Page 70 of Heart of Fire
Storm clouds brewed on the horizon, and he was riding his own storm now. The blackdrekipinwheeled through the skies ahead of him, banking just enough to flash his claws athim.
“Rules?”Rurikdemanded.
“There are norules.”
So be it.“Killing you will be mypleasure.”
With a twist of his body, he plummeted toward Magnus, claws spread for astrike.
He had the better position and the weight advantage here, plus years of experience battling otherdreki, but Magnus was no stranger to battle himself. They called him the Black Prince in thedrekicourt, for his cunning and deviousness, and Rurik was weighted down by the exhaustion that had stolen through his veins the second he healed Freyja’s father. Magnus was completelyfresh.
Which meant he needed to finish this battle as swiftly aspossible.
At the last second, Rurik flattened his wings against his body and dove straight down toward the otherdreki, knowing his claws could not pierce Magnus’s black hide. Not fromabove.
Magnus’s wings flared wide in surprise, and then he tilted sideways to avoid the clash in a defensive maneuver. Which was exactly what Rurik wanted. Ignoring Magnus’s wings—the most obvious target—he caught his cousin’s claws in his and then rolled and flung them both into a pinwheel of violence. The world blurred around him, sky then ground then sky flashing through his vision, and just as the ground grew dangerously close, he let go, flinging his cousin toward the jagged rocksbelow.
Perfectly timed. Perfectly executed.“You’re getting slow in your old age, cousin,”he taunted, as Magnus used sheer strength to haul himself out of the dangerous dive in an inelegantmaneuver.
“And you’re still brimming with false nobility,”Magnus spat back.“No rules, Rurik.Remember?”
A flash of shadow in the corner of Rurik’s eyes alerted him a split second before claws raked his unprotected flank. Pain seared his nerves, but he’d twisted in time to prevent the seconddrekifrom opening up his abdomen. Lashing out with his whip-like tail, he scored a cut along the silverdreki’ssnout, and it wheeled away in a spiraling pirouette that hurt hisheart.
“Andri. Stay out ofthis.”
His former page banked in an eerie glide.“I have my orders.”Regret laced Andri’s mentaltouch.
“You bring adrekiyouth tothis battle?” he demanded ofMagnus.
“He was my brother before he was ever your page,”Magnus spat back,“and it is his turn to prove his loyalty to his bloodkin.”
The betrayal would be tearing Andri apart. He knew the lad. Andri was the one shining branch in his uncle’s family, the one son who remained uncorrupted. Rurik dove for Magnus, using his larger form to batter at the black. Claws slashed and tore, and wings thrust in midair to hold them locked against each other.If he could get the bastard’sthroat....
A body battered against his, knocking him aside a second before his razor-sharp teeth locked around Magnus’sneck.
Andri, forced into this conflict against hiswill.
The three of them spiraledapart.
“This is not your fight,”he shot toward Andri.“Remember who you are. Remember what I tried to instill in you.You’re better thanthis.”
The silverdrekidrew back from his touch, rejecting the attempt to reach out to him. But guilt laced Andri’s withdrawal, and Rurik had to cling tothat.
Two against one. He’d had worse odds, when he fled thedrekicourt. But this was different. He wouldn’t—hecouldn’t—strike down the youngerdrekihe loved like his ownbrother.
And Magnus knewthat.
Time to play dirty. There was no honor in fighting a battle against these odds, and the last thing he wanted was for Andri to be forced to do something he’d never forgive himselffor.
Battered on both sides, Rurik fought and slashed, smashing his body back against Andri’s to force the youth out of the way, even as he tried to slash open Magnus’s belly. The ground was getting dangerously close. Lightning stabbed through the air, but so far neither of them had brought their powers to bear in thisduel.
Can’t afford to.... Not with Andri hampering both ofus.
Rurik’s lungs strained. Care for the youngerdrekiwas possibly the only similarity both he and Magnusshared.
Again they came for him. This time they were fighting in unison. And Rurik felt a crucial claw scrape against his belly, igniting a line of fire along his flank. Panic surged through him as Magnus’s teeth scraped across his shoulder, and shuddered free. Close. Too close. For the first time, he felt the tides of the battle changing. A shiver of cold knowing ran throughhim.
He couldn’t defeat both ofthem.
