Page 129 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
I am finally within the range of the dragon riders and I use my compulsion to call upon every single one. I glance behind me to find the main boulevard still empty of enemies. Any who stumble out into the gore throw up and stagger away. Hundreds of my soldiers wait in a column for my command.
The ground shakes as the huge forms of dragons land all around us. I raise my sword in the air, instantly capturing the attention of all. “Tonight, we will ride on the backs of dragons and fly to the grand balcony. We will storm the main entrance of the palace and kill the High Chancellor!”
Cheers rise up from my soldiers.
I turn to the largest dragon with midnight scales. “Prince Bartholomew, with your approval, I would have your clan ferry my elite force up to the top of the palace to make our last stand.”
King Aldrin, I would scorch this High Chancellor with my own flames and consume her charcoaled body for having her people fire bolts at my father,he rumbles, lowering his wings and leg so fae can scale him. The other dragons do the same, each taking a handful of my warriors. They will need to make multiple trips to get us all up to the grand balcony.
I find Edmund in the crowd, on a smaller red dragon he has been riding to lead his force of humans from the air. I can only assume Caitlin is at their front line on the ground, barking out orders. Edmund would not have received my command, butwould have seen the movements of the others and followed it anyway. I bow to the red, ask its permission to mount, then pull myself up its leg. My motions are so frantic I slice my hand on a spine, but barely feel the pain.
“Did you get to Keira? Could you free her?” I ask as he holds out a hand and pulls me up the last few steps. Nervous anticipation whips through me like lightning, even though I know the answer. If my love were free, I would feel her down our mate bond.
Edmund’s features shudder, his lips twisting downward. “We couldn’t break open the cage. It only absorbed our magic. Nothing can destroy it, not fire and not raw power. We have to kill Titania to break the enchantment.”
I stumble as the dragon rises from the ground, beating its powerful wings and sending a torrent of air swirling around us.
“Take me to her,” I command the dragon, not caring how it bristles and protests about bolts. This one is weaker-willed than most. It doesn’t even threaten to eat me.
My heart breaks at the sight of Keira. At what they have reduced her to.
Her face is deathly pale and her hair hangs limp around it, both drenched in sweat. Her hands, torso and arms are slicked with blood. My chest tightens painfully at the wounds they must have inflicted on her with a sword or spear, and the deep gouges from the fucking metal spikes within her cage. Her body sways from side to side and her eyes keep rolling back in her head, then snapping open quickly.
I take in Drake, hanging at her side, who leans toward her and speaks frantically, urging her to stay awake. He gives me a single curt nod in acknowledgment.
“She wasn’t this bad when we left her.” Edmund runs a hand through his fiery hair. He looks close to tears.
The red dragon lands on the wall beside Keira’s cage, digging its claws into stone and tucking its wings in.
This time, fae, you are going to fire at the catapults before they try to kill me, instead of leaving me vulnerable like a puka in a web,the red dragon snarls, and Edmund begins a defensive fire.
I climb down the dragon’s body until I am level with Keira. She is hardly aware of my presence. My stomach drops. “I am going to get you out of here, dear heart. I just need you to hold on.”
I throw everything I have at that fucking barbaric golden cage. Raw magic. Air picks in the lock. I send branches from the Wisteria of Mythanar over the palace wall and use its might to try to pry the bars open.
Nothing works.Nothing. Fucking. Works.It only makes the enchantment flare each time.
“We have tried it all, son,” Edmund calls out. “Killing the High Chancellor is the only way. We are running out of time to save her.”
Keira’s eyes peel open and finally focus on me. “Aldrin?” Her voice is the softest murmur and I almost miss it.
“What have they done to you?” I reach through the bars and she reaches back. Our clasped hands shake. I don’t know if it is her who trembles violently, or me. Perhaps it is both of us. The blood of our fresh cuts intermingles, mine entering her body and hers entering mine. I take in a sharp breath as I feel her inside me, our mate bond flickering between us. I don’t know how it is possible with the cage severing magic inside it, but I force more of our wounds together just to feel her again.
It is like I have pierced the surface of an iced-over pool and dragged in air after nearly suffocating. I don’t waste a second of it.
Keira’s life force is so incredibly weak it terrifies me.
I force as much of my raw magic and essence as I can through the faint bond between us, down narrow paths and frayed threads, when I am used to a highway. I keep going, even when her eyes open fully and brighten, even when the color returns to her face, giving away too much but offering up more. I would give her everything: all of my power, my life force, just so she could survive.
“Aldrin!” Her grip on me tightens. “Aldrin, you need to stop. Save something for yourself. You still need to fight.”
“I need you to live.” I push more into her. “There is no point in fighting if you do not live.”
Keira blocks the connection between us, pulling her hand away. “You need to go, Aldrin. There are more guards rushing toward the dragon catapults. Fight for me. Kill Titania. Then come save me. You can’t do any more now.”
I stare into her eyes for too long, searching, unable to leave.
Edmund wraps his large hands over my shoulders and pulls me away, back up the dragon. “We cannot save her until that enchantment is broken,” he chokes out, wiping a tear from his face.
