front of me, his own eyes flecked with dragonic gold, as he searches my face. A faint hint of brimstone clings to him, making my nostrils flare. “I’m glad you love my sister as fiercely as I do. But we can’t wage a war on four fronts at once. If the bronze dragons join the opposing side, we’ll be in serious trouble.”
He flicks a glance toward Callan before returning his attention to me. “It’s bad enough Father is trying to broker a deal with the blue dragons to appease them since Cora found her mate.”
The reminder prickles at the back of my mind like a nest of hornets. “Oh, shit,” I breathe, stumbling back until the arm of the couch presses against my thighs. My pulse continues to race, but I force myself down onto the couch’s edge. The worn leather creaks, and the faint scent of old polish rises beneath me. I bite my bottom lip, tasting the salt of my skin, and hold my breath in a feeble attempt to calm myself.
“Can we go check on Cora tomorrow?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. “It’s the weekend.”
“That’s not a problem,” Abraxis replies. “She has one of the other chalets on my father’s lands.” His eyes—still tinged with that dragonic shine—betray the same worry pounding in my chest. He simply holds it in tighter than I do.
“Okay…” I exhale slowly, the trembling in my limbs refusing to subside completely. My dragoness thrashes inside, hungry for blood and vengeance. But I have to keep a lid on it, for now. Cora has been more of a sister to me than the one I grew up with. Cerce, more of a mother to me than the woman who laid my egg. Vox, more of a father than the man who donated his genetics to my creation.
With my eyes squeezed shut, I send a silent prayer to Tiamat, my lips moving in a soundless plea. Please bless and protect Cora. I can’t lose her. As I open my eyes, I catch my reflection in a tall mirror across the room—emerald scales glint in the flickering lamplight, my talons still extended, my face twisted with barely contained rage and fear.
For her sake, I have to keep it together. If I lose control now, we might all be lost.
CHAPTER 37
Abraxis
I feelthe wind whip against my scales as we soar through the crisp, high-altitude air. Each powerful beat of my wings sends a shudder rippling through my body, and for a moment, I’m hypnotized by the sound—like distant thunder rolling in my ears. A harsh tang of mountain frost stings my nostrils, mixing with the faint sulfuric scent of my dragon’s breath.
Even as we fly, my thoughts linger on my sister and her possible egg, and a sour taste coats the back of my throat. Part of me wants to tear the bastard apart for daring to touch her, while another part understands. It’s just in our blood, the unrelenting drive to mate and breed as drakes.
Beside me, Mina’s dragoness glides in near silence, her frill pinned against her neck. The smooth, greenish silver shimmer of her scales flashes in the bright sunlight. My dragon rumbles a greeting to her, and she tilts her head, her golden eyes catching mine for a beat. She explains how her frill creates too much drag if she lets it fan out—so she keeps it close. A practical detailthat somehow makes me warm inside. The air even smells sweeter around her. Or maybe that’s just my senses sharpening because she’s near.
A few ridges along my spine serve as seats for Balor, Leander, and Ziggy, and I can feel the weight of them shifting behind me whenever I bank or adjust my altitude. Callan is perched behind the ridge between Mina’s horns, the egg carrier strapped securely to his chest. Vaughn stands near one of Mina’s massive horns, leaning forward to watch the world roll by beneath us. I still remember Leander’s answer when I asked why he wanted to ride with me. He said he just wanted to hang with his friends for a bit. It’s funny—Mina once called us the Riders of the Apocalypse, and she’s not far off. We’ve been through more battles than most males our age, each of us with our own specialty. Together, we can level an entire battlefield if we have to.
Mina unleashes a raw, primal roar that bounces off the mountainous cliffs, and my chest swells with pride. Before, she’d let me be the one to announce our arrival. Hearing the answering call from my mom—slightly higher pitched, but just as mighty—sends a furious rush of excitement through me. My mother and Mina have grown close, almost like mother and daughter. It warms me more than I’ll admit seeing how Mina gravitates to my parents after a lifetime of neglect from her own family. My father practically melts around her. He admires her fierce protectiveness of me and Cora.
Soon, the stone walls of my father’s compound loom beneath us, tall and imposing against the rugged landscape. The powerful flaps of Mina’s wings stir the air so forcefully that I catch the swirl of dust and dried leaves spinning down below. She circles once above the courtyard, but she won’t land first—never has. My scales rattle with satisfaction as I begin my descent, claws scraping against the gravel. Balor, Leander, and Ziggy cling to me, their grips tightening as I drop lower.
I land with a heavy thud. Stone crunches underfoot, and the scent of heated earth and mortar hits me. Almost immediately, Mina’s bulk shadows me as she touches down, creating a gust of wind that whips the dust in spirals. Her dragoness emits a warm puff of breath along my flank, then rubs her face along my neck, the rasp of scales sending shivers down my spine. She slips her maw beneath my jaw in a soft gesture of surrender. A low rumble of contentment escapes me as I press down gently on her head and she lowers it, allowing me to rest mine on top of hers. Even though she could decimate this entire compound if she wanted to, she’s choosing trust and submission here, with my family watching. And in this moment, I feel a fierce protectiveness for her—and a surge of pride that she is mine.
I flex my fingers as we finish shifting back to our human forms, the rush of power still tingling along my limbs. The courtyard is cool and smells faintly of damp stone, a crisp edge in the night air that heightens my senses. Mina immediately takes the egg carrier from Callan and straps it in place under her chest. The scraping sound of the straps echoes off of the stone walls.
