Page 73 of Claim the Dragon
“No!”she screamed and reached for him but something like a force field blocked her.
The energy surge pushed her back on her ass and then shot her several blocks away, until all she could see were the flashes of light coming from the Reaper.White hot pain seared through her chest and she gasped for air, rolling over on the ground as the pain wracked her whole body.Her screams came so loud her eardrums were about to burst and every one of her bones felt as if they were cracking and caving in around her heart.
“Leave!”Steele yelled to her.“Just leave!”
She was shaking her head even though the wordnowould fall from her lips.Ravyn rolled over again, cursing the pain and vowing to break through.Coming up on her knees, she took a deep breath, crying out as even that caused pain.She didn’t have to turn around to see that those lightning bolts were wrapped tight around Steele, squeezing the life out of him, because she felt every single tug and pull of them as if they were on her too.
But she managed to reach her hand down to the dagger at her side, pulling it free and holding it until the warmth from the hilt began to slowly fill her body.It was like a glass of water being filled, from the bottom to the rim power surged through her, bringing her head up first and then easing her into a standing position, turning her around until she could see clearly the Reaper killing the man she loved.
Running came next, her legs moving so fast she barely felt them beneath her, then jumping, high up into the sky until she landed behind the Reaper.
“No!”Steele yelled the second her feet touched the ground.“Ravyn, no!I wanted you to live, I needed you to live.”
His head tilted back, veins bulging in his neck as the Reaper continued his torture.
“I loved...you too much...to let you...die.”
“What makes you think it would be any different for me,” she whispered and let his words wash over her, drawing even more power from them as she raised her arms, both hands wrapped around the hilt of the dagger and brought it down to stab the Reaper in his back.
The dagger went straight through him and she tumbled forward.
“You can’t kill me either,” the Reaper said with an amused laugh.
He circled his arms and pulled those lightning bolts tighter, until Steele’s sunglasses fell to the ground and his Drakon’s eyes glowed straight up to the sky.His feet were lifted up at that moment, the bolts twisting and turning him in the air, the life slipping out of him as he gasped for air.
“Then I’ll buy you,” she said and took tortuously slow steps until she was standing where the Reaper could see her.
“Take it,” she said and extended her arm to him.The dagger was in her hand and she turned it over, palm up so that he could see what she was offering.“If you can take life, wouldn’t you want the power to make it remain dead?With this you can stop anyone from raising any lives you’ve taken.”
In the past couple of days, she’d learned a lot about the dagger that had come to her and her grandmother Bahati, the witch whose skills were incomparable and who’d lived in the Congo Rainforest.She now knew of its great powers over the dead and the cursed.Steele had told her the dagger held her power, but he was wrong, it only enhanced what she was.Giving it up would take away some of the energy that made it possible for her to fight Temptra and probably to get here into Steele’s dream, but it didn’t matter.Nothing mattered to her more than his life, and so she was offering it to the Reaper.
“You cannot trick me, witch!”His retort was strong and stung a little.
Ravyn had been called a bitch a time or two in her life, but never had she been called a witch, and with such disdain.She was immediately offended.
“Look, you can kill him and most likely bring forth the rage of every other Dream Drakon across the realms.At which time I’m certain they’ll exact their revenge by taking names off your list right and left.Or you can let him go and take this dagger to do with as you will.”
Steele was making a sound, like he was trying to say something.No doubt attempting to tell her to leave again, which was futile, but so like him to think he was still in control.
But just in case he wasn’t trying to talk but was indeed dying right before her eyes, she took a step toward the Reaper and yelled, “Take it!”once more.
The hood moved.He was considering the offer.She took another step, this time directly in front of one stream of the lightning he was using to strangle Steele.Because the Reaper had said she was protected, right?And the dagger was technically still hers, until he accepted the offer.Her body effectively blocked that part of the lightning but Steele continued to be trapped by the other.
“I offer this to you in exchange for his life.I offer you this power.”
It wasn’t a spell, even though she’d learned that those would come to her in time.But her words held power too, by virtue of her bloodline and its link to this dagger, what she said over it would be bound in magick.
“You, witch, are a fool,” the Reaper declared and shifted his aim so that the lightning bolt stretched out to grab the dagger and its sheath from her simultaneously.
There was a loud thump and then the Reaper was gone as quickly as he’d come, and when Ravyn turned to look for Steele, he was gone too.
Steele watched her sleep.
For so many weeks he’d watched her doing things like walking down the street, sipping a cup of coffee, exercising at the gym and stealing...he couldn’t forget the stealing.The thought had the corners of his mouth lifting into a grin.She was everything he’d never imagined would be within his reach.
His beast had known that all along.It had been drawn to her immediately, knowing exactly what it needed to make them whole.Drakon Selection was a real thing.A part of his human’s mind had known that all along which was probably why he’d felt such animosity toward Theo and Shola’s pairing.Steele knew now that the past mistakes of Theo’s mother had nothing to do with the emperor and his new empress.Theo’s beast had made its selection regardless of the circumstances around them.Steele’s beast had done the same.A warm swelling in his chest confirmed the beast’s moment of glory and Steele smiled again.
Nothing but tender thoughts sifted through his human mind now, as the beast languished in victory and in love.Steele continued to stare at her.Long, dark hair spread out along her pillow, while the comforter rested so close to her nose he wondered how she was able to breathe.But she was breathing.He’d felt it every second of every day for the two days he’d stayed away from her.Today was a new morning, it was a new beginning, or at least he hoped it was.Otherwise what was all the hell they’d just been through for?
