Page 39 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
Recognition flared in his expression. Then something uglier. Vindication.
"Say goodnight, human."
He raised his clawed hand, ready to strike.
Lexa's scream cut through the chaos. "Terra!"
I turned, saw her fighting off two warriors at once, saw the purple-scaled bastard's claws descending toward my head.
Then something gray and fast dropped from above.
Nyx landed between us, steel-gray scales gleaming in the crystal light. His wings spread wide, blocking the purple warrior from reaching me.
He intercepted the strike with brutal efficiency, his own claws catching the purple warrior's wrist and twisting. Bone cracked. The warrior screamed and fell back.
My heart stopped.
We were caught. It was over. A senior warrior had found us, and there was no way Lexa and I could fight our way past him.
Lexa appeared at my side, putting herself between me and Nyx. Her knife was out, held in a grip that shook with exhaustion but didn't waver.
"Run," she said. "I'll hold him off."
"Lexa, no …"
"Run!" She shoved me toward the archway. "Don't waste this. Go!"
Lexa lunged at him, and he moved to counter. They became a tangle of motion that blocked the other warriors from reaching me.
I ran.
Guilt tore at me with every step.
Vega had sacrificed herself. Lexa was sacrificing herself. I couldn't let those choices mean nothing.
The archway loomed ahead. The sanctum beyond it was empty. No guards. No participants. Just the blood-flame on its pedestal, pulsing like a heartbeat.
My boots hit the sanctum floor. The chamber was smaller than I'd expected, intimate. Carved with reverence. The blood-flame's light filled every corner, warm and alive.
I could see it clearly now. Multifaceted. Beautiful. The goal of the Skalanth. The symbol of everything I was trying to prove.
Victory was three meters away.
I ran toward it.
And stopped.
Darrokar stood between me and the blood-flame.
"Luvae."
11
DARROKAR
The blood-flame pulsedbehind me like a second heartbeat.
I'd stood guard in this sanctum for three hours, watching novice after novice attempt to breach the inner chamber. Most never made it past the outer defenses. Those who did faced Rath's blade or my claws and fell back, marked with ash, dreams of glory extinguished.
